Why Does a Ballad Ending Chord Sound Like a Tritone Substitution That Isn’t One?
The #ivm7b5 chord you hear right before a jazz ballad resolves isn't technically a tritone substitution — but it shares the exact same upper-structure triad as the tonic 6 chord it comes from, which is why it behaves like one anyway.
How Did Wes Montgomery Build a Solo? Single Line, Octaves, Chord Solo — One Arc on Gone with the Wind
Wes Montgomery's solos climb in three layers — single line, octaves, chord solo — and land back in chord melody. Transcribing that whole arc, not one chorus, is what teaches his technique.
Guitar? Three Upper Structures Over One ii-V-IWhat Is Superimposition on Jazz
Over Cm7–F7–Bbmaj7 the band plays those chords and you play Ebmaj7, F# minor and Gm. That is superimposition: your harmony sits on top of theirs, and the melody decides which tensions are allowed.
re Does a Jazz Blues Actually Need Dominant Function? Three Spots, Not Twelve BarsWhe
Every chord in a jazz blues is a dominant 7th, but dominant function lives in only three places — bars 4, 8 and 12. Play the upper structure there and rest inside the tonic elsewhere.
Why Do Wes Montgomery Transcriptions Sound Wrong When You Play Them?
Most jazz guitar transcriptions get the noteheads right and the guitar wrong — wrong positions, wrong voicings, wrong concept. The reliable sources are the recording and the line's underlying logic.
Jazz Blues From the Voicings? Find the Dominant Function FirstHow Do You Solo Over a
Every chord in a 12-bar blues is a dominant 7th, but only a few carry dominant function — bar 4 heading into the IV, the V chord, and the turnaround. Hear those moments, then solo from the voicings themselves: minor upper structures on the I and IV, a half-step slide into each target, and the Wes Montgomery line through the 2-5.
Play Upper Structures Over a Minor ii-V-I? Move One NoteHow Do You
Take the root off a Gm7b5 and you are holding a B♭ minor triad. Drop one note a half step and that triad becomes B♭ diminished — which is C7. A whole minor ii-V-I, played as two triads and one moving voice.
Why Can You Play the Same Notes Over Cm7 and EbMaj7? One Shape, Two Chords
Drop the root from Cm7 and an EbMaj7 triad is left — which is why the vocabulary you built two bars earlier still works. Upper structures, the chromatic slide into Bbm, and the common tone line turn one shape into a whole chorus.
sition? Playing Your Own Changes Over the Band’sWhat Is Superimpo
Superimposition means playing your own chord changes on top of the band's — and it's earned through voice leading, not license. How half-step upper-structure moves create the altered sound and outside colors that still resolve.
How Do You Get the Altered Sound Without the Altered Scale?
Every altered tension — b9, #9, b13 — is available without practicing the altered scale: play the upper structure a half step above your target and resolve down. Plus the common-tone lines that glue it together.
How Do You Hear a Chord Change When Only One Note Moves? Upper Structures and the Announcing Note
Drop the root and Fmaj7 becomes an A minor triad. From there, most chord changes are carried by a single moving line — find the one fresh note that announces the change and target it in your solo.
How Do You Connect the Changes on a Blues? Wes Montgomery’s Diagonal Line in The Thumb
Connecting the changes on a blues means your line travels with the harmony instead of parking in one position. Wes Montgomery's own blues 'The Thumb' is a masterclass: a riff-and-groove tune whose whole engine is diagonal movement across the fretboard.
lo Over All The Things You Are Without Thinking in Scales? Five Chords, Two ShapesHow Do You So
The first five chords of All The Things You Are reduce to two upper-structure shapes: Fm7 becomes A♭maj7, B♭m7 becomes D♭maj7, and E♭7 is just D♭maj7 with one note lowered. Here is the full walkthrough plus the diatonic circle-of-fifths practice sequence.
Jazz Guitar Upper Structures: How a Dominant Chord Borrows the Next Chord’s Sound
The altered, dominant-function sound on a jazz blues comes from one move: voice the target chord's upper structure a half-step above and slide it down. Here's the logic — and how George Benson used it.
Pull Triad Pairs Out of a Diminished ChordJazz Guitar Upper Structures: How to
A single diminished shape hides a whole family of triad pairs. Replace each diminished chord tone with the whole-step tension above it and major triads fall out — ready to chain into altered-dominant lines, as on Stella by Starlight.
From Swing to Odd Meters: How Two-Against-Three Unlocks 5/4 and Metric Modulation
Once you hear swing as two-against-three, odd meters stop being intimidating. The same polyrhythmic pulse lets you play Wes Montgomery tunes in 5/4 and pivot a 3/4 waltz into swinging 4/4 mid-solo.
Jazz Guitar Voice Leading: Soloing Through I’ll Be Seeing You With Guide Tones and the Wes Line
To solo with voice leading on I'll Be Seeing You, treat the Ebmaj7 as a Cm6, choose your fretboard position with the Wes Line, and move guide tones smoothly between chords. The first eight bars and second eight share the same voice-leading shape.
With Upper-Structure Triads by Harmonizing the MelodyHow to Solo
Upper-structure triads aren't random color — they come from harmonizing the melody first. Lock the tune's melody into a chord-melody, then play the triads that sit on top of each chord to build a solo that still sings.
Jazz Guitar Upper Structures: How Shell Voicings Become Rootless Upper-Structure Voicings
Upper structures aren't a separate subject — they grow out of shell voicings. Drop the root from a 1-3-7 shell, raise the guide tones into tensions, and you're already playing upper-structure, rootless voicings.
Jazz Guitar Upper Structures: How Inner Urge Reveals the Hidden Drop 2 Map
Joe Henderson's Inner Urge looks complex, but every chord is a Drop 2 upper-structure voicing in disguise. Decoding the map turns the tune into one of the easiest in the modern jazz canon.