Hal Galper's Master Class - Technique, Part 2

Book: Forward Motion
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Recording: Cubist
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Book: The Touring Musician
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Book: Jazz Piano Voicings: Transcribed Piano Comping
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Hal Galper is accepting appointments for live video lessons for individuals and group coaching via Skype or FaceBook Video Chat. Sign up at www.halgalper.com
www.halgalper.com and please check out Hal's Trio recording, E Pluribus Unum - Live in Seattle tinyurl.com/2c42fja
And: forwardmotionpdf.com/
From a clinic at the University of Colorado in Boulder, April 2, 2010

[@gblaney]

Hal, speaking as a Berklee graduate, it's so refreshing to hear a performer, writer, and educator speak on what's bullshit and what's not bullshit. Thanks for empowering us.

[@Composer19691]

I've decided to make a Hal Galper playlist to listen on a perpetual loop. Everything he teaches is GOLD. Thanks Bret!

[@mikedavino2400]

Him and Dave Frank from Berkeley

[@gus4sound431]

haha I did that too.

[@toneyam3643]

I agree with you and I also know by your comment that you are making a very wise decision that will prove it's worth in gold.

[@WyattLite-n-inn]

I took a private lesson in the 70’s w Hal .. He wrote me out a sheet that said “Chord Scales” on top.

[@HenriDucrocq]

That was probably referring to "scales of chords" right? Nothing to do with CST.

[@yoshtakeuchi]

"No concept is good if it's a closed-end. It has to have infinite possibilities." I've been learning a different art than music, but Professor Galper's teachings resonate with me. Thank you for sharing all of these videos!

[@J3unG]

Damn. He's right. It's the melody, dammit. It's always been the melody. I learned that from a percussionist and I am a pianist.

[@phaedrus6891]

I come back to these Hal Galper videos every time I feel like I’m stuck in a rut. They always get me out of it and provide great insight in how to play music.

[@Ayo.Ajisafe]

Real jewels. I do the same with Barry Harris and Joe Pass, Mike Longo, Ted Greene. Legends and educators.

[@digsjazzalot6022]

"Let the melody be your guide", what a great reminder....

[@johnmc3862]

It was never not that way!

[@Acujeremy]

The problem I have with this is it really determines what genre you are playing, and if it is jazz, which type of jazz you are playing, and what it is you want to do. I mean, the chords do relate to scales, it isn't like it's imaginary, I mean the "chord tones" are in the specific scale for that chord or chords, but yeah, that is silly to make CST your total approach to all improvisation all the time.

[@XXjazzfiend99xx]

I think what he means is that harmony is not notes stacked on top of another (thinking vertically), instead, it's a result of multiple voices/line) moving independently to form a chord (thinking horizontally). Think of Bach's piano fugues for 3+ voices. I noticed people like Keith Jarrett, Fred Hersch, Bill Evans with this kind of awareness of harmony, and you can hear how they control volume of each note in a chord to create an illusion of multiple voices on a piano

[@kiri101]

"You're telling me it's just the melody?" "Always was."

[@tedybear335]

Hal changed my way to hear jazz music.Thank you!

[@TheMusicmak3r]

Hal has helped me change the way I play music with his teaching!

[@HuggumsMcgehee]

Wow. He's completely right. I understood his embellishments so much better when he explained what he meant and played those simple melodies.

[@joeb434]

Wow! So much wisdom. Thanks Mr. JVG.

[@loondoo]

excellent series, and excellent advice! Thanks for posting!

[@DanielSmith-ee6gm]

Hal hits it out of the park.

[@LuisGarzonGuitarist]

This is so great. I am always saying that learning modes and chord scales and all that stuff is just an approach for a teacher to give you something to do. It's academic.

[@Khamomil]

That's the kind of teacher I always wanted to have and never found.

[@drebailey5516]

Yeah I love his approach ...

[@desigrrl08]

what an excellent video, thanks!

[@joeyguitarlo]

I have been studying jazz for years, NOW I GET IT...!!

[@MrBHarber]

This is amazing! Thanks!

[@greg55666]

Wow that was really deep and amazing.

[@Dadee3]

I love it!!!

[@Streux]

Great video!

[@nonretrogradable]

Brilliant. Very interesting.

[@alanperlman984]

I agree with Hal and Salsa. Bill Evans said you always had to be aware of the underlying melody. Why is so much modern jazz so chaotic that you have no idea what the melody was? The prettiest improv is a perfect mix of basic and higher chord tones. I keep the basic notes in the LH, which allows RH freedom to play higher intervals. I don't know what he has against chord/scale - the scale is just the higher chord tones, and you have a scale for every chord. Once these are memorized, you know what notes to play wherever you are on the keyboard. I've found this a very productive concept.

[@tbonea1dam1]

i love this guy

[@pentest]

Hal rocks!

[@Modes9]

I was feeling guilty about studying patterns. Now I'm feeling better about it. As players and listeners we want to hear a sense of logical orderly development. Isn't that really what "telling a story" is all about?

[@rickyb.4984]

Fantastic.

[@detroitbuffalo]

FINALLY!! Somebody said it! I was just having this conversation with somone the other night...

