One Cool Warmup.....Comin' Up!!
Here's a nifty little chromatic warmup exercise, great for getting those icicles out of your fingers any time of the year.
It can be worked in over a iii-VI-ii-V7-I (in C: E-7 A7 / D-7 G7 / C / C ) progression, and the breakdown is pretty straightforward.
Question: What's 4 measures long, contains all 12 notes, includes a descending Maj7+5 arpeggio, a descending dim7 arpeggio and ends on the Major 3rd of the key?
Uhhhhhh............Give up?
Just keep on reading and the truth shall reveal itself (...and maybe even set you free!).
It can be worked in over a iii-VI-ii-V7-I (in C: E-7 A7 / D-7 G7 / C / C ) progression, and the breakdown is pretty straightforward.
Question: What's 4 measures long, contains all 12 notes, includes a descending Maj7+5 arpeggio, a descending dim7 arpeggio and ends on the Major 3rd of the key?
Uhhhhhh............Give up?
Just keep on reading and the truth shall reveal itself (...and maybe even set you free!).
As mentioned previously, it's pretty straight ahead.
In line 1, measure #1, the exercise kicks off on the tonic of the key (C in line 1), ascends chromatically in 3 groups of 4 sixteenth notes (functioning harmonically as E-7 to an A7), descending from C as a C#M7+5 arpeggio, which over A, completes the A7(#9 b13).
It then leads smoothly and chromatically up to the tonic of the D-7 in measure #2, again ascending, as in bar 1, chromatically in 3 groups of 4 sixteenth notes, before falling back down in the form of an F dim7 arpeggio (G7b9), only to connect with the C Maj tonic chord in measure #3, stepwise via a D# (Eb) minor third with bluesacious (blues scale) flavor, climbing the heights, once more semitone-wise, to the Maj 7th (B) as the first 16th note of the 3rd group of four, before sliding back down to a G, where we wave "hi" on the way by to Thelonious; and, like a "Blue Monk", we then conclude our chant, only to repeat it often.
Ahhhh!..........I can feel the heat coming back on already.
In line 1, measure #1, the exercise kicks off on the tonic of the key (C in line 1), ascends chromatically in 3 groups of 4 sixteenth notes (functioning harmonically as E-7 to an A7), descending from C as a C#M7+5 arpeggio, which over A, completes the A7(#9 b13).
It then leads smoothly and chromatically up to the tonic of the D-7 in measure #2, again ascending, as in bar 1, chromatically in 3 groups of 4 sixteenth notes, before falling back down in the form of an F dim7 arpeggio (G7b9), only to connect with the C Maj tonic chord in measure #3, stepwise via a D# (Eb) minor third with bluesacious (blues scale) flavor, climbing the heights, once more semitone-wise, to the Maj 7th (B) as the first 16th note of the 3rd group of four, before sliding back down to a G, where we wave "hi" on the way by to Thelonious; and, like a "Blue Monk", we then conclude our chant, only to repeat it often.
Ahhhh!..........I can feel the heat coming back on already.
B. Stern
RSS Feed
