The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    I'm a little behind, but TLT is ready for this section.

    I'll see if I can catch up.

    Cheers

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    Thanks for starting us out Frank. You'll catch up, no worries, but there's no rush. Once we get beyond this I'm hopelessly lost! I'm just back, will take some time to find my frets again.

    This lesson is more of the same - scales, arps, beautiful chord etude, beautiful duet. The melodic rhythms tune is tricky.

    One thing to note - page 91, the chord forms, the dom 7(sus4) (middle of page, lower chord) is wrong. Not sure what that was supposed to be.

  4. #3

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    Quote Originally Posted by ten left thumbs
    Thanks for starting us out Frank. You'll catch up, no worries, but there's no rush. Once we get beyond this I'm hopelessly lost! I'm just back, will take some time to find my frets again.

    This lesson is more of the same - scales, arps, beautiful chord etude, beautiful duet. The melodic rhythms tune is tricky.

    One thing to note - page 91, the chord forms, the dom 7(sus4) (middle of page, lower chord) is wrong. Not sure what that was supposed to be.
    Hey TLT!!! Good to have you back

    Talking about the chord in the attachment? (I still can't get pics to paste into the post directly - help, somebody?)

    If that's the chord in question, look again. That is indeed a G7sus 4, or it's what I've been playing all my musical life for a dominant sus 4.

    G, D, F, C, D, (G) (if using all six strings). It *is* very confusing, that he seems to show the same chord (almost) twice. The second chord (upper row) - a sus chord - shows the D (second string, 3rd fret) included, but as optional - I think. In the chord you're referring to, that D is *not* optional. But in either case, it's "right." The notes make a G7sus4. It's just strange. Did Leavitt imbibe now and then?

    How does it seem wrong to you? I'm just a guitarist (haha!) but doesn't the 4th *replace* the 3rd in a suspended chord? That's what's happened here - no B note... a C instead.

    BTW, my copy of MM1 is the 1966 edition. However, I just bought a spiral-bound copy (wheeee!) and wow! It's so much bigger now, and the type has been reset w/word processor, lots of white space, acid-free paper, lies perfectly flat with comb-binding. $35 a pop. I admit, it's easier on the eyes, but I still like the 1966 typewriter-written version better. Nostalgia. I haven't watched the DVD - might not. I'd rather interpret the pieces my own way. Besides, it's 14 hours long!

    kj

  5. #4

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    Hi Kojo, thanks for answering. It feels great to be back. I played for hours today. Can't wait to get back to it. My edition says 1966, but then it also gives a few web addresses which I don't think go back to 1966.

    The chord you give is fine - I'm fine with that one. But it's been a hard day's night.

    Sorry to be so useless at scanning and posting pics. The chord I have a problem with is called Dominant 7 (sus4) and looks very much like the one you posted, but the note on string 3 is one fret further away (up). Go figure. I couldn't work it out, asked Rob, and he said in an instant, 'that's a mistake'.

    It doesn't matter, I just wanted to post in case anyone else was also scratching their head.

    There are 3 chords we are to learn here: The dominant sus4; the minor 7 with root on 2 or 5 (but played here with the 5th in the bass - 6th string, then flat that 5th for... wait for it... ); minor 7 (b5) aka half diminished.

    "How does it seem wrong to you? I'm just a guitarist (haha!) but doesn't the 4th *replace* the 3rd in a suspended chord? That's what's happened here - no B note... a C instead."

    Well, Mr Just-a-guitarist, shall I tell you what I learned about sus chords from school? What would Mr Wilson say if he knew I remembered all this ****? haha!

    "BTW, my copy of MM1 is the 1966 edition. However, I just bought a spiral-bound copy (wheeee!) and wow! It's so much bigger now, and the type has been reset w/word processor, lots of white space, acid-free paper, lies perfectly flat with comb-binding. $35 a pop. I admit, it's easier on the eyes, but I still like the 1966 typewriter-written version better. Nostalgia. I haven't watched the DVD - might not. I'd rather interpret the pieces my own way. Besides, it's 14 hours long!"

