Transform Simple Jazz Exercises with Phase Shifting

     The simplest of scale patterns can be turned into something that's much more musically useful and interesting by simply shifting the pattern to the right or left, causing the downbeat to fall in a less predictable place.  The example below shows a simple triplet  "key chord"  pattern where the beginning of each  3-note phrase falls ON the beat.  By shifting the pattern to the side,  the melodic phrase that's created is much more interesting. Playing the newly created phrase requires some re-learning to maintain a dynamic emphasis on the downbeats as the original phrase becomes more obscured. 
  The final 2 examples show how, by changing the note value, the original 3-note phrase, as before, no longer lines up clearly on the beat and something is created that is also more musically interesting.

    As always these would, by a jazz musician, be practiced in all keys and in different directions, possibly with different scales.  The concept can be applied to just about any simple pattern-exercise to generate new ways of thinking and get the fingers and brain into some fresh territory.  The possibilities are endless and can take over your life, so be careful to think about what's important and what's not, and keep both eyes on the big picture.