Fast

Improvisation
Tools

Written By Daniel Barak

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Preface .................................................................................................................. 4
BASIC TOOLS ......................................................................................................... 5
Tool 1: Minor 7 over diatonic major.................................................................. 5
Tool 2: Start to play arpeggios with the 3rddegree ............................................ 6
Tool 3: Play parts of the major scale ................................................................. 6
Tool 4: Use the "Jazzy" sounds6, 9, 3 ................................................................ 6
Tool 5: 3 note chromatic approach to the 3rd and then 1 and 6 ........................ 6
Tool 6: Use the "Jazzy" sounds 3, 4, 6 ............................................................... 7
Tool 7: Use the "Jazzy" sounds of a minor 3, 7, 9, & higher octave 3,4 ............ 7
Tool 8: Start to play arpeggios with the 5th degree ........................................... 7
Tool 9: Use 2 notes intervals of the diatonic chord........................................... 7
Tool 10: 4th degree Dominant 7 arpeggio over a minor chord .......................... 8
Tool 11: Diminished arpeggio over a minor chord ............................................ 8
Tool 12: 6 to flat 3 and then 3,5, and major 7 ................................................... 9
Tool 13: Major scale over a minor chord........................................................... 9
DOMINANT 7 TOOLS .......................................................................................... 10
Tool 1: Minor 6 or 7 over dominant 7 chord ................................................... 10
Tool 2: Minor over dominant 7 chord ............................................................. 11
Tool 3: Diminished over dominant 7 chord ..................................................... 11
Tool 4: Mixolydian 9b/13b over dominant 7 chord ........................................ 11
Tool 5: Play the 7, b5, 9, 6 degrees .................................................................. 12
Tool 6: Play part/pattern from the whole tone scale ..................................... 12

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TENSION, TRANSITION, AND RESOLVE TOOLS ................................................... 13
Tool 1: X#7/9 diminished and the 6th degree,with a resolve to X ................... 13
Tool 2: Sharp 5th degree and the flat 3rdor flat 9th degrees ............................. 13
Tool 3: Create anticipation for the next chord in the progression .................. 13
Tool 4: Play a diminished 7 arpeggio over the same flat diminished chord ... 14
SPECIAL SOUND TOOLS ..................................................................................... 15
Tool 1: b5 over a dominant chord ................................................................... 15
Tool 2: Play the#5, i.e. Augmented,over a diatonic or dominant 7 chord ..... 15
Tool 3: Play a diminished arpeggio in Django's one note per string pattern .. 15

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Preface
This series of tools will give you the "building blocks" (i.e. tools), that you can use
to build your improvisations. Simply use the mind map system described at our
forum, blog, and newsletters, to build your improvisations in a creative way.
Building your improvisation using the mind map system is like creating a blue
print for a house, you start at the foundations and then go on to build the walls,
the roof etc...Note that this tools lesson will be updated all the time as new
lessons will be published, so stay tuned and we will notify you on every update.
After you will create one mind map for one of your improvisations, the process
will become easier as you do it again and again. The final goal you should strive to
achieve, is to be able to create the mind map IN YOUR MIND and in real time and
not on paper when you have time to plan it before you actually use it. This is what
the master players do, they plan very quickly in their minds and they change the
tools they are using very quickly while choosing the correct timing to use them in
relation to the underlying harmonic structure of the song / musical piece, that
they are playing.Use the tools in this lesson to create a mind map as follows:

1.) Grab a piece of A4 paper and write the chords of the progression, each chord
inside its owncircle. Make sure to leave enough space between the circles so
that you will beable to add more circles around and between them.

2.) Start to build the "story" of your improvisation. Start with the beginning of the
story by using the BASIC TOOLS. You don't have to apply some tool all the
time,sometimes just play the same chord's arpeggio as you see in the
progressionof the song / musical piece, just make sure to play the arpeggio in
aninteresting way ,for example, by using some of the "jazzy sounds" tools.

3.) Use a SPECIALSOUND TOOL from time to time ,to make the story of your
improvisation more interesting.

