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    Bar-Line Shift and Superimposition - The Jazz Piano Site

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    Mbolafab Rbj
    This document discusses techniques for modifying chord progressions in jazz, including anticipating, delaying, omitting, adding, substituting, and superimposing chords. It also describes applying similar techniques to melodic improvisation by playing lines that outline chord progressions different from what the rhythm section is playing, known as bar-line shift and superimposition. Guidelines are provided for making superimposed progressions sound structurally strong.

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    Bar-Line Shift and Superimposition - The Jazz Piano Site

    Uploaded by

    Mbolafab Rbj
    183 views5 pages
    This document discusses techniques for modifying chord progressions in jazz, including anticipating, delaying, omitting, adding, substituting, and superimposing chords. It also describes applying similar techniques to melodic improvisation by playing lines that outline chord progressions different from what the rhythm section is playing, known as bar-line shift and superimposition. Guidelines are provided for making superimposed progressions sound structurally strong.

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    This document discusses techniques for modifying chord progressions in jazz, including anticipating, delaying, omitting, adding, substituting, and superimposing chords. It also describes applying similar techniques to melodic improvisation by playing lines that outline chord progressions different from what the rhythm section is playing, known as bar-line shift and superimposition. Guidelines are provided for making superimposed progressions sound structurally strong.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    183 views5 pages

    Bar-Line Shift and Superimposition - The Jazz Piano Site

    Uploaded by

    Mbolafab Rbj
    This document discusses techniques for modifying chord progressions in jazz, including anticipating, delaying, omitting, adding, substituting, and superimposing chords. It also describes applying similar techniques to melodic improvisation by playing lines that outline chord progressions different from what the rhythm section is playing, known as bar-line shift and superimposition. Guidelines are provided for making superimposed progressions sound structurally strong.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 5

    (http://www.thejazzpianosite.com/)

    Bar-Line Shift And Superimposition


    Modifying a Chord Progression

    If we take a simple chord progression, say:

    | Am7 | D7 | Dm7 G7 | CMaj7 ||

    Then we can do a number of things to make it more interesting. We can:

    Anticipate a chord – play a chord a few beats early


    Delay a chord – play a chord a few beats late
    Omit a chord – not play a particular chord
    Add a chord – add in a passing chord (http://www.thejazzpianosite.com/jazz-piano-
    lessons/jazz-chords/passing-chords/)
    Substitute a chord – substitute (http://www.thejazzpianosite.com/jazz-piano-
    lessons/jazz-chords/chord-substitution/) one chord for another related chord
    Superimpose new chords – reharmonise (http://www.thejazzpianosite.com/jazz-piano-
    lessons/jazz-reharmonization/how-to-reharmonize-a-song/) the whole chord progression
    by replacing all the existing chords with brand new unrelated chords (for example,
    descending ii-V’s)

    These are all relatively common techniques used in Jazz when playing a chord progression.

    Free Guitar Chords


    Includes over 3000 of the most commonly used guitar chords. guitaristsreference.com

    Bar-Line Shift and Superimposition during Improvisation

    When improvising, there’s no reason you can’t do the exact same thing with a melody line. That is,
    play a melody that outlines or suggests a chord progression di erent to the one being played by the
    rhythm section (or your left hand). The easiest way to do this is by using arpeggios (because it spells
    out the chords), but you can also use the relevant chord-scales.

    Anticipate a chord – play a melody (arpeggio, chord-scale, guide tones, etc.) that
    implies a chord a few beats too early
    Delay a chord – play a melody that implies a chord a few beats too late
    Omit a chord – play a melody that ignores a chord (play through/over a chord)
    Add a chord – play a melody that implies a new chord not actually played by the rhythm
    section
    Substitute a chord – play a melody that implies a substitute chord
    Superimpose new chords – play a melody that implies a completely di erent and
    unrelated chord progression not being played by the rhythm section
    Anticipating and Delaying a chord during your improvisation is called ‘Bar-line Shift‘. This

    technique has been used since the early days of Jazz, especially by people like:

    Lester Young
    Coleman Hawkins
    Charlie Parker

    Superimposing a completely new chord progression over an existing one is called


    ‘Superimposition‘. This is a more modern technique and has been used by people like:

    John Coltrane
    Lennie Tristano
    David Liebman

    This technique is conceptually quite simple, but can sound quite complex. You can literally play a
    solo over your own made up your own chord progression instead of the actual chords – this creates
    polytonality (http://www.thejazzpianosite.com/jazz-piano-lessons/jazz-chord-
    progressions/polytonality-polymodality/).

    Some Guidelines

    Superimposed chord progression sound better if they are structurally


    strong, functional (http://www.thejazzpianosite.com/jazz-piano-lessons/jazz-
    chord-progressions/ii-v-functionality/)/cadential or otherwise well-known (cliché).
    That way, even though the notes you are playing clashes with the underlying harmony,
    the strong structure gives your solo form and logic and ensures that it still sounds good.
    Try using ii-V-I’s or a V-I’s or a V-IV-I’s.
    Create and resolve tension (http://www.thejazzpianosite.com/jazz-piano-lessons/jazz-
    improvisation/creating-resolving-tension/) (just like any other Jazz solo)
    This works better if you use smooth, lyrical and melodic phrases
    Use steps and skips (arpeggios), and no big leaps!
    Try keep everything ‘balanced’
    As you increase the complexity of one musical element (say, harmony)
    Decrease the complexity of all other elements (melody & rhythm)

    Free Guitar Chords


    Includes over 3000 of the most commonly used guitar chords. guitaristsreference.com

    Jazz Improvisation - Bar-line Shift and Superimposition

    >> NEXT LESSON >> (/jazz-piano-lessons/jazz-improvisation/making-mistakes)

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