jazz piano course online: lesson 17

Lesson 17 of my jazz piano course online.

My jazz piano course online has over 30 videos and here’s a summary of lesson 17. This jazz piano lesson combines your knowledge of rootless voicings (lesson 15) and tritone substitution (lesson 16). Learn to improvise with my clear and methodical method. I show you how to use these techniques with II-V-I and I-VI-II-V (turnaround) sequences. Then we put all this to work using the chord chart of Fly Me To The Moon. This should all be ready by the end of next week. Here’s the link to available lessons.

Link to my jazz course

• Question: Which two notes link rootless voicings with tritone substitution?
• Answer: 3 and 7.

If we remove all non-essential notes from a rootless II – V – I sequence we arrive at fig 1

Fig 1

Dmin⁷ = 3 + 7

G⁷ = 7 + 3

Cmaj⁷ = 3 + 7 (7 no longer has the same harmonic function in this major 7 chord.)

Tritone substitution occurs when one dominant 7 replaces another, three whole-steps away from its original

Therefore, the tritone substitute of G⁷ is Db⁷.

We have also learnt that both chords contain the same two notes: 3 and 7.

• 3 and 7 of G⁷ is B and F.
• 3 and 7 of D^b7 is F and B.

This means that when we play figs 1 and 2, these 2 notes represent both G⁷ and D^b7.

Fig 2

Happy playing, Paul