Swing rhythm guitar

billkath · #1 06-27-2010, 07:36 AM

When comping on swing tunes-does anyone "push" the chords? I'm not sure if that's the correct technical term-what I mean is-sliding up to the chord on each beat in the bar.
At last nights solo gig (a pop,country and rock n roll gig) I got a request to get a singer up-an old fella from Dublin. We did "Mack the Knife" and "All of Me", and I decided to do this, seeing as I had no backing tracks for these songs and it just sounds great-great "push". The lad was delighted-I told him afterwards that I'm learning jazz, and was happy to be playing some decent music for a change!

Anyone I should be listening to who play rhythm guitar in this style?

monk · #2 06-27-2010, 08:57 AM

Freddie Green, Allan Reuss, Bucky Pizzarelli, Howard Alden for American Swing. Django for Gypsy Swing.

Freddie Green-Rhythm Willie, Mr. Rhythm
Allan Reuss-with Kay Starr-The Complete Lamplighter Recordings
Bucky Pizzarelli-5 for Freddie, Manhattan Swing, Plays Rodgers & Hart
Howard Alden-In A Mellow Tone

Regards,
monk

billkath · #3 06-27-2010, 09:53 AM

Thanks, Monk-=I'll take a good listen!!

Reg · #4 06-27-2010, 06:51 PM

Are you sliding into each chord with the same chord a half step below, or are you using different approach chords... could be called grace chords, notationally speaking. Best Reg

billkath · #5 06-27-2010, 07:53 PM

Same chord shape, just a half step down, Reg. It's a split-second thing-I'm sliding into the correct chord on the beats, if you know what I mean. So-say I'm playing a bar and a half of Bb6 to half bar of BDim, to bar of Cm7 to bar of D9-I'll fe sliding into each 1/4 note chord, but when I'm doing 8th note strums in some parts, I'm not slding the 8ths.-So-1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4, 1,2+3,4, 1,2+3+4+===I'm not sliding the "ands" when I'm playing these straight chords.

Reg · #6 06-28-2010, 12:18 AM

So sounds like harmonically there there grace notes only chords and your using them rhythmically as accents to help set up your feel. Pretty standard comping technique, the accent part anyway... keep it up Best Reg

jbraun002 · #7 07-21-2010, 12:26 AM

I do this when comping swing tunes - it can sound great and break up the "four to the bar" monotony. Also, if you approach 1/2 step above you can effectively perform a tritone substitution (e.g., a Db7 into C7 coming from G7 for a blues).

fep · #8 07-21-2010, 08:32 AM

Like Reg said, it sounds like you're doing this as grace notes.

In Don Mocks Jazz Rhythm Chops he has a chapter on what he calls "approach chords", and explains it is part of Joe Pass's bag of tricks. It's similar to what you're doing except he gives the approach chords a full beat (you could also give them a half beat). He approaches from either 1/2 step above or a 1/2 step below. And he'll also do it on a static chord...

For example, instead of:

|G7 / / / | G7 / / / | C7 / / / | C7 / / / | G7 etc.

You could do:

|G7 / / Ab7 | G7 / / Db7 | C7 / / B7 | C7 / / Ab7 | G7 etc.

It's a good lesson and a good DVD

billkath · #9 07-21-2010, 11:11 AM

Thanks, everyone!
Yep-grace notes is the exact phrase! They're more like 32nd /64th notes-the slide ups I'm doing. I've not tried sliding down, but I'm going to try that later-thanks for the hints. I'd say that'd give a completely different feel. I'd read here somewhere about Django always going "up" at the end of phrases etc, unlike most rock guitarists that always slide down, and just took it from there.
Thanks for the DVD hint-I'll check it out.