Well, now.

If you know about 'Giant Steps' and the Coltrane changes, you'll probably know it's got a very scary reputation. It's partly deserved because it's a difficult progression to improvise over, especially at speed.

Mind you, it gets easier the more you get into it, but it's still tricky.

If you know the piece (and other related pieces like 'Countdown') you might have looked up the theory behind it on the web.

You'll find that the explanations are horrendously complex. They're so complex that all the sites I've seen copy their text off each other, give the same examples, and generally leave you in a complete muddle!

This lesson is not about how to reharmonise the chords with the Coltrane major 3rd idea (which is another subject for another lesson) but how to apply it in the realm of improvisation over set changes. Read on...