Listen! Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young on "Body and Soul," and you get your eyes tested at no extra charge.

I gather if you're reading this you'd like to be able to play in a jazz group, join a jazz jam, or maybe just bring some new ideas to what you're already doing. In short, you'd like to know "the stuff that jazz players know." How bout I offer up some words of encouragement, using what I call The Eye Test. Ready? First hold your thumb up, level to your eye, at arm's length. Now focus on your thumb. Got it? Now focus on the wall behind your thumb. See the wall become clear, and your thumb go all blurry? Now focus back on your thumb, then the wall again... Do you have any idea how you pulled that off? Your conscious mind gave an order, "I want to see that," and a complex and beautiful dance of tiny muscles ensued, almost entirely free of your supervision. It's the same thing with improvising. Keep your brain fed with musical and fingerboard knowledge, don't forget beauty, give it good directions, then trust that unconscious part to give your playing... well, you. 

Here's another bit of your grey matter you can lean on: the banjo player part. Bluegrass, old time, jazz, R n' B - they're all ponds fed by the same great American river. One may seem a little "deeper," another kind of "swampy," but it's the same water, whichever ones we bathe in. In other words, as a banjo player you probably already know more about jazz than you may think. Trust your experience!

You also probably know that playing over a "jazz tune" involves somehow negotiating a series of "chord changes." Well, yes and no, and yes. And no... Here's why it's not so cut-and-dried: think of a song as being like a building, with a series of structural layers. The top layer is the melody. Below that, the harmony ("the changes"). Next you have the keys implied by various groups of chords. Finally, the foundation - the original key of the tune. So you have 1) a melody, 2) what its chords are, 3) what its chords do, and 4) the "home key." Each layer is affected by the one, or ones, below it, and a player can access any or all of them in the course of a solo.

A musician's preference in this regard can be a hallmark of his or her style. Tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins (aka "Bean") could get quite literal about the harmony, as in his famous 1939 solo over Body and Soul. ( http://youtu.be/Sul_9BcgOOI ) On the other hand, the other tenor colossus of Hawkins' era, Lester Young ("Prez") once said it bugged him when he'd be at a jam session and the pianist would be calling out chords to him because "that's not what I hear." Compare Prez' version of the same tune. ( http://youtu.be/tBfqqbm50uw )

Bean is "local," Prez is "express." And as you might have experienced when you're on a train that unexpectedly whizzes by your station, sometimes a route can be a combination of the two.

Music theory for banjoheads, pt. 4, building 7th chords

You know G7, right? The full name is actually "G dominant 7th." Later for an explanation, but "a seventh chord," as understood here, is more of a generic term encompassing any 4-note chord built in thirds: Root, third, fifth and seventh.

In other words: Imaj7 - IIm7 - IIIm7 - IVmaj7 - V7 - VIm7 - VIIm7b5

Before going any further, practice your spelling on these chords. Remember, you presumably know already how to spell triads. Use this old knowledge to get to the new! So now figure out the spelling of:

Abmaj7

Ebmaj7

Fmaj7

Am7

Em7

Bm7

Db7

G7

Bb7

Fm7b5

C#m7b5

Dm7b5

(answers at the end)

Knowing how 7th chords relate to each other in a particular scale is VERY IMPORTANT to a jazz improvisor. If you see a chord progression that goes...oh, say.. 

Cmaj7 - Fmaj7 - Em7 - Am7 - Dm7 - G7 - C

...one of the things you know you can do is play over the key of C-major. Those last three chords:

Dm7 - G7 - C

are the II, the V, and the I of the key of C, and collectively are called a "two-five-one." In many jazz tunes there are strings of two-five-ones like this:

F#m7 B7 Emaj7 Em7 A7 Dmaj7 Dm7 G7 Cmaj7

The first three chords are in E-major, the second three in D, and the last three are in C.

