The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    I'm starting this thread to be a place for the discussion of the Modern Method for Guitar supplemental books and a place to post recordings from those books.

    In addition, other material that is at an appropriate level can be introduced and discussed ("other" meaning not the published Modern Method for Guitar material).

    And this can be a place to showcase anything you all want (like that ditty you just wrote last night) and also a place to just chat and socialize. Think of this as the local pub where we hang out.

    Hopefully the Modern Method folks will all join in.

    ___________________

    Here are the supplemental books that I know of:

    Reading Studies
    Melodic Rhythms for Guitar
    A Modern Method for Guitar - Jazz Songbook
    Classical Studies for Pick Style Guitar

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    Good idea!

    About a month ago I hit a complete wall with Modern Method. I got to this point, there were so many things I just couldn't do, I couldn't make any progress counted in page numbers. I spent a good few weeks marking time with the book, and also playing from other books I found. Here's one:


  4. #3

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    Quote Originally Posted by ten left thumbs
    Good idea!

    About a month ago I hit a complete wall with Modern Method. I got to this point, there were so many things I just couldn't do, I couldn't make any progress counted in page numbers. I spent a good few weeks marking time with the book, and also playing from other books I found. Here's one:
    That's nice TTL. I like practicing reading guitar from classical music. It's very satisfying as they are usually very complete and well thought out arrangements. And they sound good.

  5. #4

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    One of the forum members asked about the supplemental book 'A Modern Method For Guitar Jazz Songbook Vol 1. So I bought it and here's my review.

    The book has the music for 15 jazz standards and comes with a CD. Some of the songs have one guitar part and some have two parts notated (duets). Also, each song has chord diagrams between the title and the first stave.

  6. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by ten left thumbs
    Good idea!

    About a month ago I hit a complete wall with Modern Method. I got to this point, there were so many things I just couldn't do, I couldn't make any progress counted in page numbers. I spent a good few weeks marking time with the book, and also playing from other books I found. Here's one:

    Okay, so I'm sitting on the veranda eating a quiet meal, looking out over the water at dusk. Nice, TLT. Quite a switch from "Here We Go Again".

  7. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by fep
    One of the forum members asked about the supplemental book 'A Modern Method For Guitar Jazz Songbook Vol 1. So I bought it and here's my review.

    The book has the music for 15 jazz standards and comes with a CD. Some of the songs have one guitar part and some have two parts notated (duets). Also, each song has chord diagrams between the title and the first stave.

    I recorded the 2nd song of the book on this video. The first half shows me playing the chord diagrams given for the piece and the 2nd half of the video shows me playing the notated part. I'm playing along with a backing track I made with Band-in-a-Box

    This tune could be attempted after you reach about 1/4 of the way through The Modern Method For Guitar Vol. 1

    Sounds good, FEP. I think I could get into this, but time might be a factor.
    We'll see. Hitting the 1/4 mark in MM1 was a feat unto itself. Can't believe we've come that far in such a short time. At the very least, this will be a good thread to drop in and just listen, if nothing else.

  8. #7

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    Here's a jam based around Picking Etude No. 2, P 33, MM1.
    Had no idea what I was doing, other than trying to make practice more interesting. I'm sure there's lots of technical problems with it due to lack of knowledge, but it was fun.

    This could be fun.
    http://www.box.com/s/947uo90vi68k46i4d8do
    Last edited by oldhead; 03-09-2012 at 06:37 PM. Reason: posted wrong file

  9. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by oldhead
    Here's a jam based around Picking Etude No. 2, P 33, MM1.
    Had no idea what I was doing, other than trying to make practice more interesting. I'm sure there's lots of technical problems with it due to lack of knowledge, but it was fun.

    This could be fun.
    Yes, fun indeed. Fun to listen to too. Way to get creative with the exercise.

  10. #9

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    Thanks for the encouragement, oldhead and fep.

    Oldhead, I thought your jam was quite musical and creative! How did you create the backing? This could be a new outlet for us - own jams and compositions based on those in the book.

  11. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by fep

    The piece didn't sound very interesting to me until I added a backing track.
    I should try the same. I have BIAB and a realbook...

  12. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by ten left thumbs
    Thanks for the encouragement, oldhead and fep.

    Oldhead, I thought your jam was quite musical and creative! How did you create the backing? This could be a new outlet for us - own jams and compositions based on those in the book.
    I listened to your guitar above a couple more times. That's really nice.

    Thanks, TLT. I play my guitar direct into a Digitech 155 effects pedal which has drum tracks, so I used that for drums. Also it has an effect for bass, playing your guitar, but it's not a very good bass sound, so I used that for the bass and just played the single notes in the exercise for the bass. Then made the rhythm track (I had two, one with a C9 and one with Cmaj7, but accidentally deleted the better of the two); then a separate track for the exercise part and then made a track for what I loosely call the lead guitar (just noodling by ear - that took a while) Recorded into Audacity. Sounds like BIAB would be a lot simpler, but I had a great time making it and it gives you practice working on your timing by playing all the different tracks.

