The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    Hi all,

    I almost exclusively play solo fingerstyle guitar, mainly pop, folk, classical and a bit of jazz.

    During the summer I do well busking these tunes however I want to write more original stuff and learn to improvise better.

    To this extend I have made up the following list (in no particular order) of things to practice.

    * Learn more jazz tunes
    * Goodrick books (almanacs, TAG and CCHG)
    * Tim Lerch style improv
    * Bach Chorales
    * The Mortensen baroque improv book
    * Ear training
    * Barry Green solo guitar book
    * Howard Morgan chord melody book
    * Martin Taylor beyond chord melody book and walking bass book
    * Ted Greene MCP book
    * Leavitt solo pieces
    * Write original stuff
    * Keep up classical guitar

    What I want to ask is how would you organise practicing this stuff?

    I'm not too good for routines. For example yesterday I wrote some stuff for an hour using the Persian scale then this morning I went through a Goodrick almanac, found a nice sounding change then started writing a tune based on that. This was all done fairly spontaneously.

    I don't have too much time to practice during the week atm. I try for 30 minutes daily but that often becomes an hour then some days I don't practise as I'm fixing up a house during the day then teach guitar in the evening.

    I'm planning to busk and practice more over the summer. Hopefully from next September I'll have much more time to practise (fingers crossed).

    TYIA

    Looking forward to your suggestions.

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  3. #2

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    Hey let's form a Skype or FaceTime regular group and compare notes. I have lots of ideas but learning solo guitar is far from linear and so many layers go into it. It's much more fun and time efficient, not to say insightful, to share ideas, questions and answers with one another.
    I will say I'm in almost daily touch with a really good solo guitar player and we have these discussions regularly and they're much deeper than can be put into a post, but it's life changing.

    Any others who'd like to form a live real time discussion/experimentation group on some kind of basis?

  4. #3

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    Quote Originally Posted by Liarspoker
    I almost exclusively play solo fingerstyle guitar, mainly pop, folk, classical and a bit of jazz.

    During the summer I do well busking these tunes however I want to write more original stuff and learn to improvise better.

    To this extend I have made up the following list (in no particular order) of things to practice.

    * Learn more jazz tunes
    * Goodrick books (almanacs, TAG and CCHG)
    * Tim Lerch style improv
    * Bach Chorales
    * The Mortensen baroque improv book
    * Ear training
    * Barry Green solo guitar book
    * Howard Morgan chord melody book
    * Martin Taylor beyond chord melody book and walking bass book
    * Ted Greene MCP book
    * Leavitt solo pieces
    * Write original stuff
    * Keep up classical guitar

    What I want to ask is how would you organise practicing this stuff?
    First, let me say I love all the players and resources in your list.

    My suggestion would be to copy that list - to a digital document or real paper, pick no more than three resources to work on now (really, given 30-60 minutes a day to practice, I’d pick one), then put the list away in a drawer (or folder) and get to work.

    Work on the three, or one, resources you chose. Set a date in your calendar for a month, three months, a year, etc. to pull out the list and re-evaluate.

    What criteria should you use to choose what to work in right now? Maybe whatever seems most interesting, maybe what you think you can best incorporate into your current style and repertoire, maybe something adjacent to a skill you’re already pretty good at.

    I think limiting your work in progress is an important component in making substantial and lasting improvements, and evidence exists to support that idea.

    Have fun!

  5. #4

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    Quote Originally Posted by maxsmith

    Work on the three, or one, resources you chose. Set a date in your calendar for a month, three months, a year, etc. to pull out the list and re-evaluate.



    Have fun!
    SUCH great advice!
    I would listen to a wide range of solo guitar, learn a simple arrangement, and "stake out your own territory" where you can play a piece or pieces by rote, study the relationships of the chords to the melody and start to extrapolate the relationship of the harmony, melody and fingerboard.
    The books you list address many levels of ability and I think it's better to have your own core idea of how it works, then add to that framework.
    There are layers to being a good improvisor, a good arranger, a smooth convincing player, an interesting composer on the fly if you want.

    Do you want to be able to create arrangements on the fly by ear? Or are you looking to create written arrangements or something in between?
    Really develop your ear and be able to find melodies by ear all over the guitar. Once you have that ability, by using triad voicings (inversions!), you can learn the relationships of diatonic harmony, root position and melody. That's when a book can really help you move on and delve deeper.

    If you depend on a book as a primary source (as opposed to learning by ear and eye), my experience is it doesn't go as clearly or personally as if you have a healthy dose of your own 'way' and if you're able to find a teacher who has a similar end vision that you have. Books complement or answer questions, personal motivation is immensely rewarding.

