The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    I am working out a wonderful Grant Green tune called Deep River, I have the basic chords down but I am struggling to understand Herbie Hancock's lovely comping under the guitar. There is a particular gospel language which I am not familiar with. I am playing certain changes using augmented chords into major chords which gives me an element of that feel but can anyone give me some pointers on the types of passing chords and inversions Herbie is using to achieve his sound on this track please?


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  3. #2

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    Quote Originally Posted by Babaluma
    I am working out a wonderful Grant Green tune called Deep River, I have the basic chords down but I am struggling to understand Herbie Hancock's lovely comping under the guitar. There is a particular gospel language which I am not familiar with. I am playing certain changes using augmented chords into major chords which gives me an element of that feel but can anyone give me some pointers on the types of passing chords and inversions Herbie is using to achieve his sound on this track please?

    Can you be specific about the bits that confuse you or elude your ear? Or do want a basic outline?

    There are some obvious style things that make a tune sound churchy that Herbie uses here.

  4. #3

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    BTW Deep River is an old spiritual, not a Grant Green original:


  5. #4

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    Quote Originally Posted by christianm77
    There are some obvious style things that make a tune sound churchy that Herbie uses here.
    video please

  6. #5

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    Yeah, maybe, I'm resting my hand at the moment, so not playing (I have 4 gigs + teaching this week and a pain in my hand. Not ideal). See where we are tomorrow. Maybe I'll do a video on how to practice away from your instrument.

    Such as listening to a track and working out the chords without your guitar...

    I can give a summary of stylistic tropes

    1) Use major and minor chords without extensions. Inversions more common than for modern jazz *
    2) Do not overuse II Vs *
    3) Gospel vocal harmonies rarely use the leading note (7) of the key, so V7 becomes V7sus4 (The Baby Boomer chord lol) *
    4) II7 very common *
    6) Modulation to the relative minor is pretty churchy - III7 VIm. One exceptionally churchy thing to do is to go V7 #Vo7 VIm
    7) 1st inversion major chord resolving to root position a semitone higher - e.g. F F/A Bb *
    8) Herbie uses I13 I7+5 IV *
    9) Move from I to IV can also be intensified by using a III7 or a III+
    10) Walk down to II7, IV7 bIII7 II7 or IV7 III7 bIII7 II7 *
    11) Churchy turnaround I/V #Vo7 VIm II7 IIm7 Vsus7 I

    * I hear Herbie doing this in the first bit of the tune

    Notes
    - Barry fans will spot what the chromatic chords have in common right away
    - It's sort of a mix of Bach chorale type harmony and African American elements, which I suppose is what you would expect
    - Melodies are often pentatonic, hence thing 3) works

    Maybe I'll do a standard with gospel type harmony. It's a great vibe.

  7. #6

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    thanks man, i'll go through these tonight hopefully. Good luck with your hand

  8. #7

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    Also listen to where Oscar goes at 1:47 onward


  9. #8

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    Obviously not quite the same thing, but I love this Doctor John reharm of Oh When the Saints:


  10. #9

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    Oh - 10ths! Diatonic 10ths, massively.

  11. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by christianm77
    Yeah, maybe, I'm resting my hand at the moment, so not playing (I have 4 gigs + teaching this week and a pain in my hand. Not ideal). See where we are tomorrow. Maybe I'll do a video on how to practice away from your instrument.

    Such as listening to a track and working out the chords without your guitar...

    I can give a summary of stylistic tropes

    1) Use major and minor chords without extensions. Inversions more common than for modern jazz *
    2) Do not overuse II Vs *
    3) Gospel vocal harmonies rarely use the leading note (7) of the key, so V7 becomes V7sus4 (The Baby Boomer chord lol) *
    4) II7 very common *
    6) Modulation to the relative minor is pretty churchy - III7 VIm. One exceptionally churchy thing to do is to go V7 #Vo7 VIm
    7) 1st inversion major chord resolving to root position a semitone higher - e.g. F F/A Bb *
    8) Herbie uses I13 I7+5 IV *
    9) Move from I to IV can also be intensified by using a III7 or a III+
    10) Walk down to II7, IV7 bIII7 II7 or IV7 III7 bIII7 II7 *
    11) Churchy turnaround I/V #Vo7 VIm II7 IIm7 Vsus7 I

