How to play over The Coltrane Changes

There are two separate challenges in playing over the changes

1) Actually playing over the changes
2) Doing so while simultaneously making music
You need to be able to do #1 first in order to do #2, unfortunately
many people stop at #1.
My opinion:
1. It is one of the first straight-eighth feel tunes. Most of modern
jazz has that feel now, so learning to play on it convincingly opens a
lot of doors if you find that feel appealing as opposed to the
traditional triplet feel.
2. It has modulations galore, but proceeded by dominants, so it's a
bridge between standards and non-functional. People who try to
improvise on it as a regular standard (which is possible) are entirely
missing the point.
3. Playing of patterns and taking them through the changes while
keeping the contours of the melody constant is the key to modern
improvisation. Giant Steps will get you there if you follow the recipe.
That's why people sound formulaic on it. That's the point. Later, once
you've mastered it, you will sound non-formulaic on non-functional
changes.
4. Study Coltrane's solos and be able to play at least the first one or
two choruses at speed. That's a couple of years of practice right
there, because some of those lines are very non-guitaristic and you
have to find fingering and picking solutions on your own.

What makes Coltrane changes different is that he is sequencing *keys*

rather than intervals.
If you don't actually explicitly outline those 3
keys the effect is lost

GIANT STEPS
Here's a chord-melody arrangement of the head to ``Giant Steps''. Most of the chord voicings
have been opened to mostly fourth, tritone, and fifth intervals (so-called ``quartal harmony''),
giving a very nice ambiguous sound. These voicings are easy to finger on the guitar and sound
good. I give the chord namesin two forms: a name for a simple ``closed'' voicing, (top) and a
name for the more open or extended voicing (bottom).
Giant Steps by John Coltrane
Bmaj7 D7
Gmaj7 Bb7 Ebmaj7
B6/9 D6/9 Gmaj7 Bb13 Eb6/9

Am7
Am9

D7
D6/9

E--14---10----7----------6-------7----5--B--14---10----7-----8----6-------5----5--G--13----9----7-----7----5-------5----4--D--13----9----5-----6----5-------5----4--A----------------------------------------E----------------------------------------Gmaj7 Bb7
Ebmaj7 F#7 Bmaj7
G6/9 Bb6/9 Ebmaj7 F#13 B6/9

Fm7
Fm9

Bb7
Bb9

E--10----6-----3-----------2------3----1-B--10----6-----3------4----2------1----1-G---9----5-----3------3----1------1----1-D---9----5-----1------2----1------1----0-A----------------------------------------E----------------------------------------Ebmaj7 Am7 D7
Gmaj7 C#m7 F#7
Eb6/9 Am9 D6/9 G6/9 C#m9 F#9

Bmaj7
B6/9

E--6------7---5----10----11---9-----14--B--6------5---5----10-----9---9-----14--G--5------5---4-----9-----9---9-----13--D--5------5---4-----9-----9---8-----13--A---------------------------------------E----------------------------------------

Fm7
Fm9

Bb7
Ebmaj7 C#m7 F#7
Bb13b9 Eb6/9 C#m11 F#13

E--15---15-----18-----14----14--B--13---12-----18-----16----16--G--13---13-----17-----16----15--D--13---12-----17-----14----14--A-------------------------------E--------------------------------

repeat from beginning

Giant Steps can be less complicated if you think about it simply. It's just 3 keys in
Major 3rds. One of the things that I do with it is to use the notes in the 3 triads as
my melody line choices . key B-(B,D#F#) key Eb-(Eb,G,Bb) key G-(G,B,D) render
Ab,A,Bb,B,D,Eb,F#,G. This can also be arranged in two parallel Aug7th chords Bb(Ab,D,F#,Bb) and B-(A,Eb,G,B) Some of the arpeggios that you can make with these
notes are great I don't know why people always try to burn on the song.
The movement of the key centers by major thirds: (because of intervallic inversion
this could be represented differently, but this is how I like to think about it).
Eb
B
B
G
G
G
Eb
Eb
Eb
B

