Chord Substitution Lesson 2-The Tritone Lesson

Description

The tritone substitution refers to replacing a chord with another chord that is a tritone away.  A tritone is 3 whole steps ( or 6 half steps) away from the original chord.   For example, a tritone away from C is F#.  A tritone away from F# is back to C.  When we talk about tritone substitutions in this lesson we are talking about using this concept on the dominant chords.  On a ii-V-I progression like Dm7-G7-CMaj7 we would substitute Db7 for G7 to make the progression Dm7-Db7-Cmaj7 which creates a downward bass movement.  Sometimes this substitution will happen in the rhythm section but even if it doesn’t, it sounds really cool when a soloist uses it in their improvisation.

In this 2nd lesson on chord substitutions I teach you all about these tritone substitution.  I teach you how to think about this common substitution and use it in your jazz improv.  Once you master this concept you can  come up with some great lines that will sound hip and modern.  This lesson comes with a PDF sheet with some detailed lines using this concept.  I play all the examples on the soprano saxophone with a background so you can hear what they sound like. (31 Minute Video Lesson & PDF)