[Dixielandjazz] Circle of 4ths or "Cycle"

[Steve barbone]

First Prize to you Bob. Great Post.

Going round the circle is absolutely the best way to learn how to play
music, especially OKOM. It should be proscribed regimen from every teacher.
I learned by first cycling the roots, then the triads, then the major
chords, then the major scales. Then the minor chords, and then most all
other chord variations, then the more difficult scales. Then I added licks
and patterns and cycled them.

Much the same as Mike Vax teaches now it via BEAD BEAD

Add to that a placing of a chord tone on the first and third beat of most
measures and you can develop coherent improv solos, if you've been training
your ears while cycling.

Then when you look at the chord patterns of the commonly played American
Songbook and OKOM tunes, you realize they are easy to play. Heck many of the
chord changes are in Cycle sequence and you've already mastered that.

Hence the term "Sears Roebuck Bridge" which describes the multitude of OKOM
bridges based on a simple 4 chord Cycle within the circle. (I Got Rhythm,
Five Foot Two, etc., etc., ad nauseum) Who among those of us who have cycled
the circle, even hacks like me, cannot play/improv upon those bridges at
warp speed automatically?

I'm with you, practice the circle clockwise. Upscale in 4ths and then in the
same sequence downscale where they automatically become 5ths.

Cheers,
Steve

Robert Reck <reckeuph at sbcglobal.net> wrote
 
> I have found practicing around the circle to be an amazing help.  I am not one
> of the greats, but I can now play at my level (such as it is) in all twelve
> keys....  I got the idea from an excellent book by Ed Lisk called "Alternative
> Rehearsal Techniques".  Ed (an excellent tenor sax player) took what jazz
> players have been doing with the circle for years and applied it to the
> concert band.  The book doesn't say anything about jazz...
> 
> One day I was giving a bass lesson to a youngster who was in a band who
> regularly played scales, arpeggios, and any number of patterns around the
> "circle of fourths".  I had just showed her her first walking pattern and I
> told her to play it around the circle.  She did, and got it right in all
> twelve keys the first time.
> 
> I have been taking licks around the circle ever since.  I later got to ask Ed
> about it, and he said, "Rob, the whole thing is based on the old jazz circle."
> 
> Now, regardless of what you call it, most jazz guys (OKOM or other) will do
> better to practice in fourths.  That is the way the chords resolve most of the
> time in OKOM, bepob, pop music, and even western swing.  (Like Am, Dm, G7,
> C..)  You can add the +9b13 etc if you are a bopper...
> 
> Later I heard him call it the "row" of fourths in a clinic, probably so he
> wouldn't have to argue with folks about whether it was a circle of fifths or
> fourths....
> 
> Rob "playin' the bass in Tulsa, OK" Reck