Enclosures and target tones

Target Tones and Enclosures - 58 Guitar Patterns

By Stef Ramin
On 05/20/2018
In Jazz Guitar Lessons
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Enclosures and target tones This guitar lesson is about a very important concept used by many jazz improvisers named "Target notes" or "target tones" or "approach notes". It has to do with targeting chord tones by scale or chromatically. This technique opens the door to another essential type of targeting called "Enclosures" used to surround a chord tone both diatonically and chromatically from above and below. Understanding and applying "Targeting" will help you solos sound more jazzy and allow you to expand your harmonic knowledge.

Approach tones

How to Target Chord Tones

There are many ways to target chord tones. You can use ascending or descending approach notes either diatonic or chromatic. The exercises below show you how to use approach notes in order to target a particular chord tone. It goes without saying that these exercises may be used to any chord type as minor, dominant 7, half-diminished, diminished, etc. Please notice that the "target note" are usually played on the downbeat.

Single Diatonic Approach Notes

The term “diatonic” means that we will use the notes of the major scale. The principle is to play the notes of the scale that are located just before (below) or after (above) the "target note" For example and for more clarity the chord tones are from a C major seventh chord, they represent the most important notes in the chord (root, third, fifth, seventh). So, the target notes will be C (the root), E (the third), G (the fifth) and B (the seventh).

The following diagrams show the relationship between the approach notes (represented by a transparent circle) and the target tones of a major 7 chord.

Diatonic approach tones from below guitar lesson

Diatonic approach tones from above jazz guitar

Here are eight patterns that show how to target a major 7 chord tone using the single diatonic approach technique.

Chord root

Chord root - Diatonic Ascending

Chord root single diatonic ascending approach

Chord root - Diatonic Descending

Chord root single diatonic descending approach min

Chord 3rd

Chord 3rd - Diatonic Ascending

Chord 3rd single diatonic ascending approach min

Chord 3rd - Diatonic Descending

Chord 3rd single diatonic descending approach

Chord 5th

Chord 5th - Diatonic Ascending

Chord 5th single diatonic ascending approach min

Chord 5th - Diatonic Descending

Chord 5th single diatonic descending approach min

Chord 7th

Chord 7th - Diatonic Ascending

Chord 7th simple diatonic ascending approach min 1

Chord 7th - Diatonic Descending

Chord 7th simple diatonic descending approach min 1

Double Diatonic Approach Notes

The double diatonic approach consist of playing two notes of the diatonic scale in order to target a chord tone.

When using this concept with the aim of targeting from below :

The chord root, you always play the 6th and the 7th before.
The chord third, you always play the root and the 2nd before.
The chord fifth, you always play the minor 3rd and the 4th before.
The chord seventh, you always play the 5th and the 6th before.

When using this concept with diatonic notes from above :

The chord root, you always play the 3rd and the 2nd before.
The chord third, you always play the 5th and the 4th before.
The chord fifth, you always play the 7th and the 6th before.
The chord seventh, you always play the 2nd and the root before.

Here are eight guitar patterns based on a C major seventh chord which, it should be remembered, is built with : root (C), third (E), fifth (G) and seventh (B). Each chord tone is approached diatonically from above and from below.