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left hand system for bass guitar This is a left system I have developed over the past year or so. By combining this left hand system with a four fingered right hand system, I am able to play scalar passages much more smoothly and efficiently than I was able to with previous systems. This system makes it possible to run through scales over two strings rather than three. tetrachord exercise In the process of trying to hear everything I play, I have realized that the faster I play, the less intuitive my playing becomes. This has led me to search for ways to hear passages organically at faster speeds. What I discovered (with the help of studies with Mark Dresser) was that it was easier to hear fast passages when they were broken down into bite sized chunks. This became imperative when I began to work with four fingers in my right hand. Since I have been working on these exercises (which I still work on everyday) I have noticed an incredible improvement, not only in my dexterity, but my hearing of fast passages. What I realized is that every scale is a combination of two tetrachords. For instance, a major scale consists of two major tetrachords a fifth apart from each other. An aeolian scale consists of a minor tetrachord and a phrygian tetrachord a fifth apart from each other. Since we are talking about four note groupings this exercise lays well with a four fingered right hand system. New Method for Coltrane's "Giant Steps" John Coltrane's "Giant Steps" has had an incredible impact on jazz harmony since its inception. The basic harmonic algorhythm (up a b3rd, up a 4th,up a b3rd, up a 4th) has since been applied to many tunes by Coltrane as well as many other artists. Coltrane's use of pentatonic scales to connect these seemingly disparate changes is remarkable---he balanced pentatonic based motives with an overwhelming sense of lyricism. Though there has been a fairly large amount of discourse on "Giant Steps" I would like to share some of my ideas. Above is a chart tracing every consonant pentatonic scale over every change for every measure of the piece. I believe that using this chart can be a good way to find new possibities over the "Giant Steps" matrix. When playing pentatonically over Giant Steps, it is extremely common to play major pentatonic ideas starting on the root of every single chord (B pent., D pent.,G pent.,Bb pent. etc.). This is hardly taking full advantage of the possibilities of pentatonicism. The fact is, every chord in "Giant Steps" contains two or three major pentatonic scales that can be played without sounding "outside" of the changes. When stacking these pentatonic scales up against each chord, many new matrices begin to emerge, thereby unlocking the "Giant Steps" matrix to a world of other patterns. For example, instead for playing B pent., D pent., G pent., Bb pent.(up a b3rd, up a 4th;all pents. based on the root of each chord) over the first four chords, you can play B pent., Ab pent.(pent. scale starting on the tritone of D7 implying an altered dominant scale), G pent.(root pent. of next major chord),to E pent. (based on the tritone of Bb7). The new matrix is based on a motion that is down a b3rd, down a 1/2 step, down a b3rd, down a 1/2 step. This is only one of many other new matrices that begin to appear. Things get really interesting when you get to the second half of the tune which is based on modulating ii-V7-I'S. Same rules apply here, stacking pentatonics creates new harmonic algorhythms while maintaining the integrity of the changes. every harmonization of every pitch This is a table of every harmonization of every pitch in the terms of jazz harmony. It should be noted that these chords can be expressed in many different ways (such as slash chords) but I have chosen a numeric approach. It should also be noted that I have not included alterations past the note that is being harmonized. This means that since the pitch "E" is the major third of a C7 chord, it is presupposed that it is also the major third of a C7#11 chord or a C7b9 chord etc. These relationships seemed obvious and were not worth including. Just the same, I believe this table can be used as an important compositional and/or pedagogical tool. Thanks for checking it out.