In this video I demonstrate it in a very trite and basic way, you can make this as advanced as you want. You can cycle concepts every beats, or used more advanced concepts such as reharmonizations/superimpostions.
NOTE: The key to keeping this musical is voice leading between concepts. Smoothly transitioning from one to the other. This usually means going to the nearest note whenever you change concept.
Concept cycling is shifting through a predetermined series of concepts every time there is a chord change or a length of time has passed. EG Swapping between scale based lines to arpeggio based lines every bar.
This is a great exercise to build your familiarity with particular concepts as well as a way to start building freer more varied lines.
Here are some Concepts you can use, and add any of your own that you can think of-
- diatonic scales (EG standard 7 note modes)
- bebop scales
- Pentatonics
- Traids
- Arpeggios (7th, 9, 13th)
- Upper Structures
- chromatic scales
- Tertrachords
- Hexatonics (Triad Pairs)
- Chromatic Enclosures
- Diatonic Enclosures
- Super impositions/ substitutions (EG Diminished or minor7 substitutions on dominant chords, or Side stepping)
- Specific melodic shapes or intervals (Eg fourths)
- rhythmic figures (Eg a bar long rhythm. Go between a bar of continuous 8th notes to a bar of a specific rhythm)
- subdivisions (EG 8th notes continuously to a bar of 16th note continuously)
You can experiment with changing concepts every time theres a chord change, every bar, or even assigning a specific concept to each chord or chord type.
For example, practice a standard tune and play dorian for every minor 7 chord, Diminished scales for every dominant chord and major pentatonic scales for every major chord.
ALSO, If you worked through your limitation games, see “playing over changes 101 – limitation games”, you can cycle through limitations. Eg alternate between 3 notes a bar and 5 notes a bar.
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and as always…
HAVE FUN AND BE CREATIVE