A Simple Way to Practice & Improvise Thirds on ANY Scale
Summary
TLDRIn this music lesson from Nathaniel School of Music, Jason Zach explores improvisation techniques combining static and dynamic elements. He discusses the use of major and minor scales, specifically focusing on three types of each, to create a solid foundation for improvisation in genres like blues, country, rock, and folk. The lesson emphasizes the importance of theory, the creation of thirds, and the concept of anchor notes to build interesting and spontaneous melodies. Zach encourages recording improvisations for potential use in compositions, promoting a disciplined yet creative approach to piano playing.
Takeaways
- 🎼 The lesson focuses on improvisation techniques using a combination of static and dynamic elements in music.
- 📚 It emphasizes the importance of understanding music theory, specifically major and minor scales, for effective improvisation.
- 🎹 The instructor introduces three types of major scales and three types of minor scales to use with specific chords.
- 🔍 The concept of 'mixolydian', 'mixolydian flat 6', and their relation to the major triad and melodic minor scale is explained.
- 📈 Improvisation exercises involve forming thirds and using them to create chords and harmonies over a static root note.
- 🎵 The technique of using an 'anchor note' that resonates throughout the piece to maintain the tonal center is discussed.
- 👂 The idea of playing in different inversions (root position, first inversion, and second inversion) to create variety in improvisation is covered.
- 🎶 The lesson explores how to improvise over the G major chord using the G major, G mixolydian, and G mixolydian flat 6 scales.
- 🎵 For the A minor chord, the lesson covers improvisation using the A natural minor, A harmonic minor, and Dorian scales.
- 🎶 The instructor suggests recording improvisations to review and potentially incorporate into finished musical pieces.
- 🔗 Additional resources, including handwritten notes and PDFs, are available on the instructor's Patreon page for further study.
Q & A
What is the main focus of the lesson by Jason Zach from Nathaniel School of Music?
-The lesson focuses on improvisation techniques using a combination of static and dynamic elements, which are essential tools for genres like Blues, country, rock, and roll, and folk music.
What are the basic rules mentioned for improvisation in music?
-The basic rules ensure that the improvisation stays within the genre's framework, allowing musicians to experiment while maintaining the core characteristics of the music style.
What is the significance of understanding major and minor scales in music theory?
-Understanding major and minor scales is crucial for composing and improvising music, as they form the basis for melodies, harmonies, and chord progressions.
Why are thirds important in music composition and improvisation?
-Thirds are important because they are used to form triads, which are the building blocks of chords. They also contribute to the melody and harmony of a piece.
What are the three types of major scales discussed in the lesson?
-The three types of major scales discussed are the Major, Mixolydian, and Mixolydian flat 6.
How does the concept of 'anchor notes' relate to improvisation on the piano?
-Anchor notes are notes that resonate or continue throughout a piece of music, serving as a stable point around which the musician can improvise without losing the sense of the home key.
What is the difference between a root position, first inversion, and second inversion in chords?
-In root position, the root note is the lowest note of the chord. In first inversion, the third is the lowest note, and in second inversion, the fifth is the lowest note.
How can the technique of 'floating thirds' be used to create interesting harmonies?
-Floating thirds involves playing around with the notes of the chord while keeping the anchor note constant, creating a dynamic and interesting harmonic effect.
What are the three minor scales mentioned for improvisation over a minor chord?
-The three minor scales mentioned are the Natural Minor, Harmonic Minor, and Dorian.
How can the concept of inversions be applied to both major and minor chords in improvisation?
-Inversions allow the musician to explore different positions of the chord, with the root, third, or fifth as the lowest note, providing variety in the improvisation.
What advice does Jason Zach give for practicing improvisation?
-Jason Zach suggests recording improvisation sessions to revisit later for inspiration and to capture any spontaneous creative ideas that can be developed into finished musical pieces.
Outlines
🎼 Introduction to Improvisation Techniques
Jason Zach from Nathaniel School of Music introduces a lesson on improvisation using a combination of static and dynamic elements. The lesson aims to explore ways to make music with basic rules that can be creatively bent while ensuring the music remains solid. It covers essential tools for genres like Blues, country, rock, and roll, and folk music. The focus is on using three types of major and minor scales, improving music theory, and understanding the relationship between scales and chords. The lesson encourages getting books and pianos ready and mentions the availability of handwritten notes on Patreon for further study.
🎹 Building Chords and Improvisation Strategy
The second paragraph delves into the formation of thirds, which are essential for creating triads and chords. It explains the process of forming chords with thirds and their importance in composing music, playing melodies, and harmonizing. The strategy for improvisation involves using an anchor note, which remains constant while other notes are played around it. The lesson provides examples of how to play around the G major chord in different positions, using thirds from the G major, G Mixolydian, and G Mixolydian flat 6 scales, and emphasizes the importance of not straining the hand while playing.