4.) Use a TENSION AND RESOLVE TOOL right before a chord change or when the
progression change from A part to the B (or any other shift from some part to
the other). Or use this tools over a long progression of the same chord like for
example in the "Huneysuckle Rose" song, this will create and interesting
movement inside your improvisation.

5.) Use someDOMINANT 7 TOOL over a dominant chord.

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BASIC TOOLS

Tool 1: Minor 7 over diatonic major

Over a major diatonic chord, for example A, E6, D6/9, G, etc..., you can play the
arpeggio, or parts of it, of a minor 7 chord that is located 2 degrees BEFORE and
AFTER the diatonic chord. The related minor chord BEFORE has the same notes of
the major diatonic chord with the addition of the 6 degree. The related minor
chord AFTER has the same notes of the major diatonic chord with the addition of
themajor 7 and 9 degrees. For example over G chord , you can play the arpeggio,
or parts of it, of the E minor 7 chord Or B minor 7 chord. This tool can be depicted
graphically as follows (for example in the G diatonic chord):
=Em7 =Bm7
2 1 1 2
E F G A B

You can apply this tool in various ways , for example in the "Honeysuckle Rose"
lesson at 05:32 you can see how Paulus starts to play over F major chord with F
major 7 arpeggio and then play over the D minor 7 arpeggio with a typical gypsy
style octave jump ending, the finish is on C.
Another example is in the "Django's Tiger" lesson at 02:31 and 24:04 when
Paulus play the F# minor 7 arpeggio after playing A major 7 arpeggio.
You can also apply this tool in a very interesting way when you start to play an
arpeggio (or part of it) of one of the related minor chords and then end with the
arpeggio (or part of it) of the diatonic chord. For example in the "Honeysuckle
Rose" lesson at 04:36 you can see how Paulus starts to play over the A minor 7
chord's arpeggio and descends until the F and then end the phrase with the F
major 7 arpeggio, and the same at 10:38 with Gminor 7 over Bb chord.
Note that when you apply this tool you should always end the phrase you play on
one of the degrees of the diatonic chord because if you stay too long on one of
the related chord's minor arpeggios, the sound will tend to be more minor due to
the "minoric" relation between the notes of these arpeggios, so you must make
sure to keep the "majoric" sound in the ear of the listener by ending on one of the
degrees of the diatonic chord (like you see in the example above from
"Honeysuckle Rose" lesson at 05:32, when the phrase ends on C which is the 5th
degree of F chord).

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Tool 2: Start to play arpeggios with the 3rddegree
Start to play many of your arpeggios over the 3rddegree of the underlying chord.
For example if the underlying chord is G diatonic chord, you can start over the
note B.You can start on the first degree in various way, for example:
*Play an enclosure around the 3rd degree of the chord , for example in
"Honeysuckle Rose" lesson at03:42 when Paulus play an enclosure
around the 3rd degree of the G minor chord (B).
*Start to play half tone below the 3rddegree and then slide to (or play) the 3
degree.
*Start to play a trill with the 3rddegree and the 4thdegree and then slide a half
toneback and play an enclosure.
*Play achromatic ascend or descend to the 3rd degree. For example "Honeysuckle
Rose" minute 9:53 when Paulus play a 3 note chromatic descend to the 3 rd
degree of the C minor chord.

Tool 3: Play parts of the major scale

Play parts of the major scale of the diatonic major chord. For example in"Django's
Tiger" lessonat 4:17 and 24:07 when Paulus play on the A major scale, starting
from E. Or in "Shiek of Araby" lesson at 00:22 and 02:57 when Paulus is playing
part of the Bb major scale over the Bb6/9 chordand ends it with the 5, 3, 1 and 5
of the lower octave.

Tool 4: Use the "Jazzy" sounds6, 9, 3

Play the major 7 sound in combinations with the 6, 9, 3 degrees of the diatonic
major chord. For example in "Djangology" lesson at 00:45 when Paulus play over
a G major 7 arpeggio that ends with a major 7 (F#), 5th degree (D), and the 6th
degree (E).

