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Exercises

Here are several exercises that can be practised with iReal Pro backing tracks.

You can open the PDF links as often as you like. They introduce you to the respective exercise. The backing HTML files, however, only need to be imported into your iReal Pro app once. After that, you can start them directly from the iReal Pro app whenever you wish to practise. You can gradually increase the tempo from one practice session to the next. The names of the iReal Pro exercises are also given in the respective PDF files.

The iReal Pro exercises marked “short” cover only half of the circle of fifths. To practise all keys, transpose these exercises from C to D-flat and practise the complete exercise again one semitone higher 🙂

The first five exercises — Package 1: major II-V-I patterns starting from the root — allow you to play a longer phrase over a major II-V-I progression. Exercises 1.4 and 1.5 present the major II-V-I progression first with one chord per full bar and then with the chords changing every half bar. The selected pattern begins on the root of the II chord.

The next three exercises — Package 2: simple blues patterns — provide a first feel for the blues by repeating a one-bar pattern, or phrase, over all three main chords of the blues: I, IV and V. We already know the first pattern from Exercise Package 1. Each of the three patterns is played over three different blues forms: simple blues, quick-change blues and a bebop version. In the bebop version, the one-bar patterns do not fit exactly over the full-bar and half-bar II-V-I progressions beginning in bar 9. The final four bars of the bebop blues are therefore written out separately. The iReal Pro backing tracks for the three blues forms should be practised in every possible — and impossible — key. Transpose the iReal Pro backing tracks!

The following exercises contain half-bar major II-V-I patterns beginning on different intervals of the IIm7 chord — Package 3.

The next four exercises contain full-bar and half-bar patterns over minor II-V-I progressions — Package 4. The full-bar patterns always resolve to Im69, while the half-bar patterns resolve either to Im69 or to Im7. The patterns begin on different chord tones of IIm7b5. The dominant chord can be played as V7b9 or V7b9b13. The b5 of the II chord — which is also the b9 of the V chord — is a particularly important identifying feature of a minor II-V-I progression. The four patterns begin on different intervals of the II chord, that is, of the IIm7b5 chord: 1, b3, b5 and 7. Note: the interval b7 may simply be written as 7. In a minor context, this can also apply to the b3; here, however, the symbol 3 always refers to the major third.

Happy practising! 🙂

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