Passing Tones: Lee Evans

 I have learned music theory from one of my favorites, Lee Evans. He wrote an article in one of my Jazz Magazines about melodic embellishment and ornamentation in jazz. The content is divided into four categories. I wanted to share it with all of my many readers who have asked me about passing tones.

1. Weak beat ornaments


2. Strong or weak beat ornaments


3. Other ornamental devices


4. Combinations of devices from the above 3 categories

So, let's talk about weak beat ornaments. In the examples, I'm talking about single notes and the note highlighted in red is what I'm talking about.

Passing Tone - a chromatic tone between two adjacent scale tones. In traditional usage, half or whole step scale notes which, in a melody, pass between the tones of a triad or chord are sometimes referred to as passing tones. Only half-step tones occurring between adjacent scale notes will be called passing tones in this article.

Example: C to C# to D, then D, Db, C.

Anticipation Tone - an anticipation tone between two adjacent scale tones.

Example: C to D, D or E, D to D

Echappee - a tone occurring between two adjacent scale tones, the motion to the ornamenting tone being contrary to the motion between the scale tones.

Example: C, B to D then C, D, B

Cambiata - a tone occurring between two adjacent scale tones, the motion to the ornamenting tone being the same as the motion between the scale tones.

Example: C, A, B then C, E, D


Neighbor Tone (upper or lower) - a half or whole-step tone occurring between two of the same tones.

Example: C, C#, C and C, D, C. C, Bb, C then C, B, C

For the strong or weak beat ornament:

Jazz Appoggiatura - a leaping tone (an interval larger than a 3rd) which then moves a major or minor 2nd in the opposite direction. (Note that a jazz appoggiatura is a melodic embellishment that does not take into consideration the harmonic or rhythmic implications of the traditional appoggiatura.

Example: C, Gb, F then C, F#, G to C, G, F and C, F, G

Regarding ornamental devices:

Grace Note - an ornamental tone whose time value is not counted in the rhythm.

Example: B to C and D to C

Repeated Tone

Example: F to E (original motive) then F, F to E (repeated tone embellishment)

Tremelo - the rapid alternation of two tones.

Example: C to E, (tremelo) play C, E, C tremelo embellishment (in fragmentation)

Scale Tones - tones found in any scale other than the chromatic scale. (Chromatic  scale tones would be heard as passing tones.)

Example: C to G (original motive) then C, E, F, G (scale tone embellishment)


Chord Tones - tones outlining any chord, including altered chords.

Example: C to C (original motive) then, C, E, G, A, C c(chord tone embellishment)

Free Tone - an ornamental tone having no relationship to any chord being sounded.

Example: G (G7/D), to F# then C

I think that's tons of information for now. There's so many combination examples to write out that I'll skip the final part but you get the idea. Here are some more related former posts:

Passing-chords

Neighboring-tones

Passing-tones

Three-steps-to-passing-chords

Until next time, be sure and stop by and take a look at this music resource, Song Robot







"The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you." B.B.King

Series on Passing Tones

 I received so many wonderful letters from beautiful musicians requesting more information on jazz chords, passing tones and inversions. In the weeks ahead I will try to post a series on popular requests from my readers. Let's begin with a series on...


PASSING TONES:


A "Chord Tone" is a note in the melody with the same letter-name as a note in the harmonizing chord. A "non-harmonic" tone (non-chord tone) is a note in the melody between two chord tones that doesn't appear in the harmonizing chord. "Passing tones" are the non-harmonic tones (notes) that are in between two chord tones and are in the scale of the two chord tones. The chord tones and passing tones are either all ascending or descending in the same direction. A passing tone provides a smooth melodic transition from one chord tone to the next. Usually, if there is an interval of a third between two chord tones, there is one passing tone. Below is an example of Non-Chord Tones.

Former posts on passing tones:

LadyDpiano: What's A Tritone?

