Playing Changes in One Octave

Randy Johnston teaches a deceptively simple practice technique for outlining fast-moving chord changes: limit your soloing range to a single octave. He learned the concept years ago from pianist Vince Maggio at the University of Miami, and it gets guitarists out of running arpeggios up and down — toward the connected, coherent lines of saxophonists and pianists.

"Changes are destination oriented." — Randy Johnston

What's covered

• Guide tones explained: why the third is the defining note of a chord, with the seventh passing down into the next chord's third
• Working the concept through a II-V-I in C major, hitting third-seventh-third on time
• Locating every guide tone within one octave — and discovering how much of the fingerboard you don't yet know
• Building lines around the guide tones: scale tones, chromatics, and space between the destinations
• Four choruses of soloing on Stella By Starlight in B-flat, each in a different octave and position
• A bonus chord melody version of Stella By Starlight played before the soloing examples
• Practice tips: record yourself, then ask — is it swinging, and can you hear the changes?

If you're looking for a practical way to develop your single-note improvisation, this 27-minute class gives you the basics quickly and a method you can apply in every future practice session. Includes 2 pages of PDF materials in standard notation. Full video is 27 minutes.