    I admit, the DVD gets a bit boring after a while. Still Larry sometimes says something useful. Like, 'now you gotta go practice this'. He makes a decent duet partner too.

  6. #5

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    How ya doing Frank?

    I did some recording today.

    I found the melodic rhythms difficult, with the key changes I kept getting disoriented. The rhythm part isn't that great either, hopefully passable:

    https://www.box.com/s/edd24959685a109274be

    The deeooett is lovely, I found a couple of bits in the second part so difficult and kept getting them wrong. In this recording, I managed them, but was so shocked that I'd got it, I screwed up the next few bars.

    https://www.box.com/s/51ed13ad1e25e7b27e0a

    The chord etude is just the best yet, they just keep getting better and better:

    https://www.box.com/s/2feecab60cfecdd3ecfd

  7. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by ten left thumbs
    How ya doing Frank?

    I did some recording today.

    I found the melodic rhythms difficult, with the key changes I kept getting disoriented. The rhythm part isn't that great either, hopefully passable:

    Box

    The deeooett is lovely, I found a couple of bits in the second part so difficult and kept getting them wrong. In this recording, I managed them, but was so shocked that I'd got it, I screwed up the next few bars.

    Box

    The chord etude is just the best yet, they just keep getting better and better:
    Hi Laura,

    I'm doing well and have been a bit busy. I have relatives visiting. I hosted a jazz jam at my place last Saturday which was a lot of fun. I wrote a tune and we played it at the jam.

    Now it's time for me to get back to my studies and do some recording...


    Quote Originally Posted by ten left thumbs
    I did some recording today.

    I found the melodic rhythms difficult, with the key changes I kept getting disoriented. The rhythm part isn't that great either, hopefully passable:

    Box

    The deeooett is lovely, I found a couple of bits in the second part so difficult and kept getting them wrong. In this recording, I managed them, but was so shocked that I'd got it, I screwed up the next few bars.

    Box

    The chord etude is just the best yet, they just keep getting better and better:

    Box
    Melodic Rhythms - I think playing the Rhythm Guitar is difficult for this one. It's tough for me not to sound the low open string (that's not part of the chord) on some of these chords. Also, it's hard for me to make that rhythm sound musical. This is going to take some repetitive practice, get it steady and groovy like a drummer.

    It sounds like you were not following the rhythmic pattern at the bottom of the page?

    Dee-Oo-Ett Really nice job on that. The last bit of that recording sounds really sweet.

    Chord Etude No. 4

    Yes that's a nice sounding piece. Nice job on this too. Perhaps some more time to smooth out the chord changes, but it's hard with all these new grips we keep getting. It all gets better as we continue to review.

    Congrats on moving through this.

    Cheers.

  8. #7

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    Hi Frank, thanks for listening and commenting (I like your tune btw, and posted in the other thread).

    The chords for melodic rhythms are difficult, and sometimes I took a break (just played on 1) just for a rest, and sometimes to break the monotony of playing the same pattern all the time. Listening to myself, it sounds more like I'm scraping a washboard, than strumming a guitar.

    Yes, it's tricky to miss the 6th string - well, actually, it's easy with a single strum, but more difficult to manage with the latin rhythm he wants us to play. Especially if we also need to miss the 1st string too.

    As for the chord etude, getting the changes smoother is a l-o-n-g process. In the meanwhile I move on.

    I don't know about you, but I'm getting impatient. I feel like I've spend a long time in 2nd position. And there's only so much more to go.

    You going to do some sort of celebration to mark finishing the book?

  9. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by ten left thumbs
    How ya doing Frank?

    I did some recording today.

    I found the melodic rhythms difficult, with the key changes I kept getting disoriented. The rhythm part isn't that great either, hopefully passable:

    https://www.box.com/s/edd24959685a109274be

    The deeooett is lovely, I found a couple of bits in the second part so difficult and kept getting them wrong. In this recording, I managed them, but was so shocked that I'd got it, I screwed up the next few bars.

    https://www.box.com/s/51ed13ad1e25e7b27e0a

    The chord etude is just the best yet, they just keep getting better and better:

    https://www.box.com/s/2feecab60cfecdd3ecfd
    Hey L., L. here...

