Improvising over perfect cadences

Final Lesson: Vertical Improvisation Method

To finish off this course, we're going to return to the vertical improvisation method of improvising that we discussed earlier. Here, you focus on the chord symbols themselves and choose notes of the chords to make up your solo.

Important Chord Sequence: II V I

One of the most important chord sequences in jazz is the famous II V I sequence. An example of this in the key of G would be:

• II chord: A minor 7 (Am7)
• V chord: D7
• I chord: G major

Instead of moving up in fourths like that, which represents the root movement, you could invert the second chord to avoid jumping. The D7, in this case, was in second inversion.

Focus on V to I

Improvert, which is the last piece in the course, removes the II chord and focuses on the V to I in various keys. This really boils it down to a perfect cadence.

Key Sequences

Improvert does this in three keys:

• C major and A minor (the relative minor)
• F major and D minor
• B flat major and G minor

These consist of three major keys and their relative minors.

Using Arpeggios in Improvisation

When you have a go with the backing track, you'll be playing arpeggios as an important way of improvising around those chords.

Example:

For the F7 to B flat, you might play the following:

• All the notes in the F bar belong to the F7 chord.
• Aim for a target note on the B flat, specifically the first beat of the B flat bar (the root).

Explore different ways of playing that. That's what Improvert is all about, giving you plenty of space to try out different phrases without departing from the roots of the chords.

Another Example

Here's another example:

Going down from the root instead of up:

• F7
• Then going up the B flat 6 arpeggio as an alternative to B flat major 7.

This time, this phrase landed on the third.

Important Note

Did you notice? The movement from the seventh to the third is a really common way of joining the V chord to the I chord, falling onto the third of the B flat, which becomes your new target note.

Before You Begin

Before you have a go at Improvert, please:

1. Have a look at the PDF.
2. Check out the suggested phrases.
3. Listen to my recorded improvisation on the MP3.