Legato playing becomes significantly more expressive — and considerably more interesting — the moment you start incorporating chromatic notes: pitches that sit outside the scale but connect chord tones smoothly and give your lines a sophisticated, vocal quality. This course focuses on integrating chromatic ideas into legato technique in a way that’s musical from the start.
What this course covers: We explore how chromatic notes function within legato lines, the most useful chromatic approach patterns, how to work them into your existing scale vocabulary, and how to practise them so they become a natural part of your playing rather than a theoretical exercise.
Legato technique — hammer-ons and pull-offs without picking every note — produces a flowing, connected sound that suits chromatic lines especially well. Because you’re not re-attacking every note with a pick, the chromatic passing tones blend smoothly rather than sticking out. The result is a line that moves fluidly between chord tones, hinting at bebop vocabulary and jazz-inflected phrasing without requiring complex picking mechanics. This combination is one of the most effective tools for taking legato playing beyond pentatonic patterns.
A chromatic approach note is a note a semitone (one fret) above or below a target note — usually a chord tone — that you pass through on the way to that target. Approaching from a semitone below creates momentum toward the chord tone; approaching from a semitone above creates a slight tension that resolves. Both approaches can be combined — encircling a target from above and below before landing on it — for a more elaborate effect. The key principle is that the chromatic note is always on its way somewhere; it’s a connector, not a destination.
The most effective way to start is to take a legato pattern you already know — a simple pentatonic run, for instance — and add one chromatic note as an approach to one of the chord tones in the pattern. Just one. Hear how it changes the flavour of the line. Then practise the pattern until the chromatic note feels as natural as the diatonic ones. From there, add a second chromatic note. The goal is gradual integration, not replacing your existing vocabulary but enriching it.
Taking it further: Explore chromatic approaches in the context of specific chord types — how do chromatic approach notes work differently over a dominant seventh chord compared to a minor chord? The character of the chromatic movement changes depending on the harmonic context, and exploring these differences will deepen both your harmonic understanding and your legato vocabulary.
