251 is 1 of the most used and common used cadences in Rock pop and jazz..

For those who don’t know what 251 stands for we are talking about a sequence of chords of this type:

2^nd grade, 5^th grade & 1^st grade.

 

Example: Dmin7, G7, Cmaj7  

 

We will talk about that from “a not jazzist” point of view.

We are on C major Key.

 

-         Which notes can we play in order to create some nice melodies without playing something “too much standard”?

 

We can have really different solutions about that and we can divide our improvisation in 2 different parts like this:

 

About the 1^st that’s a good example that will help you guys a lot to create really cool melodies:

 

 

 

Dmin

 

 

-------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------

--------------5---7---5------------------------

----------7--------------7----------------------

---5---8----------------------8----5-----------

-------------------------------------------------

 

 

 

------------5---8---5--------------------------

---------6-------------6------------------------

------7-------------------7---------------------

-------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------

 

 

G7

 

 

-------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------

----------------3---5---3------------------------

--------2---5--------------5---2-----------------

-----3----------------------------3---------------

 

 

 

 

-------------------------------------------------

-----------3---6---3---------------------------

-------4--------------4-------------------------

----5--------------------5----------------------

-------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------

 

 

C maj 7

 

 

-------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------

------------4--5--4-----------------------------

-----2---5-----------5---2---------------------

--3-------------------------3-------------------

-------------------------------------------------

 

 

 

-----------3----7----3-------------------------

-------5----------------5-----------------------

----5-----------------------5-------------------

-------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------

 

 

 

Here we can really be creative (being carefull not to play wrong notes on the sequence of chords):

 

D min 7:

 

 

- C major scale (considering D min as 2^nd grade on the C major scale)

 

- D min + min pentatonic scale (considering D minor as 6^th grade on the F major scale)

 

-         F major scale (considering D min as 6^th grade(eolian mode))

 

-         Bb major scale (considering D min as 3^rd grade on that scale)

 

G7:

 

-         C major scale (G7 is 5^th grade)

 

 

C maj 7:

 

-         C major scale

-         A min scale

-         A min pentatonic scale

-         A min blues pentatonic scale

 

 

That’s actually what I think sounds best on a 251 major sequence based obviousely on my experience of recording and composing during the years..

Give a chance to that suggestion and have fun ;.-)

Take care..

Dimitry