    Now a question for anybody: I'm working on Autumn Leaves (PDF and backing track from FEP), but having trouble soloing outside the melody. How do you know what notes will fit? I know all the chord notes work, but do you use the notes in the key sig scale or some other scale? I thought it interesting that it has one #, which is what we just finished in MM1. Any BASIC help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
    Last edited by oldhead; 03-11-2012 at 11:29 AM. Reason: add

  13. #12

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    Thanks again, oldhead, I have a few more like that. Must get happy with BIAB, it has it's own learning curve.

    As for Autumn Leaves, sounds like you are playing it in E minor so you could do worse than to solo a G major scale up and down, or look ahead to p.43 and do an E harmonic minor scale. If you can switch between scales and arps it will sound really cool.

  14. #13

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    I recorded the rhythm and melody for Study I today and thought I would share it with the group as part of our supplemental thread. I am practicing from Melodic Rhythms. Hopefully I can put something up once a week maybe.

    I've also been studying from Al Di Meola's Chords, Scales & Arpeggios book. I'm about a month into that book almost finished with Lesson 1. I enjoy both supplemental books.

    There are some rough spots in here for sure. When I added the chords it sure beat playing the melody alone and made it funner. One thing I'm starting to gradually understand is how the space of the measure can be filled so speak with a run off lead part. I've been working on this but my memorization of scales is weak at this point

    Melodic Rhythms Study 1.mp3 - File Shared from Box - Free Online File Storage

    Here is Study 1:

    http://www.box.com/s/5uiou484cfjavg6h75lv
    Last edited by Will Glen; 03-11-2012 at 07:30 PM.

  15. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by ten left thumbs
    Thanks again, oldhead, I have a few more like that. Must get happy with BIAB, it has it's own learning curve.

    As for Autumn Leaves, sounds like you are playing it in E minor so you could do worse than to solo a G major scale up and down, or look ahead to p.43 and do an E harmonic minor scale. If you can switch between scales and arps it will sound really cool.
    If you have one #, how do you know if it's Key of G or E-? Sorry if that sounds like a dumb question. I know E- is relative minor of G, but how do you know you're playing in E- as opposed to G?

  16. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by oldhead
    If you have one #, how do you know if it's Key of G or E-? Sorry if that sounds like a dumb question. I know E- is relative minor of G, but how do you know you're playing in E- as opposed to G?
    You have to memorize a rule: "one note above the last sharp in the key signature is the key will give you the major key, the minor key will be the 6th note of the major keys scale"

    For flats, the major key is the 2nd to last flat except in the key of F which has one flat. And again the relative minor is the 6th note of the major scale.

    For soloing use the E natural minor except for the B7 (or B7b9) chord, on that chord use E harmonic minor. That is only one of the choices but is a good one to start with.

    E natural minor: E F# G A B C D E
    E Harmonic minor: E F# G A B C D# E

  17. #16

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    Since oldhead is working on Autumn Leaves, I just worked up an Autumn Leaves Solo in 1st Position. Here is my notation:

    Autumn Leaves 1st Position.pdf - File Shared from Box - Free Online File Storage

    And a video (with a couple of hiccups)


  18. #17

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    Quote Originally Posted by oldhead
    If you have one #, how do you know if it's Key of G or E-? Sorry if that sounds like a dumb question. I know E- is relative minor of G, but how do you know you're playing in E- as opposed to G?
    Not a dumb question. If you are soloing (as opposed to playing a scale) it doesn't matter what note you start on. Try to see E minor as the same as G, it just starts in a different place, but this is irrelevant for soloing. The only slight wrinkle is that sometimes you may want the D# of the harmonic minor.

  19. #18

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    Quote Originally Posted by Will Glen
    I recorded the rhythm and melody for Study I today and thought I would share it with the group as part of our supplemental thread. I am practicing from Melodic Rhythms. Hopefully I can put something up once a week maybe.

    I've also been studying from Al Di Meola's Chords, Scales & Arpeggios book. I'm about a month into that book almost finished with Lesson 1. I enjoy both supplemental books.

    There are some rough spots in here for sure. When I added the chords it sure beat playing the melody alone and made it funner. One thing I'm starting to gradually understand is how the space of the measure can be filled so speak with a run off lead part. I've been working on this but my memorization of scales is weak at this point

    Melodic Rhythms Study 1.mp3 - File Shared from Box - Free Online File Storage

    Here is Study 1:

    leavitt sample.JPG - File Shared from Box - Free Online File Storage
    Ok, Will, you've inspired me. Will go back and try this. Sounds good, together with the chords. I like your occasional hammer-ons.
    Last edited by ten left thumbs; 03-12-2012 at 04:14 AM. Reason: grammar

  20. #19

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    I just got the book 'Classical Studies For Pick-Style Guitar by William Leavitt' today as a goal to use it for sight-reading practice. The Allegro by M. Carcassi is the 2nd tune in the book and is the tune played on this video.

