The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #176

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    Each month I try to offer a gentler piece to start. This month we begin with a great warm up piece, a great blowing piece and a really challenging piece to use for substitutions and dipping into outside playing. There are very clearly present changes and the more advanced players can use this tune to create convergences with the strong tonality appearances. Or you can just have fun experimenting with variations of phrase creation without the added burden of changes that might be elusive to hear.
    Either way, get this piece off book ASAP and see what going from ballad to uptempo this week can do for you.
    Have fun!
    David

    Commit to a song a week. What could a serious student hope to learn?-screen-shot-2017-11-04-5-17-20-pm-png

    How can we not think of Dexter. Listen to the way he builds his solo. Always a singing line. And that timing.


    Joe Henderson one of the overlooked heavies. Kenny Dorham the composer is on trumpet. His solo is really nice as a guitar solo too.



    For the guitarists among us, George Benson's version is nice albeit low in the live mix.




    Somewhere in my archives I've got Mick and Abercrombie doing a duo on this. I'll post it if I find it.

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  3. #177

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    Chet Baker:




    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

  4. #178

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    Awesome selection. It's a crazy time of year in NZ academia (end of the semester heading into summer) so I've missed the last week, but I'm back in the mix for this one.

    This quickly changing tune-based approach really makes me look forward to practicing!

  5. #179

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    This is a song I have never played, so am happy with the selection.
    Three flats in the key signature tells the chart is in the tonality of Eb Major, the relative minor being
    F Dorian minor.
    I have set this week’s plan as follows:
    Today (Monday 6/11): Print the chart. Listen to the clips.
    Tuesday: Warm up. Learn the melody, the form and write chord functions in roman numbers as I see them. Memorize and play melody and chords.
    Wednesday: Identify the guide tones and play them in guitar and bass up and down the fingerboard. Do the "blocking" exercise and start with the solo/rest routine on guitar.
    Thursday/Friday: Try to copy and play the first chorus of the single note part of George Benson’s solo starting at 3:59 of the clip. See where he starts/ends lines and how notes relate to chords, etc.
    Saturday/Sunday: More listening and solo/rest routine.
    A lot of fun work.
    TruthHertz, I am starting to see how you were right from the outset. This one song a week exercise is certainly helping me to learn how to learn, for sure. How do I know? The idea of getting the song "out of the book" and the work done with the guitar helped me learn faster one chorus of Autumn Leaves and three choruses of Just Friends Paul Chamber's bass lines, play them non stop and not having to go back and back again to the transcription because of getting stuck in the middle of playing. A very modest accomplishment, but one that makes me happy. So again, thanks!

  6. #180

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    Quote Originally Posted by gcb

    Three flats in the key signature tells the chart is in the tonality of Eb Major, the relative minor being
    F Dorian minor.
    Here's an aural suggestion, focus on C minor. That's a central tonality.
    Then get to know the sound and locations of Db as a major tonal entity.

    Get off book and just hear those centres as they are uncovered. You'll learn all sorts of stuff as your ear becomes confident taking the wheel.

    Glad you're doing this! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

    David

  7. #181

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    Quote Originally Posted by TruthHertz
    Here's an aural suggestion, focus on C minor. That's a central tonality.
    Then get to know the sound and locations of Db as a major tonal entity.

    Get off book and just hear those centres as they are uncovered. You'll learn all sorts of stuff as your ear becomes confident taking the wheel.

    Glad you're doing this! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

    David
    Thanks for the advice. Two new concepts to research: central tonality and major tonal entity!

