The Secret To Giant Steps: Arpeggios

Our discussion today will focus on dissecting a famous Major 3rd interval-based concept that has been a cornerstone of contemporary improvised soloing for more than half a century. This happens to be one of my favorite topics —and one which I've explored on numerous occasions in previous lessons and playing videos.

More specifically, we’ll be discussing how to develop your ability to solo over the chord changes that underpin Giant Steps. Rather than focusing solely on navigating these sometimes treacherous changes at a blazing fast tempo (which I have attempted in the past), we’re going to slow it down and take a deeper look at the types of materials that can truly enhance your playing within this harmony.

As we begin to apply these materials to the chord changes, you’ll develop a greater understanding of the inherent logic behind the changes themselves, and you'll see that this piece of music is not so treacherous after all!

How To Solo With Triads and How To Practice, Vol. 2 at Ben's Guitar Club

Today, we’ll focus on understanding triad and 7th chord arpeggios within the chord changes. If you’re looking to develop your core understanding of these materials, be sure to check out my masterclasses at www.bensguitarclub.com, including “How To Solo With Triads” and “How To Practice, Vol. 2: Arpeggios and What To Do With Them,” both of which dive deep into mastering arpeggios across the guitar neck. 

 

 

Understanding the Harmony of Giant Steps

To better understand the history of Giant Steps, you can watch my first discussion of this piece from earlier this year. Before diving into the soloing concepts, let’s make sure we understand how the harmony of this piece works. Giant Steps is built on a 16-bar form, but we can analyze the harmonic framework by evaluating the tonal centers present in just the first three bars:

This chord progression is based on a series of tonal centers that follow a pattern of descending Major 3rds: B Major, G Major, and Eb Major. This type of movement is often referred to as a chromatic mediant relationship, which refers to two chords whose roots are separated by a Major 3rd or Minor 3rd:

These three tonal centers—B Major, G Major, and Eb Major—are connected by V-I cadences, as shown above in the first notated diagram. For example, we begin with a B Major 7 chord, followed by a V-I cadence in G Major, then another V-I cadence in Eb Major. There you have it—three tonal centers covered in just three bars. To complete the cycle, we use a V-I cadence to return to B Major in bar 4. You’ll also notice that the root notes of these three tonal centers (B, G, Eb) form an augmented triad.

 

 

Applying Arpeggios to the Giant Steps Progression

To better understand how this chord progression sounds, let’s move beyond the 4-bar cycle we just discussed. You can hear two full choruses of improvisation over the 16-bar form of Giant Steps in the accompanying video, which also includes a single chorus at the beginning, stating the harmony with basic chord voicings. In this solo, I use many triad and 7th chord arpeggios.

Let’s break these arpeggios down, starting with triads.

Exercise 1: Triads

Our first exercise focuses on voice leading basic triads through the 4-bar cycle. In this cycle, you will clearly hear all three tonal centers:

We can observe the following triads: B Major, D Major, G Major, Bb Major, Eb Major, and F# Major, before landing on a D#, which brings us back to B Major.

It’s an excellent exercise to try and find these triads all over the guitar neck.

Exercise 2: Spread Triads

In the next exercise, we expand our triadic knowledge by using spread triads over the same 4-bar cycle:

We can observe the following spread triads: B Major, D Major, G Major, Bb Major, Eb Major, and F# Major, before returning to B Major.

These spread triads, beyond being played as single notes, are a great way to discover creative chord voicings. The open sound they produce takes us far beyond basic triadic and 7th chord voicings that are commonly heard.

 

 

Exercise 3: 7th Chord Arpeggios

For our third exercise, we’ll look at a 7th chord arpeggio pattern I discovered some years ago. In the earliest days of my improvisational endeavors, this pattern helped me decipher the Giant Steps changes:

We ascend and descend through 7th chord arpeggios, including: B Major 7, D7, G Major 7, Bb7, Eb Major 7, and F#7, before finally resolving to B Major 7. It functions as a logical sequence that works well over this progression.

Countdown: Minor Equivalent of Giant Steps?

Another crucial concept pioneered by John Coltrane is the minor equivalent of Giant Steps—a tune known as Countdown. While it presents similar descending Major 3rds, Countdown overtly uses ii-V-I progressions within its cycles.

Countdown is based on Tune Up—it is typically credited to Miles Davis, but believed to have been composed by Eddie Vinson. Tune Up is based on a series of ii-V-I progressions in the keys of D Major, C Major, and Bb Major. However, the Countdown incorporates additional tonal centers occurring descending Major 3rd patterns throughout these ii-V-I progressions. Here is an example of this occurring within a ii-V-I in D Major:

We start with E Minor 7 (the ii chord), followed by a V-I cadence in Bb Major, then a V-I cadence in Gb Major, and finally, a V-I cadence in D Major.

 

 

Exercise 4: Triads

We’ll begin by playing triads over the ii-V-I-based cycle in D Major:

We can observe the following triads: E Minor, F Major, Bb Major, Db Major, Gb Major, and A Major, before bringing us back home to D Major.

Exercise 5: Spread Triads

Next, we’ll employ spread triads over our ii-V-I-based cycle in D Major:

We can observe the following spread triads: E Minor, F Major, Bb Major, Db Major, Gb Major, and A Major, resolving back to D Major.

Once again, If you play the notes of each triad chordally, it can be a kind of a gateway to slightly atypical chordal playing—outside of the typical realm of triadic and 7th chord voicings that you might have heard before.

 

 

Exercise 6: 7th Chord Arpeggios

Our final exercise focuses on playing 7th chord arpeggios through this 4-bar cycle:

The pattern starts with E Minor 7, followed by F7, then a Bb Major 9 arpeggio (also D Minor 7), a Db7 arpeggio, Gb Major 9 (also Bb Minor 7), and A7, which leads us back home to D Major 7.

I hope this gives you an idea of how to apply triad and 7th chord arpeggios over Coltrane-influenced chord progressions. Now that we've looked at six exercises across two 4-bar cycles, let me know which one was your favorite! Leave a comment, and if you want to dive deeper into these concepts, check out my masterclasses at www.bensguitarclub.com.

Most importantly, keep playing and stay creative!

Keep on shredding,

Ben.