Block Chords?

[pete]

Can anybody here provide a comprehensible explanation of what "block chord" technique is? I've found a couple definitions "out there," but they're somewhat cryptic to me.

Thank you!

[mr. beaumont]

well, pete, on the guitar block chords are basically a four note voicing on four adjacent strings, often the D G B and E. like this:





--1------
--1------
--2------
--2------
---------
---------


there's a lot of names for that chord, but we'll call it an Fmaj7 for the sake of my example. "block chord technique" refers to something guys like wes and ed bickert were masters of, improvising using not single notes, but block chords. so in my next example, here's the F major scale harmonized in block chords (Fmajor, Gminor, Aminor, Bbmajor, C dominant, Dminor, E diminished) i'll use sevenths, so you'll see Fmaj7, Gm7, Am7, Bbmaj7, C7, Dm7, Em7b5, and back to Fmaj7



-1--3--5--6--8--10--12--13--
-1--3--5--6--8--10--11--13--
-2--3--5--7--9--10--12--14--
-2--3--5--7--8--10--12--14--
------------------------------
------------------------------



now of course, you can feel free to use tastier extensions than just the 7th (9ths, 13ths, whatever)

but where this gets REALLY fun is to connect the dots with passing diminshed chords. wes used this all the time...so like this...



-1--2--3--4--5--6--7--8--9--10--11--12--13--
-1--1--3--3--5--6--6--8--8--10--10--11--13--
-2--2--3--4--5--7--7--9--9--10--11--12--14--
-2--1--3--3--5--7--6--8--8--10--10--12--14--
-----------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------



if you notice, this allows you to move chromaticllay up or down the fretboard without skipping a fret on the high E...sweet. try improvising with these chords over a progession in Fmajor...and of course, if the key changes, just reharmonize and you're good to go...

[aPAULo]

This has been in my mind also for quite some time. I knew Wes was a master of block chords(or thats what i had read), but I never understood what it really was. Thanks for the explanation, Mr. Beaumont, and thanks for asking the question, pete.

[pete]

Thank you SO MUCH!!!!

Excellent.

[aPAULo]

What are some other great jazz guitarists that use block chords that I can check out? It would help if you could give song titles.

[mr. beaumont]

well, again, wes and ed bickert are the masters, but a lot of guitarists can rattle off a few lines of block chord improv. here's a few tracks i can think of off the top of my head that'll blow your mind

wes montgomery-- impressions (from smokin at the half note), but really, any track off that album, or boss guitar, or full house, or a lot of others...
paul desmond (with bickert) -- just squeeze me
johny smith-- villia (not really block chords, more like a cobo of chord melody and single notes, but still, holy crap...)

and check out red garland for a piano players approach to it...

as i think of more i'll post...i've heard guys like jimmy bruno do it like crazy, but i can't think of tracks off the top of my head.

[wizard3739]

Here are a few "Real Book typical old standard" tunes that can be examples of block chords used in the melody line.

1) Dancing on the Ceiling
2) They Can't take That Away From Me
3) Polkadots & Moonbeams
4) Here's That Rainy Day
5) I'm Old Fashioned

These can be a lot of fun, especially if you get creative with altered dominants and substitutes.

[Ornithologist]

Well, I would also add " In Your Own Sweet Way", a Brubeck's tune, as played by Wes... I have a question here: Doesn't it sound out of tune when using diminished chords? I mean, is there a rule, or something?

[wizard3739]

Actually, you are improvising chords with this approach and what may sound "out of tune" to you or me may sound great to someone else. There are no rules for this concept that I know of except that your ear must tell you if the lines are what you want to hear. Jazz has gone through many changes going from bebop lines to the more dissonant lines we hear today. I think the reason for these changes is many great musicians are now using more improvised lines based on harmonies from melodic minor scales, altered dominant scales and diminished scales and as a result , our ears are accepting and enjoying more of the dissonance inherent in these harmonies.