The tritone can be used as a passing tone in gospel and jazz movements. It's usually that dynamic sounding chord you usually hear especially in spacious ...
ladydpiano.blogspot.com/2008/09/whats-tritone.html

LadyDpiano: Learn How To Play Gospel Music

Walking basslines use a mixture of scale tones, arpeggios,chromatic runs, and passing tones to outline the chord progression of a song or tune, ...
ladydpiano.blogspot.com/2009/09/learn-how-to-play-gospel-music.html

LadyDpiano: 12 Secret Gospel Passing Chords

"Passing chords are formed by the stepwise movement of one or more of the voices from a ... Diatonic Chords, gospel chords, Passing Chords, Passing Tones ...
ladydpiano.blogspot.com/2008/12/12-secret-gospel-passing-chords.html

LadyDpiano: October 2008

Oct 1, 2008 ... Apply this knowledge and begin combining the scale tones to form chords ... Letting your fingers walk to the next chord, passing the note of ...
ladydpiano.blogspot.com/2008_10_01_archive.html

Three Steps To Passing Chords

Learn how to use cool Passing Tones, Turnaround Chords and Endings that Black Gospel And Jazz Music are so famous for. Any chord can be changed or altered, ...
ladydpiano.blogspot.com/2008/08/three-steps-to-passing-chords.html

 

Passing Chords
One last detail: instead of jumping down three half steps from the I to the VI chord in bars 7 and 8, we “walk down” by half step, filling in the gap between G and E chords (G13–G¯13–F13–E7˜9). You can always play chords on the half steps between two chords. The essential chord progression doesn’t really change. It’s still a I–VI movement, but embellished by the passing chords (G¯13 and F13), which simply fill in the space between the essential chords of the progression (G13 and E7˜9). Passing chords don’t really change the basic chord movement. You can ignore them when improvising. By using the same chord voicings on the first three chords, the walkdown sounds smoother.

The comping rhythm alternates between the 13th (G13 and C13 chords) and 7th (G7 and C7 chords). Both are built on the 1–7–3–5 structure.

http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/Issue/2010/Mar/Chord_Extensions_Jazzin_Up_the_Blues_with_Ninth_Thirteenth_and_Passing_Chords.aspx

 

Piano Resources:

 

Improve Piano Playing Now

If You Can Read Simple Treble-Clef Melody Notes, You Can Quickly and Easily Learn To Play 9 Popular Songs!

Play Piano With Easy Fake Book

Charlie Parker once said "Learn the changes and then forget them."
Until next time... Have a wonderful Mother's day weekend!
~ LadyD

12 Secret Gospel Passing Chords

Here's a little bit of theory...

"Diatonic Chords" are simply chords based on notes of the scale. If a song called for a straight AbMaj7 chord for several measures, it would be appropriate to fill in with the other Diatonic Chords. It can add a sense of dynamic motion, without disrupting the inherent harmonic integrity or simplicity of the music. In melody, you've heard of Passing Notes (notes that connect one to the next but aren't part of the chord)? These are Passing Chords.

I found GospelKeys.com to have an excellent learning system for passing chords.

http://www.gospel-chords.com/Passing-Chords.aspx

TUTORIAL: 12 Secret gospel passing chords madameve



GOSPEL EXAMPLE: Passing chords: Cycling through suspensions

A great lesson of Joy To The World using so many wonderful sounding bass chords!



"Passing chords are formed by the stepwise movement of one or more of the voices from a harmony note in one chord to form an intermediate chord or chords on the way to becoming a harmony note in another chord. In other words, passing chord(s) are formed by the stepwise filling in of notes between chords. The stepwise movement may be a filling in by one step or multiple steps."

http://www.harmony.org.uk/book/functional_harmony_passing_chords.htm

My friend, James Stevens has this to say:
"It is absolutely true that diminished and dominant 7 chords can lead to BOTH major and minor chords in the same way. But in a technical sense, we might not usually think of this as a PASSING chord. Passing chords a chords that move in between the main chords in a progression, but don't necessarily have the same strong PULL that a dominant or diminished chord may have by wanting to move up a perfect 4th or up a minor 2nd, respectively.

Here is an example of PASSING chords where each chord would represent 1 beat:

C - C - Dm7 - C/E - F. Notice the main chords are C and F. The Dm7 and C/E are just passing chords, but don't by themselves lead strongly in any direction.
Let me give you an example of a Dominant Chord being used as a passing chord. Suppose I was beginning on a C chord and heading to A7, just for fun I might insert a B7 and Bb7 on the way to A7. Even though these two are dominant 7 chords, in this setting, they would be just PASSING chords.