    How's that for cheese?

    Cheese aside, your recordings are very good, and *already* the fine musician in you is coming through strongly -- esp. in the chord melody (etude.) Just wonderful expression of emotion. The kinks will come out of this, as you know ("legato takes time").

    BTW, guitarists, the new TRUE masters and world authorities on music theory, define "legato" as "hammering on, and pulling off, usually to achieve mind-numbing senseless speed and arenas-full of teenage awe, shrieking and applause, and pumped-up CD sales in the back."

    That's from the New Oxford Music Dictionary for Modernity (NOMDOM). It's a wonderful reference to have.

    All seriousness aside: The NOMDOM says "...legato is, like, hammering and pulling, really fast, two or three notes on a string, and you can, like, spider over to adjacent strings however the fingerboard will most easily allow, to get in as many sextuplets per second as possible. Can be combined with like right-hand tapping and whammy bar shenanigans (see Van Halen, Eddie, p. 1589). Legato means you don't pick the notes with like a pick or anything; think Alan Holdsworth. He's a legato player, but he isn't really a shredder."

    So update your definition.

    The chord etudes do get better and better. Your affinity for chord melody is so strong, I must recommend Jody Fisher's Volume 3 from his Complete Course in Jazz Guitar (or something like that) - "Mastering Chord Melody." It starts you off super easy, but the music is nice. Maybe not Leavitt level, but it becomes more sophisticated as it moves along. Actually that whole 4-volume course is excellent. A good supplement to Leavitt, who doesn't teach improvisation, per se.

    Great job, Laura -- I'm very proud of you. Keep going!

    KJ

  10. #9

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    volume 3? Without doing 1 and 2 first?

    I am keen to do more of this stuff as the Ingram book gets harder fast and I'm nowhere near ready for the Masters of PG yet.

  11. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by ten left thumbs
    volume 3? Without doing 1 and 2 first?

    I am keen to do more of this stuff as the Ingram book gets harder fast and I'm nowhere near ready for the Masters of PG yet.
    Yeah, it's pretty much self-contained, I believe. Let me check and make sure. I gotta go into town for a bit - I'll let ya know. They might have combined all four, now that I think of it... yikes. Check Amazon, maybe. Volume One is almost all about chords -- and has the best treatment of triads on the guitar fingerboard I've seen, and Fisher uses ETUDES for everything. - oh boy! Ha. Really, they're all quite nice, or the ones I've gone through are. Even the very first one is pretty, and it has you doing a truck load of triads, all over the fingerboard. A bit different from Leavitt, but good.

    Okay, to town. Be back - I've another idea you might like.

    KJ

  12. #11

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    Hi Kojo, I just had a look at it, and it seems you're right - the chord melody book, the third, doesn't seem to rely on vols 1 and 2. However, it does jump straight into the whole fret board and I only know as far as position 2. The great thing about Leavitt is he gives me enough material I actually learn the notes (to the point I no longer think about strings and frets, just notes). So possibly this would be good after MMII, I think I'll know most of the notes then.

    It's no good saying, 'aye, but there's tab'. Tab forces me to think again in frets and strings, and that totally screws me brain.

    However, I have lots of ideas that I like. What was yours?

  13. #12

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    Quote Originally Posted by ten left thumbs
    Hi Kojo, I just had a look at it, and it seems you're right - the chord melody book, the third, doesn't seem to rely on vols 1 and 2. However, it does jump straight into the whole fret board and I only know as far as position 2. The great thing about Leavitt is he gives me enough material I actually learn the notes (to the point I no longer think about strings and frets, just notes). So possibly this would be good after MMII, I think I'll know most of the notes then.

    It's no good saying, 'aye, but there's tab'. Tab forces me to think again in frets and strings, and that totally screws me brain.