[mr. beaumont]

well, the chromatics are passing chords, so you wouldn't want to hang on em unless they're over a dominant they share some things in common with...

[jseaberry]

This book of Wes transcriptions (there is also a Vol. 2) plus the book of Chordal Bebop Lines, both by a fellow named Jim Bastian, are the BEST I have ever seen on how to craft lines in block chords. I found one of them at my local library, and was so impressed, I bought all 3. They are tremendous.

eBay: Vol 1 Wes Montgomery Jazz Guitar Solos (Archtop Bebop (item 150114822579 end time Apr-27-07 17:42:41 PDT)

[Pat]

thanks,
this is a cool stuff you wrote!
patrick

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

well, pete, on the guitar block chords are basically a four note voicing on four adjacent strings, often the D G B and E. like this:





--1------
--1------
--2------
--2------
---------
---------


there's a lot of names for that chord, but we'll call it an Fmaj7 for the sake of my example. "block chord technique" refers to something guys like wes and ed bickert were masters of, improvising using not single notes, but block chords. so in my next example, here's the F major scale harmonized in block chords (Fmajor, Gminor, Aminor, Bbmajor, C dominant, Dminor, E diminished) i'll use sevenths, so you'll see Fmaj7, Gm7, Am7, Bbmaj7, C7, Dm7, Em7b5, and back to Fmaj7



-1--3--5--6--8--10--12--13--
-1--3--5--6--8--10--11--13--
-2--3--5--7--9--10--12--14--
-2--3--5--7--8--10--12--14--
------------------------------
------------------------------



now of course, you can feel free to use tastier extensions than just the 7th (9ths, 13ths, whatever)

but where this gets REALLY fun is to connect the dots with passing diminshed chords. wes used this all the time...so like this...



-1--2--3--4--5--6--7--8--9--10--11--12--13--
-1--1--3--3--5--6--6--8--8--10--10--11--13--
-2--2--3--4--5--7--7--9--9--10--11--12--14--
-2--1--3--3--5--7--6--8--8--10--10--12--14--
-----------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------



if you notice, this allows you to move chromaticllay up or down the fretboard without skipping a fret on the high E...sweet. try improvising with these chords over a progession in Fmajor...and of course, if the key changes, just reharmonize and you're good to go...

[aPAULo]

How do you build block chords? I really would like to learn how to improvise with them. Im learning West Coast Blues right now by Wes and im pretty sure that they are used at the end of that song. Thanks

[mr. beaumont]

well to start, try finding the root, third, fifth and seventh of whatever chord it is you want to play on the first four strings. they need not be in order...that's how you build them. as you get more into it, ther's other color notes that can get thrown in there, and you can leave roots, fifth, even thirds out sometimes...

as far as improvising with them, well, that's a whole different bag. if you look at my example, which i did in F, theoretically, any of the chords i harmonized will sound good over an F major sound. any of the diminshed sounds will be good for moving between the harmonized chords. but if the chord underneath changes to something not F major ordiatonic to the key of F-- we'll have to change the way we think. might be best to try improvising over a one chord vamp for starters...

[aPAULo]

K thanks Mr. Beaumont. That clears it up alot. But I have one newbie question thats been bugging me; When you say you can add one different tones, such as an 11th or 13th, is that the same as a 4th or a 6th?

This has always confused me. Like on a normal major chord


||---|---|-3-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||---|---|-3-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||---|---|---|-4-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||---|---|---|---|-5-|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||---|---|---|---|-5-|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||---|---|-3-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|



Where the 4 is, couldnt that be called a 10th or a 3rd? Sorry about getting off topic, but this question has really been bugging me and I always forget to ask it. Thanks for any help

[mr. beaumont]

look at it like this--continue numbering the scale...

so, c major

c d e f g a b c d e f g a
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

so you can see, a 9th is a second, a 11th is a 4th, a thirteenth is a 6th. altering these tones speaks chromatically, not diatonically, so a b13 in the key of C is a Ab, one half step lower than the 13th (A) and a #9 will be a Eb, or one half step higher than the 9 (D)

why continue numbering? basically, to seperate the octave...if you play a root and a sixth in the same octave, you're calling it a six. up frm there, we'll call it a thirteenth...