[@StevenMathewsPhD]

Agree 100%. There is a Schenkerian taste to "let the melody be your guide," too. Hal even says at the very end "It's counterpoint!" See Steve Larson, "Analyzing Jazz: A Schenkerian Approach" (Pendragon: 2009).

[@pkward8]

Thanks for that reference!

[@hairnsap]

I think of improvising as paraphrasing the melody and the rhythm of said melody . its simple but works for me

[@EarthMedia2009]

This is exactly what I have been thinking since 1973

[@dragondix]

brilliant

[@atombomb31458]

this guy is great

[@JazzVideoGuy]

@MrBHarber Hal is deep, no doubt about that.

[@DomMinasi]

he is absolutely right....

[@tedybear335]

Oh for sure!!

[@funkygh]

THANK YOU Hal for this great video. High School and University jazz education is so often wonky. They teach improvisation backwards. When you walk into a jam session mid-tune and you can't tell what tune they're playing for a chorus and a half because the tenor player is playing a bunch of shite based on chord scales or worse - ugh...

[@redmed10]

I wish all the speed merchant heavy rock guitarists would watch this video.

[@cesarbragapiano]

Anyone fond of Mr. Galper's saying about improvisation should check dr. Ed Byrne. He has develop a thourogh system of melody reduction, guide-tone lines, Root progression and rhythmic reduction to improvisation, just like Hal is explaining here. It's worth checking it. Just google for ByrneJazz.

[@thinktwice4565]

Great 👍

[@Mahavishnu80]

sam..the basic melody notes..melody.the embelishments..adding extra chord notes, speed,glissando,legato, triplets etc.

[@Khamomil]

Melodic means variations in the melody while embellishments are decorative notes (usually fast notes like 8th, 16th or triplets) which come on top of certain notes of the melody. e.g. at the end of "all the things you are" lyric is "when all the things you are are mine". "Mine" lasts 4 beats on one note but you could embellish it with decorative curlicues. Matter of good or bad taste. Singers who can't hold a note for 4 beats would do several different notes instead of a long one.

[@SIRONEDRAGON]

good stuff : )

[@lrbol]

A line (7:30) is "explained" (8:11) by 4 note groups. The opposite explanation is better: The real note groups start on beats 1, 3 & comprise 4 tones from a chord scale that go either all up or all down - yes, the same "chord scales" trashed @ the start of the video. The line does contain an auditory illusion. The illusion is created by the 3 note pickup which makes the ear hear groups end on beats 1, 3 rather than start on beats 1, 3. The pickup conceals the simple up + down shape of the line.

[@curls6778]

Armin Maraboli it‘s about phrasing

[@horbergus]

He certainly is

[@funnyguy1321]

mind = blown

[@willmiller5]

let the melody be your guide -- little jimminy cricket style bit of advice. and dead right. all the great solos do just that. e.g. red garland's piano solo in miles' version of "it never entered my mind." the examples are abundant.

[@JazzVideoGuy]

@tbonea1dam1 Me, too!

[@JulianWegner]

I have been watching Hal Galper videos and Barry Harris Videos for a long time now. Is there any other Jazz educator I can dig on KZbin? Thanks in advance

[@JazzVideoGuy]

They are two of the best teachers in this music. But I'm sure there are more.

[@caiaum2]

nice!! do you have some video talking about reharmonization or something to indicate me???

[@XXjazzfiend99xx]

He is saying that chord/scale relationship is a shortcut, and not a very good one, considering that is not how the great musicians we look up to learned. I think he wants us to instead focus on playing melodic ideas, emphasizing chord tones, and learning how to use embellishments(extension and altering those extensions). Playing scales over chord progression can sound bogus if you aren't doing it in a way that's melodic. i.e try playing the scale from F and end on F on Cmajor7 chord.

[@187alacran]

what exactly does he mean by chord scale relationship guide to improv? Is he saying that playing scales over chord progressions is bogus?

[@briank7363]

this Cat's a serious Bad-Ass.... Yes! :)

[@VassilisArt]

indeed.. e.g. 6.- 6.25 " ….etc

[@romainbertrand253]

Hi, is there any complete masterclass of Hal Galper ? Thanks.

[@JazzVideoGuy]

Sorry, no

[@xlaythe]

This is interesting. Is the "let the melody be your guide" thing universal to all music? Is this just for improving on piano? Say I play bass, should I be paying attention to the melody the most?

[@Robb3348]

yes

[@campocat]

Aaron Copland says the same thing - let the melody be you guide - because the common ear only hears the melody

[@bringupthesun8986]

what does he mean by differentiating between 'melodic' and 'embelished' improvisation? its really bugging me...

[@messerJ4H]

What does he mean by "rhythmically inactive"?

[@MrBrj]

5:22 qui-gon harper

[@edthewave]

How so?

[@themancable]

@187alacran Chord-scale shredding is not bogus if that's what your brain impulsively sends to your fingers and you happen to like it. It is bogus if you're just doing an intellectual exercise. Try to create resonance in your listeners.

[@kailyonsmusic]

each meldoy lands on the 3rd of every chord

[@sfmag1]

Like! Don't put the cart before the horse!