Tool 5: 3 note chromatic approach to the 3rd and then 1 and 6

Play a 3 note chromatic approach to 3rd degree and then the 1st degree and the
6th degree on a higher octave. For example in "Honeysuckle Rose" lesson at04:19
and 7:06 when Paulus play over C7/9 chord. You can also apply this tool over
dominant 7 chords and diatonic chords.

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Tool 6: Use the "Jazzy" sounds 3, 4, 6
Use a combination of the 3, 4, 6 degrees of a chord you play improvisation over.
For example in "Django's Tiger" lesson at 05:00 and 24:08 when Paulus plays over
A chord,a half tone approach to the 3rd degree (C#) and anenclosure around the
4th degree (D).Then a half tone approach to the 6th degree (F#) one octave lower
and approach fromhalf tone above the 3rd degree (C#).

Tool 7: Use the "Jazzy" sounds of a minor 3, 7, 9, & higher octave 3,4
This tool sounds very good over a minor chord due to the fact that the 9 of a
minor chord is only a half step below the 3rd degree. For example, in "Nuages"
lesson at 28:18 when Paulus starts to play over A sharp minor 7 chord with a half
tone approach to the 3rd degree and then the 5th, 7th, and sliding from the 9th
degree to the 4th degree and then the 3rd degree on a higher octave.

Tool 8: Start to play arpeggios with the 5th degree

This is the same idea as tool number 2 above but with the 5th degree. For
example, in "Honeysuckle Rose" lesson minute 5:56 when Paulus starts to play
with a half tone approach to the 5th degree of the G minor chord, i.e. D.

Tool 9: Use 2 notes intervals of the diatonic chord

It is beautiful to use, from time to time, 2 notes intervals of the diatonic chord,
you can use the 1st degree and the 6th degree, or the 1st degree and the 3rd degree,
or the 1st degree and the 5th degree, or similar combinations. You should also
consider playing these 2 notes with a 3 frets ascend from BELOW the target
interval degrees, or a with a 3 frets descend from ABOVE the target interval
degrees. For example, in "Honeysuckle Rose" lesson at05:48 when Paulus play
the 2 interval notes of the G minor chords (1st degree G and 3rd degree bB) with a
3 frets descend from ABOVE.

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Tool 10: 4th degree Dominant 7 arpeggio over a minor chord
You can play a dominant 7 (or 7 and 9) arpeggio (or part of it) over a minor or a
minor 6 chord. The dominant 7 chord is located on the 4th degree of the minor
chord. For example, in "Honeysuckle Rose" lesson at09:54 when Paulus play part
of the F7 dominant arpeggio over C minor. OR another example in "Hungaria"
when Paulus playpart of the E7 dominant arpeggio over B minor 6 chord.
1
4
2 3
C D E F =F7 (or F7/9)

You can see the F7 or F7/9 contains the notes of the C minor chord including the
minor 3rd degree, 4th degree(F) and the 6th degree (A). F7/9 = F, A, C, Eb, G. This is
how your improvisation will sound more creative and interesting when you play
F7 or F7/9 instead of just the regular C minor arpeggio.

Tool 11: Diminished arpeggio over a minor chord

Due to tool number 10 above, you can also play the diminished 7 arpeggio that
starts from the 3rd degree of the dominant chord located on the 4th degree of the
minor chord. But to make it easy to remember you can use the following rule:
over a minor chord you can play a diminished arpeggio that starts on its 6 th
degree. For example, on C minor chord you can play A diminished arpeggio, on A
minor chord you can play F# diminished arpeggio, over G minor you can play E
diminished arpeggio, over D minor you can play B diminished arpeggio, over E
minor you can play C# diminished arpeggio, etc
The diminished arpeggio has the 6, 1(the root), minor 3 rd, and flat 5 degrees of
the minor chord.
A nice example of this rule is found in "Shiek of Araby" lesson at 09:32 when
Paulus is playing F# diminished arpeggio over A minor chord.

