Description
I have been asked many times to do some more video lessons on the altered scale and sound.  The altered scale is one of the hippest and more modern sounds out there. It is derived from the melodic minor scale and most modern players use it quite often on dominant chords. By using the altered scale you create lines that use all the altered tensions of a dominant chord. The b9,#9,3,#11,b13 and b7. This gives the line or idea an “outside” sound. A sound with a lot of tension and dissonance. This type of tension sounds terrific when it is used by an improviser that can control it. The trick is to resolve it correctly.
In Altered Dominant Substitutions-Lesson 1, I teach you how to play an altered scale sound on the V7 of a ii-V-I progression by focusing on a small segment of the altered scale and creating lines with these notes. By focusing on a smaller selection of altered notes, you will find that you will come up with totally different and unique lines than you normally would using the altered scale as a whole. The other side benefit of this technique, is that this concept is fairly easy to put into practice immediately and you will find yourself creating more melodic lines based on these altered segments. This is a terrific lesson series to get into if you want to get away from your average stale ii-V-I ideas and play with a more modern hipper sound. (28 Minute Video Lesson & PDF)
Ken –
The series of Altered Dominant Substitution lessons I found very helpful. This is a much easier way of implementing the altered scale.
Thanks Steve again for all the great lessons.