I want to play like this guy, how do I do it?

[ragman1]

I cannot find any contact details other than his youtube channel which appears to have a south African phone number in the description.

From the UK: 00 27 07 33 77 57 41

From the US: 011 27 07 33 77 57 41

The forum time says 17 49. South Africa's only 1 hour ahead. Do it NOW!

[padraig]

From the UK: 00 27 07 33 77 57 41

From the US: 011 27 07 33 77 57 41

The forum time says 17 49. South Africa's only 1 hour ahead. Do it NOW!

Yeh this all got a bit weird didn't it. Nevermind.

Thanks for the help people who tried to help.

[pamosmusic]

Broadly speaking, with respect to playing that kind of chord solo ...

I was looking to see if Allan had recommended this one, but I bought this one when he was posting about it and it's a very good book for the chord soloing kind of thing generally.

It's geared toward swing guitar (the kind of thing Jonathan Stout is doing above)but this rhythmic style and that of Les Paul and others probably has more to do with that kind of style than from the bebop sort of thing or the 6th diminished stuff. Though also the strategies in the book could be used for the 6th diminished stuff with a little creativity. Which is also very fun.

Early Jazz Guitar Chord Soloing - GuitarVivo

If you’re not looking for stylistic stuff, this is the solution. This will help you do something like what’s in the video.

Great book. Good luck Godspeed.

[starjasmine]

There's nothing wrong with trying to emulate any player who appeals to you. If you want to copy Mouton's playing, go ahead and do it.

I always read, I cannot just sit down and "improvise" and never try. If I do "improvise" melodies I'm simply using the chords from whatever tune is on the music stand in front of me and play an improvised melody against the accompaniment.

If you are saying that you have never studied harmony/theory, perhaps that would help. Not every great improviser uses theory, but many of them do. It helps you to understand WHY certain notes are on the page and WHY they sound good or bad. It's a way to create a mental model that connects notes on paper to sound in your ears - whether in your "mind's ear" or real-time listening/playing.

As I mentioned in another post, studying harmony in conjunction with ear training (i.e. not only knowing how to read or spell a chord but what it sounds like) will teach your ear to "just know" that a certain sound is a major third, or a 13th chord, and so on. There's no thinking involved. It's like seeing a color or tasting something. You immediately know that you see green or that you taste something sweet. You're not saying "hmm thats a mix of blue and yellow, so it must be green."

More to the point, you'll be able to hear exactly what Mouton is doing and figure it out for yourself with far less trial and error. Additionally, you'll be able to modify it, rearrange it, do whatever you like with it.

Additionally, your improvisation will no longer be constrained by the chords on the page but can be whatever you imagine in your "mind's ear," for example, substituting chords that are more interesting than what's on the page.

Gaining this skillset requires serious daily effort over a period of years. But if you want some quick rule-based shortcuts, search the forum for threads on improvisation. An example of one such rule would be that you can always extend any chord; for exmple, if the music says C7, you can use C9, or C7#11, or C13 in its place. And you can yse those chords as the basis for your improvisations, as well. Let your ear be your guide: if something sounds good, do it. If not, don't.

[brent.h]

Hi padraig, I hope this answers your questions.

He seems to be playing the guitar in the same way I approach music on keyboard instruments. You may think it's boring or "vanilla" or doesn't sound particularly modern, but that's fine, it's close to the style I'm trying to achieve.

Yup, he's sticking close to the melody or playing a variation of it. Totally valid way of playing music; trad/hot jazz guys use to do it all the time even before swing and bebop where the solos started deviate quite far from the melody.

He flows, it looks natural, there is none of the awkwardness usually associated with trying to play melody and harmonies at the same time on the guitar. He appears to be using just a few simple chord shapes, mostly on the top 4 strings with some bass notes on the 5th. I don't see him using chord shapes that involve the 6th string much. (By 6th I mean the low E).

By the "awkwardness" I meant the logistics of it.

By natural, you mean the general appearance of his hand/fingers, right? Hand looks relaxed, fingers always seem tilted towards the body of the guitar, and when he needs to move, he moves but only very slightly. Doesn't seem to playing anything too difficult.

He's reading I think, in several of the videos he appears to be referring to an arrangement or a score. Which would suggest he's fluent in being able to read and find everything he needs under his hand, in the same way we would play a keyboard instrument.

He's not reading that, he's likely got the melody memorized and he's glancing at the chords. This is pretty standard guitar player reading. we are illiterate and rely on a combination of rote memorization and ear training. I don't think he looks up enough to be reading staff notation. People playing from sheet music typically have their eyes glued to the page.

I don't think he's reading or sight-reading. You can get pretty ok on the guitar/fretboard without reading and especially if you have memorised the basic shapes that he seems to be using. The guitar is an isomorphic instrument; you can reproduce the sounds in different keys at different spots with the same shape or fingering because the shape = fixed interval.

He is probably looking at a chord chart as Allan mentioned.

What are those chord shapes he appears to be relying heavily on, he comes back to very similar shapes in almost every bar?
I notice that it "sits" well under the hand. He rarely has to stretch and for the most part he is able to find everything he needs whilst keeping his left hand in a relaxed 1 finger per fret type frame. When he does have to shift positions he's rarely having to move far.

I was asking if someone could identify the chord shapes he's using because there seems to be some "formula" or system to it. He is using very similar shapes and using them often, it seems like he has a small group of familiar chord shapes and he's able to manage quite well with them. It's fine, I can sit and work them out myself, will take me a while but I can do it. I was just wondering if somebody here would be able to look at his playing and say "ah yes, this is how he's approaching it...." or even better, here are some other players who use the same approach and here's a book that used to be popular where this kind of thing was recommended.

My point was this guy in the video seems to have a better way of doing it than mine and it's also different from a lot of other approaches that we see, which often sound a bit clunky and don't flow particularly well. Yes he is mostly following the melody more or less as it would be written on a lead sheet but he is also getting plenty of harmony in there too and it seems to be right under his fingers all the time. He isn't reaching or shifting. In fact his chords all appear to be very close together and he keeps going back to the same few shapes again and again. He is actually playing quite pianistically, with the minimum of movement and with good voice leading.

He is using many two-note chords. Sounds like he is playing a combination of thirds and fourths. Very comfortable for guitar players because they are not stretchy at all. Barney Kessel, a jazz guitarist, loves using 3rds in parallel motion. Here's a musician explaining Barney's simple but effective technique:

Question is..... which textbook and where can I find it!?

Nothing wrong with a method book, and this is just my opinion, but I think it's better if you tried to figure it out by ear? It'll help you understand the guitar even more. Here's a tip for a start: thirds and fourths are played on adjacent strings. The guy in the video as you correctly pointed out is focusing a lot of his playing on the higher string sets (strings 1&2, or 2&3.)

But what chords is he playing in the video? That's all I asked.

It's not that the forum members are opposed to helping you or are being obtuse, but I kinda understand where they are coming from. You are asking a simple 'What' question that has a simple answer. Unfortunately, if/when this answer is given away too easily, you now have one less chance to practise using your ears to determine the chord/interval the guitarist was playing in the video. I do, however, sense your frustration - so I'm giving you the answer: mostly 2-note chords whose intervals that are either a minor third, major third, or perfect fourth.

The members here have written quite long responses because they recognise the simplicity/innocence of your question but would like re-orient your attention towards more seasoned players of this style who play in the jazz idiom and more fundamental things like 'How' to analyse/listen to this sort of playing and 'How' to navigate the fretboard/mechanics. I think there's some merit to some of their advice and observations. They're more 'teach a man to fish' instead of 'give a man a fish'.

edit: also, try to identify (without looking at the guitarist) what is it in the guitarist's playing that is so pleasant aurally? Below is the guitar file without the backing track. What is it? Is it just the simple chords? Or something else? Perhaps the rhythm, maybe? If it's the rhythm, then perhaps jazz is for you after all.

[grahambop]

Well I had nothing to do this afternoon, so I figured out the main chords the guy uses, let the OP make of it what he will. Of course it would be better if he did it himself, but I haven't really got the impression from everything he's said that he has enough guitar chord knowledge or theory to do it. Apologies if that's not the case.

A couple of points - the guy in the video sometimes just plays the melody on the top 2 strings (as has been pointed out) e.g. xxxx77 (to harmonise a high B note), and although it sometimes looks like he is fingering the 5th string, you can hardly hear any note on that string. So either he's barely fretting it, or his picking technique is missing the string. (He does use it occasionally).

Anyway this is what I got:

G6 xx545x (then he adds an F# on the first string)
F#7 xx435x
D xx7775
Ddim xx6767
C#7 x4342x
Cdim (or B7b9) xx4545
C#7 x4342x
A6 xx767x
then shifts it down to
A9 xx545x

plays some melody etc. then

B7b9 xx7878
B xxx877
B7 xxx875
C9 xx878x
B9 xx767x
G6 xx545x
G xx543x
D6 x5443x

[AllanAllen]

This guy has a video with grips and a neat little 48 bar exercise that takes you around the 12 keys.

Might help the OP. If you like this, it’s similar to the stuff in the early Jazz chord melody book Peter suggested. Which I also recommend.

[grahambop]

Here’s Jonathan Stout doing some great chord solo stuff on it.

[ragman1]

Note also that the Merle Travis style uses the left thumb on the fretboard a lot whereas Mouton doesn't. Jonathon Stout doesn't either.

[padraig]

Well I had nothing to do this afternoon, so I figured out the main chords the guy uses, let the OP make of it what he will. Of course it would be better if he did it himself, but I haven't really got the impression from everything he's said that he has enough guitar chord knowledge or theory to do it. Apologies if that's not the case.

A couple of points - the guy in the video sometimes just plays the melody on the top 2 strings (as has been pointed out) e.g. xxxx77 (to harmonise a high B note), and although it sometimes looks like he is fingering the 5th string, you can hardly hear any note on that string. So either he's barely fretting it, or his picking technique is missing the string. (He does use it occasionally).

Anyway this is what I got:

G6 xx545x (then he adds an F# on the first string)
F#7 xx435x
D xx7775
Ddim xx6767
C#7 x4342x
Cdim (or B7b9) xx4545
C#7 x4342x
A6 xx767x
then shifts it down to
A9 xx545x

plays some melody etc. then

B7b9 xx7878
B xxx877
B7 xxx875
C9 xx878x
B9 xx767x
G6 xx545x
G xx543x
D6 x5443x

This is what I was looking for, thank you. This is more or less what I thought, all the chords on the top three or four strings, keeping them very close together, all falls nicely under the fingers, very little movement between them, utilising the same few familiar shapes to good effect. This is similar to how we would approach harmonising a tune at the piano. On a piano we would be thinking about keeping all the chords straddling the A below middle C and we would use whichever inversion was closest to the chord we're coming from. Of which there are only 4 choices by the way, not three thousand and twelvty seven different options or whatever there is on the guitar.

Thank you for this, I appreciate it. Now to think about how to apply a similar approach to all tunes.

[ragman1]

Thank you for this, I appreciate it.

You realise we need to hear you play this now, right?

[pauln]

[AllanAllen]

You realise we need to hear you play this now, right?

Patience, grahmbop just gave him the fish. He needs time to re-invent the wheel.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

Patience, grahmbop just gave him the fish. He needs time to re-invent the wheel.

Oh baby - you sure know how to mix metaphors!

[AllanAllen]

It's getting to be a hobby with me.

[ragman1]

Patience, grahmbop just gave him the fish. He needs time to re-invent the wheel.

Graham gave him the fish but it's the sauce that makes the dish

[brent.h]

lol dad joke energy

[grahambop]

just the fish, no scales.

[ragman1]

just the fish, no scales.

Well, first of all, thanks for doing the chords, it got me off the hook! To be honest I started, and it's not that hard, but I realised that he's basically using the shapes as background to the melody and running a lot of lines over them.

It's the melody that comes out far more than the chords. But he's still going to have to work out how to strum the whole thing so it all works together and I'm pretty sure I couldn't give him that. Some of those chords are a bit off anyway.

But he got what he wanted so well done. Good job

.

[grahambop]

I like that run down from B7b9 in the second bit, it’s neat. Shows you can do a lot just with 3-note chords.

[benhatchins]

He is awesome! Developing that kind of skill takes time, but every step along the way is rewarding. It’s not just about replicating someone else’s style, but finding your own voice too. I often play while streaming music on spotify spotify.pissedconsumer.com/review.html, which helps me study phrasing and rhythm in a natural way. It feels like having a virtual teacher guiding me through.

[Kenn]

That's an interesting approach!

[LanBaul]

He’s using compact jazz shapes and bass notes. Joe Pass style chord melody is similar