The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    Let's say you're playing blue moon and the feel you're after is something similar to Billie's upbeat version here:


    What would you do to keep it interesting? The majority of the song is just I VI II V repeated, and I feel like it gets a bit stale. Any tips or recommendations for keeping it interesting as the only instrument?

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  3. #2

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    Quote Originally Posted by Gmo
    Let's say you're playing blue moon and the feel you're after is something similar to Billie's upbeat version here:


    What would you do to keep it interesting? The majority of the song is just I VI II V repeated, and I feel like it gets a bit stale. Any tips or recommendations for keeping it interesting as the only instrument?
    Good Question. I think I'd have to play the guitar to answer your question and that's not an option right now.

    There are many things on turnarounds I do unconcsiously, but I think I am always aware of the bass line and the top note of my voicings.

    Bass line stuff

    Chromatic:

    C C#o7 | Dm7 G7 | Em7 Eb7 | Dm7 Db7
    C A7 | Dm/A Abo7 | C/G A7 | Dm7 G7

    - that type of thing....

    But there's a lot more than that....That's pretty vanilla stuff....

  4. #3

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    Also, what do they do on the record? That's my first question normally.

  5. #4

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    Lots of options for reharmonizing.

    I'd also suggest thinking about how the chords are played. Strumming Freddie Green style is one way. Playing a bass line while sticking and jabbing chords is another. Arpeggiate instead of strum. Going fingerstyle bass note and chord. Interspersing single note lines instead of chords in the spaces (but keep the time solid!). Changing from swing to some other feel, e.g. bossa, samba, reggae or whatever. Bass notes onlly, as if it were a bassist and vocalist duo. Change octaves. Find an accompaniment which is sort of a chord melody, could be with bass notes, or just on the D and G strings, so it's a countermelody.

    I think that many of us are restricted by rules that are there but unconscious and unexamined. If you can open your imagination and not worry about how it has been done in the past, you can probably generate lots of good ideas that come out of your own guitar style.

  6. #5

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    iii VI ii V - Em7 A7 Dm7 G7 (in C) would be the most obvious choice. One standard set of substitutions in that tune is a series of chromatically descending dominants for bars 5-6: | Bb7 A7 | Ab7 G7 |. Maybe you could provide some relief from the constantly moving bass line by playing a pedal through those changes. Something like:

    Cmaj9/G 3x243x
    A7b9/G 3x232x
    Dm7/G 3x321x
    G7b9 3x310x

  7. #6

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    Another option hinted at in Christian's initial post is a 'Tadd Dameron' turnaround. These would work particularly well for the first or last 'A' section turnarounds where there is no vocal line. The quality of the chords can vary between majors and dominants but this type of turnaround usually involves b5 substitutions to either all or a selection of the vi ii and V chords: C6 Eb7 Ab7 Db7, C6 Ebmaj7 Abmaj7 Dbmaj7 or some kind of a combination, e.g. C6 Eb7 Abmaj7 G7.

  8. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by christianm77
    Also, what do they do on the record? That's my first question normally.
    Well the only thing with that is that they've got a whole little group of instruments, whereas I'm a solo player, so I can't really emulate what they're doing.

  9. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by Gmo
    Well the only thing with that is that they've got a whole little group of instruments, whereas I'm a solo player, so I can't really emulate what they're doing.
    You can emulate some of it.

  10. #9

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    Copy the piano as much as you can, he plays some lovely chromatic subs

  11. #10

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    Always bear in mind the melody. Exactly what you play on a turnaround should always be based on the melody.

    For instance play E7 A7 D7 G7 if there is no melody as a last two turnback.

    You can play C/E Ebo7 Dm7 G7 when the tune’s on C

  12. #11

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    Blue moon has lots of repeated notes which makes it easier

    You can group turnarounds by the top voice

    C A7 Dm9 G13(b9) or
    E7 A7 D7 G7
    When the melody is E

    Em7 Eb7 Dm11 G7 when the melody is on G (or even a tadd dameron)

    C6 C#o7 Dm7 G9 when the melody is on A

    Em7 A9 Dm6 G7 when the melody is on B

    And so on. There are loads of possibilities, but thinking melody down rather than chord out. Play the song not the chord chart. When comping the head, substitutions based on the melody not harmonic rules (can be good for improv too.)

    .

  13. #12

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    some nice turnaround voicings from Joe Diorio:

    Attachment 48064

  14. #13

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    Variety in "when you play" is at least as important as it is in "what you play."

  15. #14

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    Structure in variety though. Don’t vary randomly, repeat the subs in the same format on each A, whatever you end up doing, maybe vary on the last A,
    for instance. Think like a composer.

  16. #15

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    The Joe Pass DVD "Solo Jazz Guitar" deals exclusively with the I VI II V progression. Lots of embellishments and chord subs demonstrated and explained.

    Here is a little sample

    Joe Pass - Solo Jazz Guitar Part 2 - Video Dailymotion

  17. #16

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    There are many ways to make a turnaround more interesting but my primary thought here would be to remember what your job with a singer is: to support the singer and make him/her sound good.

    wiz (Howie)

  18. #17
    I'm in no way a professional musician, but maybe instead of trying to find turnarounds or different ways of playing the chords, you could do some sort of Steely Dan type thing where the guitar is doing chords, but they also do frills to keep the song moving. Blue Deacon is a great example, even though it has a more complex structure that Blue Moon, the guitarist will play sweet underlying chords, but also has little single note lines that lead to the next chord. I try this a lot in my style of playing, and usually it will spice up the song.

  19. #18

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    Whatever you do..on the third chorus play

    E7b5/Bb , A7aug , D7b5/Ab , G13

    6x675 5x566 4x453 3x345

    x7778

  20. #19

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    Why not write Bb7b5 instead of E7b5/Bb?

  21. #20

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    I thought rather than write stuff about it I'd just do what I might normally do behind a singer. nothing fancy here but it grooves along pretty nice.


    all the best
    Tim

  22. #21

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    Quote Originally Posted by christianm77
    Why not write Bb7b5 instead of E7b5/Bb?
    I felt that the OP wanted to see something within the diatonic scale and so offered a iii7 made dominant with a b5.
    The tritone would have put him back two steps in reverse engineering the harmonic function.

    To the OP:

    I hope that the really big lesson of the bridge doesn't illude you.

  23. #22

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    Understood.

    Chord symbol notation really is crap isn’t it lol