  8. #182

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    Quote Originally Posted by gcb
    Thanks for the advice. Two new concepts to research: central tonality and major tonal entity!
    Just listen to the recordings trying to bring what you know into what you hear, then see if you can take some of the things you observe back into your own playing. Pieces with more space are easier to work with generally.
    A piece like Blue Bossa can show you how to focus your ideas on some sense of "Do" and how you come to think of that as home. Somewhere in the tune, it does change.
    Use your ear in this, use your guitar in this and see if you can hear your lines. That seems like a strange thing to say because of course you're going to hear it. But "hearing" is a skill that comes as you put in the time, and that's what we're doing on a weekly basis. Create lines you can hear, lines you might sing, and use space. Then go back and listen to a recording for a few minutes. Can you relate? What did they do that you didn't? That's a matter of vocabulary you can develop.
    Listen and immerse. That's how you grow.

    David

  9. #183

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    wzpgsr, (sorry didn't catch your name yet)

    whelp, I used to be able to do some quick tracks on GarageBand and upload them to YouTube but apparently you can't do that anymore - I don't know why. My upload keeps failing so I'm looking for an alternate route and then I'll post up my pumpkin waltz ideas.

    It used to be easy. I don't understand the change, whether it's you tube or garage band. I guess I'll have to seek a new way to do this. It's a shame, it was so simple before. I don't get it.

  10. #184

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    Hey maybe this worked....

    here it is, warts and all, lol including the false start. Solo starts in after I go thru the progression once. Still very much a work in progress. Had a lot of fun with this and I'll definitely keep working on it but I'm ready to move on for now. All part of the experience.

    Pumpkin Madness


  11. #185

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    Quote Originally Posted by Michael Kaye
    Hey maybe this worked....

    here it is, warts and all, lol including the false start. Solo starts in after I go thru the progression once. Still very much a work in progress. Had a lot of fun with this and I'll definitely keep working on it but I'm ready to move on for now. All part of the experience.

    Pumpkin Madness

    That was great thanks for posting! The melody over the chords sounded perfect and authentic. You also *really* nailed the opening several bars of your solo. Loved the use of long notes, the phrasing, etc. It mirrored the melody in that it wasn’t just a bunch of chord outlining and scale running. You also developed the solo. It had a destination. Great job.

  12. #186

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    you're welcome and thanks. and thank you all for all the ideas and contributions. it's not always spoken but I get so much from all of your contributions, discussions and help. I am a totally different player today than I was 4 or 5 years ago. I almost don't recognize myself. I find these exercises and studies to be gold.

    and a special thanks to David for putting this together in this format. I'm hooked on it.

    oddly enough, Pumpkin woke me up to a serious lacking - 3/4 phrasing. I have mostly been working with 4/4 phrasing and I find the 3/4 time very challenging, just keeping that waltz lilt and timing the changes while trying to make it all swing kept me in knots and still does. I'm doing a side study on another jazz waltz tune as well since I've neglected them mostly.

    I think the "tune a week" format is good, though. Keeps me from going too deep and getting mired down with a tune, even though I stretched Pumpkin out to 2 weeks haha. It just was a lot of fun.

    on to Blue Bossa....

  13. #187

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    How's everyone going with this one?

    I've been working on minor ii-V-i's a bit as they are a bit of a stumbling point for me, so this tune was timely. The simple structure is perfect for practicing these, with the same ii-V (one in short form) popping up three times with each pass -- and it's helpful that the form is short.

    What I'd really like to work on is taking short motifs and developing them/building on them, but I'm finding the short form a bit tough for that. I might settle for devoting this week to working on getting comfortable with those minor ii-V's and leave that thought for future weeks.

  14. #188

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jehu

    What I'd really like to work on is taking short motifs and developing them/building on them, but I'm finding the short form a bit tough for that. .
    Your motific seed can be as short as two notes, you know. It's a matter of knowing the amount of space to work within. You might try a target note, a chord tone is a good stable and meaningful target, and preceed (approach) it with a note partner. See what you can do rhythmically with this relationship. Next harmonic block, keep that same relationship, or see if the same note works with a different "partner" appropriate to that block.
    The thing with motifs, is to keep an awareness of what you're doing, don't get distracted until you're ready to move on and use note fills if you please but when you return to the motif, it shows the logic of your thinking.
    Listen to Sonny Rollins here.

