McCoy Tyner Style Tutorial

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My first "McCoy Style" video was so well received I decided to make another one. I have placed some annotations in the video and hope that the enhanced midi keyboard view will help with deciphering the various techniques I use.
As with my previous McCoy style video, here are some basics:

1. Know your pentatonic scales in all 12 keys. If you need to review these check out the pentatonic tutorial done by Volvoxburger - watch it here: Practice different patterns in the right hand using these scales and try moving in and out of different keys.
2. You can move in and out of different keys as long as you end up at the tonal center at key points or as I call them "landing zones". These typically will be the first beat of a 4 measure phrase.
3. 2nd inversion triads (there is a typo in the video) can be effective in the right hand when used in combination with stacked 4ths in the left.
4. Much of McCoy's improvisation is rhythm based - that's why he has dynamite drummers and very solid bass players. Vary the rhythms of both hands. Check out the section from 3:30 - 3:36 for an example of this.
5. Anticipate the upcoming chord in the LH by playing a line in the RH based on that upcoming chord in beat 3 or 4 of the preceding measure.

Production Notes:
The backing track was created partially with Band-in-a-Box with additional drums (crash cymbals) and bass added using the Roland FP-4.
The MIDI keyboard on the screen is from a program by PGMusic (makers of Band-in-a-Box) called PowerTracks Pro Audio. The notes played on the keyboard are captured using the program Camtasia and resized and placed in the proper position using the video editing program Adobe Premiere elements.

Channel: Music
Uploaded: May 18, 2008 at 11:04 pm
Author: Lot2learn

Length: 00:06:51
Rating: 5.00
Views: 16378

Tags: Roland FP-4 McCoy Tyner Jazz Piano Solo instruction learn trio bass drums coltrane miles Roger Friedman

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Video Comments:
sarahjoy33 (October 16, 2008 at 3:16 pm)
damn, you're cool.
jazz1bro (October 16, 2008 at 6:18 am)
It's amazing how thes scales avoid licks verbatim. My hat is off to one of the real innovators Mr. Tyner. Thanks for bringing this aspect more in focus for me personally. However, I'd think a great way to play is to still pay homage to the past musical truths while incorporating our own theories of sound.
flaviociceroaz (October 6, 2008 at 12:23 pm)
Congratulations for its musicalidade. Its videos have helped me very.Fávio (Salvador/ba - BRASIL)
DaveSolazzo (September 28, 2008 at 12:33 pm)
Great pentatonic stuff!
geeride (September 24, 2008 at 8:07 am)
someones a freak.
Modes9 (August 30, 2008 at 10:23 am)
Awesome! Could you discuss the "outside" pentatonic scale usage? Are they a half step above, a half step below, or a tritone away from the root of the chord in question? Do you just cycle them at some set interval like a major second, minor third, or major third? Help a brother out!
nmo1127 (August 21, 2008 at 2:37 am)
U need to record man!
elnombre2 (August 17, 2008 at 3:23 am)
Some guy mentioned matrix era chick corea, that would be ace if you posted something like that.
theshnook88 (August 15, 2008 at 9:04 am)
You are obviously playing different scales and chords in different modes...how do you know when to use each mode?
azexperiment (August 4, 2008 at 9:42 pm)
Ahh yess! Refreshing ;-)
 
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