Generally, the keys change every 2 chords. The first chord in the cycle
is all alone though. For instance, the song cycles between the keys of
B major, D# major and G major.
The first chord is one of these keys (I forget the name of the chord
or the key) but the second 2 or three chords immediately changes to
another key in the cycle.
And the easiest way to get started soloing over these changes is
to simply change from one major scale to the next at the appropriate moment.
On this tune, at the tempos it is usually played at, it is somewhat
counterproductive, especially when you're first learning the tune, to
try and think about a different scale for each chord. It's a great tune
to get started playing a new arpeggio for each chord though, which is
the first step to being able to play off a new scale for each chord.
Do these (written in sequence of the song):
a.) Over BMaj7, play BMaj scale
b.)
c.)
d.)
e.)
f.)
g.)
h.)

Over D7 to GMaj7, play GMaj Scale

Over Bb7 to EbMaj7, play EbMaj
Over Am7 to D7 to Gmaj7, play GMaj
Bb7 to EbMaj7, play EbMaj
F#7 to BMaj7, play BMaj
Over Fm7 to Bb7 to EbMaj7, play Eb Maj
Am7 to D7 to GMaj7, play GMaj

2.

3.
4.
5.
6.

i.) C#m7 to F#7 to BMaj7, play B Maj

j.) Over Fm7 to Bb7 to EbMaj7, play Eb Maj
k.) C#m7 to F#7, play B Maj
If that sounds confusing, just realize that you are using the same three
scales over and over, just going between them really fast. Of course, you
can use millions of variations instead of just those three scales, but that is the
basic idea.
Start out really slow, as slow as you can go. If you do not, you won't be able
to do it and it will sound terrible.
For all the Maj scales, you can also substitute the same key's lydian scale.
That is the same as a major scale, but you raise the 4th pitch a half step.
Don't get frustrated. Just take it as fast as you can comfortably, then when
you are perfect at that speed, speed up by 5 or 10 BPM.
If you are a guitar player like me, find the scales that share a common vicinity
so you are not jumping like crazy.

Melody
Knowing the melody/head REALLY gives you a sense of the changes during the solos.
Coltrane's solo is remarkably simple too. Half the time he just uses the first four
notes of each chord's pentatonic scale the Coltrane cell
Over Bmaj7 you would play B, C#, D# F#
From a theoretical point of view his improvisation is really not that hard of a solo at
all. But what makes it so amazing is Coltrane's relentless energy.

Related Minor
A nice concept over the first 6 bars is to treat all the chords as
their nearest parallel minor chord. For example:
| Abm7(G#) Am7 | Bm7 Cm7 | Dm7 | (am7 d7) |
| Em7 Fm7 | Gm7 Abm7 | Bbm7 | (fm7 Bb7) |
Note: You should not necessarily treat these minor 7 chords as Dorian
chords or you will end up with some clashes. This is not necessarily
bad but just a warning for neophytes...A suggestion is using the minor
pentatonic (blues scale) over each of the minor chords. Parallel 4ths
based on the chord tones work well also.
A simpler, more inside version of this involves treating all V7 chords
sometimes as IIm7 and visa versa. The root motion can become much
simpler and some obvious patterns appear:

Bmaj7 Am7 |Gma7 Fm7 |Ebmaj7 |D7

Gmaj7 Fm7 |Ebmaj7 C#m7 |Bmaj7
Ebmaj7
Bmaj7

|D7
|Bb7

|Gmaj7

|F#7

|Ebmaj7

|C#m7

|Bb7

|
|

If the maj7 chords are treated a min7 built on the 3rd (i.e. Bmaj7 =
D#m7) then this is interesting too:
D#m7 Am7 |Bm7 Fm7 |Gm7 |Am7
Bm7 Fm7 |Gm7 C#m7 |D#m7
Gm7
D#m7

