Quick improv lesson-"Minor Blues"

"Minor Blues" is one of the most harmonically simple songs in the Gypsy Jazz repertoire. Written in the key of G minor, it consists of three chords: G minor, C minor and D dominant seventh. Of course, we could dress up this basic harmony by using passing chords and substitutions, but the basic song is only three chords. To begin improvising on this tune, you only need to familiarize yourself with thee different arpeggio shapes in various "zones" of the neck: G minor, C minor and D dominant seventh. If you want to take a simpler approach to this song, you could familiarize yourself with just one position for each of the song's three chords (i.e., learn one G minor shape, one C minor shape and one D dominant seventh shape). Actually, we could simplify matters even further by learning only a few positions for a G harmonic minor scale and a few positions for C minor arpeggios. When playing songs in a minor key, a harmonic minor scale based on the root of the tune will work over both the root chord of the tune (in this case, G minor) and its dominant chord (in this case, D dominant seventh). First, let's examine the notes of a G harmonic minor scale:

G/A/Bb/C/D/Eb/F#/G

Now, let's take a look at the notes of a D dominant seventh arpeggio:

D/F#/A/C/D

As you can see, all of the notes of the D dominant arpeggio are contained in the G harmonic minor scale. What's even better is that the G harmonic minor scale contains some nice color tones for our D dominant arpeggio:

G-the root of G harmonic minor/the fourth of D dominant seventh
Bb-the third of G harmonic minor/the major sixth of D dominant seventh
Eb-the sixth of G harmonic minor/the flat ninth of D dominant seventh (The flat ninth in a dominant chord is common in minor key tunes. Typically, when a rhythm player plays a dominant seventh chord in a minor key tune, they will play one that contains a flat ninth. You could use a dominant seventh chord with a flat ninth in a major key song as well, but they are more common in minor key songs. There's something very satisfying about that flat ninth going down a half step to the fifth of the root chord.

Tip: Whenever you have a few measures of a root minor chord and its dominant seventh (A minor/E dominant seventh, C minor/G dominant seventh, etc.), you can simply play various positions of a harmonic minor scale based on the root of the tune. I don't mean simply going up and down the scale mechanically like a robot (that will more often than not sound like crap), but using balanced phrasing, trills, and whatever else will make your lines more musical.

I'll soon be posting some video lessons showing licks and arpeggio shapes in G minor, C minor, G harmonic miner, and D dominant seventh, so keep checking back.