I first learned about neighbor tones from Bert Ligon’s  “Jazz Theory Resources Volume One” book. Chapter 4 of this book contans a 6 page section entitled “Neighbor Tones”. According to Mr. Ligon most music from the Baroque period to the present is to use the diatonic upper neighbor tone and the chromatic lower neighbor tone.

Steve Neff”s “Approach Note Velocity Vol. 1 Minor” book starts off with a very basic but very nice sounding example that uses neighbor tones.

UNT = Upper Neighbor Tone

CT = Chord Tone

LNT = Lower Neighbor Tone

For a C minor triad (C-Eb-G), one pattern is UNT,LNT,CT – try this pattern with each chord tone in the C minor triad.

Steve’s book starts at this point and provides 99 pages of exercises for minor chords. Steve also includes a short section on the minor triads so that a beginner can brush up on their minor triads before proceeding through the book. Mr Neff also has a demo audio track of him using these techniques while he is improvising over a groove on his website.

I highly recommend “Approach Note Velocity Vol. 1 Minor” to anyone wanting to improve their improvising over static harmony.

I have a post entitled “Minor Chord Backing Tracks In All 12 Keys” that you can use with Steve’s book or you can purchase Jamey Abersolds Major and Minor Volume for your backing tracks.

You can purchase the book at the following URL:

Approach Note Velocity Vol1. Minor