View Full Version : What scales to use to improvise on 'Corcovado'
bluesax
10-02-2003, 12:52 PM
Hallo,
i am trying to understand the harmonization of Carlos Jobim's song Corcovado so that i could improvise on the chord progressions in that song. I can see some 2-5-1 progressions but i don't get the whole picture of that song. What i am trying to find are the scales which i could use for improvising.
PaulNYC
10-02-2003, 02:38 PM
volume 31 of the aebersold books has that song I believe.
bluesax
10-02-2003, 10:01 PM
UNfortunately in Vol 31 of the Aebersold series they only show the chords, but make no scale suggestions.
Maybe you could look at one of Jamey Abersold's scale syllabus pages and write out the kind of scale suggested by him there.. like D dorian/Ab diminished/Gminor/Cdom7/Fmaj etc and play them over the chart to see how you like the sound of it?
(Edit )
The chord symbol/names also represent a scale like D dorian is spelled "d e f g a b c" , and Ab half diminished 7"Ab Bbb Cb Db Ebb Fb Gb" OK ? So if you make up some short runs out of a few consecutive notes of the scale suggested by the chord symbol you can make up your own counter melody and move around from chord to chord without doing a lot of arpeggiating of the chords.
The final section can be played with a C major scale except for the first two measures of F minor. This is a super restful way to end the tune with those descending major scale runs that finally resolve to the tonic note. Jobim's a real master.
vBulletin® v3.8.1, Copyright ©2000-2009, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.