{"id":268,"date":"2012-01-29T11:54:33","date_gmt":"2012-01-29T10:54:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/edsguitarlounge.com\/wordpress\/?page_id=268"},"modified":"2012-02-26T15:58:27","modified_gmt":"2012-02-26T14:58:27","slug":"lesson-03-solar","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/edsguitarlounge.com\/wordpress\/music-theory\/jazz-songs\/lesson-03-solar\/","title":{"rendered":"Lesson 03: &#8220;Solar&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Song number 3 is one of my all time favorites: &#8220;Solar&#8221; made famous by Miles Davis.<br \/>\nThere are different claims about <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Solar_%28composition%29\">who originally wrote the song<\/a> but in general people attribute it to Miles Davis.<\/p>\n<p>On youtube you can find many examples, this is the original:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dx83bH9z2tA\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"210\" height=\"158\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Why did I pick this tune? I remember the first time I heard it, my girlfriend and I were having dinner when suddenly this song came up (iTunes -Genius). Subconsciously I picked up the melody and chords and it immediately got hold of me. I dropped by knife and fork and rushed to my pc to see what song was playing.<\/p>\n<p>The song is hypnotizing, it seems to stop or to modulate but then starts over again. Just like in an Escher drawing.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_269\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-269\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/edsguitarlounge.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/escher_stairs.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-269\" title=\"Escher's infinite stairs\" src=\"https:\/\/edsguitarlounge.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/escher_stairs-300x205.jpg\" alt=\"Escher's infinite stairs\" width=\"300\" height=\"205\" srcset=\"https:\/\/edsguitarlounge.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/escher_stairs-300x205.jpg 300w, https:\/\/edsguitarlounge.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/escher_stairs.jpg 437w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-269\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Escher&#39;s infinite stairs<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I first thought it had to do with the dominant 7, it seemed to me it wasn&#8217;t played. But when I researched the song, it turned to be something else that makes this song so catchy.<br \/>\nThe chord progression of &#8216;Solar&#8217; is as follows:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Cm | Cm | Gm7 | C7 |<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> FM7 |FM7 | Fm7 | Bb7 |<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> EbM7 | Ebm7 | Ab7 | DbM7|<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> Dm7b5 | G7 |<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>These are the chords:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>OK, here the real work starts. First of all, the song starts off with a regular minor chord, not a minor 7th, just a minor chord.<br \/>\nThis would point into the direction of a ii-V7-I progression, but it isn&#8217;t. The first chords are Cm, Gm7, C7 and Fmaj7. The Cm at the beginning is a little bit odd, or not? With a C, a G and an F, everything points in the direction of a I-IV-V standard progression, but now something like i-iv-v.<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s have a look at the i-iv (Cm &#8211; Gm7). You can consider this as a way to go from C minor to F major.<\/p>\n<p>Then the song progresses from Gm7 to C7 to Fmaj7. This is a typical ii-V7-I progression. What follows is another common pattern in jazz, going from a major to a minor chord (Fmaj7 to Fmin7). Basically, it makes the I in a ii-V-I progression into a ii so you can start all over again.<\/p>\n<p>So the we have ii-V7-I as Fm7-Bb7-EbM7. Perfectly according to the rules. And then the Major-Minor trick is executed again, we go from Eb<strong>M<\/strong>7 to Eb<strong>m<\/strong>7!<\/p>\n<p>This enables us to continue on the next ii-V7-I pattern which is Ebm7-Ab7-DbM7.<\/p>\n<p>The song ends with a standard turn around, the same we have seen in &#8220;Blue Bossa&#8221;: Dm7b5 | G7. A standard turn-around for a C minor 7.