Outside Sounds and Substitutions

Since the arrival on the jazz scene of John Coltrane, more and more guitarists are looking to incorporate colors into their language which are more dissonant than those generally heard within the realm of jazz guitar. As improvisers, saxophonists and all woodwind players have a certain advantage in that the keys on their instruments are arranged linearly with one or two chromatic pitches associated with each finger. Compared to the sax, the note locations on the guitar fretboard are much less intuitive. It seems a natural process then, for guitarists to gain fluency in improvisation by studying saxophone lines and articulation techniques.

Kevin Miller has studied with several stellar teachers including Vic Juris and Rodney Jones. His knowledge of jazz history and the linear and harmonic techniques of non-guitarist giants of jazz like McCoy Tyner and John Coltrane is truly impressive. He is also very adept at transcribing and analyzing the harmonic concepts and articulation techniques used in saxophone solos and making them palatable to guitarists in notation and tablature.

Miller brings it all to bear in this book, focusing on giving you new options originating from jazz masters such as John Coltrane and McCoy Tyner, for dealing with common harmonic situations within the world of jazz such as a stagnant minor chord or II-V-I. These options venture “outside” of the basic harmonic framework, but usually settle back into the core harmonic territory. Not only is the information made accessible through numerous transcriptions of saxophone lines and techniques, Miller provides ways to internalize this material so it can be used “in an organic way while improvising".