Coltrane Jazz Lines on Giant Steps - 11 Essential ...

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MATT WARNOCK GUITAR

11 Essential Coltrane Jazz Licks on Giant Steps
Giant Steps on guitar is a tough tune for any player to really get down, which is fairly
obvious to anyone whos tackled the tune in their practice room over the years.
One of the things that makes the tune so dicult, is that guitarists try and navigate
the entire tune all at once when they rst sit down to get the changes under their
ngers, which can lead to frustration and wasted hours in the woodshed.
A few years ago I taughta workshop at Pro Music in Belo Horizonte, Brazil that was an
intro to Giant Steps, analyzingColtranes classic solo, and provided an introductory
look at the harmony and melodic devices that can be found in Tranes, and other
players, solos over this hard, yet fun to play tune.
Since the class loved the ideas we talked about during our timestudying the tune, I
thought I would write up the class material for others to check out as well.
The following 11 licks are ones that Ive taken from Trane and other players over the
years, and ones that I nd translate well to the guitar ngerboard.
This is not the be all and end all of learning to improvise over Giant Steps, but it is a
good start and will help you get o on the right foot with a tough chart, and one that a
lot of cats use as a water mark for younger or up and coming players.
If you want to go deeper into Giant Steps, both for comping and soloing over the
tune, check out these two articles that I posted a while back over at Jazzguitar.be:
Simplifying the Coltrane Matrix: Part 1 Single Lines
Simplifying the Coltrane Matrix: Part 2 Comping and Chord Melody

As a bonus, here is a jam track to practice with over Giant Steps.

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Coltrane Jazz Lines on Giant Steps Second 8 Bars

When teaching Giant Steps for people who havent tackled the tune before, I like to
start with the second half of the tune, in particular the four ii-V-Is that occur in this
section of the chart.
The rst half of the song contains some very quick-moving changes, ones that can be
very hard to navigate at rst, so starting with the second half of Giant Steps can help
get the sound of the Coltrane Matrix into your ears and get some solid patterns
under your ngers before moving on to the tougher changes found in the beginning of
the tune.
To make things easier, I moved the ii-V-Is so that they line up within the context of
two complete bars, instead of being over the barline as Coltrane wrote them in the
chart.
Once you have these licks under your ngers, try looping the second half of the tune,
applying these ideas to the harmonic rhythm of the tune, which can also be tricky to
get down.
If you are looking for ways to practice these melodic phrases, check out Jamey
Aebersolds Countdown to Giant Steps, it features each section of the tune
broken down and looped with a rhythm section so that you can practice along with the

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For those of you who are completely new to Giant Steps, the tune uses what is
referred to as the Coltrane Matrix.
This is a series of chords that outlines three tonal centers, each found a major third
apart from each other, in this case B-Eb(D#)-G(Fx).
These three chords outline an augmented triad, and are the three maj7 chords that
occur throughout the tune.
In the rst half of the tune, Coltrane tonicizes each maj7 chord with a dominant 7
chord placed right before it, while in the second half he uses ii-Vs to accomplish the
same harmonic goal.
Since these three maj7 chords are essential to hearing and soloing over Giant
Steps, take some time to run through them if this is the rst time youre digging into
studying the tune.
Try soloing over each maj7 chord separately, then in a row.
Sometimes having these three tonal centers rmly embedded in your ears can make
the dierence between hours of frustration and getting it when it comes to Giant
Steps.
So, lets take a look at the rst series of melodic patterns that you can use to
outline the chord changes in the second half of Giant Steps.

Coltrane Jazz Lines on Giant Steps Honeysuckle

This is one of my favorite licks, not just for Giant Steps but for any tune I play.
Its a variation on the melody to the classic tune Honeysuckle Rose, with an added
Bebop note in the rst half and an extra note at the end.
Not only does it outline the short ii-Vs used in the second half of Giant Steps, but
it also has a familiarity to it that can help make an extra connection with your
audience.

Click to hear

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Coltrane Jazz Lines on Giant Steps 1235

The next phrase is one of Coltranes favorite ideas, on any tune, and one that he
used a lot during his solo on Giant Steps.
This idea uses the Root, second, third and fth note of each chord, which is basically a
triad with the ninth added in, or the second in this case since its in the lower
octave.
Using 1235 is not only a great idea during the second half of Giant Steps, but also for
those tricky, rapidly moving chords in the rst half of the tune.
So, take some time to really nail this sound, it will come up time and again when
you solo over this, or any other dicult, tune.

Click to hear

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Coltrane Jazz Lines on Giant Steps Chromatics

The next melodic idea is very similar to the last, except that an extra chromatic note
has been added between the 5 of the rst chord and the tonic of the second chord,
and the same between the second and third chords as well.
The rhythm used is two eighth notes followed by a triplet, but for a little variation and
to get more mileage out of this lick, you can play each ve-note phrase as a triplet
rst, followed by two eighth notes.
Sometimes doing something as simple as altering up the rhythm for any lick you know
can allow you to stretch out its usage over the course of a chorus or entire solo.
Allowing it to sound fresh without changing the notes, just the rhythm.

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Now that you have both the Honeysuckle and 1235 licks under your ngers, you can
put them together to add another level of interest to your Giant Steps soloing.
To make the transition smoother between the rst and second bars, Ive adding in a
little chromatic connector between the fth of the V7 chord and the tonic of the Imaj7
chord.
Connecting these short ideas to form longer phrases is something that Coltrane was
a master at, and one that you will need to get under your ngers in order to fully
outline the changes of Giant Steps, without just running patterns and exercises over
the entire tune.
Because of this, take time to work on connecting these, and any patterns you know,
over these changes.
It will take some time to sound smooth, but will be worth any hours spent in the
practice room once you get it down.