    Do you, by any chance, have the Mike Eliot books? I didn't see them on your list. They really helped me by providing some great hip miniature arrangements on everything from Beatles to show tune standards with chord grid voicings. If you don't have them and you're interested, PM me and I'll send you the PDF.s

  6. #5

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    How could I forget! I also have Ben Monder's Mike's Masterclass workshop which I hadn't included in the list.

    Over the summer I play out a lot and it would be great if I could improvise nice intros and within the tune. I had started this last summer with varying degrees of success (hence the need for improvement).

    My students know that I'm a big advocate for ear training so I can do that during my lessons plus I make a little money transcribing so that's that box ticked.

    Obviously coming up to summer I want to practice my repertoire and learn new tunes.

    I'll keep on writing my own stuff to which I can play live too

    For the improvising side of things I'll keep working through the Mortensen book which I think is great. I can use spread triads here which also nice covers some basic Goodrick/Monder stuff.

    I've made a good start on what I call my Tim Lerch improvisation so I'll keep going with that as well.

    Day 1 today. Can't wait to get stuck in.

    Solo Guitar Practise Discussion-img_20210712_111817-jpg

  7. #6

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    I go through periods of practicing solo playing, and I've found the old, plain Joe Pass books to be great. They are not as provoking, modern, or opening new directions as most of the stuff on your list (which are all great!), .. but they are practical, and they solve the problem of how to actually play that stuff..

    Meaning that Pass spent most of his career playing solo, and it's a great resource to go through. His ideas are endless. He kind of takes the principals, and gives them a good run through.

    For 30-60 minutes a day, I would probably spent 15-20 on a book, working on an idea, and then go through tunes with this idea. My main thing would be building the repertoire, and trying out approaches. You want to reach the point where you're able to use the concepts you work on over any tune, as long as you know how the melody goes.

  8. #7

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    Thanks for the list ... I have a pile of chord solo books that I've hardly scratched at ... Joe Pass, Martin Taylor, and others

    So of course I just ordered one of the Martin Taylor books you listed to add to my pile.

    I'm trying get my solo jazz guitar thing started back up ...

    but I've been busy lately playing bass with a busy band rather than my guitar so I I'm juggling two music projects.


  9. #8

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    Just worked my way through the Martin Taylor Walking Bassline book.

    That was fun, one of the few books I've actually finished ...well, almost finished. I'm still trying to get the final tunes at the end under my fingers.

    I have a walking bassline book that has been in my library for years and I never got very far with it. The Martin Taylor book made it clear why the other book wasn't working for me. The Martin Taylor bass lines are excellent, fun and sound great. The bass lines in that other book are boring.


    Just ordered the Beyond Chord Melody book. Looking forward to that.


  10. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bluedawg
    Just ordered the Beyond Chord Melody book. Looking forward to that.

    Let me know when you get the book. Would be fun if we picked a tune and worked through it together

  11. #10

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    Jonathan Kreisberg has excellent material in his online courses on how to develop better solo guitar skills. He talks about how to play standards with just bass and melody, you still need to make the melody swing. And then when you can do that you add chords. I found it very helpful for my solo guitar playing.

    Jonathan Kreisberg - Polyrhythmic Guitar Lesson (1) - My Music Masterclass

  12. #11

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    Not to hijack the thread, but here's a related question:

    Does anyone know of a TAB book for a beginner (at jazz) player, with nothing but songs in it? Rather than a technique book, or a fake book, one that actually gives the note-for-note arrangements (easy ones) for someone just starting to play jazz? I have plenty of songbooks, and I could just play those, working through them myself (figuring out my own arrangements), but it would be nice to have a "road map" of the notes themselves, so I could get those voicings and patterns and leading notes under my fingers, using a melody I already know.

    Just a hypothetical example: "Don't Know Why" by Norah Jones. I would to be able to sit down with a TAB solo guitar notation of that song, because it'll give me something I already know, to PLAY ... I wouldn't have to take a piano book and "figure something out" (my own arrangement). That would come in time, but some TABs at first would be helpful for a rank beginner (I've been playing 36 years, and have loved jazz for many many years, but always had a problem trying to learn most arrangements, because they are more advanced than my current level at jazz).

    I find stuff like this online, even on this jazz guitar page (in the lessons section), but "Autumn Leaves" isn't a song I know by heart (believe it or not), where if I had "Don't Know Why", "A Nightingale Sang In Berkely Square", "Route 66", "Stardust", Let's Call the Whole Thing Off"- I already know those songs, I can play them in my head...

    Sorry for the long-winded post, sometimes I can't be concise when trying to describe stuff.

  13. #12

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    Quote Originally Posted by ruger9
    Not to hijack the thread, but here's a related question:

    Does anyone know of a TAB book for a beginner (at jazz) player, with nothing but songs in it? .
    Does it have to be TAB? Without going into the merits/dangers of TAB, I have very nice sets of different books that are based on melody lines on standard notation with hip chord blocks. I've found them to be much more useful and closer to my own visualization of the tunes in real time.
    Mike Eliot's books come to mind.
    Or is that not what you're looking for?
    Solo Guitar Practise Discussion-screen-shot-2022-04-09-8-18-51-am-png
    Does it have to be TAB?
    Howard Morgan has a large number of offerings that you might find can give you nice arrangements if you put in a little work.

