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I have not seen a whole lot of conversation on his chord melody series of books and I was wondering if anyone could give their impression of the series. There are so many, many great Jazz songs in his chord-melody volumes and either I am living in a Jazz vacuum or there just aren't a whole lot of fans of his series, at least not enough that are passionate enough about his arrangements to give ringing endorsements.
Which is it?
(By the way, I finally started working on my chord-melody chops. I am learning Rober Yelin's arrangement of "Along Came Betty." I must admit that I am very excited because in my mind, being able to work your way through chords fluently and beautifully is on par with being able to play single note runs with blazing speed and beauty. They are both very high-level skills that you just can't learn to do in a couple of weeks. I can see it is going to take many months to build my chord-playing ability up to the level that I desire, just as it did with my speed quest, which is still ongoing but promising.)
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10-08-2014 10:33 PM
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I have one of his books...Nice arrangements.....sticks to the written harmony mostly, if I remember correctly...A few substitutions....Worth the purchase.....have fun...
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I haven't used his books but I've heard good things about them other places. I'm not sure why they don't get more attention here....
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I have one of his books....personally didn't care much for it. I think I learned one tune and glanced through the rest of the arrangements....
From what I remember every melody note was harmonized with block chords, (with a whole bunch of clunky 5 and 6 note chords to boot). Also I seem to remember there were some typos, but will have to pull it out to confirm.
On the positive side I do remember there were a few moves I did like....just wasn't what I was looking for at the time. I'll pull it out again tonight for a second glance.
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Thanks for the feedback thus far.
djangoles, you are right in that there are plenty of 5 and 6 string chords in these progressions.
I have used his arrangement as a guide to creating my own. So far, I have been mixing in the Rhythm chords in space left by in his arrangements. Sounds pretty good to me but a couple of the moves are kind of tough and will really take some time.
I have always had trouble with a Dom7b9 chord from that he uses in which the root on the sixth string. The song I am learning is full of them - but I am getting better already at it.
Once I get this arrangement up to speed, I will have acquired some additional dexterity in my fingers.
My overall plan is to be able to end some of my Jazz songs with a chord melody on the final chorus, just to spice things up a little.
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Yeah, I got one of Yelin's books and had high hopes. Couldn't make through all the songs though - i was just memorizing his chord melodies and not learning any new skills. Also, I found a few of his grips needlessly difficult, especially at higher tempos. I did steal some of his intro/endings, which i keep in my pocket and use all the time.
But I moved on to Robert Conti method, which freed me from the crutch that is tablature, and also increased my repertoire-building enormously. Rather than memorize someone else's chord melodies, now i pick a tune and work it out myself, trying out my own subs/reharms/turnarounds/melodic embellishments. Each song becomes a fun puzzle that has many solutions (and solutions within solutions), rather than just a straight exercise in finger-memory.
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What I think is beneficial, to cord melody playing is taking a tune you really like...say "Georgia on my mind" and finding a few arrangements from different players....Go over them and see the thinking process...Yelin Vs. Greene...as an example....Pull up another one or two and compare....Then put your version together....You can try and figure out what these guys were doing...What subs...what you like and don't like.....the reharmonization process.....I bought a book of arrangements a year or so ago...The guy went through his arrangements bar by bar....On the advanced side for me..I had to really think about what he was saying....The arrangements were a bit more then I wanted to tackle......I wish all these arrangement books would have the reharm process explained by the author....Maybe that's giving away too much, I don't know.....
Last edited by artcore; 10-10-2014 at 09:29 AM.
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For now, I have been just using my ear and substituting my own chord choices as I go. I did not like some of his chords so I would just get the solo note on the skinniest string and slowly add notes on top until it gave me the sound I wanted.
Originally Posted by artcore
It has been working well for me, using his chord arrangement and slowly changing things around.
I can only play the song at 40 bpm now because of a couple of tricky parts. I have isolated those parts and am practicing them along as an etude until I can get it up to speed with the rest.
This has been a fun and rewarding process.
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Whatever works for you....Of course, you don't have to play all of his suggested cords...If you can figure out how he arrived at those cords you will be learning something....I just dusted off his book "jazz classics for solo guitar"...I went to "Georgia"...played through the first 8 bars...Then played through Ted Greene's first 8 bars...They both sound nice to my ears...Yelin as good as Greene...two different approaches, equally fine.....
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I am going to dust off Jody Fisher's Chord Melody Book in his Jazz Guitar series and investigate how he arrives at his chords.
