Solo over “My Funny Valentine” with Diads

by | Nov 22, 2017 | Chord Melody, Jazz Standards

If you’re like most guitarists, you probably resort to 4 part voicings most of the time when playing chords. Who knows, occasionally you might even play some triads…but do you ever play diads?
I believe that diads, which are simply 2 note chords,are underrated among most guitarists. Yet they are much easier to use than their 4 or even 3 part counterparts when harmonizing a line. Due to the fact that they only occupy two of our fretting fingers, we can employ the remaining ones to execute hammer-ons and pull-offs from diad to diad. In addition, they are the ideal comping resource when we guitarists have to share the stage with a keyboard player who insists on saturating the harmonic landscape with 2 handed voicings sometimes spanning various octaves. In these instances I believe “less is more”, thanks to the magic of diads.
Want to know more about diads? In this video lesson I demonstrate how to derive them from several scales and I teach you how to use them to improvise over the changes to My Funny Valentine. I also explain how to use “passing diads”, as well as 2 note hammer-ons and pull-offs, so you can spice up your solos with some fresh sounding textures!
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6 Comments

  1. axel balke
    axel balke on December 10, 2017 at 12:06 pm

    Wow! Thank you for a great lesson.

    • Richie Zellon
      Richie Zellon on December 10, 2017 at 3:55 pm

      You’re welcome!

  2. Rudy Chukran
    Rudy Chukran on November 23, 2017 at 3:53 pm

    Thanks Richie: Very useful theory.
    I’ve been playing diads in a folk music context for years – worked it out by ear, but never really understood the mechanics of why it worked the way it does. Now I understand why I would sometimes hit clinkers. I need to pay attention to the avoid notes from now on.

    I’m going to take this diagram of thirds and work out harmony in sixths, which I also use a lot, but don’t understand “why it works”. I will in the future.

    • Richie Zellon
      Richie Zellon on November 24, 2017 at 4:43 pm

      Yes, if you understand where the “avoid notes” are in the 3rds, you should automatically understand where they are in the 6ths, as they are nothing but inverted 3rds. Hint: avoid notes for the most part reside half step above a chord tone in the scale.

  3. Rhoderick Earl
    Rhoderick Earl on November 22, 2017 at 7:04 pm

    Nice One! Thank You.

    ‘Music is the key that can open strange rooms in the house of memory.’
    ‘Llewelyn Wyn Griffith’

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