FUQ (eff -yu - cue) - FAQ's with an EDGE

Tagged As: Jazz Guitar Scale

Question:
I have a question for all you jazz guitarists out there. When you improvise over some chords changes (let's say in My Favorite Things or Well You Needn't), do you usually pick a scale and solo over it, or do you pick notes out of all the chords and make melodies out of those? I'm a bit confused because I can play the heads, but when it gets into open space I just kind of freeze up. I can't get an scales to sound right at all. Also, when playing, do you play by patterns or do you know which note you're actually going to play. I'd imagine that horn and reed players would know the actual notes they're playing, but in my guitar experience I normally play by pattens on the fretboard because I come from a blues background. So do you think 'ok i'll play a g diminished over this G chord then a C major over this Cmaj7th' like that and then know each note in the scale/chord?

Answer:
I can only speak for myself, of course, as there's no right way to do it. I tend to think chord tones first, and the notes in between may be scale tones or passing tones. Some chords scream out what scale they need, and others can seem to be a little more ambiguous. I also, at times, may plan ahead and play a Gdim. over this G chord, and also use what you might think of as patterns, but they'll be patterns to play outside notes with, such as Coltrane Changes used as superimposition: Cmaj-->Eb7| Abmaj-->B7| Emaj-->G7| Cmaj, etc., etc. A lick like that may be more chord tones, and actually may be more of a pattern, but not as much a set fretboard pattern, but an interval pattern, as it can be in different keys. So your answer to all of these would be yes at different times