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Wes Montgomery <b>Chord</b> Scales - Matt Warnock <b>Guitar</b>

Posted: 24 Jun 2011 06:31 AM PDT

Jazz Guitar Chords: Wes Montgomery Chord Scales

Wes Montgomery was one of the greatest guitarists who ever lived, jazz or otherwise.

He helped revolutionize the way single-line soloing on the guitar was done, and his use of octaves is legendary.

But, one of the aspects of Wes' playing that often gets overlooked, mostly because he was such a monster single-line and octave player, is his comping and chord soloing. Favoring Drop 3 and Drop 2 chords, Wes quietly went about creating some of the most memorable chord solos in jazz guitar history on such tunes as "West Coast Blues" and "Impressions."

One of the ideas that Wes liked to use when it came to comping and chord soloing was inserting extra dominant and diminished chords into his Chord Scales.

Basically, when there was a space between notes in the Chord Scale, Wes filled those gaps with Dominant 7th or Diminished 7th chords, adding some extra sonic spice to his lines without stretching too far outside the main key center of the progression or tune.

So let's dive in and check out this very cool, and effective, chord soloing and comping idea inspired by one of the greatest players of all time, Wes Montgomery.

First, let's begin by checking out a G Major Chord Scale using Drop 3 chord voicings in root position with the root on the sixth string.

Feel free to practice all of these chord scales using different inversions, as well as in all 12 keys, in order to fully internalize this concept.

If you need a refresher on Chord Scales, how they're built and how to practice them, check out my lesson Jazz Guitar Chords: Chord Scales for more background on this subject.

We'll keep using Drop 3 chords for the majority of this lesson, but you can use this approach for any chords, some of my favorites are:

Now, the important thing to notice, and the reason why I put all of the chord voicings on the same string sets, is that there are empty frets between certain chords in the scale, such as the space between Gmaj7 and Am7.

Keep these spaces in mind as we're going to use those spaces in the coming examples to add some Wes flavor to our chord scales, comping and chord soloing.

Wes Montgomery Chord Scales – Drop 3 Chords

OK, we've worked out the G Major Chord Scale so now let's spice it up a bit by adding chords in the spaces that lie between most of the chords in the scale.

What we're going to do, and what Wes liked to do, is add a Dominant 7th chord in these spaces that will lead us into the next chord in the scale.

This is referred to as a "Secondary Dominant" chord because it will temporarily tonicize the next chord in the scale, basically since we're adding in V7 chords, the chord following these V7′s will become a temporary Imaj or Imin chord.

If that sounds like too much theory for you, just know that you can add a V7 in the spaces between scale tones that leads to the next chord in that scale.

So, if we have Gmaj7 and Am7, there is a space between those two chords, G#, so that G# will become the 3rd of E7, which leads us into Am7, as E7 is the V7 chord of Am7.

OK, I know, this sounds complicated, so let's dive into this concept on the guitar, it will make much more sense and be easier to wrap your head around it once you start to get your fingers around these shapes and how they work within the context of the chord scale.

Wes Montgomery Chord Scales – Secondary Dominants

If you were a bit fuzzy on the theory, it should make more sense after you practice these chord scales in a few different keys, getting the shapes and sounds in your hands and ears.

If you are still aren't sure about this idea, take some time and practice the first example in all 12 keys, and using as many different chord shapes as you know.

Feel free to tab or write out the chords to help you memorize them, and when you feel you've got a handle on it then jump back in and head to the next example in the lesson.

This next example is basically the same thing as the first, we're going to fill those gaps that occur between scale tones with a new chord, but this time it will be a dim7 chord, instead of a Dominant 7th chord.

There are two ways to think about this new approach, the first is that each dim7 chord acts as a passing note between the two notes, such as G-A in the first two chords.

Secondly, these can be thought of as 7b9 chords leading to the next note in the scale, such as G#dim7 (which is E7b9 without the root) leading into the Am7 chord in the next measure, a V7b9-Im7 progression.

Whichever way you think about it is fine, just know that you can insert these dim7 chords in between scale tones to help lead to the next chord in your comping or chord soloing idea.

Wes Montgomery Chord Scales – Passing Diminished Chords

Now we're ready to take these new ideas for a test drive in a real-life situation.

The first example shows a classic jazz-blues idea that you can use in the first two bars of any blues, here in the key of G. We are using the chromatic dim7 chord to lead us from the IV7 chord, C7, in bar two, into the I7, G7, chord in bar three.

Listen to how the extra chord really emphasizes that movement, anytime you add a chromatic chord like this, it really brings attention to the line and helps emphasize the chord that it resolves to.

Wes Montgomery Chord Scales – Comping 1

We'll now look at how we can use this concept in a ii-V progression in G Major.

Again, the chromatic dim7 chord helps us get from the iim7, Am7, chord to the V7 chord, D7, and emphasizes that movement even further in the process.

This is another classic jazz-guitar comping idea that should be in every Bebop guitarist's vocabulary.

Check it out, very cool lick!

Wes Montgomery Chord Scales Comping – 2

Now we'll finish up by using the Secondary Dominant idea in the context of a chord solo, this time using a ii-V-I in the key of G Major, and for variety's sake I used Drop 2 voicings for this line, which are more common in chord soloing than Drop 3 chords normally are.

Notice how the extra chords solidify the sound of the chords in each bar, and then help lead the line into the next chord by anticipating it a bit with its related Dominant chord, such as the A7 chord in the 4th beat of bar one.

With these ideas in your ears and under your fingers, try practicing these chord scales each day, and then bring them into your comping and soloing ideas on tunes that you're working on.

It's a little heavy on the theory at first, but once you start to work these ideas out on the guitar it all comes together, and becomes much easier to grasp. Enjoy!

Click to hear audio for this Wes Montgomery Chord Scale Lick.

Wes Montgomery Chord Scales Soloing Example

Have you checked out these chord scales in the jazz guitar practice room? What do you think of Wes' chord scales? Post your thoughts in the MWG Forum thread for this lesson.

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