You know what I Love about Chord-Melody?

[virtuoso]

Would that be 64 or 128 note polyphony?

Darn those piano players. All kidding aside, having jazz piano experience does give one a slightly unique perspective coming to jazz guitar. Sometimes I wonder if that's a blessing or a drawback. But all in all I'd not change a thing.

I agree.

Good topic,bravo for OP.

[2bornot2bop]

I can play beautiful chords dead easy on a piano. But is it just me, or does it sound better on a guitar? Especially there's something in dissonance that just rings more soulfully on a guitar.

Or is is just the experience of playing that makes me think that? Is it just I'm working so hard to get the chord, I have to justify it somehow, or that I feel the vibrations in my body?

No, it's just you.

Even inexpensive, by today's prices, Chinese produced piano's in the hands of a master technician can be made to sing as good or better than an overpriced Steinway.

I have such a technician in my locale. I refer to him as the 'einstein' of pianos. He's the creator of the Fandrich action. Among requests for restoration work on many very high dollar pianos, he has a side business importing Chinese models. He disassembles them, routes their soundboard edges ala Steinway and some high dollar makes, replaces the hammers with a set of German Abel's, tweaks the action to perfection, and voices the piano like only he can. The harmonic result of these modestly priced piano's are beyond belief.

An acoustic piano will best any guitar in harmonic range and playability, or sustain. It's akin to possessing the entire orchestra at ones fingertips.

Or in the words of Miles' when a veteran sax player asked: how'd you come up with that idea?

Miles: Study piano MF!

[ten left thumbs]

2b2b, you have a point - my piano was tuned before this spring, and it should probably be tuned again. It is a good piano.

sustain, legato - piano wins
volume and dynamic range - piano wins
range of pitches - piano wins
playability according to the harmony of 12 major and minor keys - piano wins
ability to solo and comp at the same time - piano wins

vibrato - guitar
bends of pitch - guitar

tone - I suppose this is personal, but my heart is with guitar just now. There is a certain sensuality when a dissonance is ringing, that I can't match on piano.

Both are even-tempered, and can't match the tuning of a skilled string quartet for pitch.

Bill Evans was pure genius, taken from us too soon.

[chrisnewlin]

There's endless depth in chord melody playing. You could work on it for an eternity and still have so much left to explore.

I love it because it fills the space nicely in a trio setting. It doesn't ever sound empty, because you're functioning exactly like a piano in the same situation.

One of my teacher's big things to harp on his students was to continually ask them "where are the chords?" It's a question that I'm constantly thinking about while practicing alone or working out an arrangement. I think the end goal is being able to play single note lines, CM, comp, and use space in the most musical way possible.

[2bornot2bop]

Well, until a guitarist creates a Michel Petrucciani showstopper of 'Estate' as featured in this live '91 recording the instrument comparison almost becomes a moot point.

However, each instrument is a gem in its own right.

[ten left thumbs]

Hi 2b2b, you are, of course, quite right. Sometimes I can't help myself and compare. Just been going through a low patch on piano, I think. Yesterday I put some power into my hands and discovered all the tone I needed. If I can't make the hairs on my arms stand up, then it's all fairly pointless.

This reminds me something I once saw, walking my son to school. There was a family a bit ahead of us, with what seemed to be twin boy and girl (about 5 years old) and they were doing lots of arguing. I couldn't work out why - no one was hitting out, but they just kept erupting into screams. We caught up with them. The boy and girl would run ahead till they got to a road, then wait at the kerb for their mum to help them cross. And the boy would whisper to his sister boys are better. And then the little girl would just erupt in tears.

[Robertkoa]

I like that even when I'm just comping or creating a chord progression to write a Melody on-it's still a chord melody-there's always some kind of Melody on top even if it's just a Harmonization/composition for a Vocal or Solo Instrument.

The Chick Magnet part is just a distraction.....a test of our concentration.

[djl]

I really enjoy playing chord melody. There are so many reasons, but I think the main ones are that you really learn the tune inside out (I think that as guitarists there is a temptation to just learn the chords and scales to improvise over them when it comes to the solos - learning solo chord melody stuff forces you to think melodically, and think about the relationships between the melody and underlying harmony)
I also like the freedom it gives you when it comes to tempo and feel, and the fact that if you want to you can switch from one style to another mid tune, just because it feels like a good idea at the time.
Not many people do it, either (in the grand scheme of things) so it is nice to be able to do something a bit different.

["Umm, fish?"]

I'm just starting out--only 5-6 tunes--into the chord-melody journey, but it's why I picked up the guitar again. I have no desire at this point in my life to deal with a lot of band politics, nor do I really have the time with the whole kids thing and all. So it's all about being able to sit down and take myself through several levels of a piece until it matches my satisfaction.

Plus, there's the puzzle-solving aspect to the whole thing, too. I play tuned in fifths so I'm pretty much stuck with all the arranging duties, too. No pre-written C/M tunes for me.

I'm working on about my third round of arrangements on 'Round Midnight right now. I'm really enjoying the challenge of the key signature. I assume Eb minor works better in my tuning than it would on a normally-tuned guitar, but it still makes for quite the stretch.

[=DK=]

I agree.

Good topic,bravo for OP.

Thank you, thank you, you're a lovely audience.

[jovialspoon]

A great topic for conversation. To me, playing in this style, whether we call it chord/melody or simply solo guitar, gets the most out of our beloved instrument. I most often play in either a big band, or a small group setting, but from time to time I get a solo gig and it’s simultaneously the most challenging and rewarding way to play.

The benefits of playing in this way are many. There’s the technical challenge of doing a lot of “stuff” on your instrument at once, the satisfaction of being able to play a piece (more or less) in its entirety by yourself, and after you’ve worked out a suitable CM arrangement, you’ll really know the song “inside out”. I also find most CM arrangements are great to play in a small group setting, especially with double bass and a brushes-friendly drummer.

Not sure if this was already discussed in the thread, but if you’re working out your arrangement and you find the melody line becomes too low to allow enough chord tones to “fit under” the melody note (and you don’t want to change they key), don’t be afraid to change the octave that you’re playing that particular phrase in. I recently worked out a CM arrangement for ‘Tenderly’ (man, I love that tune) and I moved the phrase where the lyric first states the word ‘ten-der-ly’ up an octave – which allowed me to have a nice three note chord below the melody notes. After I’d played the piece for my band mates, I explained how I had to do that octave shift at that point. They all said that it didn’t even occur to them when they were listening that there’d been an octave shift! This is a useful technique if you’re having trouble making a melody “fit” on the guitar in a CM arrangement.