Couples questions regarding Chord Solos

[S_R_S5]

I have very little experience with chord solos, but I want to get into it. I have a couple beginning questions which should be easy to answer.

1. does the melody note always have to be in the soprano line?
2. Are most Chord Solos made with drop 2 voicings?
3. Do you have to change chords everytime a melody note changes?


Thanks for answering. =)

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

1. does the melody note always have to be in the soprano line?

Always have to? Well, mostly. You could mix things up and play the melody lower and strum chords over it, for example. Remember, jazz is about freedom. You think about that.

2. Are most Chord Solos made with drop 2 voicings?

Most? I'd have to stop and count, but that's not the way to think about it. Play the chords that work and don't worry about their classification.

3. Do you have to change chords everytime a melody note changes?

Have to? No.

Did you go to a military school or something?

My advice is to listen to some CM guitar playing on Utube. It will answer all your questions and more.

[derek]

Though BDLH answered your questions well, I will expound a bit if I might. The melody line doesn't have to be on top, but in order for it to cut thru, it typically is played on the top 2 strings. There are always exceptions, and you can and might want to dip down occassionally just to change the dynamics.

There are plenty of arrangements that don't feature any drop 2 voicings. In fact, I played CM for quite a while, arranging my own tunes before I learned any dropped voicings. The cool thing about having a large chordal vocabulary is the freedom of choices it allows you, which is at the core of jazz. This one thing can mean the difference between playing solo jazz and only strict arrangments.

Robert Conti's approach shows you how to place a chord over every melody note. However, he and many others tell you that you can thin out arrangements to taste. Maybe first time thru, you play it pretty thick harmonically, with chords everywhere. Next time thru, you can really thin it out with more naked melody plus the occassional chord punch. Or visa versa.

One of the cool things about the standards we play is they have very strong melodies. Because of that, you can really mess with the tune, and still hear the melody or implied changes.

It is this sort of thing, along with single line improv, walking basslines and the like, that give chord melody it's unique flavor. Helps take it out of just being solo guitar with set arrangements, and into jazz solo guitar. Good questions. Good luck

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

I hope I didn't sound to snotty there! It's too easy to be brusque on the internet. But today we have such an amazing resource in sites like youtube -- nothing like that was I was learning. I had to scrape the money together to buy records. And one neat thing about the youtube videos is the range:

-- posted recordings of the greats doing CMs
-- live playing by major guitarists
-- videos where they discuss technique!

Then there are the videos of amateurs, some really good, some not so good. See, some people are human after all.

You can learn a lot by analyzing these. What you like and don't like. What works for you, etc...

[gersdal]

Howard Morgen's got some good books with arrangements. He often play the melody in the bass for a shorter part of the arrangement, but mostly on top.

One of his books: