Connecting Chord Tones Over All the Things You Are

[@zdxing]

You recommended so many jazz music books, but in the end, I found that the best book was you yourself.

[@londonred8851]

I have to say been using this book for years now. It really changed my life. I moved form noodling around scales to actually connecting changes harmonically so that you could actually hear the progression in single lines. Cannot recommend this book highly enough. And wow you are such a great teacher too

[@romainbertrand253]

This book is a total winner. I really recommend working extensively on the 3 types of outlines before moving toward the rest of the book. Very basic but extremely powerful tools. The idea is to be capable of internalizing the sound, the place in the bar of such lines, and all the positions on the neck for each line. I don't call this type of lines "Outlines" but "Connections". Because that's really what it is right? And that's where the basis of jazz playing is IMO. Thanks for all your videos Mikko.

[@franksmith4383]

As an aspiring bassist, I always get a lot out of your videos. Thanks for your time and talent!

[@DovidM]

Mikko’s focus on guide tones is important. If you look at various people’s solos, you will see that guide tones often provide the framework.

[@Mikkokosmos]

Framework! That"s the word I was looking for!

[@nicolosmoffitt]

I wish I could like this 20 million times 👌🏽

[@JoshWalshMusic]

Fantastic. I’m always inspired by how far you can take a simple idea through rhythm, pivoting, articulation, and where you start/end the phrases. Definitely worth the time to explore these deeply. It’s the journey not the destination.

[@GlennMichaelThompson]

Great video, and definitely not too long as far as I'm concerned. Another book for my "to purchase" list. What's cool about this (and many of your videos) is that you give enough information to get started without giving away the whole book. With the lack of gigs and work as a musician lately I simply can't afford another book at this time. Yet even without a copy of it I can start working with the ideas you've presented here. Looking forward to trying my own approaches to this material. Thanks as always, Mikko. Really great food for thought... both right and left sides of the brain! Take care and stay safe 🙏

[@Mikkokosmos]

Thanks. Yes that's the idea. To inspire and explain a book without giving away everything. Even though some people get upset that I don't copy the whole book and give away PDFs for free 😐😐 Thanks for your comment and stay safe 🙏

[@lonesomelooch5661]

Great video Mikko, love your relaxed style.

[@rainbowkrampus]

This is a great book. The concept is really helpful for people new to improv but there's also a lot of depth to it to explore.

[@Mikkokosmos]

Yup that is my intention with this video: something for the beginner but alsoba more in depth look 😎

[@williamstanford7994]

That's one of my favorite books, Mikko!

[@jazzguitarwithandy]

Great video. I really love this book. Its one of the best around. I agree re about feeling the next chord. These kind of exercises are so useful. For me it just comes down to internalising the sound and feeling the changes/pulls between them (🥶hundreds of hours of hard work 🤪). The key for me is having the patience to work slowly and with smaller sections of the tune. The permutations of everything is so inspiring. I like that D’angelico, love that colour.

[@Mikkokosmos]

Thanks 😃 yup many hours indeed! And yes the colour is nice 😎

[@gandhiwibisono3450]

finally miko explained about the book i used for years.. Thanks Mikko 😀

[@rauldossantos6542]

That's really good class. I can really follow your ideas and your practice as they develop through the video. Thanks for the material!

[@Mikkokosmos]

Thanks you. I'm glad the idea works 😃👍

[@leissMusic]

18:36 : I often hear them referred to as upper structure triads as well. Loved the video, and your others as well! I always get a lot of insights out of them.

[@rickg6293]

Bert ligon' s other book is even better..comprehensive technique for jazz musicians..you'll never need another book.

[@Mikkokosmos]

I need every book 😄

[@music_magus]

@@Mikkokosmos That's an expensive habit you've got there. ;-)

[@Mikkokosmos]

@@music_magus I knooow 😭

[@jazzercaster4749]

Interested in which one you're talking about here?

[@Mikkokosmos]

@@jazzercaster4749 sorry, what? 🤔🤔🤔

[@LarrySiden]

This is one of the "method" books that I gave away when I had to clear some shelves, but unlike others, I actually spent quite a bit of time with it when I first got it and spend a lot of time practicing some of the basic patterns. But then it began to feel too cliche', as Mikko mentions. Once I internalized the shapes and the target tones, I had to stop because it all began sounding too predictable. Also, it wasn't helping me develop rhythmic vocabulary, which my teacher says I've been ignoring (he's right). I view this book as an important stepping stone, but one that needs to be used then left behind.