🎵 Advanced Improvisation with Major and Minor Scales
This paragraph continues the discussion on improvisation, focusing on the use of major and minor scales over the G major chord. It introduces the concept of 'floating' thirds to create interesting harmonies and suggests experimenting with different positions of the G major chord as the home base. The lesson touches on the idea of using the anchor note in various positions (low, middle, high) and provides examples of how to improvise using the G major, G Mixolydian, and G Mixolydian flat 6 scales, adjusting the thirds according to the scale being used.
🎶 Exploring Minor Scales and Improvisation
The fourth paragraph shifts the focus to minor scales and their use in improvisation over the A minor chord. It outlines the natural minor, harmonic minor, and Dorian scales, explaining their structures and how they can be used to improvise over a minor chord. The lesson demonstrates how to use thirds from these scales to create moving harmonies and suggests experimenting with different positions of the A minor chord. It emphasizes the importance of keeping the anchor note ringing and finding creative ways to play around it.
📚 Concluding the Improvisation Lesson
In the final paragraph, the lesson concludes by summarizing the approach to improvisation: anchoring the root, inverting the base chord, and floating the thirds to express creativity. It encourages recording improvisations for later review and potential use in finished musical pieces. The instructor reminds viewers to access notes on Patreon and stay tuned for upcoming tutorials, highlighting the regular release of educational content on their platform.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Improvisation
💡Static and Dynamic
💡Major Scale
💡Minor Scale
💡Triad
💡Thirds
💡Inversion
💡Anchor Note
💡Melodic Minor Scale
💡Dorian Scale
💡Music Theory
Highlights
Introduction to improvisation using static and dynamic elements in music composition.
The importance of basic rules in improvisation to ensure the music stays true to its genre.
Improvisation techniques applicable to Blues, Country, Rock, and Roll, and Folk music.
The role of major and minor scales in improvisation and music theory.
Explanation of the Major scale with respect to a specific Triad.
Introduction of three types of major scales and their applications.
Discussion on the use of the G Major Triad and associated scales for improvisation.
Technique of using thirds to form chords and improvise melodies.
The concept of an anchor note in improvisation and its significance.
Strategies for improvising with thirds around the G Major chord in different positions.
Transitioning to the A minor chord and its associated minor scales for improvisation.
Exploring the Natural Minor, Harmonic Minor, and Dorian scales over the A minor chord.
The creative process of improvisation by floating thirds while keeping the root static.
Encouragement to record improvisation sessions for later review and inspiration.
The structured yet creative approach to improvisation as a disciplined form of jamming.
Availability of lesson notes and Patreon support for further learning materials.
Invitation to subscribe for regular music theory and improvisation lessons.
Transcripts
[Music]
hi guys this is Jason Zach from
Nathaniel School of Music in this lesson
we're going to look at a way to
improvise using something which is
static and then something which is also
Dynamic so when we combine the two we
get some interesting ideas that can be
not only used to compose and improvise
music but these are also the essential
tools for genres like Blues country rock
and roll and even folk music okay so
it's kind of improvisation with rules
and whenever you have a few basic rules
you can then go a bit out of the box as
well but those basic rules ensure that
whatever you're playing will stay Rock
Solid so while developing our
improvisation we're also going to
improve our Theory we're going to look
at what essentially constitutes a major
or a minor scale now you may be thinking
hey major scale is
just well the way I see it or the way a
lot of people see it it's a major kind
of scale or a majores scale now a major
scale is generally with respect to a
specific Triad generally the major Triad
and you can have a lot of scales apart
from the major scale which will work
very well where wherein you can compose
and improvise music very well over that
particular Triad or even a seventh chord
and then you'll have another host of
scales which go very well across a minor
chord or alongside a minor chord so what
I thought in this lesson is we limit it
to three kinds of major scales and three
kinds of minor scales so there will be a
lot of theory so get your books and your
pianos out and do consider heading over
to our patreon where all of my
handwritten notes are waiting for you as
a downloadable PD f it will cover all
the scales all the shapes all the uh the
intervals so to speak that we are trying
to practice okay so in a nutshell the
goals of this lesson is to make a static
cord more interesting it's to learn how
to improvise using this specific
technique of static and dynamic combo
you can use this to jumpstart your
journey into playing Blues country rock
and roll and folk and also we will
strengthen our music theory and also
develop our years along the way so a lot
of things are going to be covered in the
lesson before we get started it'll be
nice if you can consider hitting that
subscribe button and turning on the Bell
icon for regular notifications let's get
cracking so I'm taking two base cards
for you and from those base cards we are
going to build everything in the major
family we are going to look at the G
major Triads the question now is which
scales go with the G major Triad or with
the G major chord GB d You could
argue G
Major G
mixian and G mixian flat 6 okay I'll
