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Please can anyone recommend a good introductory course/book/CD to chord-melody.
Thanks in advance.
David
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01-03-2022 06:57 AM
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Has anyone experienced/used Frank Vignola's two offerings on Truefire for instance?
Originally Posted by blackcat
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Huge subject. I have purchased many books and videos on the subject. I don’t have 123 Chord Melody but I am familiar with the approach taught. It’s a good introduction. Once you get going I heartily recommend Barry Greene’s “How I create chord melodies” lesson. Originally Posted by blackcat
Can you read standard notation?
Do you know your drop 2 voicings?
Ultimately the way to do this is to make up your own chord melodies and use other peoples arrangements to steal ideas from.
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The Frank Vignola book is a good one. Jody Fischer also has a good one. I will have to get back to with the titles. Originally Posted by blackcat
There is also one put out by Mel Bay which jumps straight into tunes. (Photo attached)
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Watch this starting at around 2:40. It really is as simple as this. Originally Posted by blackcat
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I suggest Jazz Guitar Voicings, vol1: the Drop 2 Book, by Randy Vincent.
This book started the ball for me.
The approach - I think - is loosely based on Barry Harris concepts.
Sergio
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Thanks to all for their suggestions - reflecting!
David
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Jody Fisher has some books, some easier than others. That Mel Bay book above is good, there are three of them in that series. I'm not saying they're easy.
Here's one thing you can do. Take some simple tunes like Girl From Ipanema, Emily, Autumn Leaves. etc. simple standards.
- Learn the melody (on 1rst and 2nd strings).
- Start inserting simple chords beneath the melody on strong beats while keeping the melody going. Don't play too many chords at first.
- Use apprpriate tensions as you see fit (9, 11, 13), as well as fourth stacks if you wish (and if they fit).
- Create some intros and endings
Keep it simple and then just keep going.
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Thank you. This really opened up some thought processes for me. Originally Posted by alltunes
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Thanks for that - all makes good sense. Originally Posted by Donplaysguitar
David
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I think it's pretty hard to learn it from a book. I'm a pretty good reader (for a guitar player), but it's still a struggle to read chord melody, especially if the transcription includes notes ringing while other notes are played.
I wonder if it might make sense to learn them from youtube videos.
It will help if you know enough inversions so that you can get any note on top of any chord.
And, any time a new chord comes up, find the root and learn it in 12 keys on as many different sets of strings work. And, there may be more than one possible root for a given set of notes -- and it's useful to learn all of them, 12 keys, multiple places on the neck.
Lotta work.
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Berklee Online has an excellent course for this “Solo Guitar…”. Highly recommended but I would learn a couple of simple chord melody arrangements first and know a fair amount of chords. That should be enough to get you in there, and you will bust your tail for 12 weeks. Originally Posted by blackcat
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Robert Conti is an excellent source, both to start with and then to continue for quite some time...
I suggest in this order:
Chord Melody Assembly Line • RobertConti.com (this one starts from the very beginning - book and DVD)
The Formula • RobertConti.com (this one shows you how to use what you learned in Assembly Line to use different harmony every time you play the tune so you aren't just memorizing one way to do it forever - book and two DVDs)
Play Pro Chord Melody Today Archives • RobertConti.com (these walk you through playing in this style with typical harmony you would put together from The Formula)
...and then in whatever order suits you:
Signature Chord Melody Arrangements (these are books without DVDs of a whole bunch of standards and one of Christmas tunes in his typical chord melody style)
Just Jazz Guitar Chord Melodies • RobertConti.com (this is a complete collection of his chord melody arrangements for the magazine Just Jazz Guitar and each has a video lesson to go with the printed arrangement PDF)
https://www.robertconti.com/product/...s-turnarounds/ (this is a book and DVD to help start and finish your chord melody arrangements)
These ought to be enough for a long time to come. I have not been to his site for a while, but I noticed while getting these links together that he currently is having a 30% off sale for another 4 days if you are interested.
Tony
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that’s a key point - not playing it the same way every time. Originally Posted by tbeltrans
in other words are you “arranging for solo jazz guitar” or are you improvising with chords or “chord soloing”?
a lot of great players do both. It seems to me you have to crawl before you walk, and walk before you run.
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True enough, and that is exactly why I specified the order in which to work with Conti's materials. The "Assembly Line" is the "crawl before you walk" and "The Formula" is the "run" part, with the playing of a number of his arrangements being the "walk before you run" by getting a feel for what the end result can be from working with "The Formula". Originally Posted by Donplaysguitar
The Just Jazz Guitar chord melody arrangements series provides video guidance through playing each arrangement and tips for "dolling it up" as Conti often says. The Pro Chord Melody DVD series does similar, but in more depth. Consider these a part of the "walk before you run" stage. The arrangement book series without DVDs provides arrangements without the DVD or video guidance.
You don't need all of these chord melody arrangements, but enough to see clearly how to apply the material from "The Formula" in a variety of musical settings and situations. In short, these materials together provide a pretty complete path into chord melody and with the sale, it seems a bargain to me.
A number of folks here have been working with these materials. There have been some Conti threads around here and I seem to recall even a study thread.
