Harmony

🎵 Play A Great Rhythm Changes In 3 Months – Week 2

Last week, we focused on learning the form and internalizing a set of common rhythm changes voicings. The rhythm was intentionally simple so all of our attention could be placed on the harmony.

This week, we're continuing that approach.

👉 The focus is still harmony, not rhythm.

The written rhythm remains simple because we're trying to build a larger vocabulary of voicings before we start introducing rhythmic comping concepts.

🚨 New Series Alert – Play A Great Rhythm Changes In 3 Months

Over the past few months, we worked through Play A Great Blues In 3 Months, building a complete approach to the blues through comping, guide tones, lines, vocabulary, melodies, and chord melody.

Now it's time for the next challenge:

👉 Rhythm Changes

If the blues is one of the foundational forms in jazz, rhythm changes is the next major milestone.

I will do a chord melody and either post it here, or as a separate post. 

🚨 Play a Great Blues in 3 Months – Week 14

We’ve covered a lot over the course of this series:

• Guide tones
• Blues comping
• Chromaticism
• Whole tone and diminished language
• Chord melody textures
• Harmonic movement underneath simple melodies

For our final lesson, we bring many of those ideas together using:

👉 “The Intimacy of the Blues”

This arrangement continues the idea of using a relatively simple melody as a framework for richer harmonic movement underneath.

This week introduces:

🚨 Play a Great Blues in 3 Months – Week 13

Over the last few weeks, we’ve been combining blues melodies with chord voicings and moving toward a fuller chord melody approach.

This week, we use a very simple melody:

👉 “C Jam Blues”

Because the melody is so minimal, it gives us room to focus on something else:

👉 Dense harmonic movement underneath the melody

This lesson introduces several important concepts:

My mantra is 'Does it Sound LIKE THE SONG". If you remember that you have to make it sound like the song first and foremost then all your practicing is with that in mind. 

🚨 Play a Great Blues in 3 Months – Week 12

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been working with blues melodies and combining them with chord voicings—moving toward a more complete, chord melody approach.

This week, we introduce a new tune:

👉 “Sonnymoon for Two”

This melody has a slightly different character than Bag’s Groove—it’s more rhythmically active and sits differently against the harmony.

In this version, you’ll notice:

🚨 Play a Great Blues in 3 Months – Week 11

Last week, we started working with a real tune—“Bag’s Groove”—combining the melody with chord voicings in the spaces.

This week, we take that idea a step further.

👉 We move toward a more chord melody approach.

In this version, you’ll notice:

• Some melody notes are now harmonized with chords
• Additional voicings fill out the texture
• Certain harmonies are slightly modified for a fuller sound
• The line and harmony are more integrated

🚨 Play a Great Blues in 3 Months – Week 10

Up to this point, we’ve been building a blues vocabulary through:

• Guide tones
• Chromaticism
• Augmented, diminished, and whole tone sounds
• Full chorus line studies

This week, we shift into something more practical:

👉 Applying these ideas to a real tune

We’re using the melody to “Bag’s Groove” as our starting point, and combining it with chord voicings in the spaces.

This is an important step.

Instead of thinking separately about:

🚨 Play a Great Blues in 3 Months – Week 9

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been expanding our line vocabulary using real jazz language:

• Guide tones
• Chromaticism
• Augmented sounds

This week, we take another important step by focusing on two essential dominant sounds:

👉 Whole tone
👉 Diminished

These sounds show up constantly in jazz improvisation, especially over dominant chords, and they create a strong sense of tension and forward motion.