Creating ii-V Lines

Jeff Ellwood

When teaching improvisation, we always talk about the musicical language

associated with it. We tell students to learn the language and transpose that
langauge to multiple keys. The problem is that many students are not able
to break the idea into smaller sections to understand the construction of the
line. For this concept, lines will be divided into 4 sections.
Any line from section #1 will connect to section #2, #2 will connect to #3, #3
will connect to #4.
A short ii-V (2 beats of each chord D-7 G7) will use section #1 and #2
A long ii-V (4 beats of each chord D-7 G7) will use section #1 to #2 to #3 to #4
This concept of creating lines is a LEGO approach to improvisation. Having 4
shapes per section, the students can come up with a variety of lines by
rearranging to language blocks into a variey of combinations.

Section #1

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Jeff Ellwood Music (www.jeffellwood.net)

Creating ii-V Lines

Section #2

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Section #3

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Creating ii-V Lines

Section #4

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Sample Lines (Long ii-V)

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D mi7

D mi7

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G7

# n

C ma7

# n

G7

C ma7

b b n
b b n

Creating ii-V Lines

D mi7

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G7

C ma7

Sample Lines (short ii-V)

D mi7

G7

C ma7

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D mi7

G7

C ma7

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D mi7

G7

C ma7

#
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D mi7

G7

C ma7