Awesome

substitutions

D7
Copyright Scott's Bass Lessons
4
4
5
4
4
4
?
b

~~
Scott Devine
Running out of solo ideas?
Check out these Awesome Subsitutions! (L#93)

?
b

?
b
Start point 02:15
starting on 1st finger
D Minor 7 Arpeggio (chord tones)
?
b
starting on 4th finger

R 3rd 5th
"Learn the arpeggios ..... it is one of the most important things you will ever practice". "Learn the arpeggios ..... it is one of the most important things you will ever practice".
7th R

R 3rd 5th 7th R

?
b
03:00
A Minor 7
5th 7th
Subsitute Minor Arpeggios (Intervals Related To The Key Of D Minor)
9th 11th
?
b
E Minor 7
9th 11th 13th R
?
b
11th
G Minor 7
b13 R 3rd

#
R

14
12
10 14 12 10 9 10 7
7
7 5
7
5
6 6 7
5
5 3
5

3
3
5 3
5 3 1
5
3 6
5 8
5 8
7 10 9 8 7
8
10 8
8
10
8 12
10 15 15 12
15 12
13

10 13
12
10 12
10
8
7 10
7

5 8
7
5
7 10
9
7
10 13
12
10

Ex.1
Copyright Scott's Bass Lessons
4
4
?
b
05:35 Riff in D Minor

?
b
Riff in A Minor

?
b
Riff in G Minor

?
b
Riff in E Minor

n
# n

10 13
12
10 12 15
14 17 16 15 14
15
17 15
15
17

# n

5 8
7
5 7 10
9 12 10 10 9
10
12 10
10
12

# n

3 6
5
3 5 8
7 10 9 8 7
8
10 8
8
10

# n

12 15
14
12 14 17
16 19 17 17 16
17
19 17
17
19
2
Copyright 2013 Scotts Bass Lessons

Running out of soloing ideas?
Check out the Awesome
substitutions (L#93)
Your Acti on Plan
In this lesson you are going to learn several minor chord
substitutions that can be used when soloing over a static
minor chord. To start with we'll be soloing over a static D
minor 7th chord.
1. Before you work through this lesson I want you to
familiarize yourself with two bass players that use
this chord on chord technique extensively, Jeff Berlin
and Gary Willis. Although their playing styles and
note choices are very different, they both approach
bass soloing from a 'chord tone first' view point,
rather than using scales first. This gives their solo
lines a particular sound and flavour.
Listening to different bass players and studying their
music in an in-depth manner is a huge piece of the
puzzle when it comes to your own development as a
bass player and musician. How did you learn to
speak? You listened to your parents speaking and
simply copied them, right? If you were asked to make
a speech at a conference or in front of your
classmates and had never spoke publicly before what
would you do to create a 'great speech'? Most likely
Copyright 2013 Scotts Bass Lessons
you would get onto YouTube and listen to some
great speeches, take notes, and then apply what
you'd learned to your speech. Learning a musical
instrument is exactly the same. When I'm studying a
certain player I will listen to nothing much else for
around four to eight weeks. I'll listen to their playing,
study their technique, transcribe their bass lines and
solos, everything I can do to absorb their approach to
the instrument.
Here's a small list of albums you should check out
from Gary Willis and Jeff Berlin:
Gary Willis
Bent
No Sweat
Actual Fiction
Jeff Berlin
In Harmony's Way
Lumpy Jazz
2. Now it's time to work through the lesson. You should
first familiarize yourself with the D minor 7th (Dm7)
sound and the different fingerings for that
arpeggio/chord-tones upon the fingerboard. For this
lesson Dm7 is our 'home' tonality, meaning whatever
substitutions we use, they are all being used over and
are in reference to the Dm7.
After you have become familiar with the Dm7
arpeggio and it's different fingerings over the
fretboard it's time to start using the substitutions
over the static Dm7 tonality. You should pick only
one substitution to start with as using them all won't
give your ear time to fully absorb the sound of each
particular substitution. Follow these steps:
Copyright 2013 Scotts Bass Lessons
A. Become comfortable with Dm7
arpeggio/chord-tones over the entire
fingerboard.
B. Choose one of the substitutions from the
tutorial. Become comfortable with whichever
substitution you have chosen over the entire
fingerboard.
C. Improvise moving between the Dm7 and
whichever substitution you have chosen. A
good idea is to set rules for yourself. E.g. 4 bars
of Dm7 followed by 4 bars of the substitution,
then repeat that sequence. It doesn't have to be
4 bars of each approach. It could be two bars, or
even just one. The point is to force yourself to
stick to whichever rule you have set as this is
what will eventually give you full control over
your improvising/soloing.
D. Now try and improvise freely switching
between Dm7 and substitution you have
chosen. You should always be trying to hear the
flavour of the substitution, as each one has it's
own personality and therefore you should aim
to be able to hear the differences between each
of them on the fly.
You should repeat steps A-D with each of the
substitutions I cover within the tutorial. Only then
should you start to mix all these substations
together. Remember, you should set rules to start
with making sure you're comfortable with each of
the substitutions. For instance you could improvise
using 4 bars of each substitution. Then mix things up
and try different combinations. These rules are in
place as an academic exercise to make sure you have
full control of your improvising and the substitutions
you're using.
Copyright 2013 Scotts Bass Lessons
3. You may think, "How can I possibly think like this
when improvising?" Well, the 'end goal' is to not think
while you're improvising, the end goal is to be able to
follow your ear and simply play what you feel. But,
your ear will never be developed enough if you don't
study the substitutions in this way, as you wont be
able to naturally hear each of the substitutions.
Hearing them naturally is what you should be aiming
for.
4. After you've worked through this tutorial and gone
through each of the steps you should start to look for
other substitutions you can use over different chord
types. I have shown you a selection of substitutions
that can be used over a static minor chord. But what
about major 7th chords, dominant chords or
diminished chords. Each has its own set of
substitutions. It's over to you to do some
investigation and find out what they are. ;)
Scott Devine