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More often than not, jazz musicians will struggle with "making the changes" on a blues chorus. I believe this is due to the fact that the musician has never transcribed or memorized a perfect blues chorus which is why their inner ear doesn't understand the sounds of the resolving 3rds and 7ths. Once you have the following resolutions firmly imbedded into your inner ear you can begin to improvise freely yet make yourself target the important resolutions. For this exercise, try to memorize these 2 blues solos to build the aural foundation required to play the blues well. I also suggest putting your "favorite blues chorus" in all 12 keys because it will teach you a lot with regards to resolving chord changes and targeting color tones.

3rd

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J

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G7

Memorize the following Blues Chorus

3rd 3rd

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œ#- œ¯

C7 C#o7

3rd b7

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œ œb œ

G7

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œ œ œb œ

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b79th.œ j

œ œ œ œb

C9

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3rd˙ ˙

GMaj7 3rd b93rdœ œ œ œ œ#

œ œ œ

Bm7(b5) E7(b9)

Harmonic Minor Scale (A)

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3rd

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Amin7

Charlie ParkerVocabulary Lick

3rd b9

œ#œœnœ œ#

œb œœb

D7(b9)3rdœnœ œ

œ œœœ

G69

G Blues Pentatonic Stock Vocabulary

∑

&Ó ‰

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3

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G7

Standard Rotation to the 5th Scale Degree

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C7 C#o7

Memorize the following Blues Chorus

Rotation

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G7

b7

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3

œœœœ œb œœ

Dmin7 G7(b9)

HarmonicScale

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œb .œJ

œb

C7

3rd to 7b blues sound

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J

œ

3rd to 7b blues sound

3rdœn œ œ œ

œ œ^

GMaj7

J

œ œ

J

œ>œ œ œ

E7b9#9

Bm7(b5)

b9 #9 of E7

&

3

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Amin73rd

Rotation to the A

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œb œnœ œ

D7b9#9

3rd to the b9standard sound

b9 #9 3rd

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œ œœ

GMaj

Standard blues penatonic lick (or word).

∑

Memorizing A Perfect Blues-Chorus To Learn The Sounds Of The Resolving 3rds and 7ths

(Copyright@The Jazz Education Store 2006 / Purchase the complete Ultimate Jazz Tool Kit and matching Ultimate Music Workbook at http://www.jazz-studies.com)

by Scott Wilson