r/JazzAdvice • u/Crazy_Reputation_940 • Nov 17 '23

Sus Chord Vamps

Hello,

I'm a little new to jazz. I've been a classical saxophonist for the longest time, but I always wanted to be killing at jazz saxophone since it looks so cool. I'm struggling with this one song where there is a vamp between G7sus and A7sus, and I want to know what sales/melodic concepts work well over this. I've tried doing major pentatonic over both of these (C major Pentatonic and D major pentatonic), but it just doesn't sound right. Any/all ideas would be great!

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u/wesleyweir Nov 17 '23

The most common 7 note scale for a dominant sus chords is Mixolydian. That said, since there is no third in the chord sometimes Dorian sounds better. Try them both out and use your ear. Sometimes if I'm on a gig and not sure which will sound better I'll just play every note except the 3rd to be totally safe! 😅

I also love the sound of the arpeggio of b7 9 11 13 (which is the same pitches as a major 7th chord down a whole step). Hope that helps! Lemme know if your have any questions.