walk you through those other scales so G
major one sharp namely F sharp what does
mixian do mixian will take the 7th
degree and lower it or flatten it down a
half or a chromatic Step 1 2 3 4 5 6
knee is the flat 7even 4 5
[Music]
6 that's
major is this is
mixian okay and now coming to the mixian
flat six so mixian in music generally
means flat seven of something of of the
scale while flat six mixol and Flat 6
will be 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 it's
also interesting to note that the G mixo
Flat 6 is part of the melodic minor
scale it's the fifth mode of
the C melodic minor okay just so you
know while the G
mixian it's the fifth degree or the
fifth mode of the c major or the C
ionian scale okay more on modes will be
found in the description we link you up
with a couple of modes lessons anyway
back to the exercise so if you start off
with G major
the first activity for us in this lesson
is to form thirds okay so that'll be g b
a c b d c e d f sh E G F A and then
repeat okay a third is basically formed
when you skip one which is your second
and then play the next one which is the
third thirds are also used to form
Triads 2/3 will form a chord g major a
minor B minor C Major D major E minor F
diminished and G major your chords are
formed with thirds even your seventh
chords G major 7th a minor 7th Bor 7th C
major 7th D dominant 7th E minor 7th f-
7 flat 5 back even those are
formed by Third so thirds are used to
form chords and they are used to compose
music to play melodies to to harmonize
and a bunch of other things and today's
lesson it'll be to improvise okay and to
spontaneously make music on the Fly okay
so taking the g g its third is b a it's
third is C B's third is D C's third is e
D's third is FP E's third is g f shar's
third is a and G's third is B Okay so
we've also written it down in my notes
so do check that out and moving on if
you take the thirds from the mixian
you're going to get instead of a major
third from the 5 to the 7th degree
you're going to get a minor third from
the 5 to the 7 flat
degree and then the mix olidan flat
six okay
we'll have a minor third between c and e
flat and another minor third between D
and F okay again you can check the notes
so now that you have the thirds ready
I'll tell you the strategy now on the
piano it's almost like how a banjo
player things I I would imagine okay
you're going to take an anchor note an
anchor note could be any note which is
going to linger or continue or ring out
throughout the the piece of music you're
playing so in this case since it's the G
major cord and the G scale G Major G
mixian G miolan flat 6 what is that one
note which seems to be resonating with
all of what I just said G right so G is
my anchor and if I take the G major
chord as my home or my starting base
point this is the root position of G
major chord and has the root note which
is g at the bottom at the low position
okay now just note that you can play
this G even at the high position you can
take the G from here and go to the upper
G there so this is this is what we call
as the first inversion or G could be in
the
middle it's the second inversion so
there will be the same note but it will
be in three anchor positions or anchor
points it will be at the the low
position in root position it'll be at
the high position in the first inversion
and it'll be in the middle position or
the second inversion okay and while we
are at it we'll take the other chord of
Interest a minor the same story a minor
in the root is in the
bottom a root is in the high and
then in the middle it's hiding in the
middle right so this is where this is
how the position of the target note or
the landing note are observed either
bottom middle or high now based on that
the exercise is going to move forward so
if G is now at the bottom you start with
your anchor chord or your main holding
chord which is a G major and look at
your chart of
thirds maybe we can start with some
simple
Aros do not move the anchor note or
don't move the pivot
notes just play an arpegio but what we
could
do is move the thirds BD is just one of
the third So within the vicinity of your
hand you don't want to do something
which is tough for the hand where it
stretches too much you can play around
with these thirds
maybe AC with the
G BD back to
BD d
e d f SHP so you get some interesting
Harmony as
well so essentially your band band mates
could just be playing G
major but you could be
floating so this could be very
interesting accompaniment as well it
could be so interesting that you know
this could be be the intro of a
song just by working with the
Rhythm or maybe an aage your
pattern okay and you you also so don't
have to be afraid of moving this G
around you can go to other notes of the
G Major scale which it is right
now you could do it based on what you
prefer the whole idea is to keep that
anchor note that's the banjo like
technique
okay so now G was at the bottom what if
G is at the
top pretty much the same it's just that
your anchor note will end up being the
pinky
start with ap
juice and then maybe realign the accent
pattern or the phrasing of the arpeo
maybe one 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1
2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1
this is tough for me so in some cases I
might try but you want to do it such
that you're not straining your hand it's
within an octave okay so that was g at
the top and then you have G in the
middle so G in the middle will be an
interesting way of playing thirds in the
sense if this is the second inversion if
you just take away the root for the time
being you find that it's it's not b and
the upper D it's B and the lower D so
they are actually a sixth interval apart
or if it was a minor third it would now
be a major 6th with from D to b or we
can even call this as spread thirds
close thirds and bring that down in
octave spread thirds okay