<\/p>\n<p>But we don&#8217;t play a C minor 7, we play a C minor.<\/p>\n<p>Simplified:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>first we play a i-iv progression in C minor (Cm-Gm7)<\/li>\n<li>second a ii-V7-I progression in F major (Gm7-C7-FM7)<\/li>\n<li>third a ii-V7-I progression in Eb major (Fm7-Bb7-EbM7)<\/li>\n<li>fourth a ii-V7-I progression in Db major (Ebm7-Ab7-DbM7)<\/li>\n<li>fifth a turn-around (ii-V7) in C minor (Dm7b5 &#8211; G7)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And the cool thing is that from the second to the third to the fourth progression, there is always a major to minor change.<\/p>\n<p>Remember, there are two main progressions in jazz that cover maybe over 70% of all progressions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>ii-V-I progression<\/li>\n<li>going from major to minor in the same key<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There are always numerous scales that you can play over chord changes, but I would like to limit it as much as I can. Since the scales should only give you a starting point. From there you have to fill in your musical ideas yourself with licks, runs etc.<\/p>\n<p>As we have seen, the song consists of five parts.<br \/>\nPart 1: the Cmin chord<br \/>\nPart 2: Gmin7-C7-Fmaj7 (ii-V-I progression to F)<br \/>\nPart 3: Fmin7-Bb7- EbMaj7 (ii-V-I progression to Eb)<br \/>\nPart 4: Emin7-Ab7-DbMaj7(ii-V-I progression to Db)<br \/>\nPart 5: the &#8216;turn-around&#8217; Dm7b5 and G7 to end up at Cmin<\/p>\n<p>When I leave all the &#8216;fringe&#8217; of the ii-V-I progressions away, I end up with a 5-chord song:<br \/>\nCmin-FMaj7-AbMaj7-DbMaj7-G7<\/p>\n<p>As a starting point you can play over the first part the C minor scale (aeolian): C &#8211; D &#8211; Eb &#8211; F &#8211; G &#8211; Ab &#8211; Bb &#8211; C<br \/>\nFor the second part, a good starting point is the Eb major scale (ionian): Eb &#8211; F- G &#8211; Ab &#8211; Bb &#8211; C &#8211; D<br \/>\nFor the third part, again the C minor.<\/p>\n<p>And as you can see, the C minor and Eb major contain exactly the same notes!<\/p>\n<p>But this song has much more possibilities. The opening chord for example is often written as a CmMaj7 which means a C minor-major 7 chords. Ooops, what does that mean?<\/p>\n<p>It is a C minor chord with the major seventh (B) added. By the way, they also call it the &#8216;James Bond&#8217; (or &#8216;Hitchcock&#8217;) chord&#8230;<br \/>\ndo you understand why (use some tremolo effect -no not the bar but the real tremol- an you know why)?<\/p>\n<p>In this song, I&#8217;d like to start off with the standard C major scale (listed above C &#8211; D &#8211; E &#8211; F &#8211; G &#8211; A &#8211; B).<\/p>\n<p>When moving to the bold part:<br \/>\nCm | Cm | Gm7 | C7 | FM7<\/p>\n<p>On the Gm7 and C7 you can play the G Dorian scale which is a minor scale and perfectly fits the Gm7 chord. When moving to the<br \/>\nFM7.<\/p>\n<p>The FM7 consists of the following notes: F-A-C-E.<br \/>\nJust give all these notes a try when the song moves to the FM7:<br \/>\nF: is possible but I find it a little bit boring, maybe in a later stage in the solo, it has possibilities.<br \/>\nA: I like this one, gives a nice tension (mind you, this is the 3rd in the chord and you can hear it also in the melody line)<br \/>\nC: No, too boring<br \/>\nE: Moves into a completely different direction (as the 7th always does). Don&#8217;t go here.<\/p>\n<p>So we stick with the A. A good scale will be the A-Phrygian which is a parallel scale to the G-Dorian (it contains exactly the same notes, only starts at a different note)<\/p>\n<p>Moving to the nect part after the FM7:<\/p>\n<p>FM7 |FM7 | Fm7 | Bb7 | EbM7<\/p>\n<p>I like to approach this one thesame as with the previous ii-V-I progression, play the F Dorian. Just move the G Dorian two positions upwards and y&#8217;re there.<\/p>\n<p>On the EbM7, make the same move an play an G-Phrygian. The same as F-Dorian but starting on a different note in this case the G.<\/p>\n<p>The next part:<br \/>\nEbm7 | Ab7 | DbM7<\/p>\n<p>Again, start off on the Eb Dorian and move to the F#-Phrygian.<\/p>\n<p>For the turn-around Dm7b5 and G7, I like to play the D-Dorian which is parallel to the C-Major (Ionian).<\/p>\n<p>5. The Miles Davis solo<\/p>\n<p>The Miles&#8217; solo on Solar is a classic one. Miles Davis stays within the harmony structure, hardly missing a beat. Anyone else who would play<br \/>\na solo like this would sound very boring, but Miles Davis not. Like a boxer he punches at the right moment. His punches maybe not that suprising<br \/>\nbut he hits you everytime in the face.