Hello

[takefive]

I've started playing jazz recently. I've been playing the guitar for about 30 years, started out playing old Stones, Hendrix, etc. then moved on to blues. I played some fusion in the past, plus in high school I played the in some musicals and I played in the jazz band for a few months.
I'm struggling with chords right now. I've been playing with some local jazz musicians and last week we played Waltz for Debbie and I was completely lost, hehe.

[FatJeff]

Originally Posted by takefive

I've started playing jazz recently. I've been playing the guitar for about 30 years, started out playing old Stones, Hendrix, etc. then moved on to blues. I played some fusion in the past, plus in high school I played the in some musicals and I played in the jazz band for a few months.
I'm struggling with chords right now. I've been playing with some local jazz musicians and last week we played Waltz for Debbie and I was completely lost, hehe.

Welcome to the site.

When you say you're struggling with chords, do you mean you just don't know how to play a given chord, or you don't even know what it means when (for example) you see Gm7b5?

[GuitaRoland]

Welcome to this forum - here you are among nice people with a lot of knowledge. I bet you will get answers on all your questions!

/R

[takefive]

Originally Posted by FatJeff

Welcome to the site.

When you say you're struggling with chords, do you mean you just don't know how to play a given chord, or you don't even know what it means when (for example) you see Gm7b5?

Thanks for the reply. It's more a matter of where to play them on the neck. I can identify chords without too much difficulty, but sometime the chords I play don't sound quite right. I like to play accompaniment vs. playing mostly single note solos so I've been working on improving my chord melody playing.
Thanks

[FatJeff]

I think it's important to continually work on expanding chord knowledge. The more ways you have to play a given chord, the less you have to "dive bomb" around the neck, and the hipper you sound. This is especially important for chord melody arrangements (which you say you like).

I'm no expert on the matter, but I do have a decent collection of voicings for a lot of different chord types, in different locations on the neck. These have been the result of (a) specific work assigned to me by instructors, (b) reading books on chordal approaches to jazz guitar, and (c) voicings I've either figured out myself, or "stumbled upon" when horsing around on the guitar. I continue to work on expanding that collection.

The one thing I found absolutely essential when I first started out was to figure out root and 2nd-inversion "spread" voicings for dom7, Maj7, min7, m7b5, and dim7 chords, on string collections 6-4-3-2, 5-4-3-2, 4-3-2-1. There's a pretty simple method of constructing these which I could spell out for you if you are interested.

Also, if you are more method-oriented, you may be interested in the Mickey Baker books. They enjoy pretty unanimous support. There is a whole huge thread on this site dedicated to those who are going through (or who have been through) this method. http://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/getti...zz-guitar.html

Finally, you might want to take a look at some of Ted Greene's books (especially Chord Chemistry). That guy's material is simply amazing.

[derek]

Welcome to the group takefive. Where are you located?

[pierre richard]

welcome to this great site..

much information here and great players and educators to help us all out...

time on the instrument..pierre

[takefive]

Originally Posted by derek

Welcome to the group takefive. Where are you located?

Hey Derek, I live near Veneta Oregon, just outside of Eugene.