Getting a more fusion-esque sound

vinterland

vinterland

New member
Ok I don't even know how to explain this but lately I've been trying to get a little more fusion-y sound in my playing. Mostly throwing maj7 min7 dim7's add9's sus4's and tapping out full maj9 chords. Anyhoo you get the picture. I guess my question are there any particular chords or scales I should really work on besides the obvious diminished, dominant, whole-half stuff you normally see?
 
Re: Getting a more fusion-esque sound

Try more parallelism in your chord progressions. One of the big things in fusion is to get rid of the standard types of chord progressions found in earlier jazz like bebop and hard bop. The old II-V-I type progression were pretty much passe' when fusion came about. Instead you see alot more static chord progressions utilizing parallel block chords. That's one of many charateristics of the genre.

In some cases the harmony just seemed to be there for ambience. The harmonic structures didn't seem to be as closely tied to the melody as they were in more traditional styles. The chords just seem to push here and there. I would almost say the chords functioned more as a counterpoint/counter-melody than as a harmonic background.

Also try changing meters. Some fusion used odd meters like 7/4. It was not uncommon to have multiple meter changes in a composition. You would start out in one meter like 7/4 and the go to 5/4 then maybe backe to 7/4 and then to something like 6/8.

Also, try carrying the melody in an unusual instrument like the bass.

Try to incorporate world music into your playing. My favorite stuff is from Brasil. However, for fusion I think Samba would be a more compatible style than Bassa Nova or Brazilian Pop.

Listen to styles that came just before fusion to understand how fusion evolved. It always helps to know where the style evolved from. It gives you a historical perspective.

Pre-Fusion bands : Miles Davis Quintet, Freddie Hubbard, Woody Shaw, John Coltrane to name a few.

Pre-Fusion Artists: Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Han****, McCoy Tyner, Chick Corea

Listen to: Freddie Hubbard, "Take it to the Ozone" for some perfect pre-fusion.
Also McCoy Tyner, "Rotunda"

Some Fusion Groups: Return to Forever, Mahavisnu Orchestra, Jean Luc Ponte, John Scofield, Ornette Coleman, Jack DeJohnette, Pat Metheny, John Abercrombe to name a few.
 
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Re: Getting a more fusion-esque sound

In classical music theory a chord progression was forbidden if parallel 4ths, 5ths or octaves were present. This meant that chords had to be voiced so that these parallelisms did not occur. For example, take a I - IV progression in the key of C. That would be C Maj to F Maj. If we voice both these chords in root position then we see the emergence of parallelism.

C Maj | FMaj
____________

C | F (C moves to F)
E | A
G | C (G moves to C)

As you can see there is a fifth in the C chord between the root (C) and the fifth (G). Notice the when we move to our IV chord (F) there is also the same relationship between its root (F) and its fifth (C). Therefore consecutive voice movement from C to F and G to C creates the parallel movement of fifths. This broke the rules of classic theory. The composer had to resolve this by changing the voicing of either or both chords in order to eliminate the parallelism like so:

C Maj | F Maj
___________

C | C
E | F
G | A

The change above leaves the C chord in its original root position but modifies the F chord to its 3rd inversion. Voicing the chords in this manner eliminates the parallel fifths and therefore conforms to classical music theory as related to musical composition.

Fusion however often breaks the rules of classical music theory. Not only are parallel voice movments allowed, but you could say that parallelism is one of the main features of the genre. Take the chord progression of the great fusion classic, Proto Cosmos from the Tony Williams Lifetime Band by Alan Pasqua for example. It begins like this:

F# min9 | E min 9 | Dmin9

Where each of the above chords move in parallel to one another.

Hope this helps.
 
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Re: Getting a more fusion-esque sound

Oh, okay. It roughly makes sense. This essentially ties into the table or circle of fourths/fifths then, yes?
 
Re: Getting a more fusion-esque sound

Thanks so much, Osensai, that's fascinating :D I love music theory, but I'd never come across that concept before
 
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