st thomas help

[juzz]

So this gets played quite often at a jam i go to and i am having a problems with playing the progression. they play it pretty quick and hte cut and dry chord fingerings for the progression are forcing me to jump back and forth across the fretboard. for some reason the descending passage

C7 C9/E F6 F#dim7 C6/G G7 C6

is currently stomping me. i cant figure out a way to play it so it actually descends on the fretboard and its the first time ive run into where it seems the slash chords are kinda important harmonically. any suggestions would be deeply loved.

[m78w]

Hey Juzz,
I like playing this idea over those chords, it's an ascending run, but it's easy on the fingers and hits all the slash chords.

C7
x
5
3
5
3
x

C9/E

3
3
3
2
x
x

F6 (I like Fmaj7 here)

5
5
5
3
x
x

F#dim7

5
4
5
4
x
x

C6/G

5
5
5
5
x
x

G7

7
6
7
5
x
x

C6

8
8
9
7
x
x


Hope that helps!

[juzz]

very much actually, really gotta work on my 4,3,2,1 chord voicings. your da man!

[m78w]

No problem man, it's a cool progression for sure, check out Jim Hall playing St. Thomas, he kills this tune!

[brwnhornet59]

Originally Posted by juzz

So this gets played quite often at a jam i go to and i am having a problems with playing the progression. they play it pretty quick and hte cut and dry chord fingerings for the progression are forcing me to jump back and forth across the fretboard. for some reason the descending passage

C7 C9/E F6 F#dim7 C6/G G7 C6

is currently stomping me. i cant figure out a way to play it so it actually descends on the fretboard and its the first time ive run into where it seems the slash chords are kinda important harmonically. any suggestions would be deeply loved.

For me it is all about the context of the chords in relation to the neck. Here is one of many idea's that come to mind. Rem,ember the Bass player has the bottom. Hope it helps.

C7

----------6---------------
----------5---------------
----------5---------------
----------5---------------
--------------------------
--------------------------
C9/E
----------8-------------
----------5-------------
----------5-------------
----------5-------------
----------7-------------
------------------------
F6

---------5-----------------------------------
---------3-----------------------------------
---------5-----------------------------------
---------3-----------------------------------
---------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------
F# dim
----------5----------------------------------
----------4----------------------------------
----------5----------------------------------
----------4----------------------------------
---------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------
C6/G
--------5-------------------------------------
--------3-------------------------------------
--------5-------------------------------------
--------5-------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------
G7
--------3------------------------------------
--------3------------------------------------
--------4------------------------------------
--------3------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------
C6
--------5------------------------------------
--------5------------------------------------
--------5------------------------------------
--------5------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------

[juzz]

yeah that C6/G voicing is certainly interesting

[brwnhornet59]

Yeah, it's also a G2 sus4. It wants to resolve. You can hold the A note, (5th fret E string), into the G7 then release it to the G note if ya want. That's how I heard it. I liked the ascending bass line F F# G.

You don't like the D in the C6/G?

[keith]

Your progression is a bit different than I'm used to seeing for the head but having said that here is another set of chords you could try

C7 8x898x

C7/E x7878x

F6 x87710x

F#dim 8x787x

C6/G xx5555

G7 ( or G13 ) 3x345x

C6 ( or Cmaj7 ) x3545x


If you want strictly descending you could turn the F6 to an F69

F69 x8668x

For the last 3 chords instead of a I- V7 - I progression you can make it ii- V7- I so instead play a D-7 at the 5th, G13 at the 3rd and the C6 or Cmaj7 which will give you more movement on the line if that's what you're looking for with you descending chord request. Hope this helps.

[juzz]

so i take it C6 and Cmaj7 are interchangeable? have not heard of that.

[keith]

Their function allows them to be interchangeable, meaning they are stable and tend not to direct to another chord such as a dominant, diminished, augmented etc would do if substituted there so yes they can be interchangeable. The F69 is another example of this process where it can be used for the F6 if you are trying to create a line with your movement.

One other thing you may or may not realize is that the diminished chord can be moved by minor thirds ( 3 frets ) up or down the neck without changing it. So in the example I gave you could play it down at the 5th

F#dim 5x454x

and this would create more movement for you.

[Ron Stern]

Here's one that I find easy and it stays close together.

C6 xx8 9 10 8
C6 xx8 7 8 8
F6 x8 10 10 10 10
F#m7b5 x 9 10 9 10 x
Dm7 (barre chord) 10 12 10 10 13 x (2 times)
G7add11 (barre chord) x10 9 10 8 8
C (barre chord) 8 10 10 9 8 8