New Workshop: The Swing Scale
Published: Mon, 05/15/23
As far as the dad joke goes, what do you say? "Hello, Kitty?" Or "Hello, Hello Kitty?" I find myself with a similar dilemma regarding my upcoming workshop this Saturday, The Swing Scale. Sure, I can say "My upcoming workshop, The Swing Scale." But what if I want to elaborate – do I say "Here are some details about The Swing Scale workshop," or do I have to say "Here are some details about the The Swing Scale workshop?"
It's a dilemma. But, to muddle through, let me just say: The Swing Scale is the second online workshop in this spring's three-part series on how jazz musicians play the blues. Where the Freddie Green Chords class focused on the chord shapes and vocabulary you need to add sophisticated chord substitutions to the twelve-bar progression, The Swing Scale will focus on how to play swing-style solos on the blues. In particular, we'll look at how to take one specific scale used by blues-based jazz guitarists like Charlie Christian and Herb Ellis and use it to "play the changes," or outline the essential chords of the blues progression while you solo.
The "swing scale" in question is my name for that combination of blues scale and major pentatonic notes which, when delivered with the right rhythmic feel, can fuel a nearly endless variety of sophisticated, swing-style licks over the twelve bar blues. For a more complete, audio-visual explanation, check out today's short video at the link below:
The One Scale You Need To Play Swing-Style Blues
The Swing Scale Workshop
More soon,
David
Missed last month's Freddie Green Chords workshop? It's now available as an on-demand replay: