I woke in the middle of the night and for over an hour I couldn't sleep.

No problem.

I thought about playing over dominant 7th. chords.

Often, in Jazz, a dominant 7th. chord will come after a minor 7th. chord and often is followed by a major 7th. chord. These are called II - V7 and II - V7 - I progressions. There are a few variations, like the like the m7b5 - dom7b9. This normally resolves on a Im+7 or a Im6.

The V7 chord is a great place to create tension - usually done by adding notes that are not in the dom7 scale. There's a little trick where you can play the ascending form of the melodic minor scale starting on the 5th of the dom7, or the minor second. The first adds a #4 and the 2nd adds a lot of 'out' notes. Both scales also get you away from starting on the root.

When you think about it, the first melodic minor scale is just adding that wonderful #4 note, but the second is giving you a whole new scale - the Diminished Whole Tone Scale. 

Starting on C = C Db D# E F# G# A#(Bb) C. The first four notes are from one of the two diminished scales and the next four are from the whole tone scale. If you remember that there are also popular dom7 licks that start with C B Bb etc., you'll see that a dom7 lick can be made up out of all the 12 notes found in Western music.

I thought that my readers might find that interesting.

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So, what's happening around the blogs?

Not a lot. Robert is taking cello lessons online and got called a 'badass musician' by the teacher. That's an American compliment, I believe. Peter is keeping us informed about Donald Chump. We're presently waiting on another post from Bagno Plumber. Don't forget that our LINKS service will take you to all these places, and more.

It's just to the right-hand side on Richard's Bass Bag.*

No need for thanks.

My gig at the Tawa library is getting close. Remember that's with my duo Sii Gentile. There is only time for about six tunes as the gig lasts for half an hour. Daryl is on piano and I'm on violin. The tunes I intend to play are Besame Mucho, Oh Lady Be Good, Manha De Carnaval, Sweet Georgia Brown, The Immigrants and The Accordion Lady. I wrote The Accordion Lady in 2001 to be played on the double bass, but I have never played it in public. I have practised it quite a lot and, when I go somewhere like to a supermarket, I often whistle it as I walk around. It does amuse me that I know the tune very well but nobody else has ever heard it. 

Well, that's it from me for this morning. Please keep an eye on Bagno Plumber's blog because he mentioned to me that he has a new post coming up.

Ciao tutti.

* the original bass bagging site