Here's a bebop tune with brackets drawn over the II - V - I's. We'll get into ways of playing these soon enough. Right now the thing is to realize that the three chords in a given bracket are all in the same key. (And don't worry about the melody, we're just focusing on the chord progression)

Sometimes a II-V doesn't make it to I. In musical terms, it doesn't resolve. Look at the bracketed pairs of chords in this tune by baritone sax player Gerry Mulligan:

Also notice bars 6 and 7, and the 3rd and 4th bars from the end: I - VI - II - V all in the key of G. But back to the unresolved II - V's in the brackets: can you figure out what key each is in? (answers at the end)(no peeking!)

Are you figuring out the secret code? "#5" means you raise the fifth, it doesn't necessarily mean you'll end up with a # in the resulting note. "Sharping" and "flatting" are also verbs. So when you see chords like C7#5b9, you'll know you raise the fifth and lower the ninth (the resulting chord will have the notes....)(yessssss????)

C E G# Bb Db.

Here is an F7 chord on the banjo in root position. 

See if you can turn this into:

Fmaj7

Fm7

Fm7b5

Fdim7

F7#5

Fmaj7#5

Fm(maj7)

and while you're at it, find:

F6 (= a major triad + a Maj 6 interval from the root, FACD)

Fm6 (= a minor triad + a Maj 6 interval from the root, FAbCD)

Here are the different ways you'll see these written out on chord charts. Just below that is a diagram of triads and 7th chords in various minor scales. The main thing to remember is that a II - V in a minor key is generally expressed as IIm7b5 - V7 - Im.

the answers:

CHORD SPELLING

Abmaj7 - Ab C Eb G

Ebmaj7 - Eb G Bb D

Fmaj7 - F A C E

Am7 - A C E G

Em7 - E G B D

Bm7 - B D F# A

Db7 - Db F Ab Cb

G7 - G B D F

Bb7 - Bb D F Ab

Fm7b5 - F Ab Cb Eb

C#m7b5 C# E G B

Dm7b5 D F Ab C

!! - V's

Cm7 - F7 = Bb maj.

Bm7 - E7 = A maj.

Am7 - D7 = Gmaj.

C#m7 - F#7 = B maj

Banjo chords

See ya.

Music theory for banjoheads, pt. 3, building triads

Kind of off the subject - You might notice that in various examples I'm pretty much leaving out the fifth string (and will probably continue to do so). There are a few reasons for this: one is that people have different ways of using it; another is that it adds another skrillion to the bazillion ways of playing anything on the banjo; and probably most importantly, there is only one music writing software program I know of that takes into account the proper TAB numbering, 0,6,7,8,9, etc. for the 5th string but I don't really like to use it, as it's sort of clunky and doesn't look any good. You can look on chat threads for Finale, and see complaints about this back to 2002!! The only thing they did on the banjo part of the latest version is get the written range wrong. Whenever I mention it to support they say "I'll pass this on the the developers..." and I'm like oh haha, April fool to you too. OK, back to theory.

First, the answers to the "homework."

m2 from C# = D

M2 from B = C#

m3 from G = Bb

m3 from A = C

m3 from Eb = Gb

M3 from E = G#

P4 from F = Bb

A4 from C = F#

d5 from C = Gb

P5 from C = G

P5 from D = A

P5 from E = B

P5 from F = C

P5 from G = D

P5 from A = E

P5 from Bb = F

P5 from B = F#

A5 from Db = A

M6 from F# = D#

m7 from Ab = Gb

M7 from B = A#

There's a reason I gave you a few extra ones for P5's. A lot of stuff happens in the so-called "circle of fifths" (though every time I try to write one for my students it comes out as kind of "the pear of fifths"). If you start on any note and go in perfect fifths, you hit all twelve notes of the chromatic scale before you repeat one. so:

F C G D A E B F# C# G# D# A# E# B# - go back to F#, turn it into Gb:

Gb Db Ab Eb Bb F...

So one way of working on something in all the keys is to do it in "the cycle." And you'll see that a lot of chord progressions follow the cycle of fourths, which is just a matter of running the cycle/circle of fifths from right to left.

