The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary

View Poll Results: How do you get inspiration to compose / write

Voters
84. You may not vote on this poll
  • During noodling session

    11 13.10%
  • Playing scales

    0 0%
  • Chord comping

    6 7.14%
  • Hearing another music snippet as inspiration

    4 4.76%
  • Just sit down to write

    14 16.67%
  • Wake with a few bars in the head

    8 9.52%
  • All most of the above

    41 48.81%
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  1. #51

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    Supposedly guitarist Chuck Wayne wrote Solar. His title was Sonny. Dig by Miles Davis is basically the same tune as Donna recorded by Jackie McLean shortly thereafter. Jackie played on Dig as well.
    George Harrison got caught up in a well publicized plagiarism suit over My Sweet Lord. Was supposed to be the same as
    He's So Fine. But John Lennon did a tune from around the same era on an album with Yoko I think called something like God Is a Concept that was about the same as Love Letters Straight From My Heart by Ketty Lester. It even used, note for note, the distinctive (and great) piano intro from that song.
    Last edited by mrcee; 03-03-2015 at 02:07 PM.

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  3. #52

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    Yes! Chuck Wayne - Solar!

  4. #53

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    》 Liner notes list Davis as writer of all compositions [on Kind of Blue], but many scholars and fans believe that Bill Evans wrote part or the whole of "Blue in Green" and "Flamenco Sketches".[11] Bill Evans assumed co-credit with Davis for "Blue in Green" when recording it on his Portrait in Jazz album. The Davis estate acknowledged Evans' authorship in 2002.[12] The practice of a band leader's appropriating authorship of a song written by a sideman occurred frequently in the jazz world, as legendary saxophonist Charlie Parker did so to Davis when Parker took a songwriting credit for the tune "Donna Lee", written by Davis while employed as a sideman in Charlie Parker's quintet in the late 1940s.[13] The composition later became a popular jazz standard. Another example is the introduction to "So What", attributed to Gil Evans, which is closely based on the opening measures of French composer Claude Debussy's Voiles (1910), the second prelude from his first collection of preludes.

    Wikipedia

  5. #54

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    Yes. Evans has said he wrote blue in green. Miles had a runaway proclivity towards stealing songs, only corrected in the 2nd Quintet band with Shorter and Hancock. I tend to doubt anything Miles took credit for.

  6. #55

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    Eddie Cleanhead Vinson wrote Four and TUNE UP. That's the tune I meant instead of Solar.
    http://peterspitzer.blogspot.com/201...itten.html?m=1

  7. #56

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    Donna Lee was then written by Miles Davis

  8. #57

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    I seriously doubt it, but anything is possible. Did you read the article?

  9. #58

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    Just now yes

  10. #59

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    Quote Originally Posted by henryrobinett
    Eddie Cleanhead Vinson wrote Four and TUNE UP. That's the tune I meant instead of Solar.
    Peter Spitzer Music Blog: Tunes Miles May Not Have Written
    Speaking of Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, I used to hear this recording of his on a radio show years and years ago. It often kicked off the DJ's "Blues Hour"


    Last edited by MarkRhodes; 02-07-2020 at 12:06 PM.

  11. #60

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    Such an interesting thread! Nice to see everyone's different approaches. As a guitarist, I compose pretty much entirely at the keyboard, so my compositions don't sound like a bunch of guitaristic cliches.


    I compose in pretty much every style (pop, rock, film score, blah blah, etc) but MY main focus has been the fusion genre.


    Anyway, I try and write as a composer who will have others play his music, then as a guitarist, I try and play the tunes as if I were hired by that composer.


    I also play bass so I can keep the parts playable and yet challenging.


    Being a drummer as well, helps my perspective on writing drum or perc parts.


    It depends on the moment, but I'll usually just sit down and go for a vibe and see where it leads. Sometimes harmonic content is sketched out first, other times an idea for a drum groove. A particular take on the genre may catch my interest and I'll challenge myself to write in that direction.


    Here are some of my compositions, if anyone is interested.


    I've gone back and re-tracked ALL of my guitar parts on several previously released compositions of mine, "Give it Time", "Beast of Burton", "One", "Mulder's Search", "From Nothing", "S'Corea" and "Tito's Time" with my new Carvin HH2! I primarily did it for my buddy Cirque du Soleil drummer, Andre Boyd? to use in his drum clinics. PLUS I wanted to feature my new Carvin HH2.


    I can fill you in on the process if interested.

  12. #61

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    Interesting interview with Lage Lund:

    You mentioned previously that you compose at the piano. Is this still the case and was it always that way?

    LL: When I started music at age thirteen, it was on the guitar. I didn’t really start playing piano until high school and college. I can play some chords and stuff but I can’t really “play” piano. I think at some point I just found it easier to write on piano. The guitar can be too familiar sometimes. I might play a chord on guitar and get bored immediately. On the piano, I can play the exact same voicing but I might visualize the next step in a way that I wouldn’t see on the guitar. Because I’m less familiar with piano, it sparks my curiosity more as to what harmonic or melodic changes I might make. I also like to write away from instruments, so I’m not writing something only because it’s coming from my fingers. But, I’m trying to write more on guitar because I might write something away from it but need to figure out how to apply it to the guitar. The whole process is sort of abstract. It’s like I’m hearing something and I’m just trying to uncover it. It’s devoid of any method. It’s hard for me to devote time to it, particularly now with a family. Often, when I’m on the road and have some hours in a hotel, I’ll devote some time to it but it’s not like I always have a set aside time for it.

