Play the Iconic Jazz Piano Standard "So What" by Miles Davis

Discover how to approach Miles Davis's So What by examining the bass-driven melody, horn harmonies, and dorian mode, and practice left-hand voicings and right-hand improvisation over dorian.

Learn the left-hand bass line and right-hand chord voicings for so what, then practice with a metronome to master the tune's dorian minor harmony and improvisation potential.

Explore how the tune centers on two chords—D-minor seven and E-flat minor seven—and uses Dorian, the second degree of a major scale, to guide improvisation.

Master left-hand comping voicings for so what, focusing on D minor and E-flat minor, D dorian shapes, root-5 on the downbeat, and two-hand harmony behind a solo.

Explore left-hand comping voicings using fourths to create a modern, angular sound in D minor and D dorian, with practical left-hand drills and incorporating outside the changes.

Practice soloing over this tune by applying the D dorian scale, building triads and sevenths, and using two practice patterns with left-hand accompaniment and inverted shapes to outline harmony.

Practice patterns of triads and sevenths in D minor dorian, exploring inversions, direction changes, beat displacement, and half-step shifts to create modern right-hand solo lines with supportive left-hand voicings.

Explore how D dorian contains three pentatonic scales—D minor, G minor, and E minor—and learn practical pentatonic patterns to improvise over so what using the blues scale.

Explore pentatonic patterns across D minor, E-flat minor, and related scales, using stacked fourths and inside-outside phrasing, while varying pattern starts and beat placement to craft modern blues-influenced lines.