Putting It All Together – Part Two

Hey Jazz Guy,

Now that I’ve got the inside playing down, how bout that ‘out’ stuff?
–Inside in Indianapolis

Dear Inside,
How bout that ‘out’ stuff? Well, it is worth looking outside the box to examining some simple techniques that can sound fantastically outside. As with the inside examples, we use for practice the first eight bars of “Stella By Starlight”. In the first two examples we are using a simple idea – playing a half step away from the chords. Ex 1 uses inside lines a half step up from the changes, so we’re playing Fmin7(b5) to Bb7Alt. Then in the next two bars [Ex 2] we play a half step down from the changes, Bmin7 to E7. Straight inside lines, played a half step away from the chords can sound mesmerizing. This idea can also be used with other intervals. For the II-V in the next two bars [Ex 3] we back cycle a ‘Coltrane’ pattern, in this case we want to resolve to EbMaj7 so we play BMaj, D7, GMaj, Bb7 to EbMaj7. Finally we employ a hexatonic scale [Ex 4] built on two adjacent triads, D and Eb. Playing this over EbMaj7 gives some ‘in’ notes, like the Maj7, 5th and 3rd, and some out notes, like the #11 and #9. Holding this scale over Ab7(#11) continues the ambiguous effect. These techniques can get rather wild, so practice them hard but keep them in check, they are best in contrast with other types of playing. Just like in The Matrix where there is no spoon, you can play inside the box and outside the box. Ultimately, there is no box.

Link to PDF Example: HJG -PuttingTogether OUTSIDE