so keep your anchor G and
then okay you're literally playing a C
major chord with an anchor G
here but check this
out you get this sort of a voicing where
you want to still anchor the
G the idea is find that g find the
Anchor Point and just keep it ringing
so G's at the bottom
G is at the
top G is in the middle okay so these are
your options to play and improvise over
the G major cord over the G Major scale
now if this becomes g mix
solian becomes a bit rocken roll if you
ask me
you can do a little bit of a third slide
there cuz I don't I'm not doing that F
sh I'm doing the F because it's mixian
so the thirds adjust
themselves that's a major and that's
your minor and they adjust themselves
based on the scale so for
major for
mixian okay and then for mixian flat
s you have that flat six in there right
[Music]
see that's your major
sixth that's your minor
so right so in a nutshell you have the G
major chord as your home base you're
finding a scale to improvise on so in
this lesson we've taken three major like
scales that would be the
major mixian miolan flat six and then we
form Thirds with respect to all these
three scales and then improvise by
floating the thirds and retting the
static nature of the root the root will
not change however the position of the
root depending on the inversion of the
starting chord can be root position
first inversion and second inversion
okay so to move forward let's just try
this out on the a minor and see where we
go from there now a minor would be your
home base what are all the minor
sounding scales first of all you can do
your natural
minor a minor would be the sixth mode or
the sixth degree of the c major scale
and to form it it has a flat three and a
flat 6 and a flat 7
you can also do an A harmonic minor over
this A minor
chord that has a normal seven or a raise
7eventh with respect to the Natural
Minor natural minor would be this so you
we say we raise it to the seventh or
else you can remember a harmonic minor
is three flat six flat and that's about
it
another minor scale which I'd like to
sneak in which is a scale I enjoy is the
Dorian
scale so that has a normal six or a
major sixth or you can say the sixth got
raised from natural
minor and then a flat 7 and a flat three
all minor scales will have a flat three
and will work very well over the minor
chord you could even sneak in a Fran
scale
it has a very exotic sound with that B
flat in
there okay but I'll stick with the three
I gave you natural
minor harmonic
minor
Dorian okay now let's take the a cord or
the a minor cord is the home base a is
at the bottom position it could so
easily be at the top position and it
could so easily be in the middle
position depending on the inversion and
then you can start
improvising minor upper third to the DF
then the
EG and to access more thirds you can
invert it by playing the A on
[Music]
top I'm trying to also copy the thirds
in my left hand I think it sounds a lot
more rememberable
and then a in the middle
now the idea is to keep that ringing
can get some nice lines some very moving
Harmony literally moving Harmony because
it's not a minor for so long you know
it's a minor with a almost a Melody
going around it
[Music]
you you can probably revisit the same
thing with a different perspective the
perspective is given by different Basse
note
[Music]
okay and then we can improvise or
explore the harmonic minor
perhaps so
maybe a at the
top okay and then a
so so this is your default position
first inversion
you could get a cord progression
actually you don't even have to know
what those cords are well eventually you
probably
should maybe an E
suso D Minor you also get a bunch of Cs
by just anchoring One Note
and now coming to
Dorian that's your Dorian note you need
to have that with a minor third that's
your major six with a minor
third maybe a in
the maybe a at the
top right so we've kept the approach
pretty much the same anchor the root
invert the uh base card major or minor
you have three uh anchor points low
middle and high and then you just
freestyle improv or compose or what ever
the word is you could either look at it
as a fast composition which could be
improv or a slow improvisation which is
a composition so have a freestyle
approach record yourself going you never
know you might make some music which
even you will forget because In the Heat
of the Moment anything some art will
come out of you so try to record it as
you go along you can use a simple voice
recorder on a cell phone you know which
works completely fine and you can then
revisit these recordings the next
morning and just see maybe there's a a
gem in there which you can find and use
for a a finished product for a whole
song so I would generally like to
believe that this is an environment to
be creative in and most of the musical
environments you will find have some
kind of rules okay so you need to start
with a scale we have a cord we have an
inversion well in this case three
positions or three inversions and then
we just float the thirds now how we
float the thirds keeping the static root
is your creativity so I think that's a
very disciplined approach and whenever
you follow that disciplined respectful
approach towards jamming or having fun
on the piano it ends up always becoming
a finished product so to speak right
guys hope you found the lesson useful
don't forget to get the notes on our
patreon page it's a downloadable PDF and
do stay stay tuned for our upcoming
lessons we release regular tutorials at
the rate of twice a week and that's been
going on for a few years now on our
website you can reach our Co advisor by
filling up a form and we can customize
hopefully a six month or even a one year
or more than that semester which can
hopefully serve your learning
requirements right guys thanks a ton for
watching the video cheers
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