    However, I have lots of ideas that I like. What was yours?
    You're right - I forgot about the notes/fingerboard thing.

    This might or might not burst your Leavitt bubble - about not having to think of strings and frets... umm... playing in fifth position and higher *requires* that you know frets and strings, because you've started dealing with notes that can be in more than one place. Actually in 4th position is a B note that appears on several other strings/frets. Guitar music is often marked as to which position you should be in, and if Leavitt's closed fingerings can let you forget about notes and strings, that's cool. However, some music isn't marked at all, and for that, it seems you'd have to know all the notes on all the strings. Maybe not - I can't imagine it, though. Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you're saying. Who knows?

    By the way, IMO, tab can be a wonderful boon to reading music for guitar. For most, it is inferior to standard notation, but done well, written with stems, etc., it isn't much inferior.

    My other idea died with the first... but something you might try is playing first-position classical guitar pieces. They can be gorgeous - more melodic than harmonic, I suppose one could say. For this, you'd need to develop the technique called "hybrid picking." When two or more notes are sounded simultaneously, but can't be strummed, they have to be plucked. So guitarists play the lowest note with the pick and reach downward with the middle and/or ring fingers - some even use their pinkies - and pluck the higher pitched notes. It can feel awkward at first, but you have such accuracy and power with your pick, it should present no problem.

    For a masterful showing of hybrid picking, here's my friend Scott -- a gifted young guitarist, 23 now, a Rutgers graduate, and an even better player than here... he has perfect pitch -- and when he saw Tommy Emmanuel playing Angelina on YouTube, he found all the versions and learned it (and several other Tommy E. tunes) from "thousands" of "forward and back" of all the versions, and of watching Tommy's hands. He plays the tunes note for note as Tommy does. Over the past two years he has played on stage, in concerts, with T. E., and they're pals. Excuse the slight (very slight) mistake or two, if you hear them - the kid was just 15 or 16 here, had been playing almost three years! (Plays some piano and violin, though). Watch his right hand once the main tune begins - Hybrid Picking. You can do this, Laura. First-position pieces for classical guitar. (It's an idea...) Meet Scott:


  14. #13

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  15. #14

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    Man, these chord etudes kick my butt.


  16. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by fep
    Man, these chord etudes kick my butt.
    You have no idea how happy that makes me feel. I love your interpretation, and only wish I could do the same. What do you reckon to the penultimate chord? (F nat, Bb and D). I have been trying to work out whether I should try to understand it as a chord, or just chromatic movement before the final, with the F nat to F#, etc. How do you interpret it?

    The C13 in s4m1 takes me about 5 minutes to get to, and even then I mostly just can't reach. It was my teacher suggested just barring across fret 3 and skipping the D string with the pick, that way I can reach the A just fine with the pinkie. Cheating, I know.

    The only very slight hole i could pick with your recording was in the first time bar (s2 m4), keeping the A ringing through the whole bar - which means not letting the pick touch it after the other notes. I think I could tell from the look on your face you noticed. It is a lovely touch there, that dissonance.

    Nice going on the other pages too. You took the arps at a scary speed.

  17. #16

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    Quote Originally Posted by ten left thumbs
    You have no idea how happy that makes me feel. I love your interpretation, and only wish I could do the same. What do you reckon to the penultimate chord? (F nat, Bb and D). I have been trying to work out whether I should try to understand it as a chord, or just chromatic movement before the final, with the F nat to F#, etc. How do you interpret it?

    The C13 in s4m1 takes me about 5 minutes to get to, and even then I mostly just can't reach. It was my teacher suggested just barring across fret 3 and skipping the D string with the pick, that way I can reach the A just fine with the pinkie. Cheating, I know.

    The only very slight hole i could pick with your recording was in the first time bar (s2 m4), keeping the A ringing through the whole bar - which means not letting the pick touch it after the other notes. I think I could tell from the look on your face you noticed. It is a lovely touch there, that dissonance.