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 Tool 12: 6 to flat 3 and then 3,5, and major 7
This is a beautiful phrase, you can use it on any major chord.
For example in "Django's Tiger" lesson at 22:13 when Paulus play over A major
chord, he descends from the 6th degree (F#) all the way to the flat step 3 (C) and
then play the 3rd, and then the 5th, and end on the major 7 (G#). Learn to play it
in all of the positions of some chord on your guitar and you'll have a powerful tool
for your improvisations.

Tool 13: Major scale over a minor chord

This is a beautiful tool to add to your tools bank. Over a minor chord, you can play
a major scale that is located one tone below. For example, in "Shiek of Araby"
lesson at 00:19 and 02:24 when Paulus is playing a phrase from the Bb major scale
over Cm chord. Or for example, over D minor chord you can play C major scale.
The major scale has the minor 3rd and the 7th degree inside.For example, the Bb
major scale, when played over the C minor chord, has the 7th degree Bb, the root
C, the 9thdegree D, the minor 3rd degree Eb, the 4th degree F, the 5th degree G, and
the 6th degree A. So you get the following beautiful sounds over the minor
chord:7th, 9th, minor 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th

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DOMINANT 7 TOOLS

Tool 1: Minor 6 or 7 over dominant 7 chord

This is a very powerful tool that you can apply a lot when you play over dominant
7 chords.Over a dominant 7 chord, for example G7, D7/9, A13, E7/9, etc... , you
can play the arpeggio, or parts of it, of a minor 6 or 7 chord that is located 5
degrees AFTER the dominant chord.This tool can be depicted graphically as
follows (for example in the G7 dominant chord):
1
5
2 3 4
G A B C D =Dm6 or Dm7

For example, according to this tools, you can play Bm6 over E7 chord, Em6 over
A7 chord, Am6 over D7 chord, Gm6 over C7 chord, etc...
The related minor 6 chord has notes of the dominant 7 chord, but with the
addition of the 9th degree. For example, D minor 6 has the notes D, F, A, B, so you
can see that the 7th degree F of G7 chord is here, and also the 3rd degree B of G7
chord, is here, and the 9th degreeA, of G7 chord, is here to give the special 9
sound. And if you play the 7th of the D minor 7 chord, you'll have the 4th degree
that gives the 11th sound (it sounds good, try it).
You can see this tool applied, for example, in "Honeysuckle Rose" lesson at
minute 11:36 when Paulus play D minor 7 arpeggio over the G7 dominant
chord.Or in "Honeysuckle Rose" minute 11:57 when Paulus play G minor 7
arpeggio over the C7 dominant chord.Another beautiful example of this tool is
found in the "Django's Tiger" lesson at 06:05 and 24:11 where Paulus plays B
minor 7 over E7/9 chord and sharp B minor 7 over E#7/9 chord.
Note that the minor 6 chord is the same as the half diminished (or minor 7 flat 5
chord) located on the 3rd degree of the dominant chord. In the example above,
Bm7b5 located on the 3rd degree of G chord(B) is the same as the Dm6 chord.
This tools sound good when the next chord in the progression is a major or
dominant chord.
Note that when you apply this tool you should always end the phrase you play on
one of the degrees of the dominant 7 chord because if you stay too long on one of
the related dominant 7 chord's minor 6 arpeggio, the sound will tend to be more
minor due to the "minoric" relation between the notes of these arpeggios, so you

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must make sure to keep the dominant 7 sound in the ear of the listener by ending
on one of the degrees of the dominant chord (like you see in the example above
from "Honeysuckle Rose" lesson at 11:36, when the phrase ends on B which is
the 3rd degree of G7 chord).

