The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    I am looking for good examples of jazz blues comping to transcribe.

    I hope I can find some songs with just guitar and vocal or two guitars or guitar and bass so that it could be easier for me to hear the guitar as I am a beginner.

    Can you please suggest something for me?

    Thanks so much for your help and for all the great things that I find in this forum.

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    Check out Joe Pass & Ella Fitzgerald recordings on youtube. He has a very bluesy jazz way of comping, even when not playing something specifically jazz blues. And to my ears, he's the best at it.

  4. #3

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    I would suggest to hear a lot of Kenny Burrell and the young George Benson (especially his recordings with baritone sax player Ronnie Cuber, i.e. 'The Geroge Benson Cookbook')

  5. #4

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    Another great album for comping is Julie Is Her Name Vol 1 & 2, with Julie London, Barney Kessel on guitar (and Ray Leatherwood on bass). I forgot about this one, even though it is one of my favorites.

  6. #5

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    Check out Ed Bickert!


  7. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by HighSpeedSpoon
    Another great album for comping is Julie Is Her Name Vol 1 & 2, with Julie London, Barney Kessel on guitar (and Ray Leatherwood on bass). I forgot about this one, even though it is one of my favorites.
    Is that where her version of "I"m In the Mood For Love" comes from? I love her vocal on that, and Barney's playing is stellar.

  8. #7

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    Oh I forgot to mention, for the basics of jazz blues comping, Jim Ferguson's book, All Blues for Jazz Guitar: Comping Styles, Chords & Grooves, is pretty good. It has plenty of basic blues jazz comping examples for you to play through

  9. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by MarkRhodes
    Is that where her version of "I"m In the Mood For Love" comes from? I love her vocal on that, and Barney's playing is stellar.
    There is a version on that album, and it is 2:31 in length - good for radio play in 1955. I'm not aware of other versions by her but there might be.

    To be honest, I think fep's suggestion is probably more in line with what the OP is looking for, but as long as we're on the subject ... If there is any one song for which those albums are noted (Julie is Her Name, Vols 1 & 2), it is probably Cry Me a River. I will only add one more personal favorite of mine: Her rendition of Easy Street. You have probably heard the saying "People hear with their eyes." Julie London is an excellent early example of that!
    Last edited by HighSpeedSpoon; 01-27-2013 at 08:52 PM.

  10. #9

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    Blues progressions in F and Bb are usually taught first. Bb is a great key for guitarists. With the root on the 6th string and in the middle of the guitar, there are no problems with the basic chord voicings, but I always found blues in F problematic. You don't want to play the barre chord F7 - sounds too hokey - and the Bb9 doesn't work so good at the first fret. Also, F7 and F9 (root on 5th string) sound too dominant to me to serve as I chords.

    Here's some nice voicings for F a teacher showed me a while back with a simple, arpeggio based etude. The voicings are nice because except for the turnaround, the highest note on each chord is the F (2nd string, 6th fret). Has sort of a piano pedal feel where you sustain one note through a series of chords.
    Good examples of jazz blues comping?-mondens-blues-f-head-png
    Last edited by kofblz; 01-27-2013 at 09:57 PM.

  11. #10

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    Thanks everyone for all the suggestions! I checked out all of them and find them really helpful. You're awesome! That's why I love this forum - one can learn so much from people here.

    I listened to the Julie London and Barney Kessel album and I liked it a lot. I will surely try to transcribe some songs.

    kofblz, thank you for the etude. That's what I'll be practicing today

    fep, the Don Mock video is amazing. It will take me some time to work through it.
    Last edited by maya; 01-28-2013 at 02:32 PM.

  12. #11

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    @fep

    Just to double-check, did you mean Beyond Basics: Jazz Guitar Rhythm Chops DVD? The DVD has a different cover now, but if this is the correct DVD, then there is an updated companion booklet available from Don Mock here.

  13. #12

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    Any of Thelonious Monk's or Bill Evans' blues tunes will be good to analyse from a comping perspective! Pianists have amazing comping ideas I tend to find

  14. #13

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    Stevie Ray Vaughan "Tin Pan Alley"and "Honey Bee", I know he's not a "jazz" player but if you want to put some blues in your jazz a bunch of his tunes use "jazz blues" progressions and his voicings are on the money, as is his "feel"(for the blues).I must confess Stevie Ray was my original inspiration to play gutar so I am pretty much a fan. Also check out Ed Bickert he is the master.

