Barry Galbraith Chord Melody Arrangements

[lawson-stone]

Thank you, Lawson, I've been doing my best to ignore HB.

No, I am not really surprised to see you defend me, we've had our disagreements but I've always thought you were a true gentlemen. Thank you for your support.

Whatever our disagreements, you invest a lot of work and energy into the forum and you take your fair share of flak. We all have to learn to give it and take it, and keep on playing.

[Rscudder58]

I’m practicing the first section today… hopefully I’ll be able to get started on the second tomorrow


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[alpop]

I’m practicing the first section today… hopefully I’ll be able to get started on the second tomorrow


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That's great, I am in the same place as you. I've memorized the first section, but it needs more reps to get smooth. That Abmaj9 chord voicing in the first bar is beautiful!

It's a lot of work to decipher the chords and train your fingers to grab unfamiliar shapes and changes, but it sure sounds good when you get it.

[Mick-7]

That Abmaj9 chord voicing in the first bar is beautiful!

He uses that same chord in Imagination (end of B section) but it goes to G7, it's actually Eb/Ab (Eb triad with Ab bass note) but nobody wrote slash chords back then. It's a common Ab^13 stacked 4ths chord with the 3rd (C) in the bass - | (4)-3-3-3-4-3 |

And you may remember this related chord from our Jeff Arnold threads: Ab^9 | x-3-6-3-4-3 |

It's a lot of work to decipher the chords and train your fingers to grab unfamiliar shapes and changes, but it sure sounds good when you get it.

I've noticed that many of his odd looking chord voicings are actually conventional chords with chord tones omitted or doubled. His attention to voice leading was meticulous and he'd omit inner voices for the sake of a moving line.

[AllanAllen]

It's a lot of work to decipher the chords and train your fingers to grab unfamiliar shapes and changes, but it sure sounds good when you get it.

Do you ever work on inversions? The BH scale of chords is a good exercise for this. Just pick a string set and chord type and do 5-10 minutes. After I got comfortable with those, new grips are easier.

This is in isolation from playing tunes, it’s technical skills. So don’t spend an hour on it. Don’t do what I did, lol.

[alpop]

Do you ever work on inversions? The BH scale of chords is a good exercise for this. Just pick a string set and chord type and do 5-10 minutes. After I got comfortable with those, new grips are easier.

This is in isolation from playing tunes, it’s technical skills. So don’t spend an hour on it. Don’t do what I did, lol.

Thanks for the suggestion!

Many, many years ago, (I'm 69 yrs old) I drilled all inversions of triads and drop 2's on all sets of strings in all keys. So, my knowledge of, and vision on the fretboard is pretty complete and I don't really spend much time on exercises any more. (Maybe I should.)

What makes learning these arrangements repetition intensive for me is (as Mick pointed out) the fact that the voicings are often omitting chord tones and they no longer appear as systematic shapes.

Also, I play plectrum style so blocking out strings is an added degree of precision needed when repositioning your hand and fingers.

It's cool though because I love spending time with a guitar in my hands and I know I will get it done if I keep working.

[Question]

Here is my third video in this thread. In a Sentimental Mood.
I didn't want to play another ballad, but someone posted the audio file, and since I am using the free PDF version there is no other way to check the charts for accuracy without the audio.

Anyway, under the motto "freedom is the ability to dance in chains" (can't remember who said it) I am playing Galbraith's arrangement as close as I can and instead putting my energy into the interpretation and execution.

Once again avoiding "convenient rubato", (©Peter) only using it where it makes musical sense rather than because I am technically unable to execute something in time.

Galbraith's arrangements are fairly easy to play badly and quite a challenge to play well.

I hope someone can benefit from looking at my fingering solutions and interpretation.

[alpop]

Here is my third video in this thread. In a Sentimental Mood.
I didn't want to play another ballad, but someone posted the audio file, and since I am using the free PDF version there is no other way to check the charts for accuracy without the audio.

Anyway, under the motto "freedom is the ability to dance in chains" (can't remember who said it) I am playing Galbraith's arrangement as close as I can and instead putting my energy into the interpretation and execution.

Once again avoiding "convenient rubato", (©Peter) only using it where it makes musical sense rather than because I am technically unable to execute something in time.

Galbraith's arrangements are fairly easy to play badly and quite a challenge to play well.

I hope someone can benefit from looking at my fingering solutions and interpretation.

That sounds beautiful! You are a wonderful player.

You may want to consider repositioning your camera so that your whole fingerboard is visible. If part of your intention is to demonstrate fingerings, your first position is out of view of the camera.

Thanks for posting!

[Mick-7]

This is just my Imagination - my telecaster is the wrong guitar for this, I'll try it again on my archtop.

My Imagination Take 1 - Box.com

P.S. - Strange how the end was cut off on the Mel Bay audio track (?) so I added one.

My other guitar, sounds better:

My Imagination Take 2 - Box.com

[alpop]

P.S. - Strange how the end was cut off on the Mel Bay audio track (?) so I added one.

In the notation of the book the last two bars were left blank with the instructions: "Barry left the last two measures to our imagination!"

[Question]

@Alpop (quote) "You may want to consider repositioning your camera so that your whole fingerboard is visible. If part of your intention is to demonstrate fingerings, your first position is out of view of the camera"



Ok, I fixed the video edit so that you can now see the whole fingerboard.

Hope that helps!

[Mick-7]

I haven't played Barry's arrangement of this yet but his chord choices appear to be quite different from the original chord changes.

[Rscudder58]

Here is my third video in this thread. In a Sentimental Mood.
I didn't want to play another ballad, but someone posted the audio file, and since I am using the free PDF version there is no other way to check the charts for accuracy without the audio.

Beautifully played! Definitely helpful and nice to listen to so thanks!


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[sully75]

Is there a set of recordings for this book somewhere?

[Mick-7]

Is there a set of recordings for this book somewhere?

Not for the pdf I shared, don't even know where it came from, however, the audio clips that go with the published books (Vol. 1 & 2) can be found online.

Here is a list of them.

Volume 1:


Volume 2:

[Question]

My 4th and probably last video in this thread. Imagination.

I played it as written except for the last two bars where nothing was written in the chart; so I just wrote something for the ending.

@alpop, I changed the camera angle so that you can now clearly see my fingering choices!

Hope this inspires someone to learn some of these arrangements.

[Mick-7]

My 4th and probably last video in this thread. Imagination.

I played it as written except for the last two bars where nothing was written in the chart; so I just wrote something for the ending.

@alpop, I changed the camera angle so that you can now clearly see my fingering choices!

Hope this inspires someone to learn some of these arrangements.

Well played.... I didn't want to play it at that largo tempo with its straight time feel but it has its charms so maybe I'll take another shot at it. To be perfectly frank though, I thought your ending was a poor match for the arrangement.

[Mick-7]

There are some interesting arrangements in the pdf I shared that aren't in the Mel Bay books, e.g., one of Herbie Hancock's Dolphin Dance, in which Galbraith uses primarily stacked 4ths chord voicings - stylistically quite different from his other arrangements.

[ragman1]

I liked the invisible whammy bar :-)

[sully75]

Well played.... I didn't want to play it at that largo tempo with its straight time feel but it has its charms so maybe I'll take another shot at it. To be perfectly frank though, I thought your ending was a poor match for the arrangement.

That seems unnecessarily harsh. Either way, I liked the ending.

[Mick-7]

That seems unnecessarily harsh. Either way, I liked the ending.

I meant that Questions ending was, IMHO, too ornate compared to what preceded it, Galbraith seemed to be leading to a simple final cadence. But hey!, jazz is about improvisation.

[sgcim]

Even more musically profound than Barry's written out transcriptions are the recordings of Barry's work composed and/or arranged by other musicians. That he could come in cold to the studio and perform parts written out for him by genius arr/composers such as George Russell, Thomas Talbert, Billy Byers, Al Cohn, Manny Albam, Jimmy Giuffre, Gil Evans, Johnny Carisi, etc...boggles the mind. They had such faith in BG's sight reading that many of the parts are literally chord melodies, not just single lines or comping charts. I have transcribed some things he did and got some great ideas for tunes that I never would have come up with otherwise.

[Mick-7]

sgcim, are there any particular albums he's on that you can recommend?

[sgcim]

sgcim, are there any particular albums he's on that you can recommend?

There's tons mentioned in this thread. I'm working on one now:
Always on the lookout for more Barry Galbraith

[sgcim]

A bass player and i spent two hours last night just playing the head to a tune BG played. When we finally . worked it out, we played the lead sheet to compare it to BG's version. It sounded like a corny country tune.