Tool 2: Minor over dominant 7 chord

Over a dominant 7 chord, for example G7, D7/9, A13, E7/9, etc... , you can play
the arpeggio, or parts of it, of a minor chord that is located 1 degree (or one tone)
BEFORE the root of the dominant chord. For example, you can play F minor over
G7, Bb minor over C7, D minor over E7 , etc...
For example in "Nuages" lesson at minute 35:01 when Paulus play F
minorarpeggio over G7chord. The minor arpeggio has the flat 9thdegree of the
dominant chord, its 7th degree and 4th degree. This tool is usually applied with the
minor triad but you can try to add the minor 6 or experiment with other sounds of
the minor chord. Another beautiful example is in "Nuages" lesson at 51:27 when
Paulus plays A minor 6 arpeggio over B7 (or F# half diminished chord, which is
B7/9).

Tool 3: Diminished over dominant 7 chord

Playing a diminished arpeggio over a dominant 7 chord, includes the Flat 9th
degree of the dominant 7 chord. You can start to play the diminished arpeggio
from the 3rd or 5th or 7th , or flat 9thdegrees of the dominant 7 chord.This tools
usually sounds good when the next chord in the progression is a minor chord.For
example in "Hungaria" lesson at 00:21 when Paulus plays a diminished arpeggio
over E7 chord.

Tool 4: Mixolydian 9b/13b over dominant 7 chord

Play the Mixolydian 9b/13b scale or part of it over a dominant chord. It is easier
to find the related harmonic minor scale to know on what scale you should play.
The Mixolydian 9b/13b related harmonic minor scale is located on the 4 th step of
the dominant chord. For example if the dominant chord is G7, the 4 th step of G is
C, so you should play the C Mixolydian 9b/13b scale. If the chord is E7 you should
play the A Mixolydian 9b/13b scale, If the chord is A7 you should play the D
Mixolydian 9b/13b scale. Practice the Mixolydian 9b/13b scale according to the
lesson at our web site and you'll have it quickly under your fingers. A beautiful
example to this tool is found in the "Hungaria" lesson at 00:39 and 8:30 when
Paulus play the AMixolydian 9b/13b scale over the E7 chord.

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Tool 5: Play the 7, b5, 9, 6 degrees
To create a special sound over a dominant 7 chord, you can play the 7 of the
dominantchord (the 7th degree of a dominant 7 chord is b7), then the b5 to create
a special sound and then to end with the 9th degree and the 6th degree of the
dominant chord.
For example, in "Honeysuckle Rose" lesson at10:54 when Paulus play F, Db, A, E
over the G7 dominant chord.

Tool 6: Play part/pattern from the whole tone scale

Check out the whole tone scale lesson at our web site. This scale has a very
special and unique sound when played over a II7 dominant chord, For example E7
chord is the II7 of D. You can find many possible phrases inside the whole tone
scale so you should explore it to find more creative ideas for your improvisations.

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TENSION, TRANSITION, AND RESOLVE TOOLS

Tool 1: X#7/9 diminished and the 6th degree,with a resolve to X

"X" is any major diatonic chord, for example D, G6, E6/9, F6/9,etc...
For example, in "Honeysuckle Rose" lesson at07:17 when Paulus plays F#7/9
triad and then starts to play a diminished arpeggio starting from the 7th degree of
the F#7/9 chord, E, and ends on the 6th degree of F#7/9, Eb. This creates tension
that "wants" to resolve back to F and indeed Paulus plays the F by using the A
minor arpeggio (see tool number 1 above).

Tool 2: Sharp 5th degree and the flat 3rdor flat 9th degrees
A good example of thistool is found in "Hungaria" lesson at00:29 and 4:26 when
Paulus plays the sharp 5th degree and the flat 3rd degree of the Bb diminished
chord. He plays it after playing over the G arpeggio in an interesting way. This
creates a movement inside the G chord and leads the listener's ear towards a
movement that "wants" to resolve into A minor 7 chord that comes next. This
movement is directed to A minor 7 because the Bb diminished chord "leads" to
the resolve over A minor 7 chord.Then at 00:31 Paulus is playing the exact same
thing over A minor 7 and D7/9 chords,but this time it is the flat 9thdegree of D7/9
(Eb) and then sharp 5th degree (A#) of the D7/9 chord.