So whereas Dominant and Diminished chords my lead strongly to a certain chord, major or minor, passing chords are just "Passing Through" filling the space in between the main chords of a line to provide a little color."

http://zone.hearandplay.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=6161&highlight=passing+chords

Hope you've enjoyed adding some color to your playing!
For more info, click here

http://ladydpiano.com

Three Steps To Passing Chords

Passing Chords= Passing notes are non chord notes that lead from one chord note to another. They can be diatonic or chromatic; they can be in a melody or in a harmony part. If you read notes, then Pete Thomas explains passing chords with great illustrations:

http://www.petethomas.co.uk/jazz-passing-chords.html

Learn how to use cool Passing Tones, Turnaround Chords and Endings that Black Gospel And Jazz Music are so famous for. Any chord can be changed or altered, thereby changing its color, its sound.
http://www.jazzchrisitan.com/workbook-pages/passing-chords

The passing note fills in the gap between the two harmony notes in the chords before and after the passing note. The short duration and nature of the passing note does not create a feeling of a change of harmony. The passing chord is an extension of the passing note such that the duration of the passing note and the way the note sounds, in conjunction with other notes of the chord, creates a senses of a change in harmony.

There are three steps in getting passing chords to work for you. The first, is to learn how to simplify the changes down to their bare basics so you can hear the actual changes of the tune as you play through it. The second step is learning to play passing chords comfortably and in time to start with. Third step involves learning to hear where the bass line is going as this will key you in on where you need to go with the chords. As you have more and more experience listening to Jazz, and as you get more experience playing and used to playing with a more analytical ear, you'll eventually just naturally feel what's missing.

Here's an example of a song that uses passing chords:
I Don't Feel No Ways Tired
F/ACDF.....I
A/GCE.....don’t
F/ACDF....feel
Bb/BbCDF..no
C/BbDEG...ways
F/ACDF....tired
Bb/BbCDF...come too
A/GCE......far
D/ACDF....from where
G/BbDFG...I started
C/BbDEG....from
Db/BbDbEG...(passing chord)
D/ACDF......nobody
A/GCE.......told me
Bb/ACDF.....that the road
A/ACDF......would be easy
G,A,Bb,C/DbFGBb-CFA (alternate the chords with the bass LH)
C/CFA.......I don’t
A/CEG.......(passing chord)
D/CFA.......believe
G/DbFGBb.....He brought me this far
G,A,Bb,C/DbFGBb-CFA (alternate the chords with the bass LH)
C/CFA.......I don’t
A/CEG.......(passing chord)
D/CFA.......believe
G/DbFGBb.....He brought me this far
C/BbDFG......to leave
F/ACDF.......me

The Spirituals of Harry T. Burleigh: Low Voice Arranged by For Solo Voice By Harry T. Burleigh. For Voice. (Low Voice). Vocal Collection. Spiritual. Book. 208 pages. Published by Alfred Publishing. (EL03150) See more info...

To sum it up, my dear friend James says:
"Passing chords are chords that move in between the main chords in a progression, but don't necessarily have the same strong PULL that a dominant or diminished chord may have by wanting to move up a perfect 4th or up a minor 2nd, respectively.

Here is an example of PASSING chords where each chord would represent 1 beat:

C - C - Dm7 - C/E - F. Notice the main chords are C and F. The Dm7 and C/E are just passing chords, but don't by themselves lead strongly in any direction.

Let me give you an example of a Dominant Chord being used as a passing chord. Suppose I was beginning on a C chord and heading to A7, just for fun I might insert a B7 and Bb7 on the way to A7. Even though these two are dominant 7 chords, in this setting, they would be just PASSING chords.

So whereas Dominant and Diminished chords my lead strongly to a certain chord, major or minor, passing chords are just "Passing Through" filling the space in between the main chords of a line to provide a little color." I think I'm getting the hang of passing chords.


http://www.LadyDpiano.com