[@Mikkokosmos]

Agree with the cliché aspect. I do think it's important to understand and master the cliches and idioms and then leave them. This book is good for that. But not everybody follows that path

[@akskerpen]

Thank you for this and all your other videos. They are always very inspiring and if they are longer, we have to be glad for the time you give us. Greetings from Cologne, Holger

[@Mikkokosmos]

Glad you like it 😃👍

[@Wyrdo999]

Mikko I think you are a GREAT teacher/educator. If I had a teacher like you when I started playing Jazz, I would have learned in a few months, what took me years to learn. When my teacher started teaching me this song, he started with the substitutions/ alterations, and comping, then we moved on to soloing. The way he taught me to approach the soloing, compared to the way you teach, looking back, I had a horrible teacher? He either was hoarding info, to drag out the lessons, or he didn't know how to teach, cause I picked the guy based on the way he played, which was great? And I quit before he even mentioned approaching arpeggios.

[@Mikkokosmos]

Thank you 😃 Sometimes a bad teacher can be a blessing in disguise because they can force us to figure out things for ourselves. I had a teacher like that too and in retrospect I'm kind of grateful to him, ironically.

[@Wyrdo999]

@@Mikkokosmos yes it was horrible for us guitarists that were born in the early 60's, to learn Jazz, in comparison to today, which is of course obvious. But my teacher was a working jazz pro in the Toronto and Canadian jazz scene, so thats what pissed me off. All he wanted to do was smoke hash, and have me listen to his old recordings. I mean that I'm grateful for, cause he turned me onto SO MUCH jazz music. But The kids today really have no clue how lucky they are in terms of education, and also, they have great teachers like you and others out there, that are giving them what took me YEARS and years to figure out for myself. What I have found, now that I'm very secure and confident as a player is, technique, in my opinion, and this is based on my experience, is SO MUCH more important then ANY theory I ever learned. And guys like you are giving EXCELLENT exercises to develop. Thx SO MUCH for all you do and have done. I learned so much back then by teaching, in fact I learned the most I ever did cause I had to, I was forced to, but I was actually learning things I figured out myself, like ways around the fret board based on figuring out the chords all over the neck and how to get to them. And theory was so daunting to me in the beginning? Looking back I wonder why. I also thought a player had to learn all the scales to go with the chords? I was wrong about so much, and wondered why I could play lines that I made up that weren't scales, that went with chords? I mean there was so much confusion for me, and it was all for naught? Thx again Mikko.

[@Mikkokosmos]

@@Wyrdo999 interesting. I'm actually not sure that having access to all information is an advantage. As you said, you had to figure out stuff by yourself. That's worth a lot. But thanks for the kind words and for digging my videos 😎👍

[@MichaelBerlin]

Thank you, this video is very helpful for me. One step more how exersizes can lead to finding melodies that respect the harmonical situation (hopefully in my playing in the future 😊).

[@amyabramajtys7902]

OK so being a vocalist only trained in basic theory, I couldn't really follow everything you were saying. However I did sing along and I'm very impressed how you are covering the bass function and the rhythm instrument's as well! I'd hire you in a second if you were in West Michigan. ;) Thanks for recording a little mini master class for jazz musicians! Not that you need a vocalist, as your fingers sing just FINE!! :)

[@Guernseyopman]

Mikko Hilden, you are correct around 17:04 concerning Jim Hall practicing. I have read in an interview or two that he had given that he used to tie off 2 or three strings using rubber bands to force himself to play in different ways melodically.

[@Mikkokosmos]

Interesting! Thanks for the info

[@giacintopiracci]

I made one of my students ask directly Bert Ligon on wich record is the transcribed solo from Tom Harrell at the end of the book: it's from a record called "Look to the sky", with John McNeil, the tune is Chasing the Bird. Great record.

[@Mikkokosmos]

Oh wow cool! Thanks 😃👍

[@enricopg2]

Very interesting video. What a great resource you are!!! Thank you

[@Mikkokosmos]

Thank you 😃

[@stephenferrera-grand7827]

David Baker wrote a few books that look into the bebop language. If you follow his suggestions you will end up sounding very musical. And of course Barry is the main bebop instructor. It’s not about technique so much but more about the language. Maybe start by getting the chord tones on the down beat. Or play a half step into your chord. Study Barry Harris and forget the MI approach. That is if you want to learn the language of bebop or have a great understanding of what sounds musical. You will sound more musical right away. C 6 diminished… it’s wonderful.

[@Mikkokosmos]

I love both David Baker and Barry Harris teaching 🤠 I'm not sure if your comment is directed to me or others?

