Jack Flash Jr wrote
+1
I often wonder whether complete theory neophytes have an advantage in terms of tonal playing when they get there... (I'm somewhere in between myself)
The way I understanding tonal playing, and correct me if I'm wrong, but its in using said scale in order to add to the harmony of the chord?
This is the way I view it. No matter how much I widdle, my hanging notes add the extra harmony to said chord. I love adding the 6th and the 9th to chords when I'm soloing. So when I solo I'm adding to the chord even if its a blind improv.
I guess there might be that trap that befalls beginners in learning to solo. They are always wanting to know what scale to use over a list of progressions. The answer of major scale confuses them mostly cos they read about their heroes using said mode over the solo (meanwhile it had a diatonic progression that didn't call for anything other than the maj scale). I'm not including jazz players or vinnie moore/malmsteen/tony macalpine in this. They really do go for those modal scurries. But regular players caught up in the hype of "modes".
Whenever a student asked me to teach them modes, I couldn't help but disguise the major scale with those wonderful greek names (of architecture and timeframes i think). Mostly because they were not ready to "hear" said mode. And whatever I taught them, it was mostly to accent their chords.
So in a nutshell, that is how I view tonal playing. I know the jazz idiom is focus on your 3rd and 7th when soloing. And however boring it may seem in text, at the speeds that Charlie Parker and John Coltrane whipped out those arpeggios and various phrases freaks me out still to this day. Miles Davis baffles me whenever I hear him aswell. Listening to multi-voiced instruments like piano/keys nails the point home of the added harmony.
If I'm wrong, please let me know. This is just how I understand and use it.
