The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #101

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    Quote Originally Posted by Reg
    Yea I loved Albert... wasn't he a lefty also.
    Yup. He and Otis Rush both played righty guitars upside down without switching the strings, which is a big part of the way their phrasing and vibrato.

    John

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  3. #102

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    Quote Originally Posted by John A.
    Yup. He and Otis Rush both played righty guitars upside down without switching the strings, which is a big part of the way their phrasing and vibrato.

    John
    My late friend Eddy Clearwater did the same. Very different sound on bending (pulling instead of pushing) strings and vibrato.

  4. #103

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    Wow, this topic generated a lot of interest!

    I tend to think of the basic all domininate I IV V 12-bar blues as focused on the guide tones (3rds and 7ths). For dominate chords, all guide tones are tritone (flatted fifth) intervals. To transition from I to IV slide them down a semitone. To transition from I to V slide them up a semitone. It’s a cool sound thats conducive to chromatic melodic ideas that can break out of worn out scales and licks.

    I think most forum members know what I’m talking about, but for those who don’t here’s an example of dominate blues tritones.


    Of course, dominate I IV Vs can get tiresome, so to spice things up you can bring in all the substitutions and turnarounds from the great American songbook and Jazz lexicon, as long as they work with the melody. If melody is King (as in playing heads) the guide tones of whatever chords you’re playing need to make sense for that melody. If the chords are King (as in jamming) the soloist uses those guide tones and the bass line for inspiration.

    That’s about as deep as I go with blues theory. Other than that, I just try to listen and respond.

  5. #104

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    This subject comes up now and again for some reason. Actually there's no reason why treating the 1 chord as a major when it's written as a dominant shouldn't work. The M7 note is heard in the other chords and one sort of expects the 1 chord to be major. In any case it's not usually lingered over. The M7 note isn't generally forced repeatedly over the b7 although actually it could be a little. Also the M7 note of the other two dominants has a direct relation to all the other chords too, like F# over C7 is a #11 and C# over G7 is a b5, etc.

    Personally I think it's probably the technical brain that says 'it's theoretically wrong so it is wrong'. But if one plays it and experiments with it, it works just fine. Nice 'n jazzy :-)

    This isn't that jazzy, but it's very pretty

    Last edited by ragman1; 12-05-2019 at 03:54 PM.

  6. #105

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    If Major 7's played instead of Dom's for tonic and subdominant then what's the difference between jazz blues and standards? Standards are just 32 bar blues forms in that view. Well may be that's a good way of looking at the standards (or the blues). Interesting.
    You can generally substitute Dom for Maj when comping for variety anyway.
    Last edited by Tal_175; 01-02-2020 at 04:30 PM.

  7. #106
    This thread has taken some interesting twists and turns. Getting back to my original question regarding the Mickey Baker book and his use of maj6 chords for the I-chord. It is now clear to me. Thanks to all, especially to Rob McKillop and Christian Miller .

    Swing era Blues was typically played using a maj6 on the I-chord and a I7 in bar 4. That's it. Mickey Baker mentions it several times, but for some reason it didn't register with me that this wasn't just a Mickey Baker thing. It was the common way of playing Blues.

    About a week ago I had a revelation while taking a shower (where many of my aha! moments occur). If the accompanist plays a maj6 chord and the soloist plays a b7 note together they are playing a dom13 chord. I'm sure this is obvious to just about anybody else, but it wasn't to me. This revelation lead me to understand that a maj6 and a maj7 are not always interchangeable as I've often read.

    Anyway, I got the answer to my question and enjoyed reading this thread.

  8. #107

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    Quote Originally Posted by Tal_175
    If Major 7's played instead of Dom's for tonic and subdominant then what's the difference between jazz blues and standards. Standards are just 32 bar blues forms in that view. Well may be that's a good way of looking at the standards (or the blues). Interesting.
    You can generally substitute Dom for Maj when comping for variety anyway.
    That’s how jazz started isn’t it?—Altering major chords in standards to dominants and encouraging soloists to improvise using blues licks and rhythms in place of the original melody to spice up popular tunes.