Matching Scales And Chords In Jazz
Have you ever wondered how we find out which scales to play over which chords? This article should help you. A recent comment on the site asked the question of
“How do you know which scales go with which chords?”
This is a really problematic area for many new jazz players but it need not be. The idea of finding which scale to use over which chord is actually fairly simple but confuses a lot of people. I will do some more articles on this topic in the future. For now let’s take a look at how we find out which scales to play over a simple dominant 7 chord.
Every scale can be made into a series of chords. The basic idea is that if the notes of a chord exist “in” a scale then you can play that scale over that chord. By this I mean that if all of the notes of the dominant 7 chord exist in a scale then you can play that scale over that chord. All of this sounds much more confusing than it actually is.
Let’s look at a simple example.
The notes of the C mixolydian scale are
C D E F G A Bb
The notes of the C7 chord are
C E G Bb
Look carefully at this and think hard about it. It is the essence of what we are talking about here. If you look at the C7 chord and the C mixolydian scale you will see that all the notes in the C7 chord exist in the C mixolydian scale. Because the notes of the C7 chord exist in the first chord of the C mixolydian scale we can be sure that the C7 chord defines the harmony of the mixolydian scale.
As a general rule, if you can find the notes of a chord in a scale then you can play that chord over that scale. For example you could also find a C9 chord (C E G Bb D) within the C mixolydian scale. Therefore you can play a Mixolydian scale over a C9 chord. All this comes down to really is knowing what chords are in a scale and also knowing which notes are in a chord. This knowledge will come with practice. If you don’t have the patience to learn all of this information then you could just learn to remember which scales go with which chords.
Let’s look at another example. You could also play the C Lydian b7 scale over a C7 chord. Let’s see why by looking at the notes of the C Lydian b7 scale and comparing them to a simple C7 chord.
The notes of the C Lydian b7 scale are
C D E F# G A Bb
The notes of a C7 chord are
C E G Bb
Again we can play the C Lydian b7 scale over a C dominant 7 chord because the Lydian b7 scale contains all the notes of a dominant 7 chord.
This is just a simple introduction to this topic and I hope it helps you get started. In the future lessons I will write out all the scales you can play over certain chords and explain this idea a bit further.
The most common scales to play over a dominant 7 chord are
C Mixolydian
C Major Pentatonic
C Lydian b7
Take your time with this idea and really think about it. Jazz theory isn’t nearly as difficult to understand as it first appears. Always think of a chord as being made up of the notes from a scale.
7 Responses to “Matching Scales And Chords In Jazz”
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great info, thanks for the explanation.
ThankYou,
Your explanation was concise and “user friendly.” I have been a musician for about thirty years, and am excited to understand and apply this aspect of theory in my endeavors towards learning to improvise at a higher or rather more creative level. Thankyou once again and I am looking forward to your next article on this subject.
Scott L. Sumner
Thank you for a very simple, understandable explanation!
Look at Mark Levine’s explanation. Chords are ’simultaneous’ scales, but with connector notes missing. Which connector notes you choose (that is, which scale) will determine the aural effect of your improvisation over a particular chord (leaving aside non-diatonic possibilities). Some connecting notes sound consonant, others less so. You get to choose based on your taste.
For example, CMaj7 is CEGB. You could play any scale which contains those tones with that chord, but with differing aesthetic results.
Partial explanations and people’s personal systems of understanding this stuff have confused me for so many years. I’ve wasted a lot of time trying to get my head around stuff which is actually quite simple, and not set in stone. If the same lack of system was prevalent in science, we’d still be in caves… Why can’t we all agree on a solid, rational approach to these musical basics?
Hi Greg.
While I agree in part and understand what Mark Levine is saying it is not realistic to jump from one abstract scale to another when playing jazz. What you refer to is more of a modal or free jazz idea. If you were stuck on a static Cmaj7 chord for a long time this idea works well and you can use this idea to get more “outside” on the chord. In a practical situation there are logical scale choices that will almost always be used in certain situations.
We can’t agree on a simple approach because every situation must be treated differently. If you have ever played a bebop tune where chords are changing every second or so you will know what I mean by having the need for a system of scale choices.
Also if you are just matching scales based on the scale containing the notes of a chord like you said you improvisation would start to sound very “odd” and would make little sense to the listener’s ear.
You can get experimental on a 7 chord but not so much on other chords. If you try using that approach over a m7 or Maj7 chord it would just sound wrong.
There is a system actually for choosing which scales to use over which chords. In the next lesson I will perhaps write out a chart of scale choices. In reality there aren’t that many choices for Maj7 chords, min7 chords, m7b5 chords etc. The only time we get a lot of choice is over dominant 7 chords where it doesn’t matter so much how dissonant the scale you are using sounds. Let’s look at a major7 chord for example. In a practical situation there are only two real scale choices.
Over a C Maj7 chord 99 times out of a 100 you would choose either a major scale or a Lydian mode. That’s it really. No other scale choices make much sense in the context of a tune or chord progression. The same applies for m7 chord. Again you would choose either a Dorian mode for a jazzy sound, a minor scale for a more basic sound or perhaps a phrygian for a dark and unusual sound. Again there aren’t many choices here.
There is a hierarchy of logic to each scale based on what a listener is used to hearing. For example over a Cmaj7 chord the most obvious choice is a simple major scale followed by a Lydian scale. Although there are “other” scales that “could” make sense from a purely technical point of view they would sound very strange and dissonant to a listener. If you did this too often if would start to sound like you were just playing random notes over each chord.
That’s my take on it.
Thanks for your thoughtful reply, Owain. I really appreciate you taking the time to consider what I said so carefully. I don’t think we really disagree, and you are clearly more experienced in Jazz than me (I’m a fingerstyle classical/wannabe jazz guitarist). I would love to have a more extended discussion, but can’t bear to write it all out with my 2 finger typing method.
Why don’t we disagree? Well, two things, for a start:
1. You say ‘What people are used to hearing.”(paraphrase) Yes, I completely accept that in real situations, we mix up conventional sounds with perhaps little risks of unexpectedness, in other aspects of music as well as note choice, to keep people interested. So the major and Lydian over MA7 are usually the thing, and other choices sound more or less weird: as you say, there is a hierarchy of weirdness, but this is culturally subjective (Phrygian doesn’t sound at all weird to me, it just begs to be Spanish!)
2. You talk about a sequence of chords. One example:if we are soloing over 1 followed by ii, those chords include all the notes of the C scale, so it makes sense to use it.
I like the idea of degrees of tension, all the way to ‘avoid’ notes. I have quite a conventional ear, so I certainly go ‘ouch’ when I hit one of these. But other people, especially some jazz musicians, get habituated to things which are far out for me and actually hear them as more consonant, I think.
Very Best, Greg Smith
Very Best, Greg Smith
I have a computer program (do people still say “computer program”) called Chord Wizard Gold that has a feature(s) that will generate keys for certain notes or chords etc…
Of course, I’d eventually like to be able to do that in my head, on the fly.
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