How essential is chord melody to a jazz guitarist?

[rpjazzguitar]

Would I consider a player who isn't good at chord melody to be "inadequate"?

I'm not even sure I understand the question.

First I need a definition of "adequacy". Mine is situational. If the player can do what he's trying to do, or has been hired to do, I guess I'd call him adequate.

I think there might be an argument that a player who can't do any chord melody is not a so-called "well rounded" jazz player. But there have been lots of great players who don't satisfy that definition in one way or another.

For that matter, how good does your chord melody have to be for you to be "adequate"? A lot of American players will do their chord melody rubato or with variably relaxed time. But, when you hear Brazilian players, they tend to play songs in strict time. It's hard to do, but they are often good fingerstyle players and very clever arrangers for guitar. Does that make the rubato player "inadequate"?

[Bobby Timmons]

My opinion is that players can be good in their own style without chord melody, but overall, good players really have it going on in all areas. So no it's not essential, but for the most part, what makes a lot of jazz players good is they have advanced concepts going on in many areas of their playing. It's really astounding. From a personal development standpoint, I wouldn't ever neglect anything. Maybe for guitar, you can get away without it, but being a keys player, everything has to be happening for it to be at a solid level. Melody, licks, shreds, chord melody, bass lines.

[Marinero]

It's like playing a piano with only one hand/finger

I think medblues nailed this question perfectly. Segovia described the guitar as an "orchestra in a box" and playing without that concept in mind/practice(whether Jazz, Classical, R@B) does not utilize the full potential of the instrument. Sadly, the guitar was/is the ultimate "Folk" instrument and its accessibility and ease to play poorly was/is its major attraction. Most untrained musicians will never learn its true potential. I, also, find it amusing that "Chord-Melody" is a separate topic of discussion among Jazz guitarists when it IS the essence of the instrument. Not using the instrument's entire palette of colors can only produce an incomplete sound. I've always wondered why a Jazzer would buy a big, beautiful, bulky, hand-carved archtop with its tremendous sound potential to play, primarily, single lines that could be played just as well on an entry-level instrument with simple tone controls and a $100.00 amp . . . . perhaps, this will always be the curse of the instrument and those who fall under its spell.
Marinero

[itsmyname]

I can't imagine studying a standard and not trying to create chord melody at one moment or another.

I think I know a little better a standard when I'm able to play some kind of chord melody.
(and "chord melody" I think is good for my ears and can have some technical and sound aspect that are really interesting and the guitar in some ways is made for but I can be wrong)

[Kirk Garrett]

I consider “chord melody” essential because I think the best possible use of a guitar in jazz is as a solo instrument, or a single accompaniment to voice.

As an ensemble instrument in jazz, I think the sound of a guitar is far outstripped by piano and horn.

Blues is another story.

[wolflen]

I can understand why some dislike the term chord melody..but it does describe a "way" of playing a tune for guitarists ..and yes on piano it is called playing music

I studied with Ted Greene for two years..I wanted to learn "jazz"..(another term many do not like..my self included)

what he showed me was harmony and how chords produce it and how they relate to melody

I started with the very basic close voiced triad and its inversions .. and there it was..the sound of "chord melody"..melodic and harmonic movement at the same time

and the very useful but limited rhythmic variations and voice leading possibilities..

when he showed me the "four" note chords..my musical world changed

these days I play fragments of the melody with as many notes as I can play..usually three but mostly two..

also I have to really WANT to play a tune in a chord melody style..most often experimenting with chord inversions and moving voices..contrary motion and paying attention to

the bass line gives the tune a more complete feel..but it is not a chord melody per some definitions

about measuring another players ability to play a certain style..for me..I have seen many players knock the "they can't play that" out of my reality

[rpjazzguitar]

I think that there are excellent reasons for a guitarist to study chord melody, but I wouldn't assume a guitarist was "inadequate" if he didn't.

Chord melody cements your understanding of chord substitution and voice leading. Chuck Wayne's approach was to harmonize every note in the melody and then play on all those chords during his solo -- I recall Carl Barry telling me that 55 years ago -- apologies to Carl if I have remembered that incorrectly (Carl is a great player in NYC). That is, Chuck used chord melody as a foundation.

I think the ability to harmonize a tune on the fly can be a foundation for learning and remembering tunes without resorting to memorizing verbal instructions.

For the intermediate player, learning how to do chord melody teaches how to get any note on top of any chord (more or less), which is a very useful skill in comping and soloing-in-chords, which btw, Chuck Wayne did brilliantly. It also is a great way to learn chord grips, if you're doing it that way, which most of us do. Same thing for learning multiple ways to navigate common harmonic sequences.

So, lots of good reasons to work on it.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

Segovia described the guitar as an "orchestra in a box"

And George Van Eps called it his “lap piano”.

[citizenk74]

And George Van Eps called it his “lap piano”.

And Beethoven called it "the perfect musical instrument." I think he really would have appreciated the modern electric guitar, with its attendant possibilities.

[voxo]

to me jazz is all linear ...guitar is an extention of the sax.. chord melody isnt part of it except Wes who broke his choruses down with exciting chords...like a big band...

[Mark Kleinhaut]

Guitar is a polyphonic instrument. It’s a rare gift amongst the animal kingdom of musical instruments to be able to play polyphony. Leaving that on the table is a supreme waste.

[Christian Miller]

I don’t buy there being a big divide between single lines and polyphony. If you play good lines they have their own harmonic space.