  14. #13

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    Yes, TAB. I can read music, but I am very slow at it. I literally still have to do "Every Good Boy Does Fine" and "F-A-C-E" when looking at sheet music, so it's not really a viable option for me. My idea is, with TAB, is to get a dozen or so songs "under my belt", which will familiarize me with the whole chord melody thing... learning by playing it rather than by technique studies. I've tried to do chord melody lessons, but I seem to learn better by actually playing the songs. I've LISTENED to a ton of chord melody over the years, but for some reason, when I sit down to try do arrange a song myself, I never get anywhere. I can play the chords, I can play the melody, but putting them together is a roadblock for me, for some reason.

    On the lessons part of this website, there is a beginner chord melody for "Don't Get Around Much Anymore", which is exactly what I'm looking for, but in book form (or printable from a website). I know there are alot of "jazz chord melody songbooks" out there, but usually I do not know most of the songs (I listen to jazz, but I can't, for example, play Summertime in my head, I haven't heard it enough times), whereas Stompin' At The Savoy I have been listening to since I was a baby, thanks to my parents. Or some popular music would be good as well- Norah Jones is a great example. If there was a "Norah Jones Chord melody" book, I'd buy it.

  15. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jimmy blue note
    Does it have to be TAB? Without going into the merits/dangers of TAB, I have very nice sets of different books that are based on melody lines on standard notation with hip chord blocks. I've found them to be much more useful and closer to my own visualization of the tunes in real time.
    Mike Eliot's books come to mind.
    Or is that not what you're looking for?
    Solo Guitar Practise Discussion-screen-shot-2022-04-09-8-18-51-am-png
    Does it have to be TAB?
    Howard Morgan has a large number of offerings that you might find can give you nice arrangements if you put in a little work.
    Those Mike Elliot books are quite good. However, he uses some real finger stretcher chords similar to Johnny Smith. That can be good since such situations can challenge you to find more comfortable voicings on your own, which adds another layer to the learning. The Mike Elliot books are actually a part of a larger series that includes:

    - A series of three books by Pat McKee called "Jazz Harmonies: The System", which provides a complete systematic vocabulary of chords, which is a useful prep for the chord melody books.
    - A two book series by Mike Elliot called "Contemporary Chord Solos", which are the books being discussed by some posters in this thread.
    - A two book series by Len Braunling called "Contemporary Chord Solos", which are number books 3 and 4 as a part of the book set by Mike Elliot, so there are actually 4 books in the "Contemporary Chord Solos" series, not just 2.

    The Mike Elliot books focus mainly on standards, with one newer tune "Yesterday" by the Beatles. The Len Braunling books contain all newer tunes from the 70s, showing how to apply the chord melody system established in Mike Elliot's books to more modern pop tunes.

    I don't know if folks realize that the Mike Elliot books are only a part of a larger, more complete chord melody system, but hopefully this post will reveal that. By themselves, the Mike Elliot books are good, but with the entire set, you have a systematic approach to chord melody. Unfortunately, these books are all out of print, even the Mike Elliot books. You can probably find them used on Ebay, Amazon, or ABE Books from time to time. They were only about $6 each when I bought them years ago, but I suppose people these days will "scalp" them for exorbitant prices, as happens with anything considered "rare" or "vintage". That is unfortunate. These are the kind of books to keep in your library to go back into from time to time, rather than skimming once and being done with them.

    If these books are unavailable, I would suggest Robert Conti, since in some ways, his approach is similar but the presentation is taught via videos (DVDs) and books, making things immediately clear and easy to comprehend and apply. Conti provides "Assembly Line", which performs a similar function to the Pat McKee books while introducing the chord melody concepts that the later books by Mike Elliot and Len Braunling cover. Then Conti has "The Formula" which provides a means of generating endlessly new harmony under the melody, which goes beyond what Mike Elliot and Len Braunling cover. Here are the links:

    Chord Melody Assembly Line • RobertConti.com
    The Formula • RobertConti.com
    Intros, Endings, Turnarounds • RobertConti.com

    Chord melody arrangement collections:

    Just Jazz Guitar Chord Melodies • RobertConti.com
    Play Pro Chord Melody Today Archives • RobertConti.com
    https://www.robertconti.com/signatur...-arrangements/

    Tony

  16. #15

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    No no- TAB. Guitar tablature. I know it's very "un-jazz", lol...

    Like this (from this site):

    Don't Get Around Much Anymore (Jazz Guitar Chord Melody)