This is another exercise over a 4 bar ii-V7-I progression often found in standard songs. Take a look at the example below:

I start out with a sort of cliche outlining of the D-7 to G7, going up to Bb (which acts as the +9) then moving downwards in whole steps to form the whole tone scale. The tension notes of +9, -9 (Bb and Ab) seem to continue over the tonic chord (C Major 7). Even though the scale technically does resolve to the C major chord (first resolving to F#, the #11 of C Major), there is an implied extended tension because of the symmetry of the whole tone scale.

It’s a way to change color over ii-V-I progressions as well as a way to extend the tension. This time I used one pattern, which I transposed into all 12 keys. Each 4 bar pattern modulates in descending whole steps. This exercise is an excerpt from my book, Melodic Minor Scale Jazz Studies: Organizations and Applications Over Dominant 7th Chords.  And if you’d like to find some more unique and interesting ways to approach the ii-V7-I chord progression, please consider another of my e-books, ii-V7-I: 40 Creative Concepts for the Modern Improviser.

Click the links below to download a free pdf copy of this etude:

Implied Resolution of Whole Tone Scale Over Major-pdf

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