    * I hear Herbie doing this in the first bit of the tune

    Notes
    - Barry fans will spot what the chromatic chords have in common right away
    - It's sort of a mix of Bach chorale type harmony and African American elements, which I suppose is what you would expect
    - Melodies are often pentatonic, hence thing 3) works

    Maybe I'll do a standard with gospel type harmony. It's a great vibe.
    Sorry just managed to check the thread, wow thanks so much, this is perfect. Yes I was looking for a general "language" of what Herbie is doing in this tune to get that gospel vibe. This is very helpful and I appreciate it. I hope your hand gets better and if you do a video that would be wonderful but this outline is great

  12. #11
    Yes Deep River is from Feelin' the Spirit which has Grant interpreting a series of gospel songs. Deep River is actually an unreleased bonus track on my cd copy.

  13. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by christianm77
    Oh - 10ths! Diatonic 10ths, massively.
    OK I have no idea what that means ha ha!

  14. #13
    ii- of the moment is big in gospel. I ii I, IV v IV, V vi V. Passing minor chords a whole step above the major chord of the moment. May be some of that that you're hearing.

    It's kind of like playing IV7 of the moment against major chords in blues. It's an "away" type of tension. To me sounds like some of that IV7 as well honestly.

    I'd have to check it out with an instrument , but it's different from harmonizing seventh chords etc.
    Last edited by matt.guitarteacher; 10-16-2018 at 09:02 AM.

  15. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by Babaluma
    OK I have no idea what that means ha ha!
    Like playing 10ths through the major scale.

    1 x x 2 x x
    3 x x 3 x x
    5 x x 5 x x

    Often descending though, esp from 4

    You can hear Billy Preston doing this on Let it Be for instance.

    6 x x 7 x x
    5 x x 5 x x
    3 x x 3 x x
    1 x x 2 x x

  16. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by christianm77
    Like playing 10ths through the major scale.

    1 x x 2 x x
    3 x x 3 x x
    5 x x 5 x x

    Often descending though, esp from 4

    You can hear Billy Preston doing this on Let it Be for instance.

    6 x x 7 x x
    5 x x 5 x x
    3 x x 3 x x
    1 x x 2 x x
    OK cool, thanks very much!

  17. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by matt.guitarteacher
    ii- of the moment is big in gospel. I ii I, IV v IV, V vi V. Passing minor chords a whole step above the major chord of the moment. May be some of that that you're hearing.

    It's kind of like playing IV7 of the moment against major chords in blues. It's an "away" type of tension. To me sounds like some of that IV7 as well honestly.

    I'd have to check it out with an instrument , but it's different from harmonizing seventh chords etc.
    Excellent thank you, I am going to try all these suggestions this evening on my guitar.

  18. #17

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    Church of Christian !!!!!!!!!!!! oddly enough at some point the audio and video sync started lagging each other which made the whole thing even more authentic for me as it mirrored all my other church experiences, which has been that what was said and what actually happened didn't line up ))

    thanks for the ideas !! Any chance you could create a .pdf or full set of Georgia changes based on what you were playing? Sometimes folks throw out ideas in videos in such rapid succession it is hard to follow or unravel.

    Will
    Last edited by WillMbCdn5; 10-17-2018 at 09:01 PM.

  19. #18

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    Yeah I thought it needed that.

    Tell you what as the synch is bad I’ll reupload with the chord charts as part of the vid

  20. #19

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    Updated with chartz (and hopefully synching)


  21. #20

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    Thanks thats great !!

  22. #21
    Quote Originally Posted by christianm77
    Updated with chartz (and hopefully synching)

    Great, thanks for the update. I can't believe how fluidly you play!

  23. #22

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  24. #23

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    Quote Originally Posted by christianm77
    Yeah, maybe, I'm resting my hand at the moment, so not playing (I have 4 gigs + teaching this week and a pain in my hand. Not ideal). See where we are tomorrow. Maybe I'll do a video on how to practice away from your instrument.
    Having just sliced off the tip of my left pinky I could certainly use your advice about practicing away from the instrument in the three to five weeks predicted before the stitches dissolve ...

    Maybe in a separate thread?