Using Inversions When Comping

[iankjenkins]

Hey alll,

I've been practicing Guide tone comping after watching Fareed Haque's Comping Survival Guide. What I liked about his lesson was how flexible his approach is for comping in all the different settings(solo, duo, combo, etc). With this method the 3rd and 7th are on the 3rd and 4th strings and there are 2 possible positions to play these. Fareed does discuss moving the guide tones to lower strings like 4th and 5th, but I was wondering how to use(if at all) voicings with guide tones on the higher strings like 2nd and 3rd or 2nd and 1st especially when in a combo setting with another chordal instrument like a piano. Also, I've practiced my 7th chord inversions and I'm wondering how these should be used so as not to get in the piano's or bass's way. Should the guide tone method be applied to all chord inversions so to increase the possible positions to comp or should I just try to be content with the 2 positions Fareed talks about in his Truefire video lesson? Let me know your thoughts.

Ian

[FatJeff]

You can get a lot of mileage out of the two inversions he shows you in the video, adding in the extensions. Ultimately, you'll want to explore beyond that, but I think this video is great and provides a solid foundation.

On the top 4 strings I tend to play drop-2 chords.

[iankjenkins]

Originally Posted by FatJeff

You can get a lot of mileage out of the two inversions he shows you in the video, adding in the extensions. Ultimately, you'll want to explore beyond that, but I think this video is great and provides a solid foundation.

On the top 4 strings I tend to play drop-2 chords.

Oh, definitely. It's such a simple, systematic way of comping and it sounds great too. The usefulness of this method is undeniable. My problem is if I wanted to explore beyond it, I wouldn't know where to look. What exactly is beyond this and where do I find how to do it effectively?

[FatJeff]

For one thing, look into substitutions (like subbing the minor vi or iii for IMaj7).

Another thing to do is to move through the 4 inversions successively from low to high. That often makes for some nice movement. Not exactly guide tone comping, but it sounds good behind other instruments.

Lately I've been comping using Wayne Krantz's method, wherein you don't actually even memorize chord grips, but instead just come up with unique voicings that imply the harmony on the fly. If you're interested, listen to http://www.waynekrantz.com/subscribers/4fret82503.mp3 sometime. Pretty revolutionary stuff.

[brwnhornet59]

You can get a lot of mileage out of the two inversions he shows you in the video, adding in the extensions. Ultimately, you'll want to explore beyond that, but I think this video is great and provides a solid foundation.

On the top 4 strings I tend to play drop-2 chords.

Another thing to do is to move through the 4 inversions successively from low to high. That often makes for some nice movement. Not exactly guide tone comping, but it sounds good behind other instruments.

All valid suggestions. Also if you don't want to be in the way of the bass player or pianist, you can stay on the string set that you are learning, but use the inversion's off the 3rd or 5th. But that cycling through the inversions is fun and sounds good if used correctly.

[FatJeff]

Originally Posted by brwnhornet59

All valid suggestions. Also if you don't want to be in the way of the bass player or pianist, you can stay on the string set that you are learning, but use the inversion's off the 3rd or 5th. But that cycling through the inversions is fun and sounds good if used correctly.

I take it you mean 3rd and 7th. The bass player is going to be emphasizing the root and 5th.

[brwnhornet59]

Good catch. T/y.