I have a question about jaming over a jam track (what else?).
In the Cm Santana Jam, it says the chord progression is Cm, Fm, Cm, Fm, Cm, G#, G, G#, Fm, Cm, Fm, Cm. Would that mean you would play in a C minor scale(C minor major scale, C minor penatonic, ect.) , then a F minor scale, then back to a Cm, and so on? Thanks for any help. 8)
P.S. Great job to every one on that jam! :twisted: (The Santana one)
Cm, Fm, Cm, Fm, Cm, G#, G, G#, Fm, Cm, Fm, Cm.
Well, the chords used are Cm (i), Fm (iv), G (V) and Ab (bVI), not G#.
Our key is C minor and because we're using a major V (G), that means we're in C harmonic minor. In C natural minor we'd use Gm (v) and in C melodic minor we might use F major (IV).
C pentatonic minor is the safest, easiest choice for improvisation over all the chords and works with all the minor scales. The C minor pent has the notes C__Eb_F_G__Bb_C. The only tricky note there could be the Bb, which would make a #2 with the G. This is fine though as we want a little dissonance on the G (V) right?
To take it a little further, C harmonic minor has the notes C_DEb_F_GAb_BC.
The B would sound rather dissonant against the Fm chord and the Ab would sound nasty with the C chord and the G chord. Again, eliminating them takes us back to the pentatonic minor, more or less.
With more planning, or if you're very good, you could of course write out a solo using all the notes of C harmonic minor + accidentals, but for improvising on the fly, the pentatonic minor is easiest and least grating to the ear.
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Helgi Briem
hbriem AT gmail DOT com
thanks!!! I've been wanting to know this for some basic jam theory.