    Have fun
    David


  15. #189

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    Quote Originally Posted by gcb
    This is a song I have never played, so am happy with the selection.
    Three flats in the key signature tells the chart is in the tonality of Eb Major, the relative minor being
    F Dorian minor.
    I have set this week’s plan as follows:
    Today (Monday 6/11): Print the chart. Listen to the clips.
    Tuesday: Warm up. Learn the melody, the form and write chord functions in roman numbers as I see them. Memorize and play melody and chords.
    Wednesday: Identify the guide tones and play them in guitar and bass up and down the fingerboard. Do the "blocking" exercise and start with the solo/rest routine on guitar.
    Thursday/Friday: Try to copy and play the first chorus of the single note part of George Benson’s solo starting at 3:59 of the clip. See where he starts/ends lines and how notes relate to chords, etc.
    Saturday/Sunday: More listening and solo/rest routine.
    A lot of fun work.
    TruthHertz, I am starting to see how you were right from the outset. This one song a week exercise is certainly helping me to learn how to learn, for sure. How do I know? The idea of getting the song "out of the book" and the work done with the guitar helped me learn faster one chorus of Autumn Leaves and three choruses of Just Friends Paul Chamber's bass lines, play them non stop and not having to go back and back again to the transcription because of getting stuck in the middle of playing. A very modest accomplishment, but one that makes me happy. So again, thanks!
    I love this plan. Do you mind if I copy it ?


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

  16. #190

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    Balancing between the yin yang of C minor and Eb, this is Irving Berlin's wonderful piece, a favourite of many jazzers.
    ABAC form, it also has some of that wonderful descending bass note movement we met in the Great Pumpkin Waltz.
    As you look at this piece, note the use of motivic melody and how it is mirrored, changed and answered according to the changes. I got a lot from the melody and somehow I still get something new out of this piece every time I play it.

    The question of the week, the thought exercise I'll throw out is: How would you draw with music? For anyone who draws in any capacity, you'll know shape and direction are just one way to use a line. For those of you who've never drawn before, I highly recommend it as an exercise that will inform your ability to make meaningful music. If you picture a dialogue between two figures or shapes, you'll get a relationship of balance and contrast. If you picture a shape and shading, you may find a new way to use the functions of single line playing and chords. More on this at a later point.
    About 10 years ago, I began drawing, playing, exploring this art/music marriage with a friend of mine Mick Goodrick. It was life changing. It's also one way to escape habitual finger based playing.

    Take a look at How Deep Is The Ocean.
    I'll give a more detailed analysis of the tune after you've had a chance to meet it on your own terms.
    David

    Commit to a song a week. What could a serious student hope to learn?-screen-shot-2017-11-11-5-21-07-pm-png

    There's an amazing version of Jim Hall's Toronto trio in the extended Bourbon Street box set but nobody put it on youTube. Here's a nice one anyway, Jim's solo is 100% Jim hall, great phrasing and continuity.


    Sco's contrafact is based on these changes and his blowing is lyrical and a great combination of linear and chordal "shading", very much in the Jim Hall tradition.


    Bill Evans's very thoughtful and great reading of the tune. Starting right in on his composing without stating the head. This can free one up for a very free and at the same time true reading of a tune.


    And for those who'd like to study this particular solo more closely:


    Have fun with this week's tune!

  17. #191

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    Here's the head of Blue Bossa (which I managed to botch!), followed by two choruses of improv. First recording with the old solid carved-top German archtop I just got back from the luthier! Tried to establish a motif and followit for a bit, then tried to use the melody as a jumping off point.


  18. #192

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    Wz.....that guitar sounds nice. Makes me want to get a real jazz guitar soon. I have plans for next year. I don't know what, yet. I heard a Kenny Burrell song today and his guitar sounded so sweet and natural.

    Your treatment of Blue Bossa was thoughtful and imaginative. Lots of great space and nice ideas. Good comping moments too. This is great fun. Thanks for putting it up.

