Jazz Improvising - Key of D

So you've learnt your scales, you have good rhythm and you're been playing a few licks here and there. Now it's time to put the theory into practice. This improvisation MP3 uses the D Major & B Minor scales with a definite Jazz flavour to it. So get your George Benson fingers ready and see what you can do with this backing track.

Audio

Track Name: Bensoonal

Chord Progression

|D Maj7 |Bm7   |Em7    |A7    |
|D Maj7 |Bm7   |Em7    |A7    |

|F#m7   |Bm7   |F#m7   |Bm7   |
|F#m7   |Bm7   |C      |G/B   |
|A      |A7    |

Scales

Use the D Major Pentatonic Scale...

R = Lowest Root Note
r = root note (other)

---|-o-|---|---|-r-|---
---|-o-|---|---|-o-|---
---|-r-|---|-o-|---|---
---|-o-|---|-o-|---|---
---|-o-|---|-o-|---|---
---|-o-|---|---|-R-|---

R --> starts on the 10th fret (D Major Pentatonic)

...or the D Major Scale

---|-o-|-r-|---|---|---
---|---|-o-|---|-o-|---
---|-o-|---|-o-|-o-|---
---|-o-|---|-o-|-r-|---
---|-o-|-o-|---|-o-|---
---|---|-R-|---|-o-|---

R --> starts on the 10th fret (D Major)

...or the B Minor Scale (Relative Minor)

---|---|---|-r-|---|-o-|-o-|---|---
---|---|---|-o-|-o-|---|-o-|---|---
---|---|-o-|-o-|---|-o-|---|---|---
---|-o-|---|-o-|---|-r-|---|---|---
---|-o-|---|-o-|---|-o-|---|---|---
---|-o-|---|-R-|---|-o-|---|---|---

R --> starts on the 7th fret (B Minor)

Scale: D Major

1 - [T] - 2 - [T] - 3 - <S> - 4 - [T] - 5 - [T] - 6 - [T] - 7 - <S> - 8

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
G A B C# D E F# G

Scale: B Minor

1 - [T] - 2 - <S> - 3 - [T] - 4 - [T] - 5 - <S> - 6 - [T] - 7 - [T] - 8

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
B C# D E F# G A B

Chord Key Relation (Common chords used in this key)

Degree
Formula
Chords
Chord
Formula *
Chord
Notes *
Progression
Chords
Chord
Formula **
Chord
Notes **
1st Major
D Major
1-3-5
D-F#-G
D Maj7
1-3-5-7
D-F#-G-C#
2nd Minor
E Minor
1-3b-5
E-G-B
Em7
1-3b-5-7b
E-G-B-D
3rd Minor
F# Minor
1-3b-5
F#-A-C#
F#m7
1-3b-5-7b
F#-A-C#-E
4th Major
G Major
1-3-5
G-B-D
--
--
--
5th Major
A Major
1-3-5
A-C#-E
A7
1-3-5-7b
A-C#-E-G
6th Minor
B Minor
1-3b-5
B-D-F#
Bm7
1-3b-5-7b
B-D-F#-A
7th Diminished
C# Diminished
1-3b-5b
C#-E-G
--
--
--
8th Octave
D Major
1-3-5
D-F#-G
D Maj7
1-3-5-7
D-F#-G-C#
--
--
--
--
C Major
1-3-5
C-E-G

Above Table Glossary

Degree Formula - This is a formula that work out the chords used in any key
Chords - These are the common chords used in the key of D Major
Chord Formula * - This is the formula that creates chords, 1-3-5 representing the 1st, 3rd & 5th notes of any 8 note Major Scale
Chord Notes * - These are the notes created from the previous column, Chord Formula
Progression Chords - These are the chords used in the song
Chord Formula ** - This is the formula that creates the chords in the previous column
Chord Notes ** - These are the notes created from the previous column, Chord Formula

 

So you've learnt your scales, you have good rhythm and you're been playing a few licks here and there. Now it's time to put the theory into practice. This improvisation MP3 uses the D Major & B Minor scales with a definite Jazz flavour to it. So get your George Benson fingers ready and see what you can do with this backing track.

Member Login