Notice I said that theory is only important when you do not know the song/tune. If you are in a situation where you are new to a group, or have to read a chart, then obviously you do not know the song/tune. Learning theory is abosolutely necessary! My point is this. Sure, I can read a chart, look at the changes, and play something. I can learn to choose the right scales/arps/licks that fit into those chord changes. For that matter, you can play a blues scale over almost any song! Will it be my BEST performance? No. I will just sound like a person playhing through changes. It may still sound good, but it will not be as good as if I just sat around experiementing with my approach to soloing on a particular tune. The idea is to FEEL while you are playing a solo, not THINK! It is not about how fast you play, or what you know, it is about what you play and how it sounds that counts. I have brought down the house not by playing fast or playing complicated, but just choosing the RIGHT thing to play. Everything else is icing on the cake. Unless you are playing in college, a big band or an orchestra. Phineas

Wow. Thank you so much for the lengthy replies. I am the type of person who really likes to solo and I can manage to solo over songs pretty well, but on more complicated charts, I tend to get lost in the changes. The 3rds and 7th outlines of the chords that you talked about seemed like a good way to approach it. I will try that. Thanks again, I really appriciate your time.

Wow. Thank you so much for the lengthy replies. I am the type of person who really likes to solo and I can manage to solo over songs pretty well, but on more complicated charts, I tend to get lost in the changes. The 3rds and 7th outlines of the chords that you talked about seemed like a good way to approach it. I will try that. Thanks again, I really appriciate your time.

Wow. Thank you so much for the lengthy replies. I am the type of person who really likes to solo and I can manage to solo over songs pretty well, but on more complicated charts, I tend to get lost in the changes. The 3rds and 7th outlines of the chords that you talked about seemed like a good way to approach it. I will try that. Thanks again, I really appriciate your time.

jdaddy, you can say that again...........Kelsey

haha sorry i didnt mean to send it 3 times

no problem, i'm glad to help. i was there myself. just to make things clear, here are two 2-5-1 progression guide tone lines.... if we're thinking in the key of C, the 2-5 is D minor 7 to G 7 to C Major 7. so the top guide tone line would be c (the 7th of D min 7) to b (the 3rd of G7) and then stick on b (the 7th of C Major 7). the lower guide tone would be f (the 3rd of D minor 7) stick there on f for the 7th of G7, and then resolve down to E (the 3rd of C Major 7). so the first line is 7-3-7, the second is 3-7-3. you'll see that happens pretty much everywhere. notice that on a dominant 7 chord the 3rd and the 7th clash with eachother because they are a tritone apart. thats why a dominant 7 wants to resolve, to get rid of its clashiness. if you look at the notes that clash on G7 they are b and f, right? so what other chord has a b and f as 3rd and 7th? Db7, so you can substitute that chord for G7 if you wanted to (the sub 5 is what they call it). it's smoother to go Dmin7 Db7 C Major7 isn't it? when you get good at this voice leading/guide tone stuff (it's the same thing for piano voicings) you'll breeze through all the typical standards they play at jam sessions, etc. the next steps would be to work on chord scales and approach notes/patterns to chord tones. be cool.