Backing track 1
Backing track 1 (in D Major) is part one of a longer chord progression I wrote a while back, and consists of the first 4 bars of the progression looped round several times for practice. Bass & keys by me, drum loop from Loopmasters nu groove RnB pack.
You can download the track directly from the Soundcloud link above.
The other parts of the progression will follow, so please do check back if you enjoy working with it, and feel welcome to contact me with any questions!
The four chords (for Eb alto or baritone) are: DM7 : Bm7 : AM7 : GM7
(M = Major, m = minor). The time signature is 4/4, and the tempo is 75bpm. There is a one bar intro on drums.
The chords are played one to a bar and are arpeggiated as follows;
DM7: D F# A C# Bm7: B D F# A AM7: A C# E G# GM7: G B D F#
A good warm up is to play the arpeggios over the chords a few times to get in the zone!
The chords: although always a contestable subject (chords can have different functions and different names in different circumstances), we can say that broadly the first, second and fourth chords are functions of the scale of D Major. This means that your ‘safe’ menu of notes for soloing / improvising is; D E F# G A B C#.
In the key of D Major, DM7 is chord 1 : Bm7 is chord 6: GM7 is chord 4 (slightly altered)!
The third chord, AM7, requires a bit of care, because of the G#. You can either change to A Major for the third bar (A B C# D E F# G#), or just remember to use G# instead of G….
A cunning alternative is to use A Major Pentatonic (A B C# E F#) over the whole thing, thus avoiding the G / G# problem altogether!
Hope you enjoy using the track, and don’t forget that you’re very welcome to contact me with any questions!