    Nice going on the other pages too. You took the arps at a scary speed.
    Thanks for listening and the critique. That was a mistake at s2 m4, perhaps I got lost in the interpretation/ritard.

    I think that chord (from bottom to top, D F Bb D, a Bb major borrowed from the parallel minor, the bVI chord. It's a really cool sound to try to remember.

  18. #17

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  19. #18

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    Hi Kojo,

    Wonderful playing there from your friend, a very talented lad. Hybrid picking is definitely something I want to look into. As you can imagine, my rh fingers are already fairly biddable and strong. I have started playing some classical (Sor and I think Aguado) with a view to orienting my fingers on the strings and conditioning the skin there to give me some tone, as nails are not possible for me.

    I'm aware I'll need to learn the notes higher up the neck. (I did at one point learn 5th position, as Oakes uses it in his book). What Leavitt does is he gives me some notes to learn, then sticks to those for a very long time till they are consolidated and I know them well. At that point I am no longer thinking by numbers, but my fingers reach instinctively.

    Anything I have learned by tab, or by visual pattern (e.g. blues licks, CAGED scales) I forget easily. I forget because I have no context, I don't know where I am.

    So if the tab is there, and I don't need it, I cover it up. If I do need it (because I don't know those notes) then I know learning it will be mostly a waste of time because I won't be able to use what I have learned. It's a lot like parroting phrases from a book, rather than learning the grammar and syntax, and being able to create your own sentences.

    I simply need the notes.

    So my plan just now is to push on and finish MM1 asap, then spend some time reading through some material, but to start on vol 2 fairly soon and once I'm more free to roam the neck, then I can return to Jody Fisher. That book was very reasonably priced.

  20. #19

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    Quote Originally Posted by fep
    I think that chord (from bottom to top, D F Bb D, a Bb major borrowed from the parallel minor, the bVI chord. It's a really cool sound to try to remember.
    Parallel minor! That's exactly what it sounds like.

    Re melodic rhythms - Good going here, that was quite a pace! I think I'm not lying, but on the DVD Larry is quite clear that this is to be played straight, not swung. However, I like the swing you put in it.
    Last edited by ten left thumbs; 07-17-2012 at 04:38 PM.

  21. #20

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    Quote Originally Posted by ten left thumbs
    I think I'm not lying, but on the DVD Larry is quite clear that this is to be played straight, not swung.
    Screw Larry.

    Just joking, Larry.

  22. #21

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    Quote Originally Posted by ten left thumbs
    Hi Kojo,

    Hybrid picking is definitely something I want to look into. As you can imagine, my rh fingers are already fairly biddable and strong. I have started playing some classical (Sor and I think Aguado) with a view to orienting my fingers on the strings and conditioning the skin there to give me some tone, as nails are not possible for me.
    It's wonderful that you're getting your feet wet with Sor and Aguado. Don't think twice about not having nails -- before Segovia, most teachers (I believe) forbade nails.

    Anyway, do pursue hybrid picking - I should take my own advice, as it can only enhance one's pick-style playing. Plucked chords have a distinct sound you can't get with just a pick, and some melodic lines, esp. when tricky string-crossings are involved - are far easier with the help of a RH finger or two. Unless you can just alternate-pick *anything* - see Guthrie Govan. [/quote]


    Anything I have learned by tab, or by visual pattern (e.g. blues licks, CAGED scales) I forget easily. I forget because I have no context, I don't know where I am. .... I simply need the notes.
    This illuminates just how much the various approaches to playing music can differ. The way you see the process of learning guitar is so different from the way I see it, I can't honestly say I understand what you mean! In a general way, I see, but I can't imagine what it must be like. I suspect that the same goes for you when thinking of how others do it.

    If I have a good tab sheet, I can combine that with knowing both the note names *and* knowing their sounds/pitches, via solfege, and that, to me, seems to be plenty "context."