  15. #14
    Dutchbopper Guest
    I have a few vid examples of the book by Warren Nunes "The Blues" in a Blog entry:

    Dutchbopper: Nostalgia: Warren Nunes - The Blues

    I still like that book.

    Regards,

    Dick

  16. #15

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    I did an example that might help as well. It can be tricky to transcribe chords so written examples can help until you start to hear them in other people's comping.


    Good examples of jazz blues comping?-jazz-blues-comping-png


    It's good to transcribe and you can take the ideas and use the 'chord moves' or tweak them. My example is most approach chords and chord fragments, focusing on making little melodies with the upper notes of the chord.

    I used to just play a chord or various inversions which is okay in some situations but it's nice to play melodic phrases using chords and use a lot of movement in comping.

  17. #16

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    Thanks for the link, but I believe there may be a misprint in the booklet (page 3).

    It looks like to me that the 2nd chord in 4th bar of Example 4 should be:

    7
    7
    6
    5
    X
    5

    The melody note is still the B and the chord is written correctly, an A13. May be wrong but that's what I see and hear.

    Quote Originally Posted by HighSpeedSpoon
    @fep

    Just to double-check, did you mean Beyond Basics: Jazz Guitar Rhythm Chops DVD? The DVD has a different cover now, but if this is the correct DVD, then there is an updated companion booklet available from Don Mock here.
    Last edited by kofblz; 02-05-2013 at 11:31 PM.

  18. #17

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    It might be worth checking out the Sonny Rollins album 'The Bridge' Jim Hall on guitar is the only comping instrument so that would probably have heaps of great ideas.

    Although you mentioned transcribing a great book is Andrew Greens book on comping. No tab though, but if you can read there is a lot of information there.

    Other than that, listen to and transcribe piano players like Wynton Kelly, Bill Evans, Tommy Flanagan...if you are a beginner don't worry too much about the voicings, although if you can figure them out, brilliant, but try and capture the feel and the rhythmic ideas in their playing.

    Hope this helps. All the best.

  19. #18

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    check out anything by freddie green, those 3 note chord voicings are great for navigating the fretboard and are really simple to transcribe

  20. #19

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    Hi Simon, thanks for your recommendations. I have listened to Freddie Green a bit but only with a big band and it's awfully difficult for me to distinguish the guitar chords being played. Can you recommend his recordings in a smaller setting or some where the guitar is clearly heard? Thanks a lot!

  21. #20

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    Well, I would suggest try and listne to as much as possible, but if you want some really good Freddie green chord lessons check out Matt Warnock's site

  22. #21

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    Here's a couple of turnarounds for the last 2 bars of F blues with chromatic movement on the top note. I like the descending one. After the F9 the fingers stay on the same strings - very easy and sounds nice to me. Your mileage may vary.

    Good examples of jazz blues comping?-chromatic-melodic-ascending-f-blues-png

  23. #22

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    Another thing you can do is starting in bar 7 play the F13 ascending line, one chord per measure. Then in bar 11 start the descending line with the F9, 2 chords per measure, instead of playing the F7 like above. Ascend in bars 7-10 and descend in 11 and 12. Sort of a cool thing to do a few times until you get tired of it.

  24. #23

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    Agree with the Freddie Green posts. Check out the site dedicated to the man (The Freddie Green Web Site). Here's a link to very fun and useful examples of rhythm comp styles.

    A Comparative Study of Rhythm Guitar Styles

    Any of these samples are handy, but one of my favorite samples is "G Blues in the Style of Teddy Wilson" which is an homage to Benny Goodman's pianist. Apparently, his playing inspired some cool rhythm comp style.

  25. #24

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    Thought I would post off the Top... sample of some Jazz / Blues comping... Not organized, but if something sounds interesting just ask and I'll go into details etc...

  26. #25

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    Nice playing again Reg-its a pity you dont put some of these or parts as PDF's so us slower guys can get some of the benefit.Cheers
    '