Which scales to use on complex chord progressions?

Question

According to this article, it is possible to make a chord progression by just keeping one tone that remains constant in all chords of the progression.

Also, it gives these examples: Cadd9 F6 D G Asus Bb G Cadd9 and F/C G/C D/C G/C Bb/C Gsus/C G/C C.

Finally, at the end of the article the writer suggests this: "Try any of the progressions above, and create a short 2-, 3- or 4-note idea that “more or less” works with most of the progressions."

So my question would be, how can I determine which notes can I play on those chord progressions?

Answer 1

Reminds me of 'One Note Samba' (Jobim). A simple idea would be to use the D in the first example, and go to other notes from that particular chord in each bar. E.g. D-E in 1st bar, D-C 2nd, D-F# 3rd etc. This references the 'pedal note', but also the underlying chord.

Assuming one chord represents one bar, there is time to play around with the notes from each chord, and 'play the changes'. Going to the D bar, use notes from the D maj. scale, but maybe use a C instead of C# to slide into the following G bar.

As 6 of the chords are related to C maj, most of it could be played using those notes. Asus (sus what?)[it's got to be sus 4] and Bb also contain notes from C maj, so it will work that way, if you're careful.