    For improvisation, there won't be tab or notation. I suppose, then, I know "where I am" only if I know what song/tune/etc. I'm playing and if I recognize, by ear, where I am IN the tune. If I were to somehow find myself with my first finger on the 3rd string, 7th fret, and I knew that the song was "All of Me" in the key of F, and the melody was just beginning -- I'd know that the first melody note for that song, in that key, is F.

    So, with my first finger on that D note, 3rd string, 7th fret, I'd probably quickly remove it, and prepare to play the F note on the second string 6th fret, and I'd do it with my second finger, as this would put me in that easy fingering pattern Leavitt presents for "Key of D" -- and it's a CAGED form, too - very common. And I'd hear/play the melody from there on through, and slide or whatever to other fingering patterns, etc. // Or, with first finger on that D note, I could stay in position and play the F with my pinky, same string, and "hear" my way about in *that* fingering pattern -- which is Leavitt's "2nd position key of C" fingering, or the "A" form in CAGED, I think.

    So, maybe I *don't* need the notes? If you mean the notation, then no -- nor do I ever think/hum, "All of me, why not take...." and put with that melody note names; if anything it's a solfege syllable, but I just played that melody and realized I don't think of those very often either. Solfege is my "home base," though. When the key changes in bar 3 to D minor, I have to reorient myself -- and I'm not sure how I do that! I know that D harmonic minor sounds really good over that second chord, A7 - and Django used it a lot - and I know WHY it is a fitting scale - but how I'm hearing those notes, I'm not sure! I need to analyze that. It's probably no surprise that this is "where I'm at" - my "playing over changes" abilities grind to a halt somewhere about here; but I want to become better - depression wants otherwise, though. : (

    So that's how I might play something, and Tab wouldn't confuse anything about it. The point is, look at how drastically different is your process (which works), compared to mine (which sorta works.) Frank, whose process works, is probably going through a still different approach.


    So my plan just now is to push on and finish MM1 asap, then spend some time reading through some material, but to start on vol 2 fairly soon and once I'm more free to roam the neck, then I can return to Jody Fisher.
    Good plan! Fisher's jazz method is gold. IMO.

  23. #22

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    Quote Originally Posted by Kojo27

    So, maybe I *don't* need the notes?
    You are quite right, our brains are all wired quite differently, and we all process things in different ways.

    I am quite poor at some types of visual processing (poor, at least, compared to most men). This started at school with 3D problems in maths. Driving a car, I just couldn't understand what I was seeing in the mirrors. I groan when I see a book that sells itself - 'A new visual approach to learning guitar'...

    I am not dyslexic, it's not that bad, but for certain things I do need to give myself a dyslexia-type handicap. Every time I look at a piece of tab, I need to work out which string is at the top, which on the bottom, etc.

    Solfege will take you far, except, as you have encountered, jazz modulates so frequently you will need to do a lot of re-orienting along the new tonic. I think that's why jazzers often don't think so much in terms of key, but rather, this scale, this chord.

  24. #23

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    Quote Originally Posted by fep
    Hey Frank -- I listened to all your posts from this section and it sounds real good. The Benson grip seems to be a keeper for you -- do you feel settled in with it now? I imagine that your change of grip AND change from alternate picking to this new way -- both together, more or less, must have been a shock!

    The duet is especially pretty. Keep on!

    kj/Loren

  25. #24

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    Quote Originally Posted by ten left thumbs


    Cool duet. Which, I hasten to say, you played straight.
    Thanks, cheers

    Quote Originally Posted by Kojo27
    Hey Frank -- I listened to all your posts from this section and it sounds real good. The Benson grip seems to be a keeper for you -- do you feel settled in with it now? I imagine that your change of grip AND change from alternate picking to this new way -- both together, more or less, must have been a shock!

    The duet is especially pretty. Keep on!

    kj/Loren
    Thanks...

    I still slip into my old picking habits when I'm not paying attention but the Benson technique is feeling more and more natural. Yes, it was a bit of leap of faith to take this on.

    Thanks for listening to my recordings and my Be The Fish tune.

    Your young friend Scott sounds great. He really looks young, plenty of picking ahead for him.

  26. #25

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    Sight Reading...