THEM CHANGES
Guitar Techniques|November 2021
Andy G Jones shows how to improvise on the James Bond Em/maj9 chord, which requires a grasp of unique Minor scales, such as Harmonic and Melodic Minor Pentatonics.
Andy G Jones
THEM CHANGES

ABILITY RATING

Moderate

Info

Key: Em

Tempo: 85bpm

CD: TRACKS 59-65

Will improve your

  • Playing over chord changes

  • Getting used to bolder tensions

  • String skipping

This month in Them Changes we are going to look at options for improvising over the ‘James Bond chord’ - E Minor with a Major 7 and a 9th added. Looking at the notes in the chord, E Minor Pentatonic is clearly not going to work as it has a D Natural where this chord has a Major 7th (D#) which does not appear in the scale.

The obvious choices for a seven-note scale would be E Melodic Minor or E Harmonic Minor - the difference between the two being the 6th, which is a b6 in Harmonic Minor.

However, as we’ve been dealing with Pentatonic scales so far, let’s see if we can exploit some five-note note options.

This story is from the November 2021 edition of Guitar Techniques.

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This story is from the November 2021 edition of Guitar Techniques.

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