Question about chord-melody "arrangements"

[InRyanWeTrust]

I'm fairly new to chord melody playing and I was wondering.

When you guys arrange a chord melody or when anyone does for that matter on the guitar. Are you playing the same thing every time, like the same chord positions etc... Now I know jazz is all about improvisation and no song is played the same twice but I can't help but think that way with chord-melody arrangements.

[patskywriter]

howard morgen is a master at chord-melody, and his renditions of jazz and popular standards are gorgeous. he says that once he works out an arrangement he practices it often so that he is able to remember it perfectly for his videos and DVDs. he gets frustrated when he makes what he calls 'mistakes,' so i figure it's very important for him to play the arrangement perfectly, the way he meant it to be played.

check out his videos on youtube and truefire.

[mr. beaumont]

my arragements are shells, i have ageneral idea of what i'll do for the head, my solos are improvised.

i would say my philosophy is the opposite of morgen's.

[patskywriter]

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

my arrangements are shells, i have a general idea of what i'll do for the head, my solos are improvised.

i would say my philosophy is the opposite of morgen's.

come to think of it, i wonder if your goals are different as well ... ? howard is not a gigging musician, although he used to be. he lives to teach and works out these beautiful chord-melody arrangements as a teaching tool (and, of course, personal gratification). getting everything 'just right' is important to him, because what he does in the video or the dvd must match what's in the book. i'll bet that if he were still out gigging he'd have different goals/philosophies. in fact, i think i'll ask him about that—he's going to be on my radio show this coming saturday.

[mr. beaumont]

Originally Posted by patskywriter

getting everything 'just right' is important to him, because what he does in the video or the dvd must match what's in the book.

well, yeah, that's a whole different story--not a task I'd like to be handed--that's hard!

he's a great player, and I like his arranging sense. My guess is he can improvise with the best of them, it just doesn't play into his educational material.

[patskywriter]

mr beaumont, will you be participating in the chicago jazz festival? i used to work for the jazz institute of chicago, and boy, do i miss it!!!

[patskywriter]

so, inryanwetrust, i'm guessing—after mulling over what mr beaumont and i said to each other—that keeping the arrangement fluid would be great if you're playing in a band. i suppose playing the arrangement the same way pretty much every time is OK if you're a solo act. however, i'd say that if you take that approach, you'd want to know LOTS of songs so that people seeing you more than once won't feel as if they're suffering dejá vu.

[guitarplayer007]

From what Jimmy Bruno says, a intermediate jazz player should be able to create a basic chord meoldy on the fly just looking at lead sheet. And i'm sure a more advanced player can create many diff CM of same song on the fly

[mr. beaumont]

Originally Posted by patskywriter

mr beaumont, will you be participating in the chicago jazz festival? i used to work for the jazz institute of chicago, and boy, do i miss it!!!

Just attending every moment of it, hopefully.

[Jazzaluk]

Originally Posted by InRyanWeTrust

I'm fairly new to chord melody playing and I was wondering.

When you guys arrange a chord melody or when anyone does for that matter on the guitar. Are you playing the same thing every time, like the same chord positions etc... Now I know jazz is all about improvisation and no song is played the same twice but I can't help but think that way with chord-melody arrangements.

I suppose the answer is yes and no.

YES...A chord melody arrangement will map onto the guitar in a certain way, depending on the key you choose and the melody. Certain chord voicings will sound best to you and guide you to certain positions. Once this map is in your mind it will provide a basis for remembering the arrangement and a framework for improvisation. This structure should remain.

NO... After you understand how the chord melody falls on the guitar, then the fun begins. Improvisation comes from finding new ways to get from A to B on the map. Invent new melodies for the upper voice. Add inner lines between chords. Add substitutions to make the bassline flow. Simple changes to the original map producess infinite possibilities.

If you change keys, the tune will need to be "re-mapped" producing a whole new set of possibilities. Modulating to a new key within a single arrangement will really beef up the content.

There are are infinite possibilities for a chord melody. But with each choice (i.e key, chord inversion, bassline etc) the possibilities are factored away. Luckily, half of infinity still equals infinity.

[wkriski]

There are different levels of improvising chord melodies. The easiest would be the way to play it rhythmically, the way you fingerpick the chords, slide into chords, etc. Another way is playing the chords in different places on the fretboard, then over time the most challenging and fun is adding reharmonizations on the fly using common chord movements (cycle of fourths, chromatic, tritone, minor 3rds, diatonic, etc). Robert Conti provides 2 or 3 alternate chords in his chord melodies which will at least give you a few options and the ability to mix and match.

While it is tempting to focus on this area of improvisation I would suggest learning a bunch of tunes with a simple chord melody to start with so you can actually play songs. I spent months and years studying all the approaches which is great fun, but I wasn't able to play a song until I focused on creating a basic framework of easy chord melodies using basic jazz chords.