    Lage Lund Speaks: Influence, Family, and the ?Post-Racial? Myth | Jazz Speaks


  13. #62

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    Songwriting Strategies: A 360 Degree Approach

    Write songs starting from any direction: melody, lyric, harmony, rhythm, or idea. This book will help you expand your range and flexibility as a songwriter. Discussions, hands-on exercises, and notated examples will help you hone your craft. This creatively liberating approach supports the overall integrity of emotion and meaning in your songs. It will help you become more productive, versatile, and innovative in your songwriting. You will learn to: * Discover more ideas for songs song seeds and capture them in their most powerful and usable form * Overcome writer's block by having many more pathways through the writing process * Develop strong song structures by working independently with melody, lyrics, harmony, and rhythm * Write songs more easily, guided by your well-tuned "songwriter's compass"

    Some of you might find this book from Berklee Press interesting.
    Last edited by Jonzo; 08-01-2015 at 10:48 AM.

  14. #63

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    OMG, there are so many possibilities:

    Pseudo-random generated note sequences.
    Plagerism is quite good, but you have to chip away at it until it becomes a new original, or face the consequence.
    Singing helps.
    Lots of theory / other theories.
    Start from a difficult place and try to find a good solution - eg start with the most horrible sounding chord you can imagine.
    Last edited by czardas; 08-05-2015 at 05:15 PM.

  15. #64

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    Quote Originally Posted by czardas
    Start from a difficult place and try to find a good solution - eg start with the most horrible sounding chord you can imagine.
    The 'A Hard Day's Night' opening chord | The Beatles Bible

    I don't think the opening chord was added until after the rest of the song was written, but it's an unusual and effective start to a song none the less.

  16. #65

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    Although I haven't written any songs, I do all my own arrangements. They are always the result of "noodling" (doodling in my world) and result from playing with the melody and, subsequently, the chord changes as written. Once I've "learned" the written music, I don't begin with the idea that an Abdim7 would sound good as a chord substitution here, but rather allow the melody to dictate the sound to MY ears and create the new harmonic complement. It is a very personal process and the arrangements continue to morph as I change as a musician. I never write the music in the form of a cheat sheet, but rather with the chord-melody in notation. Good playing . . . Marinero

  17. #66

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    I’m a formalist poet, so I start by loosely writing down lines, modifying words for rhythm. Meter and sound. When the words are right a lot of the musical structure is in place, so it’s working on the melody, refining the lines, then figuring out the chords I want to use. Mostly it’s in my head, but at some point I sit down at the computer and listen to beats.

    My biggest problem is - when I’m done with the melody - I always get the feeling I’ve ‘heard that tune before’ lol. One of the problems of being old - everything sounds familiar.
    Last edited by Rfalcon; 02-07-2020 at 11:44 AM. Reason: Clarity

  18. #67

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rfalcon
    I’m a formalist poet, so I start by loosely writing down lines, modifying words for rhythm. Meter and sound. When the words are right a lot of the musical structure is in place, so it’s working on the melody, refining the lines, then figuring out the chords I want to use. Mostly it’s in my head, but at some point I sit down at the computer and listen to beats.

    My biggest problem is - when I’m done with the melody - I always get the feeling I’ve ‘heard that tune before’ lol. One of the problems of being old - everything sounds familiar.


    Perhaps, Falcon,
    You're just more honest than most! Good playing . . . Marinero

  19. #68

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    I tend to write music while playing guitar.
    Lyrics can come at any time. It's why I always carry a notepad and pen with me.
    Many of my lyrics start as jokes. (Something funny said or overheard and then finding a place to put it into a song.)

  20. #69

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    I don’t write songs, but my daughter is borderline obsessive. I’ve learned a lot from listening to her.

    She sings everything she would otherwise say. If it sounds lame, she moves on or starts working the line. Trying out different ways of saying it, different melodies, different rhythms. Eventually she has a cool line that she adds to. There is nothing precious or contrived about it. She doesn’t consciously try to make it original or even memorable out of the box. She just sings what’s on her mind and then works it until it sounds right to her.

    I’m told she looks a lot like me, because otherwise I would wonder how she could be mine. ;-) My nickname is “Analysis Parálisis”.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

  21. #70

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    Quote Originally Posted by MarkRhodes
    I tend to write music while playing guitar.
    Lyrics can come at any time. It's why I always carry a notepad and pen with me.
    Many of my lyrics start as jokes. (Something funny said or overheard and then finding a place to put it into a song.)
    I guess I just see it from the opposite direction. IMO, well designed lyrics shape and define the music. I feel music should enhance the lyric - not lyric created to match the music. But I suppose in the right hands, either technique can work.

  22. #71

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    TBH I didn't vote because there wasn't an option that fit me. Yes, I draw upon some of the choices, like noodling or hearing other artists (rarely a "snippet", usually listening to the whole tune), but my inspiration usually comes just in my head.

    Like when I'm driving and I just get an idea, I'll turn off the radio and fledge it out in my head on the way home and tinker with the concept when I can get to my instrument. Sometimes it will just be floating around in the back of my head for days or weeks until the concept becomes more focused and I can muck around with it on the guitar.

    Sometimes I'll hear a song, say to myself "I'd like to write a tune like that". Months later I'll have written something that's my own, yet inspired by another composition. It works well... *sometimes* for me.

    I just can't sit down and force myself to write unless I'm just working on parts for an already laid out song from genuine inspiration.