    I hope others post up more stuff too. I'm still listening to BB but I'll put up something on it soon.

    "How Deep is The Ocean" scares me. Thems a lot of chords.

  19. #193

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    I have been busy with normal life and I missed the last week. For the Blue Bossa I got some practising done and recorded melody + few chorus. Even though it's standard, the song was relatively new to me. Once in a jam session we played BB but other than that, have not played it. Anyways here goes..

  20. #194

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  21. #195

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    Haven’t been able to dig in too much this week. Hope to get some time in this weekend!

  22. #196

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    Quote Originally Posted by Michael Kaye

    "How Deep is The Ocean" scares me. Thems a lot of chords.
    The forest and the trees. That's where playing by ear really helps. I learned this piece a long time ago and I have not even thought about those changes for years though I love playing it. So it was really a surprise to look at the changes as they're written.
    This is a kind of "map" of the way I play/look at this piece. I've colour coded the sections. You can see there are fewer changes this way. Though I'm aware of the original changes while I'm making an idea, it's not by specific notes or scales, it's by where they're going. For example, the first line has C minor ideas and I use the entire purple area to develop or play a motiv or create a line that runs through that. The red D7 is an option I have for using an embellishment, pick up idea or short D7 idea that sets up the purple area of Gm, similar to the first line. I use that G minor not necessarily as a III- (phrygian if you want) but more generally as a minor that steps down to the II minor at the end of the system. So these ideas step down to meet what feels like the tonic tonality but actually works as a V7 of IV.
    That next line I think of as a big B7 lydian dominant line going down to the V7 chord.
    Then it's back to the A section of the piece until we get to the last two systems of the tune. I have fun here because where I hear the turnaround back to the end changes depending on how I want it to sound. I'll address reharmonization sometime but I put this block in red because it's all heading to the last measure.

    That's my take in general. Cutting out trees to see the forest. As I said, most of this is going one in my ear and that lets me create ideas in response to ideas that came before, what's coming up and what's going on around me.

    How about you guys, how's it going?
    David

    Commit to a song a week. What could a serious student hope to learn?-screen-shot-2017-11-17-11-08-31-am-png

  23. #197

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    TruthHertz thanks for "the forest and the trees" explanation. As I see it, your song mapping approach in the end helps to build longer and meaningful (related to the song) phrases. Doing the mapping clarifies the options: For longer phrases one can choose to take the "express train" that doesn't stop on all stations [chords] but on a few selected ones, and for shorter blocks you can take the "local train", trying to construct phrases touching all stations [play chord/guide tones for every chord]. Or viceversa. Or even choosing not to play for a segment between the end of a phrase and the start of another. Quite a different approach to just trying to play notes that fit the changes (not a small accomplishment in any case).

    For example, last week I coloured in Brown (my mental representation of the tonality of Cminor) bars 1-8 and 13-16 of Blue Bossa, and in light blue (tonality of Dbmajor) bars 9-12. In bar 6 a more yellowish (sunny) Brown reminded there was a G7 replacing the vmin7 (Gmin7) (Green) of the Cminor harmonized scale. What I did was to play different phrases over Cminor tonality imin7/imin7/ivmin7/min7 (m. 1-4); iim7b5/V7b9/im7/im7 (m. 5-8 and 13-15) and Dbmajor tonality ii/V7/Imaj7Imaj7 (m. 9-12) plus turnarounds iim7b5/V7/imin7 (m.16) in Cminor. With that previous song mapping and warming up, I started the half hour improvising/rest routine with one objective: play more relaxed and longer lines. A lot to improve, but having fun experimenting.

    Returning to How Deep is the Ocean, so far what I did is a little research on the history of the song: Learned that its title was taken from the lyrics of a previous Irving Berlin hit, Mammy, and that it marked his comeback after a period of depression. I also did a lot of listening: The excellent videos you posted, plus some others that can be searched in YT: Tal Farlow (from the LA Sessions CD), Harold Land, Joe Pass (from Live at Donte's, I have this vinyl); Jimmy Raney, Tenor Conclave (four aspiring TS players plus a bowed solo by Paul Chambers), etc.

