In The Big Secret I mentioned that chords are grouped into “tonal families.” This is a term that I have invented to describe the way chords are related–and the importance of understanding those relationships can’t be overemphasized. I’m writing a few pages to explain how tonal families work.

Some of these concepts will be old information to experienced musicians. But I’ll start near the beginning and perhaps somewhere along the line it will make sense as applied to jazz improvisation.

The first thing to thoroughly understand is the concept of scales and keys–a fundamental of music theory which tells musicians which notes are natural, sharps or flats in any given key “signature.” For example, to play in the key of D major all the Cs and Fs are sharped. So, if you play a scale starting on the note D–and raise each C to C# and each F to F# you’ll be sounding a D Major scale.

For convenience, most music written in the Key of D Major will have two sharps in the key signature–and that signature will be repeated at the beginning of every line in the tune until the composer changes it. It’s common for composers to create melodies with notes outside the key signature, and that’s when he uses “accidentals” to temporarily change the notes to sharp (♯), flat (♭), or natural (♮). By convention, these changes last only for the measure in which they occur, and the notes revert back to what’s indicated by the key signature at the bar line.

But here’s something you may not have realized: Every accidental changes the key you’re playing in. The accidentals are the composer’s way of changing the Tonal Center (another way of saying “key”) for the space in which the accidentals are in place. And here’s something else: If there are chord symbols in the tune, they will usually change to reflect the new, temporary key. Most music written for horns doesn’t have chord symbols, but if it did, you’d see “the changes” written to indicate THE SCALE HAS CHANGED. (Yes, that again!)

As you may know, the key of C Major has NO sharps or flats, and there are 12 possible major scales, each starting on one of the white or black notes on a piano. Each scale has it’s own key signature, and as long as you play “in the key” all the notes will sound “right” in the context of that major scale/key. So, in the key of D major, playing a C or F natural will sound “funny” in most contexts. However, if the composer wants to temporarily change the key to C major, all the Cs and Fs will have a natural (♮) sign in front of them in the measures where the tonal center has changed from D Major to C Major. And if there are chord symbols over those passages, then they will change from chords which naturally occur in the key of D to those which are native to the key of C.

An important thing for JAZZ IMPROVISERS to remember is that the notes in the melody may NOT be the ones that need accidentals when the composer wishes to change the tonal center of a tune. For example, if the melody in a given measure is the note G natural, the composer may freely change the tonal center to ANY KEY containing a G natural but you will never see an accidental in the melody to indicate that the tonal center has changed. If you stick to the melody, you’ll play a right note. But if the tonal center is now in C major, you’ll need to play the Fs and Cs as natural in your solo in that measure. In other words, the melody notes are not enough to know the tonal center.

That’s why, if you simply try to embellish the melody while soloing you are likely to get into trouble. This is the “old” way improvising, and it will always tie the soloist to the melody and prevent the freedom that comes from exploring the harmonic content of the tune. At worst, it turns into simple melodic “noodling,” and is of little interest to players or listeners. It may seem to work at some level, but it doesn’t result from true understanding or exploration of the “guts” of a tune. (We have Charlie Parker and the bebop revolution to thank for truly opening the door to this profound understanding of music. More on this in future articles…)

So, the melody is only a partial guide to improvising, but the CHORD SYMBOL (if present, as it is in all jazz fake books or over “open for solos” sections in Big Band charts), tells you which SCALE is used in that location. And that opens the doors for a wealth of possibilities.

This understanding makes it imperative that improvisers be fluent and instant to play scales on their instruments in ALL keys. And the 12 major scales are only the beginning, as there are 36 minor scales, blues scales, pentatonic scales, diminished, augmented, half-diminished, and more!

But don’t be discouraged by that…it all comes with time. Just being able to play all the major scales is a HUGE advantage in soloing and will take you a LONG way. The problem is, most players–even very good ones–can only really play fluently in about half the major keys. But jazz uses them ALL, so break out those method books and get blowing…

Ciao for now,

Dave