[citizenk74]

to me jazz is all linear ...guitar is an extention of the sax.. chord melody isnt part of it except Wes who broke his choruses down with exciting chords...like a big band...

[lammie200]

Guitar is a polyphonic instrument. It’s a rare gift amongst the animal kingdom of musical instruments to be able to play polyphony. Leaving that on the table is a supreme waste.

Yeah. 99.99% of my playing is getting out of the way of what the instrument is and capable of doing on its own. Obviously I need my ears, brain, hands, fingers, wrists, etc. to play. But all the capabilities of polyphonics are there to happen in the instrument itself. I always want to get more out of it, not less. That said, if all you can do is play single notes and you enjoy it, have at it. There are ways to perfect arpeggiating even doing so. Playing non-arpeggiated chords ain't that all hard though. Recognizing how they relate to a melody is more or less the same as recognizing it for single notes. My 2 cents.

[docsteve]

...not quite... (what a sound btw. on a flattop!)

That’s beautiful…

I didn’t want to put Scofield down, quite the contrary. I remember him saying in a recent interview that he was really a band player. If he did solo concerts, he‘d prefer a looper because he didn‘t feel he could do chord melody by himself all night. For him, it was a conscious decision. That’s fine with me.


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[Christian Miller]

That’s beautiful…

I didn’t want to put Scofield down, quite the contrary. I remember him saying in a recent interview that he was really a band player. If he did solo concerts, he‘d prefer a looper because he didn‘t feel he could do chord melody by himself all night. For him, it was a conscious decision. That’s fine with me.


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Yeah I think it’s a matter of priority. Not every guitarist is going to have Ted Green/Pasquale/Martin Taylor solo chops (and this can end up being more of an arranged kind of concert) - using loopers allows more textural variety. But it’s also - exposed. Using a looper isn’t a ‘cop out’ at all; you have to get it right first time or it’s a shambles. I actually stopped using loopers because it was just an extra thing to worry about.

[Victor Saumarez]

There’s nothing to say you have to learn chord melody. It’s just another tool in the tool kit. It is quite a useful tool though, and can teach you a lot about harmony, time, and creativity, which should enhance your single line playing. It also expands your gig opportunities, eg solo, and singer or duo accompaniment.

[Marinero]

So, how many people would go to a concert by a solo guitarist who only played "linear" music? Or, for the sake of discussion . . . a solo clarinetist?
Marinero

[EllenGtrGrl]

Guitar is a polyphonic instrument. It’s a rare gift amongst the animal kingdom of musical instruments to be able to play polyphony. Leaving that on the table is a supreme waste.

VERY true. I commented on this in a different way, when I was playing in jazz band in college (not guitar, but valve trombone [I never played slide trombone, I fell into playing valve trombone, because my main brass instrument was the euphonium, and they needed a trombone player in jazz band]). At the time, the snobbery that a couple of the wind players had in jazz band towards guitar, was starting to annoy me (I'd been playing guitar for 4 or 5 years at that time, and was starting to gravitate more towards guitar than brass instruments), so I pointed out that fact that when I played guitar I could play chords, which they couldn't do on their instruments. Of course it went completely over their heads - one them (a trombone player) even countered with the silly response of "but I can play chords, I can hum loudly while I'm playing (my trombone)." Go figure!

As for chord melody - it's not my main style (probably because I come from an ensemble background musically [it's why I play in a church band nowadays - to get my band fix, at 58 years old it's difficult to impossible to join a band, so I take what I can get]), but it has its uses, and sure is a nice tool to have for playing solo, so you fill things out sonically. Sweep picking (which I wonder if it is derived from chord melody playing) is like that too.

[lammie200]

...but it has its uses, and sure is a nice tool to have for playing solo, so you fill things out sonically...

Not only for yourself but for others if you are comping. It's work to get to be proficient at it. It's an objectives versus effort thing.

[Mark Kleinhaut]

So, how many people would go to a concert by a solo guitarist who only played "linear" music? Or, for the sake of discussion . . . a solo clarinetist?
Marinero

I went to see itzhak Perlman play unaccompanied. He played mostly single lines.

[jazzkritter]

Such a tiny little guitar he plays, and quite the odd plectrum.

[Gabor]

...just a personal experience, that family and friends all know I play the guitar and when sometimes they ask me to play something and I answer "I can't"... well that is weird. For them it is really challenging to understand, how on earth someone learning since his childhood, and can not play?

What would be also weird, to make some preparations, and put some backing track on the strereo.

so my personal answer, for myself, yes it should be essential. Working on it.

[John A.]

So, how many people would go to a concert by a solo guitarist who only played "linear" music? Or, for the sake of discussion . . . a solo clarinetist?
Marinero

I went to a solo Sonny Rollins concert. It was great. I once saw a Nano Vasconcelos solo percussion concert that was brilliant. I've heard quite a few solo violin and cello performances that were mostly single-line (with some double stops). No complaints about those. And I've heard countless solo vocal performances, but I don't think I've heard a full solo clarinet concert. Wouldn't mind checking one out, though.

But I agree that I it's important to be able to do at least some chord-melody playing. I too found it frustrating and embarrassing that I couldn't just play a song when called upon, so set about rectifying that. I also find it extremely helpful in learning tunes.

[Litterick]

Contemporary guitarists are more linear than their predecessors, if not exclusively so. Someone like Frissell or Lage could comfortably play a chordless concert if he so wished. I cannot remember the last time I heard Mary Halvorson play two chords in succession.