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Coltrane Jazz Lines on Giant Steps Bebop Scale Descending

Now that weve looked at outlining each chord in the phrase, we can check out an
idea that will allow you to use one scale for each key in the progression, the Bebop
Scale.
You can see the corresponding Bebop Scale for each key below, as well as one
ngering for each, but make sure to learn the Bebop Scale in each key in multiple
areas of the neck so you are never forced to leap to the next key during your solos.
If this scale is new to you, check out my article on Bebop Scale Fingerings for Jazz
Guitar, for more ngerings and information.
As well, if you are looking to spice up your Bebop Scale lines over Giant Steps, or
any tune, check out my article, 21 Bebop Scale Patterns for Jazz Guitar.

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Coltrane Jazz Lines on Giant Steps Bebop Scale and 1235 Combo
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To nish up our look at the second half of Giant Steps well combine the descending
Bebop Scale with the 1235 lick from the earlier example.
This lick has a lot of notes in it, each bar is lled with eighth notes, so make sure to
go slow when rst getting this idea down in the practice room.
In order to make it sound less like an exercise when youre ready to bring it to your
solos, you can try altering the rhythms, leaving out notes, mixing it up with the
Honeysuckle idea, or anything you can think of to take this idea from the realm of an
exercise and use it to create interesting and fun to play lines in your solos.

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Coltrane Jazz Lines on Giant Steps First 8 Bars

The rst eight bars of Giant Steps is a lot harder than the second half, which is why I
started the class working the tune backwards, second half then the rst half.

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sound of the three dierent tonalities, B-Eb-G, youre ready to move on to studying
the rapidly moving chords that occur in the rst eight bars of the tune.
In order to get these ideas down solidly, make sure to practice slow, as slow as you
need to, in order to allow each chord to sink into your ears and each lick to work its
way into your ngers.
There is no tempo that is too slow in the practice room, so if you need to work on it
at 8th note equals 30, then go for it.
The important thing is that you get these ideas down rmly into your vocabulary,
not how fast you can play them, at least at this point in the game.
So, lets dig into the rst eight bars of John Coltranes Giant Steps!

Coltrane Jazz Lines on Giant Steps 1235 with Bebop Scale

When studying the rst half of Giant Steps, since the chords move faster and its
much harder to navigate than the second half, in the class we stuck to using one idea
on each of the dierent dominant chords in the progression.
In this case we looked at the lick 8-7-b7-8, for each 7th chord in the progression.
In this rst example, that melodic phrase is paired up with 1235 over each maj7
chord in the rst 8 bars.
For space considerations, Ive only written out these ideas over the rst four bars of
the tune, make sure to practice them over the second four bars as well to gain the
most out of each exercise and pattern in this section of the article.

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Coltrane Jazz Lines on Giant Steps Triad 1 with Bebop Scale

One of the easiest, yet most eective, patterns you can use over Giant Steps is the
plain ole triad. In this case, you are going to run up the triad and back down before
moving on to the Bebop Scale pattern over each 7th chord, producing a 1353 triad
pattern for each maj7 chord in the progression.
Since the triad is going to be the basis for the next three licks, make sure to take
the time to get comfortable with it before moving to the next example.
Also, if you are unfamiliar with triads in a melodic sense, you can refresh your
knowledge with my article, Triad Fingerings for Jazz Guitar.

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Coltrane Jazz Lines on Giant Steps Triad 2 with Bebop Scale

This second triad pattern starts on the third of each maj7 chord, and uses the
intervals 3-1-3-5, before moving on to the Bebop Scale idea over each dominant
chord.
This is a simple way, altering the intervals slightly, to change up any triad or
arpeggio, but it can go a long way in allowing you to develop a solo that has a sense
of familiarity to it, while at the same time not getting old or stale because youre
returning to the same melodic devices with each chorus.

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Coltrane Jazz Lines on Giant Steps Triad 3 with Bebop Scale

Since we started the last lick on the third, you can probably guess whats coming
next.
Thats it, starting the triad on the fth and then returning back to that starting note
through the third of the chord.
Since the last note of the Bebop Scale idea is the same note as the next starting
triad, Ive added a tie at the end of the rst and second bars to avoid a repeated note.
You can use the repeated note if you like as well, but some people nd it awkward to
play and tricky to get the rhythm tight in this case, so you have the option of the
tie between those two notes as well.

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Coltrane Jazz Lines on Giant Steps Descending Scale

The last lick uses a simple, yet highly eective, technique, a descending major scale
for the rst, second and fourth scale in the progression.
To avoid any awkward shifts, you can use the 1353 triad pattern to connect the D7
and Bb7, as well as over the Ebmaj7 at the end of the rst line.
Sometimes the simplest things are the ones that sound the best, and this is a case
where going simple can not only help you navigate these tricky changes, but can
make your solos sound solid, with each chord in the progression properly outlined
at the same time.

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Getting these licks under your ngers and into your ears isnt going to make you a
master of Giant Steps overnight, but it will get you on the right road to nailing the
changes and creating your own melodies over one of the most famous tunes in jazz
history.
Take some time to explore these ideas in your practice room.
As I told my class, not a lot of people will call Giant Steps on a gig, but being able to
navigate these changes will allow you to inject them into your solos on other tunes.
As well, all of these melodic phrases can be used on any tune that has a lot of
fast-moving changes such as Jordu, Conrmation, Rhythm Changes and others,

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level with many dierent tunes, not just Giant Steps.

Do you have a favorite Giant Steps lick? Share it in thecomments section below.

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