[aPAULo]

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

why continue numbering? basically, to seperate the octave...if you play a root and a sixth in the same octave, you're calling it a six. up frm there, we'll call it a thirteenth...

But what about in those different voicings where maybe the 13th is on top? It would no longer be in the same octave range so would it still be called an added 13th or an added 6th?

Thanks for explaining this.

[mr. beaumont]

here's where we get into some technicalities...

so a dominant seventh chord is R, 3, 5, and b7

think of a ninth chord is a dominant seventh chord plus a 9

think of a thirteenth is a dominant seventh chord, plus a thirteenth

the extension need not be on top

the "add" designation refers to chords with no seventh...so a Cadd9 will be root, third, fifth and ninth...no seventh...

the thing is, on a guitar, you'll rarely be playing ALL of the notes necessary to make a chord...the most important thing is to get the sound of these extensions in your ears, and then get the fretboard and scales down so you can figure out whee these notes are so you can get those sounds when you want them...

[aPAULo]

Ok thanks Mr. Beaumont. I think I got it now. Thanks for clearing things up.

So back to block chords, you can add in 13ths and 9ths in place of the root and the 5ths?

[mr. beaumont]

absolutely...here's one i use all the time

xx6788

now i'm thinking Bb13 here, but if you spell it out, you have Ab, D, G, C-- that's 7, 3, 13, and 9...nary a root or fifth to be found.

[aPAULo]

Hey that one is used in West Coast Blues! Its the ending of the intro. And you just connect the different block chords with diminished chords? This will probably take a while to get the hang of but its fun to practice.

[jonasfixe]

I was playing all blues transcription for guitar (Kenny Burrell, I think), and I guess it fits into this "blocked chords" concept:

G
XX343X
XX555X
XX776X
XX555X
(four times)
C9sus4
XX333X
XX555X
XX776X
XX555X
(two times)
D7#9
X5456X
X5456X
X6567X
X5456X
then back to G

[Robow11]

Thanks this helps a lot!

[jmstritt]

Be sure to work out the inversions for the block chords as well...

Using Mr. B's example, starting with the F maj7, you can work it up the fretboard.

EACF
FCEA
AEFC (Nice half step close voicing)
CFAE

The idea is that once you lean all of these you will know all of the diatonic chords for any given key, but you will also know them with any chord tone in the highest voice. This comes in handy when you are improvising and trying to make actual lines using block chords. You especially need to know the inversions that put the 3rd and the 7th in the highest voice.

Also as far as guitarists that used this approach, Joe Pass? He uses this concept a lot with single note lines as well to break it up a little bit. Check out Grooveyard on Virtuoso #2. Hope this helps...

[Flyin' Brian]

Originally Posted by aPAULo

What are some other great jazz guitarists that use block chords that I can check out? It would help if you could give song titles.

Howard Roberts. The example below is good. Plus almost everything on the album "The Real Howard Roberts"

YouTube Video

[wizard3739]

This is one of my favorite Howard Roberts albums, all of the selections are really nice.

wiz

[monk]

The king of block chord soloing was pianist George Shearing.

[cosmic gumbo]

Wes Montgomery-Style Chord Solos

[Flyin' Brian]

Originally Posted by wizard3739

This is one of my favorite Howard Roberts albums, all of the selections are really nice.

wiz

If you're talking about The Real HR, I agree. The intro to Serenata is worth the price of admission all by itself. But all of his records have some thing special to offer. His chording in a forgettable song like Winchester Cathedral from Jaunty Jolly is amazing.

[ricksteruk]

This is a great thread, I'm trying out some of those inversions right now... well I was.. back to it