intermediate

The Chief is a really nice tune Pat Metheny wrote and recorded on a CD called Reunion, with Gary Burton. I made this video clip for one of Tony's Vibe Hangs, and decided to post it here too.

I've included links to the Lead Sheet and an mp3 of the Piano Accompaniment to use to practice the tune.

Cheers!

This piece, a sarabande from Sonata IV in D minor, is a slow thoughtful piece and a good 4 mallet exercise. Use the 4 mallets for melody lines as well the block chords. For instance, in bar 6 you’ll find it handy to use 4 to play the wide intervals in the line. The same approach should be used in bar 23 where the melody line jumps around a lot.

Hey guys here is part 3 where I discuss one Upper structure triad option you can use for a V7 chord moving to a Minor i chord.
If you are in the key of C- the triad over the G7 would be Ebmaj. so a maj triad built off of the b6 scale degree.

Try it out!
Also check out part 1 and 2 of the series:

TRADUCCIÓN AL ESPAÑOL PARA ESTUDIANTES

In Part 2 of my Upper Structure series I use a Maj Triad built off of the 7th scale degree of a Major 7 chord.
So if we are playing a Cmaj the upper structure would be a Bmaj triad.
I use this mainly to suspend the Maj7th chord. So instead of directly playing C maj I play a Bmaj Triad and then play the C maj chord.

Check out the video and if you have any questions please post them!

TRADUCCIÓN AL ESPAÑOL PARA ESTUDIANTES

This part I focus on using one upper structure triad and mixing it with the 4 notes of the dominant 7 chord to create a melodic fragment.

I will use the key of C as an example in parenthesis.
In summary, we are using a Maj Triad built off of the 6th scale degree of a V7 chord that leads to I. This could be the V7 of a ii-V7-I. (D-7 G7 Cmaj)
The idea to make the melodic fragment is to use the 4 notes of the V7.
I III V VII (G, B, D, F) and mix them with the notes of a Maj triad built off of the 6th scale degree of the V7(G7). So an Emaj triad. E, G#, B.

This is for Barry! Here's a slow mo' of 4 in 1 with a really nice stick drop at the end. (Inside joke for long time, vibesworkshop members).

Maybe this will be of some help with the etude.

I left the sticks after the throw up there for all to examine. You see I can tell the future by how the sticks fall onto the vibes. And I see a lot of good vibe playing in the future for everyone based on that throw.

here is part 3 where I discuss improvising using the upper structure triads on the dominant chords for "My One and Only Love"...

For example...
In the A section you have a B-7b5 to E7 to A-....
for the E7 I use a G triad as the upper structure so the voicing looks like this:
G# B D G moving to an A C E for minor.
Now when improvising try to create melodies that utilize the notes from an E7 (E G# B D) and mix in a G triad (G B D) so it might look like G G# B D E. Move around the octaves and try to make melodies that resolve to the A minor chord.

In Part 2 I talk about the specifics on how to use the triads with the dominant 7 chords to create harmonic movement.

For example.

The G7 on the 2nd measure would have an E triad as the upper structure. So voicing it out would look like this:
G B F G# B E
this chord moves to an A- so if you just take the G# B and E and move them to A C E you have a really nice movement to the minor sound!

Sorry for the low audio for my speaking...if it is too low I can type it out for you guys if you want.