Over the last two columns, we looked at various ways to craft melodic solos over alternating relative major and minor chords. As a basis for study, I used the 16-bar chord progression from my original song Twilights, which includes two different sets of relative major and minor chords. This time, I’d like to offer some additional examples of approaches to melodic soloing over this progression.
The Twilights progression begins with an alternating two-bar pattern of F(sus2) to Dm(sus2), played four times. The progression then modulates to a different key while switching the order of the relative major and minor chords; in bars 9-14, the relative minor chord comes first – Gm – followed by its relative major, Bb.