[@visionree]

This is why I am loathe to get a teacher...I agree with you

[@infiltration5799]

i am triyn fine friendes

[@synthdude]

...and if the melody has lyrics, let that guide the melody. 3:10 common melodic error on "All The Things You Are". Learn the lyrics to the standards and you won't play extraneous notes. Otherwise, good advice.

[@infiltration5799]

and i am from russia

[@BeadsByAria]

Generally love HGs videos, comments and ideas. I have some issues with him here however. The first is the writing off of chord scale theory as overly academic. I find this to be an almost ad hominem criticism, I.e. based more on who promotes it, rather than its utility. Moreover, if his point is that chord-scale is somehow overly formal, restrictive and and theory based, well how is focusing focusing on chord tones less so? is nailing the 3rd and 7th of a dominant 7th less “formal” than nailing scales tones of the mixolydian mode? If anything the latter is less restrictive in terms of possibilities. And this brings me to his “the melody is Key”. Is that really what he is saying? While this is surely a nice selling point , and an anxiety reducing (less theory based) thing for the developing student to hear, I think it a bit disingenuous. It surely sounds to me that he is instead actually saying that chord tones are key, and this is a very different statement, as the melody of a tune underdetermins the harmony. That is, if you have a good handle on the melody, but not the changes, your not getting very far. However, if you knew only the changes, and didn’t know the melody at all you would be in much better shape. If anyone doubts this, imagine a competent improviser being asked to solo on a standard with which they were not familiar. Now given the choice of (minutes before having to get on stage and take a few choruses) only being taught the melody and none of the changes or only the changes and none of the melody. Which do you think they would choose? Now none of this is to deny that knowing the melody, and even using it as a touch point at various points in the solo, is not what makes for a great Improvisation. It does, but I think HG is ultimately talking harmony here. Now if we instead do go with his focus on chord tones, I would strongly agree that chord tones are critical, and being able to hear them and negotiate is surely a goal, and will go a long way towards establishing Melodic Content in an improvised line. But melodic content is to be distinguished from melodic embellishment of the original melody. And here is the kicker for me. As soon as you start to add the various additional notes around the chord tones that comprise a good solo, you are implicitly venturing into the realm of scales, as that is where these additional notes lie. Surely he is not advocating ONLY playing chord tones. I think the useful interpretation of what he is saying here is that running scales does not make for good Improvising. But neither does blind Arpeggiation! A better way, I think, to see all this is to regard scales and chords a note pallets from which good lines can be built. Learning to utilize both is essential.

[@JazzVideoGuy]

Thanks for your comments.

[@williamwinslow6582]

I think there is a difference between using modes and scales as resources for improvisation and the practice of closely marrying chords to specific scales. The latter practice can be problematic for several reasons. First, the practice tends to take the stated coloration of the chords as written (major minor, which tensions) very literally, as opposed to allowing the improviser to hear the basic function of the chord within the flow of other information in the piece (other chords, melodies, rhythmic function, etc.) When I learn chord progressions for a piece, I very rarely memorize or even write down the tensions. I am more concerned with the functions or directions of the chords. I can hear in that context how any tension will shade those effects, and I determine those elements to be part of what the improviser contributes, as opposed to something the song demands of the improviser. The song is really in the melody and the general functionality of the chords, as opposed to the details. Chord scaling your way through the song just gives you too much information than is generally useful, and promotes a kind of over generalizing of details. The improviser then struggles to pivot through the changes as he/she is trying to apply awkward planes of rich information on top of each change. The song is easily lost, and non chord tones are given equal standing with chord tones, often times. Another problem is that the natural hierarchy when embellishing a melody or a flow of changes is that between chord tones and non-chord tones. Chord scaling distracts the improviser from this, I think, because it presents an alternative hierarchy between the 7 or so pitches of the given chord scale, and the other 5 or so pitches outside of the scale. While that distinction is certainly worth being aware of (diatonic versus chromatic pitches), it is not really as important as the distinction between chord tones and non-chord tones by which a chromatic embellishment and a diatonic embellishment are to be handled with equal care. The chord scale approach offers licentiousness with respect to the diatonic non-chord tones; essentially a "cheat" to play fast lines smeared up and down all over the chord ---- smears of chord scales, with a few chromatic tones thrown in, but in such a way that they are robbed of their full potential (as a bunch of passing tones).

[@JDEPCOR]

I d''

[@stratovani]

Jeff Berlin must hate this guy!

[@synthsolos1213]

stratovani absolutely! But I know who’s solos I prefer - Hal’s :)

[@diminishedthicc]

NO MORE INTELLECTUALIZING

[@frankfeldman6657]

Some good talk, but when he sits down to "demonstrate", it's nothing to write home about.

[@gingervytis]

6:40... Oh NO! The old man said BITCH... I feel TRIGGERED! I need a coloring book and a therapy dawg! In another video, he OFFENDED me with "the piano is a cold hearted BITCH! Oh! The TRIGGERING! Sniff, snivel, sob, boo hoo... etc. Whare my wisky at? I gonna get TORE UP!

[@JazzVideoGuy]

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