Take Five

[cherryowen]

Specifically the tune made famous by Dave Brubeck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmDDOFXSgAs

Having learned the chords and opening sax lines on the guitar, I'm looking for some guidance from more musical people than me for soloing over the Ebm7 / Bbm7 chords.

I could just noodle away using the Eb natural minor scale, but I'm suspecting that there are some jazz "tricks" that could be used to spice up some lead lines.

Any and all help appreciated.

[Einion Yrth]

Ab Phrygian dominant, would spice that up nicely, and give it a vaguely "Moorish" feel. Probably won't sound much like "Take 5" any more though.

[cherryowen]

Interesting!

Ab Phrygian Dom has the notes Ab A C Db Eb E Gb. Comparing those to:-

Eb minor 7 triad : Eb / Gb / Db

That'll work!

Bb minor 7 triad : Bb / Db / Ab

Sort of works. Could use the occasional Bb note (if using Phrygian Dom) to resolve back to Eb.

Food for thought.

[dojo]

Maybe set up tension/resolution rather than just using a scale.

So the chord tones of the underlying chord is obviously the resolution but if you start with playing the notes from the V7 of that chord as the tension.

So over the Ebm7 - Play Bb7 notes and then resolve to the chord tones of Ebm7... then from there try a tritone sub of the V7 = E7 as tension notes? Or go up a half step and play diminished arpeggio for tension? Fdim - Ebm7...

Once you get the Dom7 you can go lots of ways... wholetone?? Half whole?? Melodic Minor etc etc

[cherryowen]

Thanks for that, dojo; very interesting, although tritone subs are a thing I'm still in the dark with.

I've been trying to follow Paul Desmond's sax lines from an original recording, and it (I think) starts on a Bb note, then Eb sliding down to a C followed by another low Bb. Then Eb > F > Gb. Currently that suggests Eb Dorian. The difficulty I have is that the chords change relatively quickly in the 5/4 time, with Ebm7 for 3 beats and Bbm7 for two in each bar.

Work in progress!

[thebraketester]

Ignore the Bbm... think of it as all in Ebm.

Basically Eb Dorian scale is the basis of what Brubeck is playing for the most part. Because it’s modal you can pretty much play anything. Lines that create tension sound good so D resolving to Eb for example.. also you can play E Dorian over Ebm if you really want. You can play B major if you want

It really is a case of what your ears are happy to hear.

Edited by thebraketester on Monday 20th April 01:31

[RDMcG]

Somewhere BBC or ITV had a filler called Take Five...five minutes...and this was the track.

Could not get it out of my head. Glad I never forgot.