These jam tracks use the same, or similar, chord progressions as well-known songs. While not exact replicas, these are “in the style of…”
Song Style: Chameleon
Artist: Herbie Hancock
Progression: B♭m7 | E♭7
Improvise using:
- B♭ minor pentatonic
- B♭ Dorian
- …same as E♭ Mixolydian
- …same as A♭ major, so – any A♭ major CAGED shape
Chameleon-ish
Song Style: Wonderful Slippery Thing
Artist: Guthrie Govan
Progression: Bm7 | D7 | Gmaj7 | F#7(#5)
Improvise using:
- B min pentatonic
- B Phrygian (G major)
- Over the F#7:
- F# diminished half-whole
- F# altered (F# super Locrian, G melodic minor)
- F# Phrygian dominant (B harmonic minor)
Wonderful Slippery Thing-ish
Song Style: Sunny
Artist: Bobby Hebb
Progression:
Am7 | C7 | Fmaj7 | E7
Am7 | C7 | Fmaj7 | E7
Am7 | Gm7 C7b5 | Fmaj7 | Bb13
Bm7b5 | E7#9 | Am7 | Bm7b5 E7#9
Improvise using:
- A minor pentatonic
- A blues
- A minor pentatonic with chromatic approach
- E half-whole diminished over the E7 chords
- Dominant arpeggio over the Bb13
Sunny-ish
Song Style: Jessica
Artist: The Allman Brothers
Progression:
[A] SECTION:
A | D (32 bars)
[B] SECTION:
G | G | A | A |
G | G | A | A |
G | G | A | A |
G | G | E | E |
Improvise using:
- Over the [A] Section:
- A major arpeggio, major pentatonic, and major scale
- Over the [B] Section:
- D major arpeggio, major pentatonic, and major scale
- Over the final E chord – back to A major arpeggio, major pentatonic, and major scale. Emphasize the G#.
- Always target chord tones for any note you hold out and when chords change
Jessica-ish
Song Style: Starship Trooper
Artist: Yes
The chords in this jam track linger twice as long as the Yes song so that you have more time per chord.
Progression:
G | Eb | C | C
Improvise using:
- Major arpeggios
- Major pentatonic
- Major scales
Starship Trooper-ish
Song Style: Bust Your Windows
Artist: Jazmine Sullivan
Progression:
Fm | Fm | Db | Db | Bbm | Bbm | C7 | C7
Improvise using:
- Fm pentatonic / F blues
- Fm (F Aeolian, Ab major)
- F harmonic minor
Bust Your Windows-ish
Song Style: Don’t Know Why
Artist: Norah Jones
Progression:
[A]
Bbmaj7 Bb7 | Ebmaj7 Daug | Gm7 C7 | Eb/F Bb
Bbmaj7 Bb7 | Ebmaj7 Daug | Gm7 C7 | Eb/F Bb
Gm7 C7 | Eb/F
[B]
Gm7 | C13 | F7 | F7
Gm7 | C13 | F7 | F6
Improvise using:
- Bb major pentatonic
- Arpeggios (F# note on the Daug sounds great!)
This is a good example of the chords going by too quickly (in the A-section) to play chord tones on every chord. Stick with the general mood of Bb major pentatonic, but treat the Daug chord as something special. For the B-section, the chords go by slowly enough to milk some arpeggios or chord scales.
Don'tKnow Why-ish
Song Style: Stray Cat Strut, Hit The Road Jack
Artist: Stray Cats, Ray Charles
Stray Cat Strut is originally in the key of C and starts with a dominant 7 chord (C7) rather than a minor chord (Cm). Hit the Road Jack is originally in Ab minor. This backing track borrows the general chord progression of these songs – which is a common progression. The first three chords are diatonic while the final chord (the E7) is outside the key. That means you can exploit it to get some outside sounds.
Progression:
Am | G | F | E7 | [3x]
Am | Am | Am | Am
Improvise using:
- A minor pentatonic
- Over the E7: arpeggio, diminished, altered scale
Jack the Stray Cat Hits the Road
Song Style: Lone Star State of Mind
Artist: Nanci Griffin
This song by Nanci Griffin has a mid-tempo bluegrass feel in the key of D. Both D major and D major pentatonic work well.
Progression:
G | A | D | D (4x)
Em | A | D | D (2x)
G | A | D | D (2x)
G | A | D Em | (2/4) G A |
D | D D G A
Improvise using:
- D major (all five shapes).
- Major pentatonic of each chord
- Arpeggio of each chord
Lone Star State of Mind-ish
Song Style: Big Me
Artist: Foo Fighters
Almost diatonic. Stay in C major or C major pentatonic. The E chord is out of the key, so hitting a G# note here sounds great. The C7 is also out of the key – so aim for a Bb note. Of course, arpeggios are always fair game.
Progression:
C | Am7 | G | F [2x]
E | F | C | C7
E | F | F | G
C | Am7 | G | F
C | G F | C | G
Improvise using:
- C major (all five shapes).
- C major pentatonic
- Arpeggio of each chord
- E is out of key – arpeggio
- C7 is out of key – arpeggio
Big Me-ish
Song Style: I Will Survive
Artist: Gloria Gaynor / Cake
Key of Am, but with an E7 at the end to take us to A harmonic minor for a moment. All other chords are straight from Am (C major). However, in the Cake version, the Bm7b5 is changed to B major, the E7sus4 is just a regular E7, and the D chord alternates between Dm and D major for the solo. Finally, the original version is a little faster.
Progression:
Original Gloria Gaynor version:
Am | Dm | G | C | F | Bm7b5 | E7sus4 | E7
Cake version:
Am | Dm | G | C | F | B | E7 | E7
Am | D | G | C | F | B | E7| E7
Improvise using:
- Am pentatonic
- Arpeggios for each chord
- C major scale
- B/D/F/G# diminished arpeggio over the E7
For added fun, try to play the original trumpet solo with the first backing track.
I Will Survive-ish (116 bpm)
I Will Survive CAKE-ish (96 bpm)
Song Style: Black Magic Woman
Artist: Santana / Fleetwood Mac
Key of Dm. That’s D natural minor (Aeolian), which is the same as F major. This is basically a 12-bar minor blues.
Progression:
Dm | Dm | Am | Am |
Dm | Dm | Gm | Gm |
Dm | Am | Dm | Dm
Improvise using:
- D natural minor (D Aeolian, F major)
- Minor pentatonic for each chord
Black Magic Woman
Song Style: Hot Wired
Artist: Brent Mason
Insanely fast country in A. Original tempo is 145. This track is only 120!
Hot Wired @ 120
Song Style: Rich Girl
Artist: Hall and Oates
E | G#m7 | C#m7 | B
A | A/G# | F#m7 | A/B
E | G#m7 | C#m7 | B
A | A/G# | F#m7 | E
E (F#m7 G#m7)
Amaj7 | Amaj7 | F#m7 | F#m7
B | B | A B | C#m7 F#m7 G#m7
Amaj7 | Amaj7 | F#m7 | F#m7
F#m7 | G#m7 | Amaj7 | B