NoMinor1

NoMinor1 - Welcome to Nominor1 GLORY.

There’s NoSuchThingAsMinor1.

It’s 6, 3 or 2.

It’s all about parallel motion, Cmaj to Cmin, 6 of Ebmaj. It’s the relative motion but in the parallel key. 6, 3, or 2 of the parallel minor keys: Ebmaj, Abmaj, Bbmaj, respectively. We constantly borrow from the 1, 4, & 5 keys, even ‘in minor.’ Minor 2 5 1’s = 7 3 6.

::::: In my opinion there is no such thing as imin!

I know the jazz police are gonna come after me but who cares! Rather than imin, you end up hearing it as a vimin MOST of the time, aka relative minor. The other two options are from the iimin or the iiimin which are not as common and when it does happens (refer to minor 2 5 1 lecture) it is mimicing a vi chord from the perspective of IV and V key or chord. It's BLUES!

Remember, ii is the relative minor (vi) of IV and iii is the vi of V. Therefore, doing a minor 2 5 1 to those keys are gonna sound really nice since it is only a fourth away in each direction subdominant and dominant.

For example, a song like 'Summertime,' which is in a 'minor key' is really playing from the vimin or relative minor. Notice how when on the bandstand and someone calls a minor tune but only says 'A' instead of A minor, the next question is always A major or Aminor? This is exactly what I mean. You have to clarify my exact point. Are we playing from the Imaj or are we playing from the vimin?

Now take a minor blues. We are all taught that a minor blues is imin ivmin bVI7 V7 imin. Now I’m not saying you can't hear it like this! I just think it is helpful to clarify what your ear is actually hearing. Your ear is hearing vimin iimin IV7 III7 vimin. That's what a minor blues is playing from!

Now take something like 'You Don't Know What Love Is.' This is a perfect example of a tune that is from the perspective of vimin (Fmin). Then the bridge goes to Abmaj (Imaj) which is the relative major of Fmin (vimin).

Another great tune to show this is 'Black Orpheus.' This is a classic minor song and is really playing from the vimin. Halfway through first A section you resolve to the true Imaj (Cmaj). Then the second half of the tune goes to the iimin (Dmin).

'Besame Mucho' is another great tune that is in minor and never goes to the relative major of Imaj chord. Despite this, you can still really hear how this tune is from the perspective of the vimin chord. Relative minor (vi) is a strong sound and sounds like imin, and it is, but I think it is more beneficial to hear this as the vi chord. This way you are hearing it as a imin AND vimin chord. It is important to hear ‘minor tunes’ from this perspective so that you are truly hearing the harmony in the right way and can then improvise to the full extent of the harmony.

Now it is important to realize that when your ear hears vimin then iimin it has the exact same root motion as imin ivmin. This is exactly true, but in my opinion should ALSO be heard from the perspective of vimin going to iimin.

There are a lot of other options of tunes that are good examples of this idea and I will add them to this lecture in time.

Really look at minor tunes and MORE IMPORTANTLY, hear them from the vimin. You'll start to see that all the tunes that are in minor are playing from the vi chord.

Tunes: How Deep Is The Ocean, Summertime, You Don't Know What Love Is, Black Orpheus, Autumn Leaves, Sno Peas, Segment, Mr. P.C., Cantaloupe Island, Afro Blue, I Hear A Rhapsody, Gibraltar, Lullaby Of The Leaves, Everybody Loves The Sunshine By Roy Ayers, Nica's Dream, Daahoud, The Way by Jill Scott, It's Love by Jill Scott, Rock On by Gregory Isaacs.

'Slow Down' by Skip Marley and HER is a great example of a tune that is playing from a Bmin (vimin) aka Dmaj (Imaj) perspective but the chords in the actual song go iiimin to iimin ( F#min to Emin). Take a look at the melody and notice how it is all in Dmaj or Bmin aeolian and focuses on the C# over the F#min giving it this really nice overall sound of Bmin9 but never really going there. I love this kind of play with harmony and melody as it gives it this really unique sound and our ear loves it. Thought this was a nice example of a tune that NEVER goes to the relative minor aka vimin (imin).

'So What' by Miles Davis is an example of a tune that is NOT from the vimin and is instead very dorian or the iimin7 chord. Another way to hear 'Autumn Leaves' is that is starts on the iimin7!

'All Blues' is a great example of how a blues is both major (Imaj = Gmaj) and minor (vimin = Gmin). It even does the minor blues turnaround by going Eb7 to D7. Be sure to watch the 'blues' Lecture and video. Our ear hears blues as both from Gmaj in this case and Gmin or vimin of Bbmaj known as Aeolian. This is the essence of the blues and hearing minor in the right way.

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