    These tunes are to be played with a pick, and it is quite difficult for me to play them that way with all the string skipping you have to do. Playing them Classical Style with my fingers is much easier. But, since this book is about developing ones picking technique, I'll play them with a pick.

    These tunes sound real good. They are a little to advanced for me for sight-reading which is a good thing, I'll have to push myself. They will really develop ones picking technique.

    I'm giving the book 5 stars.

    My performance... there's some mistakes, 2 stars.


  21. #20

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    Wow, fep, very classical. You got me digging around. I have, just gathering dust on the shelf, a 25 estudios by Carcassi. Turns out allegro is #7. I think this was donated by some kind soul who heard I was learning guitar. This particular etude has a red pen mark around the #7 and is covered in pencil markings iama as well as a few ups and downs. So, it looks like it's mostly in open position? There are no markings to help me there.

    If this goes well I could look at some of the others. I'll just follow the pencil markings, on the grounds that somebody somewhere played it.

  22. #21

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    Quote Originally Posted by Will Glen
    I recorded the rhythm and melody for Study I today and thought I would share it with the group as part of our supplemental thread. I am practicing from Melodic Rhythms. Hopefully I can put something up once a week maybe.

    I've also been studying from Al Di Meola's Chords, Scales & Arpeggios book. I'm about a month into that book almost finished with Lesson 1. I enjoy both supplemental books.

    There are some rough spots in here for sure. When I added the chords it sure beat playing the melody alone and made it funner. One thing I'm starting to gradually understand is how the space of the measure can be filled so speak with a run off lead part. I've been working on this but my memorization of scales is weak at this point

    Melodic Rhythms Study 1.mp3 - File Shared from Box - Free Online File Storage

    Here is Study 1:

    leavitt sample.JPG - File Shared from Box - Free Online File Storage
    Will, can you point me in the right direction for the chords in the B section? Did you take the B7 as open or 7th fret? I can simplify, but if you can give any help for those sus chords, and the 7b9 I'd be grateful. I think I'm OK for the A section.

  23. #22

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    Oldhead, how goes the soloing?

  24. #23

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    Quote Originally Posted by ten left thumbs
    Oldhead, how goes the soloing?
    NOT WELL, but because you asked and because of everyone's support and help, I feel somewhat obligated to let you know where I'm at. I'm almost embarrassed to post this, as it progressively falls apart; however this will be a good benchmark to see how it progresses, and I know I'm among friends. Plus, we have to be able to laugh at ourselves. Life is short. There is one lick I like starting at about 4:16, but I probably won't be able to duplicate it. I must have had an accident at that spot. Bear in mind, this was the first time at trying to play all the way through and record the parts, with no re-takes, as you'll hear. I think learning to solo is going to be fun but not easy. It will also give you an idea of what's rattling around in my mind for this piece. Because business has gone bonkers and I have to go to Johns Hopkins next week, I probably won't be playing, even the lessons, until about a week or so from now. I'll check in from time to time, though. I do appreciate your interest.

    And thanks, FEP, for the downloads and info.
    Autumn First Pass.mp3 - File Shared from Box - Free Online File Storage

  25. #24

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    Quote Originally Posted by fep
    I just got the book 'Classical Studies For Pick-Style Guitar by William Leavitt' today as a goal to use it for sight-reading practice. The Allegro by M. Carcassi is the 2nd tune in the book and is the tune played on this video.

    These tunes are to be played with a pick, and it is quite difficult for me to play them that way with all the string skipping you have to do. Playing them Classical Style with my fingers is much easier. But, since this book is about developing ones picking technique, I'll play them with a pick.

    These tunes sound real good. They are a little to advanced for me for sight-reading which is a good thing, I'll have to push myself. They will really develop ones picking technique.

    I'm giving the book 5 stars.

    My performance... there's some mistakes, 2 stars.

    Really nice, FEP. I could listen to that for hours. What make and gauge strings do you use on your Eastman? You get a beautiful sound out of that guitar. thanks for sharing that one.

  26. #25

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    Quote Originally Posted by Will Glen
    I recorded the rhythm and melody for Study I today and thought I would share it with the group as part of our supplemental thread. I am practicing from Melodic Rhythms. Hopefully I can put something up once a week maybe.

    I've also been studying from Al Di Meola's Chords, Scales & Arpeggios book. I'm about a month into that book almost finished with Lesson 1. I enjoy both supplemental books.

    There are some rough spots in here for sure. When I added the chords it sure beat playing the melody alone and made it funner. One thing I'm starting to gradually understand is how the space of the measure can be filled so speak with a run off lead part. I've been working on this but my memorization of scales is weak at this point

    Melodic Rhythms Study 1.mp3 - File Shared from Box - Free Online File Storage

    Here is Study 1:

    leavitt sample.JPG - File Shared from Box - Free Online File Storage
    Hey Will, That Melodic Rhythm study 1 sounded really cool. Well played and thanks for posting. I like it, I'm going to start playing from that book.