Dominant Subs

Using the minor third connection from the previous chapter, we can transpose our existing licks and ‘sub’ (substitute) them on Dominant chords.

First, take the ‘Getz’ Lick and play it on your Dominant chord, a fifth up. On D7 you play Am, on F7 you play Cm, etc.:

• Minor Dominant Sub

If you play it a minor third up, it becomes the Reversed Flat ‘10’ Lick. Cool! Another minor third up and you are on the Tritone of the original Minor:

• Tritone Minor Dominant Sub

Playing Tritone Minor on the Dominant is a typical ‘bebop’ sound. This is the iconic lick from those days:

• Bebop Lick

• Upward Bebop Lick

You can also use the original Dominant Lick, and transpose that a minor third up. Play an F7 Dominant Lick on D7!

• Minor Third Up Universal Dominant Lick

Do this two times and you have the Tritone Dominant Lick. So the Ab7 Dominant Lick on D7. Watch how you resolve:

• Tritone Universal Dominant Lick

For the last minor third jump, use the Flat ‘9’ lick as the Universal Dominant Lick sounds ugly here.

• Minor Third Down Flat ‘9’ Lick

A very straighforward Dominant Sub is the Diminished arpeggio. It’s not really a lick. On D7, we use the Eb diminished arpeggio. 

As you can see in the Diminished chapter, the Eb Dim arpeggio has 4 different root notes, all a minor third apart (Eb, F#, A and C).

So we can start our dimished lick on 4 different notes, play them up or down (or a combination) and each time resolve it to the ‘logical’ note at the end:

• ‘Eb Dim’

• F# Dim’

• ‘A Dim’

• ‘C Dim’