From my years on the forum and of study, I know a lot of it has to do with the movement of 7ths and 3rds.
Thanks for idea!
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I'll second that. I probably need to listen to others arrangements more or whatever, but I spend most of my time just playing through tunes this way, working CM on my own. Originally Posted by TommyCorsica2
This is the most fun way to play guitar for me. I spent years memorizing others and this is just so much more enjoyable. Also, once you get some basic ways to play things, it's just so much faster.
You can just sit down and play. Each tune informs learning the next one in a deeper way when you're working them out yourself.
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Originally Posted by AlsoRan
I'm not familiar with the Jody Fisher book so I can't comment, but a really good book that explains how things are arrived at and used is Howard Morgen "Through Chord-Melody and Beyond".....if that's what you're looking for
It's really more of a method book but it contains numerous arrangements demonstrating the topics covered.
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I've got a copy of the Fisher book and the 2 Conti how-to books. Honestly, if you don't have the Conti books, they're stinkin' cheap and worth every penny. As an academic, nerd-type myself, it's almost embarrassing how simple that approach of his is and how it just makes so much sense. Originally Posted by AlsoRan
For me, his Assembly Line book was the essential jumping off point to get me started on really improvising chord melody in any kind of way that wasn't completely frustrating. Again, looking back at it, I think, "This is so basic, how come I couldn't do this my self?", but the way he limits the chord choices in combination with a simple graded approach to adding harmonic complexity is simple pedagogical beauty. For whatever reason, Conti's materials are often a contentious topic on this forum, but I'm not going to apologize anymore or pull any punches in recommending this book whole-heartedly for anyone struggling with chord melody playing. That book is step one for me.
Don't have the Roberts book, but they look great from what I've seen. Never got much out of the Fisher book. It's concepts+examples, and isn't not horrible for being just that, but the Conti book is a real progressive, step-by-step method for (CM) beginners.Last edited by matt.guitarteacher; 10-11-2014 at 01:12 PM. Reason: grammar
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I have these books - I just played them through here and there occasionally.
I do not like learning other people's arramgements. But one can pick some ideas just playing it through from the score. I used some from his books...
Yelin's books look a bit fifferent to me from others because they do not seem to be 'practical arrangement' wich one can learn or copy to play in performance. They lack living texture... they look like ultamitae arrangement of every melody note in a full 6-strings scope - more like choral classical scores.
Bisides his chordal solutions are often too coloristic for my taste... I like when there's more of a functional voice leading. On the other hand he often puts the same big chord for many notes just changing melody note... that means that one have to play in a very sonorous way, with rich tone and phrasing and expression... I am not against simplicity but this kind of playing has no use in a book in a written form.
It seems for him just the beauty of the sound seems to be more important than voicing of harmony changes.
And I just feel it in a bit different way.
But this is a matter of taste.Last edited by Jonah; 10-11-2014 at 03:53 PM.
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Good points...In the end you want to do your own arranging...I would have loved to have seen Robert Yelin play as I was told he was very good...he's retired and last I heard not well....Anyway...Some material is going too be to simplistic for some, to complex for others....Conti's DVD's and instructions were really fun to go through...But this is not material that more advanced players will find helpful....I don't think....It was good for me....cycle 4ing your way through tunes is fine to a point...and the explanation of diminished substitutions also nice...good stuff....he has a great personality and its just plain fun to watch his DVD's.........
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I have got to admit, the Yelin books utilize 5 and 6 note chords a lot more than other chord melody arrangement books I have seen. I have a couple of Galbraith's books, one from Reichbart, and a couple of others that I have not opened in literally four years and each of these books use smaller chords and integrate more single notes and double stops to connect the chords. Originally Posted by matt.guitarteacher
I don't have the Conti book(s) and my brief search brought up many different books and DVDs on chord melody (darn that guy can play!).
Matt, can you recall the names of the books that you bought? Maybe Tony Corsicana can give me some recommendations? Was one of them Chord Melody "Assembly Line."
Finally, being able to play chord melody on my amps (a '65 DRRI and Jazzmaster Ultralight) and play it well is its own reward when I use my archtop. It even feels good with al those notes "caressing me." Ah, the pleasure of pleasing sounds...
Hmmm... That reads like I am a Hedonist. I guess in a way, musical pleasure is a form of hedonism.
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They're not labeled really clearly on the site, unless they've changed it. Originally Posted by AlsoRan
The assembly line is the basic bk 1, the formula is bk 2 of the how-to. It's reharm stuff.
