Long Time Running

As the name might suggest, this track draws influence from the Doobie Brothers classic, but
actually is a little more in line with the changes of BB King's The Thrill is Gone, but with an even
slower ballad type feel.

The track consists of two sections, the A section which follows a traditional minor soul blues
format, then a B section which involves sitting on one chord, allowing some modal explorations.

Here's the chord progression for the A section

Gm7 – Gm7 – Gm7 – Gm7 -Cm7 – Cm7 – Gm7 – Gm7 - Ebmaj7 – D7(alt) – Gm7 – Gm7

Now if you look for a tonal centre for these chords, you should agree that they almost all fit into the
key of Bb major (Bbmaj7, Cm7, Dm7, Ebmaj7, F7, Gm7, Am7b5) with the notable exception on
the D7 chord.

For our diatonic chords, the G aeolian mode will get you through, but thinking of the chords
individually should be your goal at a tempo like this, using the G blues scale over the Gm7 then
trying to land on some chord tones when we move to the Cm7 chord (C, Eb, G, Bb) would help to
add a little bit of sophistication to your playing and bring you into the jazz fusion idiom a little
quicker.

Another approach would be to treat the Gm7 chord as a dorian chord rather than an aeolian chord,
meaning you use a 6th instead of a b6 as the E natural brings a real funky edge to proceedings. This
method requires care though as that same E over the Cm7 will sound horrendous as it clashes with
the chords Eb.

The inevitable problem chord is the D7alt chord that doesn't belong in the key. When you look at
the bigger picture though, it makes perfect sense as a secondary dominant chord that functions as a
V pulling you back to the I (in this case our Gm7). This is a common practice in jazz and fusion as
it create some tension in a progression that can be resolved, so here you're going to want to play
around with things like the D phrygian dominant scale (G harmonic minor), or the D superlocrian
scale (Eb melodic minor), just remember to resolve them properly back to a chord tone on Gm7 (G,
Bb, D, F)

As an example, in bar 11, for the D7alt, Jack plays, F#, G, A, Bb, C, D, A#, G, A – the only
“tension” note here in the Bb which acts as the b6 of the chord, this would ellude to the phrgian
dominant scale, but in the grand scheme of things it appears to be an embellishment on an arpeggio
lick more than something taken from the scale.

The other great thing about this backing track is that the tempo allows you to really explore each
chord, for example, in bar 8 Jack plays an F# over the Gm7 chord which is a note taken from the
melodic minor scale. This creates a real jazzy twist on the chord and is a scale worth experimenting
with as it brings a new flavour to each chord.

The B section consists of 8 bars of Gm7 and is a great opportunity to open up and play some dorian
fusion licks. Jack shine sin this context as you can see in bar 29-30 taking us up and down a fluid
blend of legato rolls and arpeggios with some slippery chromatic passing tones thrown in for good
measure.