Tool 3: Create anticipation for the next chord in the progression

Play a phrase to create anticipation for the next chord in the progression.
A beautiful example of this tool is found in the "Hungaria" lesson at 00:38 and
7:21 when Paulus plays over some of the G major scale and in the last 4 beats of
the G chord he plays a diminished arpeggio starting with G#. This creates
anticipation to E7 chord that comes next in the progression. It also creates
tension that resolves over the E7 chord.
Another nice example for this tool is in the Sheik of Araby lesson at 00:33:27
and 07:53 when Paulus plays over some of the Bb major scale, and in the last 2
beats of the Bb chord he plays a diminished arpeggio starting with B. This creates
anticipation to G7 chord that relates to the C minor that comes next in the
progression. Check out the Mixolydian b5b13 lesson at our web site to
understand this relation.

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Tool 4: Play a diminished 7 arpeggio over the same flat diminished chord
When the progression of the song or musical piece,is for example as in Sheik of
Araby, Bb over D, Db diminished, Cm7. You can play in your improvisation over
the Bb arpeggio and then a D diminished arpeggio(instead of Db arpeggio), and
finish over C minor 7 arpeggio.
The reason for this is that the transition from Bb to Cm can be done in 2 ways:
1.) Going DOWN from D (in the base of the Bb over D chord), to Db (in the
base of the Db diminished chord) and then end over C (in the base of the C
minor chord).
In this case you can use Db diminished arpeggio to transition to the C minor
chord.

2.) Going UP from D (in the base of the Bb over D chord), to D by playing the D
diminished (and NOT the Db diminished), and then end over Eb (in the
base of theinversion of the C minor chord i.e. C minor over Eb = Cm/Eb).
In this case you can use D diminished arpeggio to transition to the C minor
chord.
This tool can be depicted graphically as follows (referring to the Bb,Db dim,Cm) :

Db
=Cm Diminished
D =Cm
Diminished

C Db Bb/D D Eb
Going Going
DOWN UP b

A very good example to this tool is in Sheik of Araby lesson at 00:25:17

and4:19when Paulus plays a D diminished arpeggio over Db diminished chord.
Although you may think it will not sound good, in practice it sounds good because
it leads the listeners ear to the transition from Bb over D, to D diminished, and to
Cm7. It is the same transition but in the opposite direction.

This transition progression is very common and used in many songs, for example
in Djangos Tiger the progression is : A over C#, C diminished, Bm. Or in
Hungaria and Djangoloythe progression is: G over B, Bb diminished, Am7,
etc...
This is why this tool is so useful to use in many songs.

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SPECIAL SOUND TOOLS

Tool 1: b5 over a dominant chord

Play the b5 sound over a dominant chord to create an interesting sound. For
example, in "Honeysuckle Rose" lesson at 11:30 when Paulus play the b5 (Db)
over the G7 dominant chord. Or another example from "Nuages" lesson at51:29
when Paulus play the b5 (F) over the B7 dominant chord.

Tool 2: Play the#5, i.e. Augmented,over a diatonic or dominant 7 chord

Play the #5 sound over a chord, it gives a special sound that leads the listener's
ear in a special way. This tool sounds especially good over a dominant 7 chord, for
examplein "Djangology" lesson at 00:22 when Paulus is playing over D7 chord. He
starts to play from the major 7th (C#) of the D7 chord then he plays the root (D) ,
the 3rd degree (F#), and the sharp 5th degree (A#).

Tool 3: Play a diminished arpeggio in Django's one note per string pattern
For example, in "Django's Tiger" lesson at 18:49when Paulus play over 1 bar of
D# diminished chord, starting from C and playing one note on each string. This is a
famous pattern that Django used a lot. Practice playing over diminished chords in
this one note per string pattern. It sounds good when you start it on the D string.
Use it in your improvisations and you will sound amazing. Note that you can start
with a slide from half tone below the note that starts this arpeggio in the same
way as you see inthe example above (a slide from B to C).

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