There are a lot of materials around to study chord melody and one can do it entirely on his or her own. What I like about Conti's approach is that it is a learn by doing approach rather than studying endless theory. He provides a very practical chord vocabulary in "Assembly Line" and shows you how to use it to quickly create chord melody arrangements from a lead sheet, and then subsequent materials build on that until you can come up with your own harmony, changing as you wish rather than being stuck memorizing a bunch of somebody else's arrangements. From there, you can either just continue doing what you have learned or study anybody whose style catches your ear.
Tony
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Conti’s arrangements are very dense so it is important to remember that you do not need a big fat chord for every melody note. Conti mentions this but perhaps not enough. I think he specifically states to leave out some of his grips and just play the melody (top note of chord) as you see fit. Tackling a pro arrangement grip by grip can be daunting. Take it slow at first and use these pro arrangements to steal some moves and work in to your own arrangement. Originally Posted by tbeltrans
The Bill Frisell video I posted above shows how to get started. Stating the melody is the most important thing.
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Yes that's important to remember. It's about making music first. Originally Posted by alltunes
Leavitt covers this point in one short paragraph in either book 2 or 3, can't remember.
Some guitar nerds think of chord melody as some sort of parlor trick. Chord, chord, chord, chord, chord! That is very tedious for the listener. It also makes it difficult to keep time, phrase properly, and maintain forward motion.
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Conti emphasizes this very point in at least one of his chord melody DVDs. He says that you play to your audience, and most gigs are for folks casually listening to your playing and in these, require the melody always being first and foremost. Instead of taking off on long improvisations, your improv is in the harmony supporting the melody. Originally Posted by alltunes
As for the density of the arrangements, Conti does address this in several of his DVDs and videos, showing alternate ways to play some of the passages. What his intention seems to be with a chord under every melody note is showing you the harmony so that you can do what you want with it.
"Assembly Line" is the first book to tackle. There is only one "correct answer" for each musical situation he presents, and that is with a specific reason - to eliminate any confusion on the part of the student while taking initial steps toward playing chord melody. When you have a "live" teacher, s/he is there to interactively answer any questions and show you how to handle various musical situations. Absent the live teacher, Conti wants to be sure you get it, so "Assembly Line" is very specific with "do this and this" until you get the idea.
Then, in "The Formula" he shows you how to go way beyond "Assembly Line" and play it all however you want to.
The various chord melody arrangements in DVD, video, and books, all present his arrangements so you can either play them exactly as presented or use them to get a real life feel for what you can do with a tune after going through "The Formula" so you know what the goal of that information is. It is pretty much up to you how you want to play these arrangements, mixing single notes and chords, changing texture as you see fit, etc. This just takes a lot of playing, and that is Conti's whole approach - learn by playing tunes.
Tony
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The following might be of use. Jazz standard solo chord melody arrangements, improvisation, and licks. The books aren't instructional ie how to play, but by following the arrangements etc you hopefully get some insight.
https://www.amazon.com/Solo-Jazz-Gui...s%2C180&sr=8-1
https://www.amazon.com/Solo-Jazz-Gui...s%2C180&sr=8-2
https://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Guitar-L...s%2C180&sr=8-3
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Wow, your books? Awesome! Are there any sound samples of you playing a tune or two? Originally Posted by Victor Saumarez
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Yes, my books. There are videos of me playing some of the tunes on Youtube. Some may be very old so poor quality, but I am more than happy to provide help with any the arrangements.
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+1 on the Robert Conti books Assembly Line and especially The Formula.
In short, Assembly Line is about finding specific chords under a melody note and the Formula is about reharmonisation.
These two books will get you started but as stated before, these books show you how to find a chord for each melody note which can end up sounding very dense. It's up to you to edit these examples.
I also got a lot out of an old book by Howard Morgen called Concepts: Arranging for fingerstyle guitar which is sort of the predecessor of Through Chord Melody and Beyond.
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With some experimentation, we begin to realize that those big "Conti chords" contain all the bits that can be used to vary the texture, so that you can play just melody notes, melody notes and that bass line that Conti shows you how to build in The Formula, the melody and just one or two notes from each chord form, etc. Conti gives you the whole thing and lets you pick what to do with it. His is (in my opinion) an excellent approach that gets you up and running quickly and gives you the material to continue as far as you might want to go, which depends (as with any approach) on how much effort you are willing to put into it. Originally Posted by wannabebopper
As Conti says somewhere on his site (I don't recall where anymore) that you can be content to just play his arrangements or dig in as much as you want into the nuts and bolts of it to learn to do it yourself.
Howard Morgen has great materials too. It is unfortunate that the tapes that went with those earlier books are no longer available. There were a couple of those books for which tapes were available including "Ten From Guitar Player", the "Concepts" book, and the two books of ready-made arrangements. Being able to hear this material really helps getting it set for learning it.
Tony
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I like Howard Morgan’s “fingerboard breakthrough” course on True Fire. Basic, but I’ve really benefitted from it. Originally Posted by tbeltrans
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I recommend Howard Morgan's "Concepts" or his other but less basic book "Through Chord-Melody and Beyond"
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