The first example is the normal bridge, the second example turns the V chords into ii-V progressions, the third example uses tritone substitutions to create a walk-down bass line, and the fourth example turns the tritone sub Vs into ii-Vs. If we want to analyze the ‘B’ section perfectly in terms of music theory, it’s actually: V7/V7/V7/V7 followed by V7/V7/V7 followed by V7/V7 followed by V7.As I went over last time, getting any progression in your ear is a necessary step to being able to improvise over that progression. In the ‘A’ sections of the rhythm changes progression, the … Many compositions based on rhythm changes have been written over the past 85 years or so. Piano 66. Mercy, mercy mercy Bb & Eb 71. It will make learning rhythm changes heads in The methods described above are in no way a complete or comprehensive guide for soloing over rhythm changes. An example would be V7-I.
Bass melody 79. Piano 80. Having these variations under your fingers and in your ears will allow you to react to what others around you are doing as far as their harmonic choices.To begin our study of the chords used in rhythm changes, we will be taking a look at the A sections of the form, which make up 3/4s of the tunes overall progression.Though you can talk about and think about these changes as all being part of an “A Section,” to differentiate between the first A (which uses a turnaround at the end) and the 2nd and 3rd A’s (which use a cadence at the end), by labelling them as A and A’ so you can see the slight difference in progression and function of these sections.To begin, we’ll be looking at the first A section (bars 1-8), as well as common variations to these changes.The first example in this section outlines fairly standard changes to the first 8 bars of rhythm changes in the key of Bb.Even when we begin to alter these chords in further examples, those harmonic pillars will remain the same as they are characteristic of A section rhythm changes chords.Now, you can begin to alter these changes by making the vim7 chord (Gm7) a Depending on the lead sheet, and your preferences, you might want to play this chord as G7 or as G7b9, and throughout this lesson, you’ll see both written.The next example replaces the Bbmaj7 (Imaj7) in bar 3 with a Dm7 chord (iiim7), to create a iii-VI-ii-V progression in bars 3 and 4.Replacing the tonic chord with a iiim7 chord is a common substitution in any jazz tune, and it’s a great way to add variety between bars 1-2 and bars 3-4 of any rhythm changes tune.You can now replace the Imaj7 chord (Bbmaj7) in bar 5 with an Fm7 chord (iim7 of IVmaj7), to create a As jazz musicians love ii-V-I changes, this version of the A section is one of the most popular.To finish up our study of the A section, let’s look at the A’ sections: the 2nd and 3rd A sections in any 32-bar form.You can use any of the same variations that you saw over the A section in the previous examples over any A’ section, the only difference is that the last two bars of the 2nd and 3rd A sections are a ii-V-I back to the tonic chord (Bbmaj7).So you don’t have to do much study on these chords, except to work on moving from the Ebm7 chord to the Cm7 chord in bars 6 and 7, which leads you back to the tonic chord in bar 8.Moving on to the bridge section (bars 17-24), you will notice that the harmonic movement is much less busy in this part of the tune, as you have switched from two chords per bar to two whole bars per chord during these 8 measures.In the first example, you will see the most commonly used bridge chords to rhythm changes, using the This might be helpful for your understanding and soloing approach, as you can lead each chord into the next as D7 is the V7 of G7, G7 is the V7 of C7, and C7 is the V7 of F7, which then resolves back to the Bbmaj7 chord at the top of the last A section.Because each chord in the bridge is a dominant 7th chord, the first common variation for these 8 bars is to add a few You can also add tritone subs to the first and third chords of this section by exchanging Ab7 for D7, and Gb7 for C7.The last group of tritone subs that we’ll look at involves playing a tritone sub over every chord in the bridge section, which can be a tense but cool way to build energy during the B section.Because each chord in the Bridge is a dominant 7th chord, you can also add in a iim7 chord before any chord in this section, creating a series of ii-Vs.Notice that the original changes are all in bars 2, 4, 6 and 8, while their related iim7 chords all fall in bars 1, 3, 5 and 7 of the bridge section.To finish up our study of the B section, here is a fun set of changes that come from the tune “Eternal Triangle,” which as you can see are much different than what you’ve seen so far.Because these chords, which are a series of descending ii-Vs moving down in half-steps, are highly chromatic and outside the usual bridge changes, you would want to make sure the rest of the group knew you were going to play these changes before using them in your playing.Though they are very different, these chords are great to use when you want to spice up the bridge section, especially during the solos or on a tune like “Oleo” where the bridge of the melody is simply improvised, as they add a bit of surprise and a challenge to both listener and performer.Now that you have learned about the construction of rhythm changes, let’s take a look at a comping study that you can use to practice this common form in your studies, and expand your chord vocabulary at the same time.The study is written to outline all four sections of the tune, and so feel free to break this study down into 4 or 8 bar sections at first in order to make it easier to learn.