In this lesson, I’m going to focus on some
of the interesting sounds you can get from
hexatonic scales. A
hexatonic scale—which can
also be thought of as a combination of two
triads—is a six-note scale. To keep things simple,
we are going to investigate how to combine
major triads a whole-step apart, but there
are a number of other commonly used triad
pairs. If you are interested in learning more
about triad pairs, I can recommend
Hexatonics
by Jerry Bergonzi (Advance Music Press).
Fig. 1 shows an example of a hexatonic
scale constructed from C and D major
triads. There are a few ways you can conceptualize
these scales. The first is to view it
from the lower triad. For instance, in Fig. 1
you can see this as a C Lydian scale without
the 7th scale degree. The other way of looking
at it would be from the upper triad—a
D Mixolydian scale without the 6th. I hear
this scale as somewhere between a scalar
sound and an arpeggio, although it doesn’t
have as much of an arpeggio sound as a
pentatonic scale. It’s an angular, edgy sound
I associate with musicians such as trumpeter
Woody Shaw and pianist McCoy Tyner. If
you check out Kurt Rosenwinkel’s intro to
“How Deep is the Ocean” on his wonderful
recording
Intuit, you can hear how he uses
this idea over an altered-dominant chord.
Download or Listen:
Next, we’re going to look at the application
of this scale over both a minor and
major jazz-blues progression.
Fig. 2 is an
étude I wrote based on a blues in the key of
C minor. Over each chord, we focus on the
notes from major triads built on two neighboring
scale tones, depending on what type
of sound we want. For example, over Cm7,
we’ll use the Eb and F major triads, and for
Fm7, we’ll use Ab and Bb major triads. On
the altered-dominant chords in measure 4,
10, and 12, we use triads built off the b5
and the b6 scale degrees. The same concept
works over minor 7b5 chords, as you can
see in measure 9.
Download or Listen:
The minor blues in the jazz repertoire has
a long history. John Coltrane (“Equinox”),
Grant Green (Duke Pearson’s “Minor
League”), Joe Henderson (“Granted”), Jim
Hall (“Big Blues”), Dizzy Gillespie (“Birks
Works”), and many other jazz giants have all
written and improvised on a minor blues.
In
Fig. 3 you can see how this works
over a major (or dominant) blues. Over the
dominant chords, we’ll use triads built on
the root and b7 of each chord. As you can
see, we outline an Eb major triad with the
first three notes in the first measure and
then move to a first-inversion F major triad.
Hear how this creates a big, bright sound?
Download or Listen:
If you like the sound of these scales, pianist
McCoy Tyner would be a good choice
for transcribing, especially his great recording
The Real McCoy.
Bruce Saunders
Bruce Saunders is an award-winning guitarist,
composer, author, and educator. He has
recorded, performed, and toured with some
of the world’s best jazz musicians, including
Jack DeJohnette, Dave Holland, Bill Stewart,
and Peter Erskine. Saunders has been a faculty
member at the Berklee College of Music
since 1992 and has also taught at New York
University and The New School, and conducted
clinics and concerts in many countries. Visit
brucesaunders.com for more information.