An Etude in Solar

Learning about the power of "two-five-ones" from Miles Davis.

Twelve Bars, Six Keys, and Two Parent Scales

There’s no introduction to this lesson other than buckle up! We’re diving right into a Miles Davis tune. The twelve bars below are shown in both C Natural Minor chords and in Roman Numeral Analysis. Give it a quick review ‘cause here we go.

The title of the song we’re going to study is “Solar”. Here’s a link so you can listen to it. The first thing I want to point out is that while this song repeats twelve bars for over four minutes before ending on the tonic, it is as much a beast of intricacies as it is a simple set of motions. From here on out I’ll stick mostly to roman numerals so that once you learn it in the key of C Minor, you can then play it in any key.

The chart below has the song grouped into color coded sections. In orange we have two bars of the tonic chord: Cm. On the recording you can clearly hear the note B stabbing through on the piano. Using this note would allow the tonic chord to be played as a Cm△ (C Minor Major 7). This is a Jazz tune, so feel free to play these first two bars either way.

The red section takes us through the v7, I7, and IV△ chords (Gm7, C7, and F△). If you look at the relationship of these chords, they are all in fifths. In other words, G is the fifth of C, and C is the fifth of F. Because the forms of the chords are m7, 7, and △, we can treat this as a “2-5-1” progression. We call this a “2-5-1” because in any major key the second chord is a m7, the fifth chord is a 7, and the tonic chord is a △.

The blue section is really the same thing as the red section. The only real difference is that instead of starting on the fifth chord’s position (G), we start a whole step down (on F). Notice how the red section started on v7 (Gm7) and ended on IV△ (F△), causing the red section to move us down a whole step. The blue section repeats this process by starting on the iv7 (Fm7) and ending a whole step down at ♭III△ (E♭△).

The green section maintains the “2-5-1” process and whole step movement from ♭iii7 (E♭m7) to bII△ (D♭△). Before we get to the last bar, look at the length of the red, blue, and green sections. The red section is four bars, the blue section is three bars, and the green section is two bars. As the amount of time compresses, the chord changes come faster.

The final bar in yellow take the “2-5-1” to a slightly different direction. We are in a Natural Minor key, so we need to always keep Harmonic Minor in our back pocket at all times. All this means is that we can add in the leading tone whenever we need. If you’d like to take a focused look at Harmonic Minor, then click here.

In C Harmonic Minor, the second and fifth modes are Locrian ♮6 and Phrygian ♮3. Harmonic Minor also gives us access to Dorian ♯4, which is the fourth mode of this scale. I want to point these out because the last two chords in the yellow section (iiø and V7(b9)) can utilize these modes. In a “2-5-1” the “2” is usually played with the Dorian mode, so iiø played with Dorian ♯4 works great. The V7(b9) can use Phrygian ♮3, but this mode will not give you the same notes if you use Dorian ♯4. While personally love Dorian ♯4 over the iiø, playing Locrian ♮6 followed by Phrygian ♮3 will retain the same note for the iiø and V7(b9). This all leads us to the first bar or ends it on a tonic chord of i, i7, or i△. Any flavor of minor tonic is fine here.

Follow the “2-5-1” Flow

I want to make all of this technical jargon work in a mechanical sense so you can play it no matter what “level” of musicianship you are currently at. Below we have a chart that shows the keys of a piano, the degrees starting at C, and all of the root notes of each chord. The color coded section we already used are shown as well.

Notice how we start with C in the first two bars, but the use specific positions to create “2-5-1” movements. The first movement starts on the fifth degree note (G), then starts on the fourth degree (F), and has another movement on the minor third (E♭). Each movement in the red, blue, and green sections takes us down a whole step and ends where the next movement begins.

The final movement in yellow is a direct “2-5-1”, but in Harmonic Minor. This allows the entire song to be felt as as series of “2-5-1”s starting on the fifth degree (G), that ends with a “2-5-1” that includes the leading tone (B). The leading tone must be used in the final bar because it helps us to drive the song back to the tonic note (C).

On guitar the “2-5-1” movements are plain as day. You can start at the red C on the eight fret and then follow each movements as they progresses towards C on the third fret.

Another great feature of the “2-5-1” is that it “tonicizes” whatever note is used as “1”. This means that the red section makes F feel like the tonic note, but then the blue section makes E♭ feel like the tonic. The green section then moves the tonic to D♭. By the time we reach the final section in yellow, we need to make sure that C is the tonic and doesn’t just “feel” like its the tonic. That’s why the leading tone matters so much. Yes, we are using D and G as the “2-5” to get to Cm, but we need that extra push. Harmonic Minor’s modes provide that and should always be used at the end of this song.

Taking Center Stage

This song is about more than just chords. There’s a colorful pallet of six keys that we can use to create countless melodies. I want to keep this simple without diving into the Circle of Fifths, modal modulation, and similar topics.

This final chart has all of the roman numerals, the “2-5-1”s, and color coding. There are also two rows of modal scales that can go with these chords. One row matches the color coding of the movements. The other row is in pink and purple.

Lets start with the row that matches the movements. These modes directly overlap with the root note of each chord in C Natural Minor / C Harmonic Minor. There’s nothing fancy going other than the red, blue, and green sections ending in Lydian. Typically, “2-5-1”s end on Ionian as the “1” mode. Since the red and blue sections end where the next section begins there is a nice circumstance that we can use. The “2” chord is played with Dorian. Dorian just happens to be the relative/parallel minor of Lydian. By ending our “2-5-1”s on Lydian, we can then move to Lydian’s parallel minor and allow for a more natural flow throughout the song.

The pink and purple row uses the same modes, but puts the note C as the first degree of every mode used. This is especially helpful for guitarists because you don’t have to move your fretting hand all over the place. You can use C as a physical anchor point and change the scale played off of this point.

Feel free to use a mixture of modes/scales. While Music Theory can be thought of as “all the rules of music” it should also be thought of as “all the rules of music… and why its fun to break them”. Do yourself, and Miles Davis, a huge favor and trust your instincts. If it sounds good, then it is good. Play the heck out of some Harmonic Minor. Toss Mixolydian aside and use Mixolydian ♭2 or Mixolydian ♭6. While you’re at it, try Lydian ♭7 in a bar or two. And if you really want to be funky, play Locrian off of the leading tone of V7(b9) in the last bar to lead into it. It might not jive at first, but I’m willing to bet that you’ll find something that stands out. That will be “the thing” that you learned from “Solar”.