You might have noticed this: Except for knowing Bb - F and B - F#, knowing the cycle is just a matter of counting on your fingers and matching the accidentals, or lack thereof. Look:

F C G D A E B

(Fb Cb) Gb Db Ab Eb Bb - the ones in parentheses you just aren't going to see that often.

F# C# G# D# A# E# (B#)

Time for some CHORD CONSTRUCTION. I'm going to do the same thing as with the last post, having also previously written about this, but there'll be a lot of banjo chords. It won't be an exhaustive compendium, but should give you a way to figure out and practice your own chord voicings.

Here are two major triads on the banjo. These are in "root position," meaning the root is in the bass of the chord.The voicing is root-third-fifth. Play these (you may already know them) and before looking ahead, try figuring out the minor, augmented and diminished versions of these voicings. Hint: starting with the major triad, lower the third, you have minor. Raising the fifth of the major triad will give you the augmented. Lowering the fifth of the minor triad will give you the diminished. Do them all even if you're thinking "when am I gonna use an augmented triad?" These things will all come up in ways we can't anticipate!

Of course you probably recognize these as being the bottom part of an F-position chord, and the top part of a bar-position one, so:

Of course the big thing in these posts is to get you spelling all these things properly, so now do some triad arithmetic by spelling the following triads:

Major: Bb,  F  D   Ab

now turn them to augmented: Bb+  F+  D+  Ab+

minor:  C#m   Gm    Bm     Em

now turn minor to diminished:  C#dim   Gdim    Bdim    Edim

(the answers to everything will be at the end of this post)

You probably know the closed D and Dm chords - "D-position" - now work out the augmented and diminished versions of the D-position chord (I'll show you at the end). 

Um, these are four note chords...are they still triads? I'm not sure actually... What they definitely are though, is triadic harmony, since there are only (get ready for it) 3 "pitch classes" in play. In other words, whether you play it on a banjo or a London Symphony, an F-chord contains just F's, A's and C's regardless of octave or doubling, or the pitch classes F, A, and C.

The chords built on each scale degree are called "the one chord, the two chord," etc. and are indicated using Roman numerals. So in the key of C:

I - CEG

II- DFA

III - EGB

IV - FAC

V - GBD

VI - ACE

VII - BDF

This pattern is true for every major scale, always! You already knew that I, IV, and V are major right? In G, your I-IV-V is G-C-D. In C, C-F-G.

(answers at the end!)

Let's apply this to the banjo neck. We'll take a D-chord (D-position, see measure 1) break it into two triads (measure 2), then run each one up the neck in the key of D, changing major to minor or diminished as needed.

Running triads up the neck diatonically (ie., in a scale) is a always a useful study.Notice that you now have three ways of voicing a chord: root position - root in the bass; 1st inversion - third in the bass; 2nd inversion - 5th in the bass. This can, but doesn't have to parallel what the bass player is doing.

OK, the answers.

Major: Bb: Bb-D-F  F: F-A-C  D: D-F#-A   Ab: Ab-C-Eb

augmented: Bb+: Bb-D-F#    F+: F-A- C#   D+: D-F#-A#   Ab+: Ab-C-E

minor:  C#m: C#-E-G#   Gm : G-Bb-D   Bm: B-D-F#    Em: E-G-B

diminished:  C#dim: C#-E-G    Gdim: G-Bb-Db    Bdim: B-D-F    Edim: E-G-Bb

Triads in scales:

D Em F#m G A Bm C#dim

G Am Bm C D Em F#dim

A Bm C#m D E F#m G#dim

B C#m D#m E F# G#m A#dim

Gb Abm Bbm Cb (yes! not B!) Db Ebm Fdim

Ab Bbm Cm Db Eb Fm Gdim

You get this? You start by constructing the major scale, as in the first part of this series, then I IV and V are major, II III and Vi are minor, VII is diminished. Every time.