[@stephenferrera-grand7827]

After studying with Tony Rizzi, Joe Diorio, CSULB, and many books and other sources, I have found that if you can’t hear it or sing it , your pretty much stuck with licks, sequences, etc. The same is true for classical guitar. If you don’t have the music memorized, internalized, and in your ear , then you won’t be able to express it at a musical level. I only mention this for your beginning and intermediate followers.Practice what you want to play. As you suggested, play the Mike Stern stuff your interested in and don’t worry about his exercise as much. In other words “ Play what you hear” and if you can’t hear it listen to the music and try to replicate it. Play KZbin at half speed and learn it. Just as you’ve mentioned scales, arpeggios, and chords alone are not music. Learn to comp one song, learn to play the melody, and copy the solo. The end result is that your playing the song and learning the language. Patterns for jazz may be the long way to your goal. I’m not against patterns or sequences but you will end up sounding like what you practice. In your video you mention as much with the story about Scott Henderson. Another great reference is “Things I learned from Barry Harris” on KZbin. I think his name is Chris. Thanks to You and Chris the world of guitar is a wonderful thing. Maximum Positivity

[@salvadorgarcia8661]

Good lesson, very didactic. Thank you very much teacher.

[@RickDanner]

i have this book ! hey miss ya brother your awesome

[@DovidM]

Lee Konitz is known for his use of contrafacts based on standards. I’ve always been interested in his ability to allude to the original melody while creating lines that stand on their own.

[@music_magus]

I think you have the opposite problem to me..! I'm trying to have fewer books. I've got more information piled up here than I could possibly absorb in about 107 lifetimes. Anyway, great content. I like the thirst for knowledge you have. AjC

[@Mikkokosmos]

Yeah I hear you I'm kind of in that place now. I have too many books and not enough time to practice 😑😑😑

[@CRP2426]

That's why I love these videos. Mikko is doing an active review of the books and concepts. So that we are better informed on which books to get. I Don't have the time to study all the books i own and would love to have some kind of guide list for the best, must own 'desert island' books. Condensed knowledge 50 or 100 books instead of thousands.

[@CRP2426]

@@music_magus Please Share your ten. Mark levine "Jazz Theory" Berg Ligon "Jazz Resources" Mick Goodrick "advancing guitarist" (almanac of voice leading) Don Latarski "progressive guitarist" series are quite nice. I just want to make the best of my practice time, with condensed, fat free nutrient rich books and exercises.

[@DovidM]

The beauty of studying from new books and returning to old ones is that they sometimes provide a solution for a technical issue you are working on.

[@williamstanford7994]

I have the biggest collection of instruction books and videos west of the Mississippi. Try to see them as different presentations of a relative handful of topics. My brother in Texas and I discuss this endlessly.

[@giuseppevisetti7246]

very nice palying

[@mwicks1968]

Excellent stuff!!!

[@rodolfoamaralguitar]

This guide tone concept is really great! I would like to add one thing. Normally the guide tone lines resolves in downward direction. It is interesting to also practice guide tone lines that goes upward direction, they sound kind of more modern I think.

[@Mikkokosmos]

This is a great idea!

[@rauldossantos6542]

How do I do this? Should I find a tune which harmony also goes upward? Or could I practice those upward lines in any tune?

[@Guitarunivers]

When were you at MI? I was there in 96/97. Scoot Henderson was great. Rember I Played Blues For Alice at an open counsling with Scott Henderson, Sid Jacobes learned med that tune. Do you Remember Carl Schrøder live playing class, where you had to play All arpeggios for the picked jazz standard in the class. The Class was great, because some parts of it was close to real live playing. All in all a great year for me, surround with Beautiful pepople from all over the world🙂

[@Mikkokosmos]

I was there 90/91 I had Carl Shroeder as my ear training instructor. I studied with Scott Henderson and Sid Jacobs 🙂

[@JoseLuisKFP]

Gracias

[@DovidM]

You can use the chromatic solfeggio scale to avoid singing two syllables like B flat or F sharp. I went to the trouble of learning chromatic solfeggio because so many problems in phrasing in your recorded solos can be quickly resolved by singing them in different ways.

[@Mikkokosmos]

That's great advice. I'm also an ear training teacher so I should get on it 🙂

[@nicolosmoffitt]

Hey Mikko love your stuff, and appreciate your patreon.. what’s your method for learning chord tones so easily ? They seem instantly accessible for you. Thanks for everything

[@Mikkokosmos]

Thank you :D hmm I don't know but I have practiced chord tones a lot over the years. Also ear training is important for that

[@xAarons]

whats the loop pedal you are using in the video

[@Wodzik94]

Great video as always! Do you use any mircrophone for recording your voice or is it all camera mic?

