Through the wonders of youtube and other social media offering ideas of what I might be interested in, I have started to investigate the teaching of Barry Harris.  Up to now, I would say my understanding of Jazz is derived mostly from the Berklee method which I found very logical and easy to get up and running playing jazz.  They have done a good job at codifying a lot, but some would argue the strategies might be revisionist.

Barry Harris, a pianist in the mix at the birth of bebop, is one such cat who has been trying to educate how the music really originated and functions.  I've seen a lot of scattered information and videos of Barry Harris teaching over the past few days, but this fellow's blog post seems like as good an introduction as any into the world of Barry Harris for guitar -- enough to give a taste of whether it is a alternative from the Berklee method you'll want to investigate.  It has a short example PDF with chord boxes and links to more in depth educational materials.

I also ran across this introduction which gets more in depth into the 'origin story' of scales an chords according to Barry Harris with some staff examples.

Additionally, I've found this chap on You Tube who's videos can stretch your thinking outside of the Berklee method into Barrytown.  Here is his mile-a-minute demo on harmonic theory which touches on some Barry Harris ideas. Worth subscribing to, Christian Miller offers the 'Altered Scale' might be a bit of a revisionist device to approximate the approaches the original bopheads probably used.  His videos move quickly and you'll need some pre-requisite knowledge, but offer some tasty lick examples, especially in this quick-fast lesson on Bop Harmony.

​This is my first attempt at a chord melody.  I was told creating a chord melody would help me memorize the chord changes for a particular song.  It has also helped me figure out a few new fingerings.

I put chord boxes above the chords, stacking alternates at times.  The hollow circles are the second or third note to play holding the position (or en route to the next chord).  If you know the melody, you should be able to figure it out -- some go to a hollow dot and back to a solid dot.

The premise of constructing the chord melody is relatively simple -- the melody should run on the top two or three strings so you can stack the rest of the chord on the bottom strings.  The melody note should always have the highest pitch of all the notes in a chord.  It is not necessary to have a chord for every single note.  I always tried to aim to have at least the essential tones (3rd and 7th of the chord) and, if possible, the root note.  Often this required some inversions.

Please let me know if I have an error or typo.

Here is my crazy mnemonic device for memorizing the Circle of Fourths.  If you haven't got a circle, try the one I made here. 

Another mnemonic  you might try is Be Ever Alert During Guitar Class (Forever).

Another mnemonic for going in the direction of fifths I've learned is Fine Classical Guitarists Demand Accurate Execution (Buddy).

The Altered scale is the seventh mode of the Melodic Minor (aka Jazz-Minor) scale.  It is a great scale for finding leading tones over a "functioning" V in a ii-V-I.  These leading tones are 'outside' the Key center of the ii-V-I, which create even more tension over the already tension-inducing V.  This tension of the V is resolved when you get back to the I.

The typical way to play the Altered scale (aka Super-Locrian), is to sight the root of the Altered scale on the root of the dominant.  Alternatively, you can sight the Melodic Minor's root on the b9 of the V chord -- one semi-tone up from the root of the V.

The Super-Locrian/Altered scale is really the 7th mode of the Melodic Minor -- the root of the Altered scale is the 7th degree of the Melodic Minor scale.  Additionally, there are other modes of the Melodic Minor that work nicely over dominant chords in other situations.  

The Lydian b7 (4th mode of Melodic Minor) works great over Dominants with a #11.  If you are familiar sighting the altered scale, you can sight the root of the altered scale on the #11 of the Dominant. Or you can sight the root of the Jazz Minor on the 5 of the V.

For a Dominant with a #5, you can play the Mixolydian b6 - the fifth mode of the Melodic Minor.  Sight the start of the altered on the 3rd of the V chord you are playing over.  Otherwise, sight the Melodic Minor starting on the 4.

Finally, a Dorian b2 (3rd mode of the Melodic Minor) works over a Dominant with a #9 or a b9.  Sight the altered scale starting at the V chord's 13.  Or sight the Melodic Minor on the b7.

I learned the Melodic Minor via the Altered Scale, so I tend to sight with the Major 7 of the Melodic Minor.  But it is really best to sight the Melodic Minor.  When you first learn the Altered scale, your melodic lines will probably sound quite foreign if you think of the 7 of the Melodic minor as the root -- similar to when you attempt to play the Locrian mode out of context.  The 7's of the scale are really pulling the westerner's ear toward the next tone up, which is the root of the key.

If you play lines with the Melodic Minor in mind, you will still be creating tension on the V with the outside note, but the lines will sound a little more familiar and groovy somehow.  The best way to inflect the Melodic Minor sound is to focus on notes in the Melodic Minor arpeggio 1, b3, 5, 7.  This isn't the end approach to take with the substitute modes, but it worth starting with.  By focusing on the Melodic Minor arpeggio, you will begin to see the other modes in relationship to the Melodic Minor harmony.

The chart provided shows all the Super-Locrian, Lydian b7, Mixolydian b6 and Dorian b9 modes against the Mixolydian of a V chord.

In addition, I've broken each of my mode boxes out and repeated the information for each neck position.  The name 'r6-vi' Aeolian Box is my description of the 4-5 fret position where the Aeolian Mode for would start with its root on the 6th guitar string (low E).  That is the shape of the notes in the position, but the V is still the root in this context.

With the mode boxes, I've also stripped this box down to the arpeggios for each mode.  The yellow ring indicates the Root of the Melodic Minor.  Therefore, for the right-hand, stripped down box of the Super-Lociran, Lydian b7, etc., shows the Melodic Minor arpeggio, with the yellow ring as the root.  This outlines how to play a really strong Jazz-Minor sound against these altered dominants.

Try looping a passage with an altered dominant like a Dom #11, and find the mode of the Melodic Minor (Lydian b7 in this case) that works best over it.  Play the melodic minor mode over the V chord -- maybe even imagine the arpeggio of the V chord dimly sitting 'underneath' the mode you are playing.  Then try and make a line solely comprised of the Melodic Minor arpeggio before resolving to the next chord.  Try this in various positions over the neck until you start to see the juxtaposed relationship.  You should practice until you can see your Mixolydian notes or your V arpeggio, and then immediately super-impose the applicable Melodic Minor mode, understanding the 'essential tones' (3rd & 7th) of the substitute mode.

Once you are facile at seeing each mode in relation to the Dominant arpeggio the V, you can begin focusing on structuring lines that really capture the essential tones of the V chord while also including the altered notes of the chord on the lead sheet, pulling you toward resolution with an essential tone of the one.