Triads are extremely important and useful even if the harmony isn't triadic, so we'll do some more with them later. But for now, it's on to SEVENTH CHORDS. See ya.

Music theory for banjoheads, pt. 2, intervals

How’d you do with those scales? 

Before laying out all the answers, let’s look at the last pair of keys in each group: F#, C#, Gb, and Cb, starting with F#. First here’s the chromatic scale, one octave F# to F#:

(F#/Gb) G (G#/Ab) A (A#/Bb) B C (C#/Db) D (D#/Eb) E F (F#/Gb)

Now you count your whole steps and half steps, right? WWHWWWH:

(F#/Gb) G (G#/Ab) A (A#/Bb) B C (C#/Db) D (D#/Eb) E F (F#/Gb)

It’s a sharp key, obviously, so, F#, G#, A#, B…. so far so good… C#, D#…F? Something’s fishy here. Every note appears once only… it has to be alphabetical…the next note has to be an “E-something!” I’d like to think this is where a light bulb went off for you:

“A sharp sign raises a note by one half step.” 

Even though it went unmentioned before, that counts for E’s too. So…

F# G# A# B C# D# E# F#

Same thing with flats.

Gb-major has the exact same notes as F#-major, but it goes from Gb to Gb and you’re using flats instead of sharps.

(F#/Gb) G (G#/Ab) A (A#/Bb) B?? C (C#/Db) D (D#/Eb) E F (F#/Gb)

Write that “B” as a Cb!

Gb Ab Bb Cb Db Eb F Gb

Although, thankfully, you don’t end up in those four keys all that often, it does happen. Sometimes in a key like Gb someone will think they’re making life easier by expressing a Cb as B. I no ewe may think that’s easier, but when you don’t sea things the whey you’re used two, it can actually make reading and memorizing harder. Like any spelling, it’s a matter of clear communication.

So now why no key of D#? You can count WWHWWWH from D# right?

(D#/Eb) E F (F#/Gb) G (G#/Ab) A (A#/Bb) B C (C#/Db) D (D#/Eb)

So it’s a sharp key, and now you’re hip to E#, so…

D# E#…

NOW what? The next note has to be “F-something.” But how do you express the G-note you’ve landed on as an “F-something?” Well, this does come up, mostly in minor keys, and they use a “double-sharp” sign. You won’t see one in your jazz journey, I can pretty much guarantee it! And if you were to end up with double-sharps in a scale, it doesn’t count as a scale anyone will actually use. That's why there aren't as many major scales as chromatic notes.

There are also double-flats, but again, don’t worry about it unless you take up playing Chopin and Liszt.

Here finally are al the scales in the order I gave them to you.

C D E F G A B C

G A B C D E F# G - one sharp

D E F# G A B C# D - two sharps

A B C# D E F# G# A - three sharps…get it?

E F# G# A B C# D# E

B C# D# E F# G# A# B

F# G# A# B C# D# E# F#

C# D# E# F# G# A# B# C#

F G A Bb C D E F - one flat

Bb C D Eb F G A Bb - two flats

Eb F G Ab Bb C D Eb -yadayada

Ab Bb C Db Eb F G Ab

Db Eb F Gb Ab Bb C Db

Gb Ab Bb Cb Db Eb F Gb

Cb Db Eb Fb Gb Ab Bb Cb

And now it’s on to INTERVALS.

I hope you'll bear with me here, but I already wrote about this stuff in a book for electric bass players. So rather than write the whole thing over again, (ugh...) I'll just reproduce parts of pages, and add banjo-centric examples as we go. Lazy slug? YOU be the judge! :o)

You know what an octave is I'm sure; the distance between your open 4th string D and the open 1st. Also the distance on any string between open and the 12th fret. Primes are a little bit silly, but it's something you can file under "impress your friends." Basically if you play, say, a C, then repeat it, you have "traveled" the distance of a "prime."  

...so none of this has anything to do specifically with your banjo yet. Read on...