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When I first palyed a few of his arrangements this idea also came to my mind - How should he play it?I would have loved to have seen Robert Yelin play as I was told he was very good..
But I did not find any of his own records.
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With todays wide use of video, you would hope future books will link to a few videos of the actual arrangements played by the author...There is no excuse for this today, unless the arranger can't play the arrangements!.................
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Jake Reichbart actually does this with his arrangements: Book (includes tab) and DVD video. He's got a great selection pf songs; but, I have around 15 songs that I am particularly passionate about, which is important so I won't tire of a song in the process of actually learning it. None of those particular songs are in his lesson book/DVD so for now, I have set it aside until I am ready to learn one his selections. Originally Posted by artcore
His sound very good to my ears and seem to be a little easier on your hands than the Yelin arrangements - at least at first glance.
By the way, it is so sad to hear that Robert Yelin may not be in the best of health. This type of news seems to be all to prevalent as the many purveyors of Jazz age.
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After going back through the Jody Fisher book on chord melody, I now see what I failed to understand the first time I went through it years ago. (By the way, in the very beginning of this book he wrote that it was not for beginners...)
I also looked through Yelin's books and I noticed that in his books that with certain harmonies, he often chose a chord that was of the same root and quality of the harmony. For example, if the harmony was Cm7, then he would use various Cm chords to embellish the melody note such as Cm7add4, Cm9, etc.. Or, when the harmony was CMaj7, he would use various C Major chords and voicings primarily, although he would sometimes substitute for example, and Em7 chord, which of course captures upper extensions of the C major chord.
I also noticed that when the harmony would do the Ol' 2-5-1 thing, he would use altered chords or some sort of chord
substitution with the Dom7 chord that was the "5."
This has been a very informative chapter in my guitar journey...
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yes... that is partly why I said his arrangements consider much more colouristic side of harmony - he picks the chord sometimes just because of sonority ... like adding some traits with slight brushes to leading colour... and this approach often - not always! - ignores or minimizes the role functional tensions and voicing, which can be also a very expressive musical tool...I also looked through Yelin's books and I noticed that in his books that with certain harmonies, he often chose a chord that was of the same root and quality of the harmony. For example, if the harmony was Cm7, then he would use various Cm chords to embellish the melody note such as Cm7add4, Cm9, etc.. Or, when the harmony was CMaj7, he would use various C Major chords and voicings primarily, although he would sometimes substitute for example, and Em7 chord, which of course captures upper extensions of the C major chord.
For him it is ok to stay on the same chord all the way just playing with some slight changes in intervals, intonation... he is like meditating a bit over it. But form it is boring forst of all because I cannot hear it logically
I do not say it is bad - just a bit too much of it for me. Sometimes looks a little occasional to my ear...
And in reading as a written arrangement these slight colouristic effects might be lost, because they depend much on the manner or the performer - if he tends more or hears more the functional voice leading, these slight changes will not be significant for him and just unconciously he will not be able to show it...
But on the other hand focusing on such an arrangement can open for such a musician a logic of another way of musical thinking..
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Well, I spoke a little too soon because in perusing songs like Autumn Leaves, he starts making the chords have motion and tension with a little more frequency IMHO. Originally Posted by Jonah
For instance, over the first chord, Am7, he chose Am7, Am7b13, Am13 and then when D7 comes he chose D7b5, Am7, Ab7. Later, over CMaj7, He chose Gmaj7, Am7, Bm7, C7.
The part that I am finding to be time consuming is whether or not the melody not is a chord tone of the harmony and of course, the challenge of choosing a chord that sounds good and in the proper voicing.
This is the reason I stayed away chord melody for so long. It takes stronger chord knowledge than I possess, at least if I want to be able to choose chords in a timely manner and not have to agonize so much. But the outcome of hearing those little strings sing is, as I said earlier, very enjoyable when I do it right.
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I've recently purchased Jody fishers Jazz Guitar Chord Melody Course. It's a combination of his Art of Solo Guitar volumes 1 and 2 which I could never find for a reasonable price. Might be too basic for you. But it's a piece by piece break down approach that hits right at my current level of development. Feels very logically organized. Comes with cd for just about all of the examples and is very reasonably priced. I've listened to two of his albums on spotify the latest being mostly solo guitar. Very solid enjoyable chord melody playing. Originally Posted by AlsoRan
Last edited by Ric Lee; 10-13-2014 at 12:15 PM.
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Yelin may have arranged these pieces years ago, for students and he may have wanted to keep it close to the written harmony, just a guess....They are dense, so you don't need to play all the cords.
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