Augmented and diminished chords have something of a bad reputation. Whenever anyone makes a joke about an overly complicated piece of music, they’re usually part of the punchline. In actual fact, ...

Here’s my go-to practice routine for tackling altered dominant chords—especially those spicy #5/#9 voicings—and the diminished whole-tone scale (aka the 7th mode of the melodic minor). These sounds ...