9ths, 11ths, and 13ths are chords you'll run across - frequently! - in your jazz journey. If the interval of a ninth is an octave plus a second why do we call a 9th chord "a ninth chord" and not just "a second chord?" We'll get to that, there's a very good reason.

The question is always "OK, why do they call one a 'major interval 'and another is 'perfect'?" Apparently that's the reason. To someone back in the day, having two notes be in each other's major scale made it a perfect interval. So C - G, a perfect fifth, each one is in the other's major scale. Which you already know. C - E on the other hand: E is in the key of C, C is not in the key of E. Not perfect, but major. OK, whatever.

Now don't forget that these intervals are ascending: the fifth C - G means you are going up from C. If you go from C down to G, you have descended the distance of a fourth. 

Please notice that every interval from the root (do) of a major scale is a perfect or major interval. here they are on the banjo, going up the 2nd string from C:

Try the major and perfect intervals on the banjo.

For minor intervals, move the top (second) note of each M interval pair down one fret. Pay particular attention to minor thirds, which are probably already a big part of your musical soundscape! And besides...

A Quick Digression into MINOR SCALES

The thing that makes a minor scale a minor scale is the third note, or degree, of the scale, which is a minor third, 3 half steps above the root, instead of a M3. So while a C-major scale starts with C-D-E..., a C-minor scale will go C-D-Eb... We'll go into these in more detail later, they're not as hard as they're made out to be! Now back to intervals.

You will see a lot of augmented 4ths and 5ths - A4, A5. Move the top note of each pair of P intervals up one fret to make them augmented. We also call these "sharp (or raised) 4's" and "sharp (or raised) 5's," Lower the P4's and 5's for diminished (or flatted/lowered) intervals - d4 and d5. 

Now a list of all the intervals, up to an octave. The only one I left out is that pesky prime. But if you must know, C - Db is a minor second, C - C# is an augmented prime.

The thing about theory is, if you know a few things really well, you can easily figure out the rest. So if you Mem. O. Rize. M2, M3, P4, P5, M6, M7, and their distances in half steps (2,4,5,7,9,11), getting all these other ones - minor, augmolished, dimented - that's just a matter of a half step more or less than the ones you already know. It's just arithmetic!

Let's try a few.

m2 from C# =

M2 from B =

m3 from G =

m3 from A =

m3 from Eb =

M3 from E =

P4 from F =

A4 from C =

d5 from C =

P5 from C =

P5 from D =

P5 from E =

P5 from F =

P5 from G =

P5 from A =

P5 from Bb =

P5 from B =

A5 from Db =

M6 from F# =

m7 from Ab =

M7 from B =

Answers next theory post, when we get into chord construction. See ya.

Music Theory for Banjoheads, pt. 1

I like to give my jazz students a theory handout, in workbook form, just so we're on the same page, using the same nomenclature, etc. I call it "What-you-need-to-know-to-play-in-my-band!" I've also noticed that many articles on various aspects of banjo playing necessarily assume no theory knowledge on the part of the readers, so a lot of column inches are used in quickie explanations of I-IV-V's, scales, what-have-you... So I thought maybe my little blog here could be a one-stop theory shop for banjo players. 

We'll be doing scale construction, intervals, triads, and 7th chords, with examples you can try out on your banjo. OK, first...

Major Scale Construction

Let’s just get this out of the way right at the git-go just to make sure there’s no confusion. Here is what’s known as “the chromatic scale.” It is, in a sense, our musical alphabet:

C (C#/Db) D (D#/Eb) E F (F#/Gb) G (G#/Ab) A (A#/Bb) B C 

The distance from one note to its neighbor - or from one fret to the next - is called a half step. If you skip a note (move two frets) you have gone a whole step. Start with C on the 2nd string, and go fret by fret all the way to the 13th fret; that’s a one-octave chromatic scale from C to C.

The sign in front of the D-note, E, G, A, and B in the staff above is a natural sign, which cancels a sharp or flat and turns it back to, y'know, regular old D, E, etc. You don't use it unless you are cancelling a sharp or flat, or drawing a distinction in conversation, such as, "Should I play F sharp here?" "No. F natural." 

