Section: Major Scale Harmony

This is a preview of the educational program A Jazz Improvisation Almanac which is under development for the Outside Shore Music Online School. Feel free to browse this preview and learn what you can from it. For a more completed product, though, check out the original freely browsable jazz textbook, A Jazz Improvisation Primer.

The major scale and several of its modes have already been discussed. These scales have been used in music for centuries, from ancient Greece to the Renaissance. Except for the major and minor scales themselves, however, they had largely fallen out of use in classical theory.

Jazz harmony has revived interest in the other modes of the major scale. These scales are among the most important in jazz. It is possible to play over a great many chord progressions using only the modes of the major scale. This section explains how and when each of these scales is used in jazz.

Copyright 2000 Outside Shore Music
Authored by Marc Sabatella

Section: Major Scale Harmony