    Finally, I printed and spent a good time following in YT the transcription by Steve Smith of Bill Evans' rendition of this song that you posted. This is a most welcomed resource, so I plan to work with it as time permits this weekend.

    Thanks again for your time and generous coaching!

  24. #198

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    Just a quick question, I don’t have a ton of time right now. When you guys are talking about longer blocks of tonality, how do you express them? In this more horizontal approach, are you “thinking“ about chord tones at all? If so, do you specifically address the other chords of the tonality or do you ignore them (ie. ignoring the Bdim7 and just embellishing the Cm chord tones)?

  25. #199

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    Quote Originally Posted by gcb
    TruthHertz thanks for "the forest and the trees" explanation. As I see it, your song mapping approach in the end helps to build longer and meaningful (related to the song) phrases. Doing the mapping clarifies the options: For longer phrases one can choose to take the "express train" that doesn't stop on all stations [chords] but on a few selected ones, and for shorter blocks you can take the "local train", trying to construct phrases touching all stations [play chord/guide tones for every chord]. Or viceversa. Or even choosing not to play for a segment between the end of a phrase and the start of another. Quite a different approach to just trying to play notes that fit the changes (not a small accomplishment in any case).
    Right! Hearing and playing by ear is very important for me. It's my natural propensity so I try to expand my ear abilities but if I can't hear it, playing fingerings is a distant second.
    By thinking more spaciously and harmonically simpler, I can see where the piece is strong, and where it's supportive of a strong point. If I can play and hear with a clearer idea of the forest, I can use the landscape to change harmony or make phrase decisions easier. Too, once you see the flow of a line, the use of the dominant chords to get you there makes a lot more sense.
    If I'm playing with my ear, and aware of the changes, it gives me the best position to comp thoughtfully. The worst situation is playing stock comping rhythms and reading changes off of a lead sheet. It's the most difficult situation to read a soloist's intent and support it. Having a simplified harmonic map also lets the soloist be busy if they want to outline changes, without you getting in the way or overstating the obvious.

    It's very much the same piece, and if done well, can bring out something that hasn't been heard before.

    Hope it helps you find the Music!
    David

  26. #200

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    I'm getting a jump on this piece though we're still firmly in How Deep territory.
    Each third week is a standard of sorts, often not as frequently played as the war horses, but presenting a challenge. This week it's a very appropriate seasonal tune, Vernon Duke's Autumn In New York.
    Yes this is a challenge because the landscape of the harmony is shifting and key areas create unexpected juxtapositions. The piece begins in F major, winds up ending as F minor and quite a number of shifts of key are in between. Passages of diatonic runs, II V turnarounds in different keys, not to mention having to shift your fingerboard positions and orientation to get the most from a key area all conspire to make a piece as colourful and variegated as an autumn scene.

    Listen to the piece, and try to hear the flow, where in the piece things shift. Do this by ear and take note. This will be topographic exploration.
    Look at the lead sheet after that and see if you can locate places that sound particularly salient for melody or harmony. Find the peak of the piece, the compositional climax. Then try to play it.

    If the piece is new to you, you'll need time, but it's worth it.
    I'll share my map at some point but make your own too. There might be some hints of mine since the lead sheet is from my real book.
    Hope you like it!
    David

    Commit to a song a week. What could a serious student hope to learn?-screen-shot-2017-11-17-4-57-08-pm-png

    When I hear this tune in my head, it's Dexter's horn. Great reading and nice comping


    Billie's phrasing and space is pretty wonderful


    For the guitarists in the room, Kenny Burrell hears something beautiful in the tune. Classic.


    A modern take on why you might want to tackle this song, Jonathan Kreisberg's reading: