The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    Hello all

    Any favorite books of canned pre-written (or transcribed) medium level jazz solos or arrangements?

    I'm mostly into transcribing but I think taking some canned arrangements and working on them like classical pieces is pretty helpful. I have the John Stein Jazz Standards for Solo Guitar book which is pretty good. I might be better off with something a bit easier as well.

    Anyway, anyone have any suggestions for something like that?

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  3. #2

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    The John Stein arrangements are superb, but yeah, difficult.There are several books of Barry Galbraith arrangements that are excellent and much, much easier to negotiate.

  4. #3

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    For "line" oriented solos, I've really appreciated the Jimmy Raney solos in Volume 20 of the Jamey Aebersold set. 10 solos taking the student through a solid swatch of bebop vocabulary and style, interesting rhythmic figures, and lots of examples of lines inspired by substitutions. Not a beginner book, especially if you aspire to the tempo used by Raney in the recordings, but it is a great place to get a lot of solid bop ideas and vocabulary under your fingers.

  5. #4

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    I think the OP is referring to chord melody arrangements...as in solo guitar arrangements. Frank Vignola has put out a bunch of very accessible chord melody arrangements.....at least one True Fire course and new ones all the time as part of his ongoing True Fire channel subscription.

    The Stein book and CD are excellent.

  6. #5

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  7. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by alltunes
    I think the OP is referring to chord melody arrangements...as in solo guitar arrangements. Frank Vignola has put out a bunch of very accessible chord melody arrangements.....at least one True Fire course and new ones all the time as part of his ongoing True Fire channel subscription.The Stein book and CD are excellent.
    Ah... I read "jazz solos or arrangements" to suggest both. But seriously, if you can't play compelling lines, a chord melody solo is kind of boring. Fills, linkages, embellishments, and of course, improvisation even in a chord-solo format requires a jazz-vocabulary melodic sense. Joe Pass was a great "chord melody" guitarist precisely because he could play like he did in "For Django."

  8. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by lawson-stone
    Ah... I read "jazz solos or arrangements" to suggest both. But seriously, if you can't play compelling lines, a chord melody solo is kind of boring. Fills, linkages, embellishments, and of course, improvisation even in a chord-solo format requires a jazz-vocabulary melodic sense. Joe Pass was a great "chord melody" guitarist precisely because he could play like he did in "For Django."
    That's cool though. I was talking more about chord melody stuff and playing heads.

    For me lead stuff is a bit easier because it's a lot faster for me to transcribe a sax solo or something, chords kill me and I have a hard time hearing them. I've found playing some written music can really help my ear hear voicings vs trying to pull them off a recording before I've even tried to play them. My ear is sort of ok but limited in that regard.

    But suggestions of good books are good. Now I just need more time and money.

  9. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by sully75
    That's cool though. I was talking more about chord melody stuff and playing heads. For me lead stuff is a bit easier because it's a lot faster for me to transcribe a sax solo or something, chords kill me and I have a hard time hearing them. I've found playing some written music can really help my ear hear voicings vs trying to pull them off a recording before I've even tried to play them. My ear is sort of ok but limited in that regard.But suggestions of good books are good. Now I just need more time and money.
    For chord-melody, I can't say enough good things about Steve Crowell's little books of Jazz Standards. They are great for performance, but are created to teach a vocabulary of chord-melody playing. Everything in them is easily transferable to other tunes.Steve Herron's website would have these.

  10. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by sully75
    ... chords kill me and I have a hard time hearing them..
    You might find it helpful to pick a scale and put a 3 or 4 note chord under each note. This is not unlike the approach used by Robert Conti and I think it's a good way to get familiar with the sound of different types of chords. I think in short order you'll be able to sort the three primary categories of major, minor and dominate sounds.

  11. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by alltunes
    Frank Vignola has put out a bunch of very accessible chord melody arrangements.....at least one True Fire course and new ones all the time as part of his ongoing True Fire channel subscription.
    Yes, Frank has a lot of chord melody arrangements on his channel. He calls that section The Chord Melody Club. Recent additions include: Lullaby of Birdland, Joy Spring, All By Myself, After You've Gone, ATTYA, Always, Avalon, and Blame It On My Youth.

  12. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by lawson-stone
    For chord-melody, I can't say enough good things about Steve Crowell's little books of Jazz Standards. They are great for performance, but are created to teach a vocabulary of chord-melody playing. Everything in them is easily transferable to other tunes.Steve Herron's website would have these.
    Steve has them at his own site too! Jazz Science Guitar Institute I'm working with Steve's 84 Jazz Guitar Equations and Formulas for Jazz Guitar Soloing. Good stuff. I've heard some of his chord melody arrangements (I believe our own DutchBopper recorded some of them some years ago) but haven't tried any.

  13. #12

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    I have one of Crowell's books; it came with a matching DVD...lots of great moves...very dense arrangements though (not unlike Conti's) but you can always leave out some of the chords to make them easier.

    Frank Vignola's CM arrangements are very accessible and sound good too! His jazz channel at 10 bucks a month is well worth it. For each chord melody he has two vids. Performance and breakdown plus you can download a PDF in tab and standard of the arrangement.
    I have to say that since joining Frank's channel I sold most of my jazz theory instruction books.

    Chris Whiteman has some great arrangements too. You can watch them on YouTube.

    Solo Jazz Guitar Chord Melody Arrangements 1 — Chris Whiteman Music

  14. #13

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    Quote Originally Posted by alltunes
    I have one of Crowell's books; it came with a matching DVD...lots of great moves...very dense arrangements though (not unlike Conti's) but you can always leave out some of the chords to make them easier.Frank Vignola's CM arrangements are very accessible and sound good too! His jazz channel at 10 bucks a month is well worth it. For each chord melody he has two vids. Performance and breakdown plus you can download a PDF in tab and standard of the arrangement.I have to say that since joining Frank's channel I sold most of my jazz theory instruction books.Chris Whiteman has some great arrangements too. You can watch them on YouTube.Solo Jazz Guitar Chord Melody Arrangements 1 — Chris Whiteman Music
    I've never played one of his arrangements, but Chris Whiteman's posts are always really nice treatments of the tunes he chooses. I keep thinking I want to pick a couple and work on them. He's not talked about very much, but I think his stuff is really outstanding.