Andrew Milligan

Hey guys, first post here. Clarifying minor conversion theory here over How High the Moon. I had to re-go through Linear Conversions because I thought you started formations on the ii chord as if it were Dorian - so my initial chord set-up was wrong when approaching the tune. If I look at the first handful of bars of How High the Moon, we get: G major (2 bars) = E minor formations ii-V-I in F major (4 bars) = D minor formations ii-V-I in E major (3 bars) = C minor formations Amb75 > D7b9 (1 bar - short) = G minor formations Gm7 (1 bar) - G minor formations Amb75 > D7b9 (1 bar - short) = G minor formations G major (1 bar) > Am7 > D7 (1 bar-short) = E minor formations Is this right? I had it wrong initially and was doing formations in A over G major, formations in G over G minor (> Fmaj), and formations in F over F minor (> Eb maj).

New comment 6d ago

Andrew Milligan

1 like • 7d

@Danny Guitar Rogers - Hope it's alright if I tag you. Would love some perspective.

Andrew Milligan

1 like • 6d

@Danny Guitar Rogers - Thank you for all this man. I think I am somewhat comfortable with converting to minor across all the chords, and I have all the formations down. Where it's tripping me up is whether to play minor formations FROM the: a) ii chord b) relative minor And in your chart you sent me you'd hand drawn, you've done both too - which is confusing. Here's an example. Bar 3 of "How High the Moon" moves to a G-minor chord, which is seemingly the ii-chord within a ii-V-I moving to F-major. Given that the key center is F-major... should we should use the relative minor of D-minor, and play D-minor formations? The reason I bring this up is because not all D-minor formations sound great over the G-minor chord. For example, the D minor formation starting on A (second inversion, in my head)... doesn't sound that great over the G-minor chord because it has a C#. Does that make sense? When I watch this video of Armin over "How High the Moon" - he's solely using relative minor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPzzgxAFnQ4&t=334s And so over the G-minor chord in bar 3, he advises to play D-minor formations. As I mentioned above - not all of the formations sound good over this G-minor chord. And in your drawing which you kindly sent, you're playing G-minor formations over the G-Minor chord in bar 3... even though it's the ii-chord. But Armin *isn't* playing this. Do you see where I'm coming from? Armin suggests using the natural minor over all. So in G-Minor, he's playing D-minor. But when I run through a ii-V-I in F-major using D-minor formations... not all of them sound good. I guess it leads me to ask.... is it situational? Or should it always be related to the major key's relative minor? I seem to prefer always playing formations from the ii-chord, they just sound better to me than converting to the natural minor. That way, when I see the G-major chords in bar 1 and 2, I'd personally be inclined to think of the ii chord (A-minor) and play formations in A.

Danny Guitar Rogers

Mar 28 •

General discussion

Feeling Overwhelmed or Questions? Shoot me a message

Just send me a message if you are confused on how to practice and apply the formations. I have been playing since 1980 and I am a Retired Pro Blues musician from Chicago IL. Started studying Jazz in 1988. Don't hesitate to reach out to me for help, this course will change your life if you are new to minor conversion like I am. -Danny

New comment 10d ago