So What

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKSFUN2zqzA

This lick is the theme of 'So What' from the Miles Davis album 'Kind of Blue'.

Here it says: "This first-take, unrehearsed Miles Davis session from 1959 is a true masterpiece. It was the key recording of what became modal jazz, a music free of fixed harmonies and forms.
The band itself is extraordinary (proof of Miles Davis's masterful casting skills), listing John Coltrane and Julian "Cannonball" Adderley on saxophones, Bill Evans (or, on "Freddie Freeloader," Wynton Kelly) on piano, and the crack rhythm unit of Paul Chambers on bass and Jimmy Cobb on drums."

A youtube lesson to start with, and the accompanying pdf

For guitar:

#----------------------------------PLEASE NOTE---------------------------------#
#This file is the author's own work and represents their interpretation of the #
#song. You may only use this file for private study, scholarship, or research. #
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------##
From: tgannon@charlie.usd.edu (spideir)

"So What" (Miles Davis)--opening "theme"
=========
-- comp. Miles Davis & Bill Evans (from _Kind_of_Blue_, 1959)
-- guitar arr., tcg, '8?, '94
-- 4/4 // Keys: Dm; Ebm // Allegro
__3__
-- eighth notes (1 &) are "swing" 8ths: closer to 1 & & . . . .
DAH duh
-- what follows is the opening of the tune (after some Debussy-esque
ad-lib piano diddling by Evans), apparently the only pre-composed
part of the song; it's a neat interplay of bluesy bass and quartal
piano chords, both integrated into the following guitar "arrangement":

Form (32-bar): ||: A (8 measures) - A (8) - B (8) - A (8) :||



{pick-up measure} A:: Em7/11 Dm7/11 Em7/11 Dm7/11
-----------------||----------7==---5--|------------------|----------7==---5-|
-----------------||----------8==---6--|------------------|----------8==---6-|
-----------------||o---------7==---5--|------------------|----------7==---5-|
-----------------||o---------7==---5--|------------------|----------7==---5-|
----------5-/7---||--5==-----7==---5--|----------5-/7----|--5-------7==---5-|
--3/5-7-8------8-||-------------------|--3/5-7-8------8--|----5==-----------|
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &

Em7/11 Dm7/11 Em7/11 Dm7/11
|------------------|---------7==---5--|------------------|----------7==---5-|
|------------------|---------8==---6--|------------------|----------7==---5-|
|------------------|---------7==---5--|------------------|----------7==---5-|
|------------------|---------7==---5--|------------------|----------7==---5-|
|----------5-/7----|-5==-----7==---5--|---5/7--/7--/7-5==|==5==-----7==---5-|
|--3/5-7-8------8--|------------------|------------------|------------------|
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &

__________________ __________________
| 1. [repeat A]| 2. [to B->]
|-----------------||-------------------|
|-----------------||-------------------|
|----------------o||-------------------|
|----------------o||-------------------|
|----------5-/7---||----------6-/8-----|
|--3/5-7-8------8-||--4/6-8-9------9---|
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &



B:: Fm7/11 Ebm7/11 Fm7/11 Ebm7/11
|---------8==---6--|------------------|----------8==---6-|------------------|
|---------9==---7--|------------------|----------9==---7-|------------------|
|---------8==---6--|------------------|----------8==---6-|------------------|
|---------8==---6--|------------------|----------8==---6-|------------------|
|-6==-----8==---6--|----------6-/8----|--6-------8==---6-|----------6-/8----|
|------------------|--4/6-8-9------9--|----6==-----------|--4/6-8-9------9--|
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &

Fm7/11 Ebm7/11 Fm7/11 Ebm7/11 [to A->]
|---------8==---6--|------------------|----------8==---6-|-----------------||
|---------9==---7--|------------------|----------9==---7-|-----------------||
|---------8==---6--|------------------|----------8==---6-|----------------o||
|---------8==---6--|------------------|----------8==---6-|----------------o||
|-6==-----8==---6--|----------6-/8----|--6-------8==---6-|----------5-/7---||
|------------------|--4/6-8-9------9--|----6==-----------|--3/5-7-8------8-||
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &



... rest of tune a free-form improv over the same A-A-B-A 32--|bar form: two
8-bar sections ("A-A") of Dm dorian, 8 bars of Ebm dorian ("B"), and 8 more
bars ("A") of Dm dorian.

The bass starts "walking," the piano comps/ ad-libs quartal-modal chord voicings, and Miles & the other horn players take leads in Dm & Ebm Dorian.
Dorian in Dm: d-e-f-g-a-b-c-d;
Eb Dorian a half-step higher). . . .

Here's the start of Miles' lead, to give you a
better idea (note that the D dorian scale "fits" whether the chord is Dm7/11
or Em7/11: both consist of notes from this very scale)--

{pick-up} A::
-10=====-||------------------|------------------|------------|
---------||------------------|------10-8----10--|------------|
---------||--7============---|--10--------------|--7-7=------|
---------||------------------|------------------|------------|
---------||------------------|------------------|------------|
---------||------------------|------------------|------------|
3 & 4 & 1 2 3 4 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 &


|
--:--tcg
)


The bass:

Riff A Part 1

E--0-5-7-8-----8----|
A----------5-7---5--|
D-------------------|
G-------------------|

Riff A Part 2

E--0-5-7-8-----8---5-|
A----------5-7---5---|
D--------------------|
G--------------------|

Riff A Part 3

E--6/7--6/7-6/7---5-|
A---------------5---|
D-------------------|
G-------------------|

Riff B Part 1

E--1----------------|
A----1-3-4-----4----|
D----------1-3---1--|
G-------------------|

Riff B Part 2

E--1-----------------|
A----1-3-4-----4---1-|
D----------1-3---1---|
G--------------------|


Order of Apearance

Intro (Not Usually Played)

Part A 1 x1
Part A 2 x1
Part A 1 x1
Part A 3 x1

Part A 1 x1
Part A 2 x1
Part A 1 x1
Part A 3 x1

Part B 1 x1
Part B 2 x1
Part B 1 x1
Part B 2 x1

Part A 1 x1
Part A 2 x1
Part A 1 x1
Part A 3 x1

Solos

There you have it. Simple as pie.