How do you define Chord Melody?

[don_oz]

I like this analogy.

We can’t quite play like pianists though.. just the restrictions of the instrument. Maybe this is how we could define it? “As much like piano as I can.”

This guy plays like it's a piano if you ask me! But then again he is like one in a billion.

[Jonah]

If you play classical guitar in early years there's alwasy a guy in school who says: wow you can play both chords and melody...

Do you know chords for You Send Me?
Yeh look here they are... (strummin frour open chords)
And do you know melody?
Yeh I can play melody... (picking melody with one finger on both hands)

But have you seen that guy on you tube... he plays kinda both chord and melody on guitar ...

Really wow... kinda of chord-melody!

No irrespect but a huge part of Tmmy Emanuel and other fingerpickers pop players come from the audience that really thinks that guitar is only either strumming or soloing and they find that playing both is already miraculous

[BFrench]

...or you could simply call it Kenny Poole

[Hyppolyte Bergamotte]

to compare solo jazz guitar played with fingers or played with a pick is to compare apples and bananas

HB

[John A.]

By the way , what do piano players call the block chord style playing that Oscar Peterson did, especially on ballads etc.? Is there a term for it , or do they say " that thing Peterson did" or "you know that thing where you... "?

I don't think they call that necessarily "playing piano" , while also calling everything ELSE you can play on the piano "playing piano". People talk about things using terminology, or they stop to describe something specific or him it etc.

You mean the thing Red Garland did?????

Locked hands or block chords.

John

[p1p]

This guy plays like it's a piano if you ask me! But then again he is like one in a billion.

Pianists fingers too... Daddy-long-leg hands wow. Mine are probably a bit closer to Segovia's.

[Gramps]

I've never known anyone who didn't know what I meant with I referred to 'chord melody'.

Why make it harder than it has to be just because you feel a definition isn't what you like?

[DRS]

Solo guitar
Polyphonic
Melody line with harmony and a bass line.
Pianistic.

If you play this music on a piano, nobody bats an eye because the piano has been played this way for 300+ years.
But on a guitar, it's a big deal, apparently. Unless it's classical guitar.
Chord Melody is a stupid term.
I prefer the term solo guitar.

[Gramps]

"Solo Guitar" could be strumming the chords to Puff the Magic Dragon.

You can play a chordal version of the melody with a band. Not solo guitar.

Any chord is polyphonic. By definition!

"Melody line with harmony and a bass line" You don't have to play a bass line when playing the melody with chords. That's what you have a bass player for.

But keep up the good work. I feel a nation wide change in people's opinion of the definition since it really is the most important thing in most people's lives.

[joe2758]

"Solo Guitar" could be strumming the chords to Puff the Magic Dragon.

Does anyone have the tabs for this?

[Gramps]

Does anyone have the tabs for this?

I'm working on it. Give me time.

[matt.guitarteacher]

"Solo guitar" doesn't encompass everything implied by the term "chord melody", not the way it is widely used or HAS been through the years.

A block chord solo in the context of a trio isn't "solo guitar". It certainly isn't classical guitar . Again, I don't think it's anyone's FAULT , nor is there anyone in particular who SHOULD be responsible for having codified a term which sums up jazz guitar playing in these various ways.

And piano players don't simply call various ways of playing the piano all "playing the piano". This simply is not true. Guitarists aren't idiots for not somehow having a magical term for these things. It's simply the unintended consequence of not having a "National Jazz Guitar Terminology Board" or something. Wow. What potential bureaucratic bliss...

Sure, say "chord melody" sucks. Fine. What are we going to do about it? How are we going to enact change in guitar culture for everyone to suddenly start using one (or multiple) "correct" terms for these things?

What I get out of all these threads continually is basically this:

**Guitarists call all of these different things "chord melody" because we are generally dimwitted and think it's a huge accomplishment to play melody in the context of chords, unlike pianists or classical guitarists, who do this all of the time and think nothing of our. Pianists would never think to have to call something "chord melody" because they always play melody with harmony.

The truth is that pianists play in various different ways, comping single melody with left-hand , playing block chord solos with both hands, arpeggiating with the left hand or both hands etc. etc. I'm not even a real piano player . So, I don't even know all the terms people use for things, but musicians talk about things in general or more specific ways. They just do.

