Low Eh!

One of the ways that I work on adding more colour into my lines is to substitute the roots for 9s, like in this post, and substituting the 5ths for either 11s or 13s. The same guidelines apply – the new substitutions need to land on a strong beat to be the most colourful, otherwise they are heard as passing tones.

When substituting the 5ths, I use #11, b13, or 13 on major or dominant chords, and 11, or 13 on minor chords. On any chord with an altered 5th, I tend to keep that note in play as it already has lots of colour.

Here’s a solo where I substituted most of the roots and 5ths out.

I also think that it’s really important to remember that the melody needs to be the guide. Sometimes the root or 5th is the right note for that moment, and then I believe that it should be played. I definitely followed this a few times.

Here are the accompanying PDFs for the harmony that I’m using (mostly).

Enjoy!