Tag Archives: tetratonic scales

deriving tetratonic scales from the “new notes” on Oleleko


Let’s have a look at the chord grid for the solo section on Oleleko (the electric piano improvisation happens from 2’02 to 3’35 on the recording):


The following table lists all chord symbols, the parent scales they derive from, and their “new notes,” which is a concept introduced by contemporary jazz pianist and composer Laszlo Gardony (for each chord, we list the notes in the parent scale that were not present in the scale corresponding to the previous chord – this helps to give a sense of forward motion to the music and emphasize the shifts in harmony as we go through the grid):

Bar Chord
Symbol
Mode
(Parent Scale)
New
Note(s)?
121 C7 C mixolydian
(F major)
C D E A
136 D7(#11) D lydian dominant
(A melodic minor)
F# G# B
137 Eb6 Eb ionian
(Eb major)
Eb F G Bb
139 Eb7sus Eb mixolydian
(Ab major)
Db
141 Eb6 Eb ionian
(Eb major)
D
143 Eb7sus Eb mixolydian
(Ab major)
Db
144 E7(#11) E lydian dominant
(B melodic minor)
E F# B D
145 F#6 F# ionian
(F# major)
D# E#
147 F#7sus F# mixolydian
(B major)
E
149 F#6 F# ionian
(F# major)
E#
150 Db7(#11) Db lydian dominant
(Ab melodic minor)
G

Now let’s find possible tetratonic scales based on those “new notes” (using four-note scales will enable us to limit our melodic choices and create wider, more angular intervals, while including as many of the “new notes” as possible in order to retain the characteristic harmonic shifts in the music):

Bar Chord
Symbol
Tetratonic
Scale(s)
121 C7 A minor (= A C D E)
136 D7(#11) E major (= E F# G# B)
137 Eb6 Eb major
139 Eb7sus Db major, Bb minor
141 Eb6 Bb major, G minor
143 Eb7sus Db major, Bb minor
144 E7(#11) B minor
145 F#6 C# major, A# minor
147 F#7sus E major, C# minor
149 F#6 C# major, A# minor
150 Db7(#11) Eb major

When there are two tetratonic choices, I simply go with the one I like best (in bold in the table above). By all means, feel free to experiment with both options and chose whichever sounds most satisfying to your ear!

Finally, and for the purpose of practicing, we can further break down these tetratonic sounds into triads: once you feel comfortable improvising using the triads exclusively, it’s easier to play the full tetratonic scales (adding a major second to major triads and a perfect fourth to minor triads to get the corresponding tetratonics).

Bar Chord
Symbol
Tetratonic
Scale(s)
Triads
121 C7 A minor A-
136 D7(#11) E major E
137 Eb6 Eb major Eb
139 Eb7sus Bb minor Bb-
141 Eb6 G minor G-
143 Eb7sus Bb minor Bb-
144 E7(#11) B minor B-
145 F#6 C# major C#
147 F#7sus C# minor C#-
149 F#6 C# major C#
150 Db7(#11) Eb major Eb

Complete sheet music for “Oleleko” (from the album Tao, 2019) is available. Please visit the Funnelljazz catalogue for more information.


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