4415 / 18210 · Workshop 26 — “’Round Midnight”: Chromatic Melody, Diminished Color, Altered Dominants, and Making Dissonance Sound Beautiful← prev⊞ allnext →
26.96The practical theory hierarchy
When you see a complicated chromatic passage, process it in this order:
1. Melody destination
2. Bass destination
3. Guide-tone line
4. Chord function
5. Altered color
6. Scale, if you still need one
That is almost the reverse of how jazz harmony is sometimes taught.
It is much more useful at the piano.