"Piano AND guitar? Who will comp?" (Aimee Nolte)

[christianm77]

Absolutely the case Mark, pianists usually don't listen to the guitarist in these situations. They just love it when you tell them that as well :-)

A lot of people do kind of go into autopilot when comping - pianists and guitarists both. These situations show that up!

[zdub]

It is only recently that I first came across Aimee Nolte's videos. Love her stuff, what a great teacher!

[MarkRhodes]

It is only recently that I first came across Aimee Nolte's videos. Love her stuff, what a great teacher!

I like it too. Check YouTube a couple times a week to see if she has something new up. She usually does. I wonder if she ever sleeps...

[Gramps]

I really appreciated her breaking down "God Only Knows" for solo piano. I don't play keys but it still helped me understand the song better. (Great song too!)

[DanOwens]

Attachment 41313
I guess he's playing something like this (top line).

Isn't that a version of the 2-3 inversion of the clavé pattern? Quite appropriate for the Bossa feel (forgive me if I've got my subset of Latin Jazz wrong).

[coolvinny]

Sort of semantics, but if it can be done well it should be done at least at some point throughout the gig. Just like if you have 3 horns that can play together well at the same time it would be a shame to not take advantage of that once or twice in a night. Offer contrast - as I said in my post even if you have multiple comping instruments there should be some points where no one is comping. It just expands the palette you have to work with, which requires an even higher level of musicianship to handle.

The theoretical "3 horns soloing at once" is what I implied by the 5% of the time (100% minus 95%). I also gave a big shout out to Aimee Nolte's comment that comping is optional, i.e. no comping sometimes. Anyway, I don't really give an f about most stuff, especially on the interweb, but mischaracterizing my take on comping is where I draw the line!

[rpjazzguitar]

Isn't that a version of the 2-3 inversion of the clavé pattern? Quite appropriate for the Bossa feel (forgive me if I've got my subset of Latin Jazz wrong).

It works as a comping pattern, but it's not 2-3 son clave one TWO THREE four ONO two-AND three FOUR. Or rhumba clave (last note an eighth later). If it's some other kind of standard clave, hopefully someone will explain it.

That particular engraving is hard to read. I had to rewrite it to make sure I had the rhythm. It's easier to play if you show a note on each beat. So, for example, I broke the first note into an eighth tied to a sixteenth and beamed the 16th to a dotted 8th. That way, you always see a note when your foot is hitting the floor. Makes it easier to read.

[charleyrich99]

I don't mean to be a rude to comment without watching the video, but Gary Burton has interesting comments about piano, vibes, and guitar all comping together and sounding great, if they are listening well.

Do you have the link to that Burton talk? I searched and didn't find it. Thanks.