I came across a great interview with Rob Miller, music fan and one of the fearless leaders of Bloodshot Records.  If you are aspiring to work with a  label it’s a very good read.

www.chicagoartistsresource.org/music/node/17404

There has been a lot of discussion on the Banjo Hangout about Noam Pikelny’s 4 note cells and how to use them. Jazz substation comes in very handy when using his 4 note cells. Quick and dirty way to use the cells. Cells based on the tonic i.e. I, iii, and vi, will work over any diatonic chord. This is an old jazz trick. Bela and Noam use this technique extensively. The other cells can be used as passing chords. The topic of scale to chord application is old and as frustrating as ever. Here is my two cents.

One way I have developed to implement scales is to set up an exorcise that break melody down into a decision tree much like the ones used by Nash in Game Theory. Most melodies follow some basic principals that come from voice leading and how to handle leaps. Look at Bach two part writing or Tonal Harmony.  These parameters can be implemented in an ear training exercise by the following restrictions. Each of the restrictions can be isolated and worked on separately. 1 no leaps. The rest of the parameters are how to handle leaps. 2 Leap through chords. 3 No leaps more than a seventh. 80 percent of good melodies do not leap. There is more to this than these parameters but the first one I think is the most important. No Leaps out of the mode of the moment. This is an ear training exorcise not a way to solo.  

Practicing no leaps.

Put on a song that is in the key you would like to practice. Put these restrictions. Start with whole notes. Start on the tonic. With the passing of every measure choose a new note in the scale. There are three possibilities or decisions for every note.  You could repeat the note move up a note in the scale, or move down a note. Every new note has the same choice. If a note sounds tense or wrong that is ok. The point is to learn and handle tense notes.  You will discover that this breaks you out of applying scales to chords and into muscle memory melody decisions. There are no wrong notes but tense or resolved notes.  I read time and again about how to apply scales to chords and think most have it wrong. You can play any scale of any chord with authority and it will sound correct. If you apply scales and arpeggios to chords in a strict traditional application i.e. Ionian with the I chord Dorian with the II,  then you are missing the tension and point of learning the modes. Learning the modes will not teach you how to play. The modes are just the relationships between chords. The trick is learning how to resolve tense notes, and make decisions with authority.

This exorcise is actually very easy and I have done it with many studens and even beginners.

Once you feel comfortable with whole notes, move to half, then quarter then eighth then sixteenth.

If you are trying to apply scales to chords good luck. My advice is to apply your ear to the chords and forget about application of modes. Soloing is making decions. Train yourself to make decisions. That is not to say that you should not study modes. You will need them to inform your decisions. This is ear traning.