The other one of classical guitar , is very different as well. Classical guitarists have very elaborate music notation, much more so than pianists. Generally, they're in guitar- friendly keys, with very extensive markings for position, fingerings etc., depending on the difficulty of the "piece". And that's the other thing: it isn't improvised. There's a real distinction there. Among other things, many jazz guitar players can improvise the stuff, and no, classical guitarists DON'T simply call everything a guitarist might play "playing guitar" or "classical guitar".

Honestly, I don't care if you call it "chord melody" or "unicorn starfish" or something, it simply ISN'T these other things, and new terminologies don't simply pop out of the ground by magic either.

It isn't "playing the piano", and it certainly isn't "playing classical guitar". But the assumption that we just call it "chord melody" , basically because we're idiots who can't think of anything better or have some kind of idiot view of the profundity of playing simultaneous harmony and melody is simply false.

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[Jonah]

I've never known anyone who didn't know what I meant with I referred to 'chord melody'.

Why make it harder than it has to be just because you feel a definition isn't what you like?

I agree.. some terms - even hough maybe wrong in definition - already have some tradition in culture, some backgroud and associations..

But the assumption that we just call it "chord melody" , basically because we're idiots who can't think of anything better or have some kind of idiot view of the profundity of playing simultaneous harmony and melody is simply false.

Not idiots..
but the name definitely came from amateurish enviroment where playing simultaneously 'chords' and 'melody' of a popular song looked like specific skill different from comping chords or soloing lines...

This gives 'chord melody' one essential quality - to me it always keeps a contrast in texture: you can hear both traditional chords and melodic line clearly (mostly)... that's the the way of thinhking - pretty simple basically - keep chords and add melody...

For example some arrangements of standards I played for guitar did not look like chord-melody for me but more like classical guitar arrangement - more nuanced texture where the chords are also split in different voices - hidden in texture....

Also many modern jazz solo playing also do not sound like chord-melody for me..

Later 'chord-melody' developed into particular approach with its own tools, language etc.

[JohnoL]

The term is good enough for Barney Kessel.

[Bobalou]

Solo guitar
Polyphonic
Melody line with harmony and a bass line.
Pianistic.

If you play this music on a piano, nobody bats an eye because the piano has been played this way for 300+ years.
But on a guitar, it's a big deal, apparently. Unless it's classical guitar.
Chord Melody is a stupid term.
I prefer the term solo guitar.

Also conventional wisdom is that it's somewhat more difficult to do and do well on guitar. On the piano you have all the notes laid out logically in front of you in the form of 88 keys in a straight line and the notes exactly repeat themselves every 12 keys. Once you learn something in one position on the piano then all the other positions are exactly the same. Very logical and indeed the reason that piano is considered the easiest instrument to learn music theory on. On guitar you actually have 8 or more positions where you should learn everything to cover the whole neck that all have different fingerings. From the word go on the guitar that's a lot more stuff you have to memorize and be able to play. Now I'm talking about really being able to play legit jazz and jazz chord melody here not just strum basic chords to pop tunes which is easier.

There doesn't have to be just one name for something though as long as people still understand what your talking about when communicating. chord melody and solo guitar seem to be the two widely used names for the same thing.

Some people get too hung up on silly minutia like the words and miss the big picture. Like I was saying before as long as people know what you're talking about when you're communicating then either name for it is okay. Ultimately its being able to get to the point where you can actually play it well on your instrument that really matters. What you call it is really not important in the big scheme of things as long as folks know what you're referring to when you're communicating. For me I don't see how you consider it really making music without the chords and the melody? So the term chord melody seems maybe a bit redundant lol. However solo guitar conveys that your doing it solo on the guitar, exactly what's going on. Some may have a different opinion on that but in the big picture whichever phrase you decide to use for it I really don't care.

[eh6794-2.0]

Whatever you do, do not let the chords get in the way of a good tune. In other words, sometimes it takes time to form a chord shape, where a single note can be plucked immediately. You will screw up the groove and soul of the song when you do that. Example, some people play There Will Never Be Another You's melody with all chords. That is hard to do and it doesn't always sound right. Chris Whiteman has a pretty nice version of that tune using chords and notes. When he plays that way, he can add more soul into the playing.

PS, I stopped saying SWING and replaced it with SOUL, because I have seen way too many people think it just means a good shuffle.

[emilP]

it becomes to definitely be a little boring,dont you pip ?