|Am7
|Fm7

|Bm7
|Gm7

|C#m7
|C#m7

|Fm7

|
|

or
Bmaj7 Am7 |Bm7 Bb7 |Ebmaj7 |D7
Gmaj7 Fm7 |Gm7 F#7 |Bmaj7
Gm7
D#m7

|Am7
|Fm7

|Bm7
|Gm7

|C#m7
|C#m7

|Fm7

|
|

etc.
Min pentatonics on all those min7 chords work nice.
__________________________________________________________________
ii Vs
If you view the Bmaj7 as Eb -7 (secondary relative minor) and then the D7 as its b5
substitute (Ab7) you can play ii-V lines in a stream over the two opening four-bar
phrases. (sample line below)
Ebm7

| Ab 7

| Bm7

E7

Eb7

E--------------9--6---------------------------------------------------------------B-----9--8--7--------7--6--------9--8--7--10--7----------------------------------G--------------------------8---------------------7--6----------------------------D7----------------------------------------------------9--8-----------------8---A------------------------------------------------------------10------8--10------E----------------------------------------------------------------11--------------

Chord extensions
The idea is to use Maj7#5 chords for any of the maj7
chords that are 1 bar long. The reason this works so well is that the
maj7#5 chord functions as an altered dominant chord in the new key in
the sequence.
For example:
| Ebmaj7#5 | Am7 D7 | Gmaj7 |
In this example, the Ebmaj7#5 chord Functions as an F13#11 which is
functioning as a D7 altered chord if you are familiar with dodecaphonics.
The full progression becomes:
|
|
|
|

Bmaj7 D7 | Gmaj7 Bb7 | Ebmaj7#5 | Am7 D7 |

Gmaj7 Bb7 | Ebmaj7 F#7 | Bmaj7#5 | Fm7 Bb7 |
Ebmaj7#5 | Am7 D7 | Gmaj7#5 | C#m7 F#7 |
Bmaj7#5 | Fm7 Bb7 | Ebmaj7#5 | C#m7 F#7 |

Try it and see if you like it. It's a very cool sound. It especially
works well if you treat the following II-V sequence as it's altered
dominant chord.

Besides the traditional "Coltrane" approach (which is basically running up 1

2 3 5 and occasionally down 1 5 3 1 one each chord) or other variations
which stay within the scheme of two beats + two beats, I've gotten a lot of
mileage out of an idea that Barry Harris showed me years ago. Rather that
thinking two beats on each chord, play three beats of each "dominant chord"
leading into the first beat of each "tonic."
Like this:
Dm Eb7 / / | Ab B7 / / | E G7 / / / | C / / /
Playing 3 beats on the dominants enables you to play longer, more melodic
lines that really target the resolution to next chord. You'll find it works
great if you use the chromatics in your dominants and enclosures for
resolutions. You get much more "winding" sorts of lines that phrase more

like bebop, and much less like the mechanical up-and-down the chord kinds of
lines that Trane plays (not that there's anything wrong with that either).
The rhythm section doesn't have to do anything different.
Another idea you should try is working out "directional" lines of half-notes
on the changes.
Try the following line, played ascending, one-note per chord, in half-notes:
E F G G# B D E
You can then play lines that lead INTO each of these notes. Played in
eighth notes, you'll get and-4-and-1, and-2-and-3, and-4-and-1 etc. Where
the 1st and 3rd beat are the notes that you used for your half-note line.
By working out different half-note lines, you can come up with all kinds of
sequences that sound great.
Augmented Scale
I hope you realize also that Ebmaj7, Ebmaj7#5, Ebm(maj7), Gmaj7,
Gmaj7#5, Gm(maj7), Bmaj7, Bmaj7#5 and Bm(maj7) can all be derived from
the tones in the symetrical augmnented scale.
B D D# F# G A#
So a "horizontal" approach to this tune might be to use that scale throughout.