<\/p>\n<p>The first (there is also a solo at the end) solo consists of four verses.<\/p>\n<p>Miles starts off in bar 1 and 2 with some notes from a C (minor\/major doesn&#8217;t matter here) scale. Since the accompanying chord is Cminm7, you<br \/>\ncan both play a C minor or C major scale. Miles starts with a B (7th note) to build up harmonic tension, the 7th &#8216;pushes&#8217; to the root C.<\/p>\n<p>In bar 3 and 4, Miles plays a riff in C-Mixolydian (C-D-E-F-G-A-A#) starting on the A and ending on the E. This little riff is played when the C7<br \/>\nchord (C-E-G-A#) is played. As you can see, the C7 perfectly fits the 1-3-5-7 chord rule on the C-Mixolydian.<br \/>\nI think starting on the A is fine since it is not in the C7 chord and therefore brings some flavour. The ending on E is nicely chosen since the chord<br \/>\nprogression ends in FMaj7 (F-A-C-E). That E is the 7th note in FMaj7 and really pushes to the root.<\/p>\n<p>Bar 5 and 6 gives another riff in C-Mixolydian (C-D-E-F-G-A-A#). While the song &#8216;rests&#8217; on the FMaj7 chord it&#8217;s good to not have too many exciting<br \/>\nthings happen. The notes in C-Mixolydian perfectly mix with FMaj7.<\/p>\n<p>Then the chord progression moves to Fmin7 (which is a kind of standard maj to min move) and Miles plays here a C and G in the same way as<br \/>\nhe played a D and A. Kind of a repetition in the riff. Still within the C-Mixolydian boundaries but you feel there is going to move something.<\/p>\n<p>Important is that we can recognise a standard ii-V-I progression in bar 7-8-9:<br \/>\nii &#8211; Fmin7 (F-G#-C-Eb)<br \/>\nV &#8211; Bb7 (Bb-D-F-G#)<br \/>\nI &#8211; EbMaj7 (Eb-Bb-G-D)<br \/>\nThis is perfect for a Eb Mixolydian scale (Eb-F-G-G#-Bb-C-C#).<\/p>\n<p>Miles ends with a riff (that he repeates in every verse) on the turn-around:<br \/>\nDm7\/5-:D-F-G#-C<br \/>\nG7:G-B-D-F<br \/>\nThis riff is a in D-Dorian (D-E-F-G-A-B-C-D) with some notes added (e.g. the G# in bar 12 &#8211; 5th note, this G# also appears in the Dm7\/5-)<br \/>\nending on the C which is off course the perfect step to the next verse.<\/p>\n<p>Verse 2<\/p>\n<p>In bar 15-17 a riff C-Mixolydian (C-D-E-F-G-A-A#) starting on A and ending on C.<\/p>\n<p>Bar 19 and a part of bar 20: F-(G#)-C repeated note riff. The G# is an odd note, hinting maybe at the Eb mix scale that follows.<br \/>\nBar 20 a harmonic note sequence to the G, then to F# and then to F<\/p>\n<p>Verse 3<\/p>\n<p>Some nice examples of this song. A piano player that explains really well how to build up a solo:<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AHc4nXagS-4\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"210\" height=\"158\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I like this version as well:<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fMRJeDHOKeI\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"210\" height=\"158\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>And Keith Jarett going wild:<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zCKobOe7Cww\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"210\" height=\"158\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Song number 3 is one of my all time favorites: &#8220;Solar&#8221; made famous by Miles Davis. There are different claims<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":33,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-268","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edsguitarlounge.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edsguitarlounge.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edsguitarlounge.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edsguitarlounge.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edsguitarlounge.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/edsguitarlounge.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/268\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":271,"href":"https:\/\/edsguitarlounge.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/268\/revisions\/271"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edsguitarlounge.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/33"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edsguitarlounge.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}