Joe Pass - Chord Solos

[Monica.N]

Hello,

I have started to study the Chord Solos book by Joe Pass (i also got his Guitar Chords book).

In the introduction it's written : 'A careful study of these solos will give you a thorough understanding of chordal playing and substitutions. It is great for voicing as well as improvisation.'
For those who have studied it, how did you learn from it ? Analyzing each chords ? Trying to get those chords into your vocabulary ? etc...

What are your favorites tunes from the book ? Currently I'm focusing on the Blues as i think it may be the easiest one.

Thanks

[Tal_175]

If your goal is to improve your chord phrase vocabulary, I'd recommend working on small chunks rather than memorizing whole arrangements. Small chunks would be harmonic movement ideas for particular chord types or common progressions (ii-V's etc.).

I'd go so far as to say that pick a chord phrase idea and close the book. My approach would be to make sure I milk that idea, apply it to tunes (comping or solo's), break it down, make variations, find applications in other harmonic situations etc.

When you have the book in front of you, it feels more natural to just work though the book for a couple of months until you're bored with it and move on to something else. We end up with nothing tangible to show for in the end. I think that's common a trap we all fall into sometimes.

[lawson-stone]

The tunes are all very much standard tunes, and if you can play the head to "Misty" Joe's chordal arrangement is an improvisation that would nicely follow playing the head. I like to learn whole tunes because jazz is more than local phrasing. Solos have a logic and a thematic development that we miss when just isolate licks and phrases, though of course that's a totally fine practice too. In the phrase type study you could find maybe 4 or 5 ii-V-I progressions and look at how they are executed. Play them in different keys, drop them into a tune you know, etc. Then you could find static dominant lines, like the first line of a blues, and see how he develops that. I enjoyed playing through several of these, and never really memorized them, but did learn some nice ways to navigate common progressions in a chord-melody way. But the overall logic and thematic development of the solos is where, in my view, the real payoff happens.

[Tal_175]

Bruce Forman also published a similar book based on 16 standards. The book has the transcriptions of his solo improvised arrangements of the tunes.The nice thing about the book is you also hear him perform the tunes in the accompanied videos. The book includes the analysis of the devices used in the arrangements along with the transcriptions:
Solo Jazz Guitar Etudes by Bruce Forman - GuitarVivoGuitarVivo

He talks about how he thinks the book should be used in this interview (go to "how to use this book" section around 30:50):

[Mick-7]

I would suggest you also obtain a copy of The Joe Pass Guitar Style (free copies can be found online), because he explains the logic behind his chord choices and combinations in it.

[Monica.N]

Thanks for the answers !

I also got the Joe Pass Style book, i'm working on the modern blues progression.

So right now i have learned the first twelve bars of the blues in the Chord Solos book, i will work on this chunk and try to get as much as possible.

[wolflen]

Thanks for the answers !

I also got the Joe Pass Style book, i'm working on the modern blues progression.

So right now i have learned the first twelve bars of the blues in the Chord Solos book, i will work on this chunk and try to get as much as possible.

when you feel you know it..push yourself a bit..learn it in another key

[deacon Mark]

Joe is not a complicated thinker with his playing. It is major, minor, and dominate chords. He views them all as this and then simply makes the extensions and substitutions. He does think in terms of the roots of chords. So for him a C major 7 th chord written on the chart or tune, is just major harmony and all that can be done with it. It helps to have his ears although he was quite good about explaining things he simply can hear faster than he can think.

[Cunamara]

When he was a sprout, like many of his generation, Joe learned stuff off the radio (at the behest of his father, who was a taskmaster with Joe and his brothers. Passalaqua Sr. did not want his kids having to end up working in the steel mills like he did). He developed quick ears and a good musical memory.

When working with a book like this, it's helpful to look for the underlying principles. For example, is there chromatic voice leading from one chord to the next, and which voice(s) does that happen?

All of Joe's instructional videos have been pirated to YouTube. Watch those and you'll add a lot to those books.

[Monica.N]

Thanks !
I have his chords book also and i'm working on it.
In this book he didn't write the name of each chord, just the category, he said in the intro that the prupose is not to identify each chord but to portray their sound.