Lines That Say Something

One chord, one colour note. The B natural is the 13th — the single note that makes Dorian sound like Dorian instead of natural minor. The line climbs to it, sits on it, and comes home.

  Dm7                      Dm7

e|----------------------10|-12-10-------------------|
B|-------------10-12-13---|-------13-12-10----------|
G|-----9-10-12------------|----------------10--9----|
D|-12---------------------|----------------------12-|
A|------------------------|-------------------------|
E|------------------------|-------------------------|

    R  9 b3 11  5 13 b7  R   9  R b7 13  5 b3  9  R

e|--10--|
B|--13--|
G|--10--|
D|--12--|
A|-- x--|
E|-- x--|

• Play the chord, let it ring, then sing the B before you play it. That interval — root up a major sixth — is the whole lesson.
• On the way down, F (the b3) and B (the 13) are a tritone apart. That rub is the Dorian tension.
• Try the same line but flatten the B to Bb. Same fingering minus one fret, completely different mood. That's the ear training.

The two notes that carry a progression are the 3rd and the 7th. Here the b7 of Dm7 falls a semitone to the 3rd of G7, and the b3 of Dm7 holds over as the b7 of G7 before dropping to the 3rd of Cmaj7. Everything else is decoration.

  Dm7          G7           Cmaj7

e|-----------8|--7---------|--------7--8-|
B|-----6-10---|----10--8--6|-----8-------|
G|--7---------|------------|--9----------|
D|------------|------------|-------------|
A|------------|------------|-------------|
E|------------|------------|-------------|

    R b3  5 b7   3  9  R b7   3  5  7  R

e|--10--|
B|--13--|
G|--10--|
D|--12--|
A|-- x--|
E|-- x--|

• C to B, and F to E. Play just those four notes against the changes until you can hear the pull.
• The F is a common tone — it doesn't move between Dm7 and G7 but its meaning changes from b3 to b7. Same note, different job.
• Land on the 7th of Cmaj7 before the root. The line resolves late, which is why it sounds like a phrase and not an exercise.

A descending line where each note is a different alteration of the dominant: b7, b13, #11, 3, #9, b9. It sounds like tension because it is tension — and then it steps down onto the 5th of Cm7 and the argument's over.

  G7alt                Cm7

e|-13--11---9--7------|-------------|
B|---------------11--9|--8--6--4----|
G|--------------------|-----------5-|
D|--------------------|-------------|
A|--------------------|-------------|
E|--------------------|-------------|

   b7 b13 #11  3 #9 b9   5 11 b3  R

e|--x--|
B|--4--|
G|--4--|
D|--3--|
A|--x--|
E|--3--|

• The b9 sitting a semitone above the root is the sound of a dominant that has to move. Hold it, then let it fall.
• The 3rd (B) is the only unaltered note in bar one. It's the anchor — everything else leans against it.
• Resolution is a semitone drop: b9 of G7 becomes the 5th of Cm7. Small move, huge relief.

Over A7 the line uses C natural and C# back to back — the minor third and the major third of the same chord, a semitone apart. In any other context that's a mistake. In blues it's the entire language.

  A7                          D7

e|--------8--9-12--8---------|--------8-10--8----------|
B|--8-10-------------10--8--7|--7-10----------10--7----|
G|---------------------------|-----------------------7-|
D|---------------------------|-------------------------|
A|---------------------------|-------------------------|
E|---------------------------|-------------------------|

   b7  R #9  3  5 #9  R b7 13   3  5 b7  R b7  5  3  R

e|--x--|
B|--x--|
G|--6--|
D|--5--|
A|--7--|
E|--5--|

• Bend the C slightly sharp rather than playing it dead. The pitch between the two thirds is where the sound actually lives.
• F# over A7 is the 13th — bright. The same F# over D7 is the 3rd — resolved. One note, two functions, and the chord change does the work.
• The G is the b7 of A7 and the 11th of D7. Notice how much more restless it sounds over the second chord.

Major scale with the 4th raised. That single semitone removes the only ugly interval in the major scale — the natural 11 sitting a semitone above the 3rd — and replaces it with a floating #11. The line peaks on it twice so you can't miss it.

  Cmaj7#11                  Cmaj7#11

e|--------------8-10-12--14|-12-10--8--------------|
B|-----8-10-12-------------|----------12-10--------|
G|--9----------------------|-----------------11--9-|
D|-------------------------|-----------------------|
A|-------------------------|-----------------------|
E|-------------------------|-----------------------|

    3  5 13  7  R  9  3 #11   3  9  R  7 13 #11  3

e|--x--|
B|--5--|
G|--4--|
D|--4--|
A|--3--|
E|--x--|

• Play the voicing, then play a natural F against it. That clash is what the #11 exists to avoid.
• The #11 is a tritone from the root. On its own that's the most unstable interval there is; over a major 7 chord it's the most open.
• Both peaks land on F#. If the line sounds like ordinary C major to you, you're rushing past it — hold it a beat longer.

A Henderson device. Over Em7, stacking a D major triad gives you b7, 9 and 11 — the whole upper structure in one familiar shape. The line alternates the plain Em triad with the D triad above it, so you hear the chord lift and settle without anything underneath changing.

  Em7                Em7

e|-14-10----12------|-------------------|
B|-------10----12--8|-------------------|
G|------------------|-11--------9-------|
D|------------------|----12--7-----9----|
A|------------------|----------------10-|
E|------------------|-------------------|

    9 b7 11  R  5 b3   9 b7 11  R  5 b3

e|--x--|
B|--8--|
G|--7--|
D|--9--|
A|--7--|
E|--x--|

• Two shapes you already know. The interest is entirely in what the second one does to the first.
• D-F#-A over an E bass is the sound of E Dorian in three notes. Learn to reach for it as a triad, not as scale degrees.
• Try the same trick with a G major triad over Em7 — that gives b3, 5, b7 and sounds far plainer. Comparing the two is the point.

Four bars, four chords, one continuous line — everything above in one place. Diatonic and singable for three bars, then the G7 goes altered and the whole thing has to resolve. Twenty-eight notes and every one of them has a job.

  Cmaj7                 Am7                   Dm7                   G7alt                Cmaj7

e|--------------8--7---|-----------8-12--8---|---------------------|--------7---9--11--7|--8-|
B|-----8-10-12-------10|--8-10-12----------10|--8--6-----------6-10|-11--9--------------|----|
G|--9------------------|---------------------|--------9--7--5------|--------------------|----|
D|---------------------|---------------------|---------------------|--------------------|----|
A|---------------------|---------------------|---------------------|--------------------|----|
E|---------------------|---------------------|---------------------|--------------------|----|

    3  5 13  7  R  7 13  b7  R  9 b3  5 b3  R  11 b3  9  R b7 b3  5  #9 b9  3 #11 b13  3   R

e|--x--|
B|--5--|
G|--4--|
D|--5--|
A|--3--|
E|--x--|

• Bars one to three barely move position. The changes are doing the work, not your hands.
• The C that's the root in bar one becomes the b3 of Am7 and then the b7 of Dm7. Track that one note through the whole line.
• Bar four is the only place with notes outside the key. That's why it sounds like it's going somewhere.
• Play it once with the chord player running, then once against silence. If you can still hear the changes with no accompaniment, the line is doing its job.