John Coltrane was one of the most gifted musicians of all time.
Coltrane developed a sound and a method of playing that is
emulated by almost every jazz musician today. When I was in Grad
School, one of the concepts we covered in improv class was
Coltrane’s Three Tonic System. The most famous example of this
is his composition “Giant Steps.” For many jazz musicians, Giant
Steps represents an ultimate goal. If you can play over this
tune at a fast tempo, then you are a “jazz musician.” This is
merely an exercise in becoming more flexible on your instrument.
That is exactly why Coltrane composed this tune and once he got
it under his fingers, he moved on. Here I want to show you how
to break down this tune and make it into easy, understandable
pieces. The first part of the lesson will focus on how to
reharmonize a ii-V-I progression using a three tonic system.
Here are the basic changes of the tune. As you can see, there
are only two tricky parts to this tune. Measures 1 through 3 and
measures 5 through 7. The