[Bartok]

OK, confessions time. Having a weird schooling of rock, then jazz, then classical theory, no one ever told me what a vamp is and most of the definitions I can find through google are 'an improvised musical accompaniment' (yeah, thanks ) so can someone help me out?
Also, what are Coltrane changes? I've never really studied what he is doing. I guess I've never really paid much attention to 'formal' playing and just pinched the stuff I wanted at the time which in some ways is good, but also means there are lots of gaps in my theory.

[telecaster90]

A coltrane change is a series of ii-V-I's that modulate up a major third.

Coltrane changes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In Giant Steps, it goes like this.

Fm7-Bb7-Eb, then it modulates to Am7-D7-G, then modulates to C#m7-F#7-B, and ends up back at the Fm7-Bb7-Eb.

It doesn't work the same way as moving a diminished chord up a minor third and having a different voicing of the same chord, but that's what it reminds me of somehow.

And I think a vamp is just playing the chords in the background while somebody solos over it.

[jacksonplayer]

Originally Posted by telecaster90

And I think a vamp is just playing the chords in the background while somebody solos over it.

I usually think of it as playing just a single chord or maybe a two-chord progression in the background. Think of the classic Santana vi-II progression that he used in just about every solo.

[telecaster90]

Originally Posted by jacksonplayer

I usually think of it as playing just a single chord or maybe a two-chord progression in the background. Think of the classic Santana vi-II progression that he used in just about every solo.

Yeah, you can use the same diatonic scale over them. You could even use the same lick for the changes itself, just modulate up a major 3rd

[cvinos]

IIm7(9) V7(13) Imaj7 VI7(b13) is a basic and nice one.

Also try to combine different voicings of the chords.

Note the dominant at VI instead of a VIm7 that
the major scale (based at the I) would provide.
This way, when repeating the sequence, it gravitates
back to the II much stronger.


Also, when you have any progression, try some ruled
reharmonization, tritone substitution for dominants
for example, to explore other variants.
IIm7(9) bII7(#9) Imaj7 bIII7(9)

Or throw in an extra dominant at the
perfect fifth of the following chord.
IIm7 V7 Imaj7 III7 VI7
Here it could be quite usual to play the first three chords
for half a bar each, and the last two for a quarter, to get
an even number of bars and keep the harmonic flow in line.

Another way to change a progression is to replace
a chord by another one that is in the same "group"
(I don't know the correct English expression for this),
the possible groups here being the tonic, the sub-dominant
or the dominant-like chords. This is when relating to an
underlying scale. For example for a major scale, the chords
in the tonic-like-group are Imaj7, IIIm7 and VIm7.
So you could try to use those interchangeably.

Well, these are of course just a few possibilities,
shortly mentioned, that occur in standards.
I think those are worth to give a try and
play a bit with basic progressions.

[JBroll]

Take Five.

Jeff

[distressed_romeo]

Originally Posted by cvinos

IIm7(9) V7(13) Imaj7 VI7(b13) is a basic and nice one.

Also try to combine different voicings of the chords.

Note the dominant at VI instead of a VIm7 that
the major scale (based at the I) would provide.
This way, when repeating the sequence, it gravitates
back to the II much stronger.


Also, when you have any progression, try some ruled
reharmonization, tritone substitution for dominants
for example, to explore other variants.
IIm7(9) bII7(#9) Imaj7 bIII7(9)

Or throw in an extra dominant at the
perfect fifth of the following chord.
IIm7 V7 Imaj7 III7 VI7
Here it could be quite usual to play the first three chords
for half a bar each, and the last two for a quarter, to get
an even number of bars and keep the harmonic flow in line.

Another way to change a progression is to replace
a chord by another one that is in the same "group"
(I don't know the correct English expression for this),
the possible groups here being the tonic, the sub-dominant
or the dominant-like chords. This is when relating to an
underlying scale. For example for a major scale, the chords
in the tonic-like-group are Imaj7, IIIm7 and VIm7.
So you could try to use those interchangeably.

Well, these are of course just a few possibilities,
shortly mentioned, that occur in standards.
I think those are worth to give a try and
play a bit with basic progressions.

Cheers man! E-rep for you! This is exactly the sort of stuff I'm exploring at the moment...