[@Mikkokosmos]

Thanks. I use a Zoom but I've been experimenting with different ideas. Nothing works :/ I don't want a mic in front of my face. I recently got a shotgun mic for my camera but I'm not happy with it. I end up discarding that audio. I need to do some research on how to use it better. Maybe get it on a stand away from the camera I think the noise from the camera is ruining everything. I'm learning as I go 😎

[@Wodzik94]

@@Mikkokosmos I understand... I was asking because not long ago I started my other channel where I make guitar lessons in my native language. I use a shure sm57 for recording my voice but I need to face it directly for best quality which is unconfortable :/ I made one lesson with just the camera mic but Im not happy with the results... What a pain... :D Thank you for responding too my question!

[@xAarons]

What is the loop pedal you use also nice video

[@BTB25647]

Man..! thats priceless!! you actually apologized that it is a long video ?? sort of like a banker apologizing for giving you too much money....!

[@Mikkokosmos]

Good cause my next video is going to be my longest one so far 😬

[@jazzcat1056]

Do they have tab in the book or only standard notation?

[@philippehaddad3128]

Mikko, may I suggest a book for you to review please? It’s called ‘The Lydian Chromatic Concept.” Thanks.

[@Mikkokosmos]

Yes if I can find a copy. I used to have one back in the day but I don't consider myself an expert on the topic. Maybe I will see if I can look into it

[@BernieHolland-w4l]

@@Mikkokosmos George Russell wrote that book

[@jactodetarabilla2864]

Whats that piano arpegio? 😳

[@Mikkokosmos]

It's when you use a Maj7b5 arpeggio over a dominant chord, for example Fmaj7b5 over a G7. creates a G13 sound 😎👍

[@johnrothfield6126]

consonance vs dissonance, landing notes, tension. and release, expectation and surprise, appogiatura, strong and weak beats, rythm melody and harmony working together, passing notes. motifs , theme and answer

[@franklima1698]

Thanks for the great contribution you make, it's excellent, masterful and great sounding, impeccable. mike i am new to this improvising thing and to the truth i want to learn like nothing else exists for me, to the truth i am a little frustrated and confused sometimes with this and i am looking for an effective method, this is one of my options another one is mark levine's jazz theory, although this one is specialized in improvisation and mark's is more like his name but i don't know what to do to the truth, if this one suits me or not, or study it and just see what happens. thanks you are great.

[@MastanehNazarian]

upper structure triads or superimposed arpeggios? Are they both the same? thanks.

[@Mikkokosmos]

Good question. They way I see it. Triads are three notes and arpeggios are four or more. To me, upper structure triads is mainly a chord concept. It's just different terms, at the end of the day. 🤓

[@betaniaher]

5:44

[@betaniaher]

8:18

[@EyesFoward]

full of grammatical mistakes, For example. page 89. example 3.7. Bar 2 is more than 4 beats to that bar unitl you realise that the disconnect 8th note is actually forming part of a triplet forming the last beat of that bar. Now I understand why there is a number "3" written above those last three beats. I have found other musical theory mistakes too. Otherwise it would had being a great book

[@Mikkokosmos]

There are hundreds of examples in the book and it's not very surprising to find a mistake here and there. I learned so much from the book, little mistakes like that don't bother me in the slightest

[@EyesFoward]

@@Mikkokosmos It does to the begginner. There are more seriours mistakes in the book that made me put the book down for a while. I just started reading it again after gaining more theory experience. Now I can negotiate those mistake. These little mistakes can cause the beginner, already struggling with theory, grief and slows down their progress significantly. The book is good if you are not a beginner that need clear instructions. In some places it fails to do that. I'm frustrated by authors that write these books and then just disappear. They need to set up forums and answer questions that need clarification.

[@Mikkokosmos]

@@EyesFoward oh I would not recommend this book to a beginner. I would say it's for someone who has a good understanding of Jazz improvisation and theory that wants to expand their vocabulary. Even advanced players can use this book. I enjoyed it and I have been doing this for more than 30 years. It's not a "how to improvise" book. There are many other books for beginners.

[@EyesFoward]

@@Mikkokosmos I understand what you are saying but the problem is not the understanding of the material but the mistakes in the text. I.e. If the mistakes in some of the text weren't there I wouldn't have put down the book. It was not the lack of understanding theory but the mistakes in the theory that caused me to put the book down. Now. Now That I know more about theory (music notation) i.e I can read music and understand music nation, I can see where a passage is in error in correspondence to his verbal narrative. The material is not hard to understand it is the mistake in the text that makes it hard. In places. That is the reasons a beginner will find the material hard. Not because the technique and understanding of it is hard to understand. I personally don't have too much of a problem with the book but that is because I can now read music at a better standard that allow me to tackle mistakes I encounter in the book.

[@rodolfoamaralguitar]

​@@EyesFoward I like it, but one thing that bothers me about this book is that the examples don't have key signature. Sometimes what you initially see as a IIm V7 is actually a IIIm V7/II. The correct key signature would solve this.