You have your natural notes (in boldface below) which are the same as the white keys on the piano,

C (C#/Db) D (D#/Eb) E F (F#/Gb) G (G#/Ab) A (A#/Bb) B C

and the accidentals, the sharps and flats, found on the black keys. 

C (C#/Db) D (D#/Eb) E F (F#/Gb) G (G#/Ab) A (A#/Bb) B C

A sharp sign (#) raises a note one half step, a flat sign (b) lowers it a half step. 

Major scale math

All major scales have four things in common:

1. Every one has seven notes: do re mi fa sol la ti and that will bring us back to do (oh-oh-oh)
2. Every letter name, ABCDEF and G is represented once only.
3. The spaces between the notes of a major scale are: whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, whole step, half step. (or: WWHWWWH) 
4. The key of C major is made up entirely of natural notes, all the others have sharps or flats, never both.

Let’s look at that Key of C. You’ve already seen it:

C (C#/Db) D (D#/Eb) E F (F#/Gb) G (G#/Ab) A (A#/Bb) B C

Here it is going up the b-string:

Let’s look at some examples, starting with the key of D-major (or just “the key of D”). First, here are two octaves of the chromatic scale to use for reference. 

C (C#/Db) D (D#/Eb) E F (F#/Gb) G (G#/Ab) A (A#/Bb) B C (C#/Db) D (D#/Eb) E F (F#/Gb) G (G#/Ab) A (A#/Bb) B C…(etc.)

Now if you count WWHWWWH along the chromatic scale starting on D, you should land on these notes (the ones in boldface type):

D (D#/Eb) E F (F#/Gb) G (G#/Ab) A (A#/Bb) B C (C#/Db) D 

Now the question is, F#? or Gb? Well, the key of D has to follow the alphabet from D to D, DEFGABCD, right? After E comes F, so this one has to be F#. Also, if you used Gb, then you would have two G’s in the scale, another no-no! So here’s your D-major scale:

D E F# G A B C# D

D-major is one of the “sharp keys,” so called because all the accidentals are sharps. It also is the only one with two sharps, so people will sometimes refer to a tune in D as being “in two sharps.” Musicians wanting to subtly communicate the key of a song to another player will hold up two fingers for the key of D. 

Let’s try a flat key, Eb-major. First do your whole- and half-steps (you already know it’s Eb and not D#):

(D#/Eb) E F (F#/Gb) G (G#/Ab) A (A#/Bb) B C (C#/Db) D (D#/Eb)

You know two things here: It has to be all seven letters in alphabetical order, and only flats, no sharps. So:

(D#/Eb) E F (F#/Gb) G (G#/Ab) A (A#/Bb) B C (C#/Db) D (D#/Eb)

Eb F G Ab Bb C D Eb

Eb-major, aka “three flats.” The signal for three flats is three fingers held pointing down. I was on a jazz gig once playing bass behind a singer who called a tune and wanted it in the key of E. No problem on my end. I’m an old guitar picker so I’ve spent some serious quality time in E. But it’s the also “the key of four sharps,” pretty gnarly for everyone else, particularly jazz pianists who don’t really like sharp keys in the first place. So the pianist turns to us and says “OK, key of Eeeee fellas,” holding three fingers down for Eb, “four sharps, key. of. E.” making sure we see his signal and singer doesn’t. We played the tune in Eb, a half step down from E, and the singer was none the wiser.

There are 15 major scales:

C, G, D, A, E, B, F#, and C#,

F, Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, and Cb.

1. Figure them out in the order I wrote them and see if you can guess why I ordered them this way. 

2. You’ll run into a little quandry with the keys of F#, C#, Gb and Cb, see if you can work through it.

3. See if you can figure out why there’s a key of Eb major but no key of D# major.

I’ll have answers at the beginning of the next theory post when we start on intervals. Good luck, see ya.