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If a guitarist can play solo jazz lines well,but he doesn't into chord melody much(or at all),will you consider him inadequate?
I always believe chord melody is an important part of jazz guitar TBN,but today I just realized(after listening to some smooth jazz at a bar) maybe there are some jazz guitarist never play chord melody?
Thoughts?Last edited by shywings; 03-24-2022 at 03:08 PM. Reason: fixing typo after drunk
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03-23-2022 05:50 PM
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Fron Scofield‘s latest solo efforts, I take it that he is not into chord melody at all.
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It's like playing a piano with only one hand/finger
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Originally Posted by shywings
Jazz is a broad concept. If you do what you do well enough, people pay attention to that. There is no need for them to think "What else is this person not very good at?"
Kidding aside; the audience, the other members of the band - nobody there wants you to fail. They are all basically on your side. They are rooting for you and will enjoy your best efforts. Do what you do as well as you can and accept comments (usually positive, but whatever) with grace and humility. One thing at a time.
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A hand that reaches 2 and a half octaves on piano and flexible enough that fingers can still play adjacent notes freely. Originally Posted by medblues
While piano is a more flexible instrument for chord-melody, good piano players rarely play more than 4 notes at a time. The real superiority of piano over guitar I think is in piano's counterpuntal potential, not so much in chord-melody.
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I was thinking more in the spirit of guitar as a "lap piano" or Segovia's "guitar as orchestra" when chord-melody is mentioned. Originally Posted by Tal_175
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I hope this doesn't come off as me being a wise-guy, but I would consider a guitarist that can't play chord melody as inadequate at chord melody but not generally inadequate as a guitarist \ musician. Originally Posted by shywings
It's like using block chords in a solo, or double-stops, or octaves, or use of harmonics (like Tal) etc... The more of these techniques a guitarist can master the more competent they are but they are not inadequate if they don't master some of them.
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Chord melody is an essential working jazz guitarist skill; you have to be able to play music in any situation. That doesn’t mean you have to be Ted Greene, but a well rounded player needs to be able to do it.
its also the the thing that teaches you perhaps the most about how tunes work.
besides in the real gigging world you will have to do it; sometimes unexpectedly.
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I go both ways on this...I mean, was Grant Green a chord melody master? (God I hate that term "chord melody", but that's another rant for another day)
No, but I still love his playing and consider him one of the greats. Just not maybe one of the greats of versatility...
But I also live by the rule of Joe Pass..."a guitarist should be able to sit down and play music for an hour, unaccompanied."
So I don't know.
Maybe if I was Blue Note's house guitarist instead of my house guitarist, I'd have less time to work on chord melody with all the, y'know, sessions as a sideman with some of the greatest players in jazz history.
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if play solo lines real fast it sounds just like a chord.
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Also depends on what you want to do. Finding And Playing resturant, winery, social gigs then yup… chord melody is it. Unless you want to single line over backup files which in those environments may or may not work.
Single line players are pretty much “limited” to group gigs. Not a “limit” as such its hard work.
But in the end, if you want to leave the bedroom behind, C/M is an important part of the picture.
YMMV
jk
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Don’t worry about being inadequate to strangers online.
If you like chord melody, play chord melody, if you don’t, skip it.
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The only way I can see a jazz player not naturally developing chord-melody skills overtime is if they are not developing their comping skills and treating guitar like a strictly melodic instrument. If that's how they relate to guitar and music, that's not for anybody else to judge. They better be a killer soloist though because they will be competing with the horn players.
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This was from the early 80's. He had it then. He just did it his own way. Originally Posted by docsteve
I wouldn't discount this, it's a more linear approach than Van Eps but it's got all the qualities of harmony, melody and rhythmic integrity. and over a Monk piece. I've seen him a lot in concert, and throughout his career he's always had a healthy amount of chord solo introduction to pieces, original and standards. Just because he chooses not to feature this side of him in his recorded releases doesn't mean he's not a serious enough chord melody player to perform in front of an audience, and quite beautifully.
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Since it's not a complete non sequitur, I'll ask: who said, "On piano, 'chord melody' is called 'playing the piano'"? Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
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Hey, that's my usual joke! Originally Posted by BigDaddyLoveHandles
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So it was you! Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
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Sco is great at this stuff an acoustic guitar too Originally Posted by Jimmy blue note
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The term "Chord melody" is a pet peeve of mine.
It's what any other instrument would simply call, "playing music". It's just a melody with harmonic accompaniment. That is an essential skill for any well rounded musician.
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Any other instrument? I'm interested how a horn plays melody with harmonic accompaniment. Or drums, or bass, or a singer. Originally Posted by vintagelove
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To be fair, this looks as hard as chord melody on guitar Originally Posted by AllanAllen
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That’s amazing
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Trombonist Bill Watrous sings/vocalizes another note through the mouthpiece to cause two notes (the vocalized note and the bone note) to come out of the bell...
In response to the OP, I think it's a personal choice. I love chord melody, so I work on it. If someone else doesn't, that's fine. "Inadequate" is not being able to play in tune, with good time, and with good tone. Even that is subjective... there are plenty of flawed musicians that have achieved popular acclaim and monetary gain. So, "adequacy" is really about your own standards and goals.
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Originally Posted by Christian Miller
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Yea, I'm just as confused by that comment. Maybe they meant by other instrument one like the Harp: I.e. other string instruments???? Originally Posted by AllanAllen
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