The BEST Way to Play the "Rhythm Changes" Bridge!

[@bassboneman3]

Here are links to the playing examples, so you can quickly compare the sounds of the different approaches. 3:52. 7:04. 7:46 10:36 11:09 12:13. 13:55 17:08 17:58 20:21 21:35 23:32 24:27 25:36

[@juansecar2]

Dude this is a very generous publication. And great material for teaching, because everybody has a different approach. Great video, and, again a very generous contribution you make. Cheers

[@dustinpace8446]

It blows my mind to this day that literally everything you play sounds good! You are in very elite company as it comes to musicians.

[@dustinpace8446]

Not to fanboy or anything 🫣

[@nickgould9981]

I love the explanation you have given for your process here, I have always liked playing diminished dominant as an option dropping a half step each time you move onto the next chord and tritone sub options, you have opened my thinking to new options. Thanks !

[@DavePollack]

Awesome - glad to hear that!

[@gerrycappuccio4186]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts about these changes Dave ! Excellent !

[@DavePollack]

You’re very welcome!

[@rumpelRAINS]

Great video

[@DavePollack]

Thanks!

[@Waylanification]

great video, very straight to the point. will most definately use this as a reference in the future!

[@DavePollack]

Awesome! Glad I could help.

[@tracyolivermusic]

Another great, useful video Dave! Your timing is excellent since I have been cycling back to standards I worked on months ago. This gives me some good ideas to practice!

[@DavePollack]

That’s great to hear! I have a bunch of videos like this on my channel so be sure to check them out too.

[@uueuewoeie]

great stuff !

[@DavePollack]

Thanks so much!

[@uueuewoeie]

I'm a guitar player but your videos are great for learn the easy way to do. I love Wes Montgomery and I think he use this type of thinking.

[@kaynejshortfilm]

Great Video! as a rhythm section player, I can definitely tell what this is getting at, and i really enjoyed the analysis of the function of chord changes which I've played for a long time, but never truly thought about

[@DavePollack]

Glad to hear that!

[@insidejazzguitar8112]

Great approach, Super useful! I especially love how you contrast what the substitute change changes sound like over the original changes. That is very helpful

[@DavePollack]

Thanks so much! Glad you dig it.

[@kwootamuckbear9294]

Thanks👍🏽🎶🎵🎷

[@DavePollack]

You’re welcome!

[@etowahjazz]

so good!!

[@DavePollack]

I'm so glad you like it!! Thanks for the kind words.

[@paulbalcain139]

MAN!! ❤❤❤❤❤

[@DavePollack]

🙏

[@Notamusicianfr]

Going to surprise my jazz combo with these ideas. All my homies play wrong notes.

[@DavePollack]

😂😂

[@prolixsicklicks]

Hi Dave, brilliant lesson demystifying how the greats might have approached it! Really clear, great instruction.

[@DavePollack]

I really appreciate those kind words!

[@matt-darwin]

With the various substitution methods, can you also subdivide the bridge and flip between them? E.g. the first four bars do the major thinking tritone subs, then fall back to the ii-V-I7 for the second four, or other combinations; or are there some that simply don't work if you would do this?

[@luke.mcshane]

Hi Dave, great upload! How come for the first half of the major eternal triangle bridge you’re playing the relative major instead of the tonic major? You basically played in Lydian for the first half then went back?

[@DavePollack]

Are you asking why I played Dmaj7 and Dbmaj7 instead of Bm7 and Bbm7? Thinking the relative major 7 over a minor chord is what I do all the time - it’s basically playing the 3579 of the minor chord, but get you away from playing the written root of the minor chord (and makes things easier because you’re converting things back to major)

[@luke.mcshane]

@@DavePollack a B-7 E7 ii-V for instance wants to resolve to Amaj as it’s in that Moses of that key. So why not think of the chord as Amaj instead? A Gmaj would give you a sharp 4 in there if you were to extend the chord or play a scale run.

[@nononouh]

27:30

[@estawis]

Can this method be applied to all changes?

[@DavePollack]

All stagnant dominant chords, yep

[@estawis]

@@DavePollack Ah I see…do you have any advice or videos on a method like this on tunes that are a bit more busy with changes?

[@DavePollack]

There are different processes for that - I would look at my masterclass on melodic soloing to work on voice leading through changes. That will help you much more than superimposing and chopping up the written chords, like in this video

[@jazzman_10]

Dave, I don't get it, playing the bridge it's the easiest part! Those chords are pretty easy and long. The hard part to me is going through the rithm changes cause they go real fast...

[@DavePollack]

The more complex/fast chords are, the simpler you need to play to make a "good" solo. For the A sections, you can just follow the written chords and do nothing else and still make a solo that sound awesome and has motion. When the chords move slowly (the bridge) if you only play those chords/chord tones, it will sound pretty stagnant and boring, hence why I focused on the bridge for this specific video. When I hear people solo, the bridge is where it usually sounds the worst.

[@jazzman_10]

@@DavePollack Thanks for answering!

[@blow-by-blow-trumpet]

@@jazzman_10 Also the A section is totally diatonic (in a basic rhythm changes) except for the third of the VI chord, so you can totally just play Bb pentatonic, or Bb blues, or Bb major, over the whole thing and ignore the changes if you want. I usually ignore the changes and play melodically over the A section, but try to hit the major 3rd of the VI chord to stay inside the harmony.

[@jazzman_10]

@@blow-by-blow-trumpet Thank you so much. I've tried to play The Flintstones tune and realized that C blues scale fits quite well but had no idea why. I will check with Bb ( I do not know if all rithm changes are the same, I guess you can play them in different keys). I knew there had to be a scale that would fit in those chords, they go by so fast it's not possible to follow them, at least not for me...

[@blow-by-blow-trumpet]

@@jazzman_10 Bb concert that is (for a standard rhythm changes). That's C blues on trumpet or tenor sax.