Melodies

[jazzpazz]

Hey. Gonna focus more on developing my ears and guitar skills by playing melodies along with the radio and such. Thus wondering what you guys were thinking. Should I stay in a certain scale? Should I do it in all positions of a scale system? Say I use 3nps.

Or simply just playing the notes without a system?

I really like chord melody and want to improve at that. Should I do it on the e and b strings as that's mostly where melodies are located in chord melody

[Jimmy Smith]

Figure out what methods the music uses. Don't either assume a system that is wrong or no system.

For chord melody, put the top note of a simple melody on the 1st or 2nd string and put chord inversions to the chord progression below.

[jazzpazz]

Figure out what methods the music uses. Don't either assume a system that is wrong or no system.

For chord melody, put the top note of a simple melody on the 1st or 2nd string and put chord inversions to the chord progression below.

Do you prefer any kind of chords for this, like shell or drop?

[JazzPadd]

There’s an old multi-part Bill Frisell instructional video on YT. In one part, he walks through taking a melody and adding a note that’s within reach here and there, to fill out the sound. I’ve learned a lot from his minimalist approach. Worth a look, IMHO.

[dasein]

It depends on the tune.

For bebop tunes with a million notes or just very tricky heads in general (Freedom Jazz Dance, Inner Urge, etc), I just work out a fingering. I wouldn't worry about sticking with a particular scale pattern -- experiment with different fingerings until you find something that feels right for you.

For many of the Great American Songbook tunes or ballads, that all goes out the window. If someone were to ask me for my fingering for something like "My Romance," I wouldn't have one on the spot. I basically play them by ear every time, and figure out how I want to finger them on the fly. This took some work, but it was definitely worth it. I really believe that any musician should be able to play simple melodies solely by ear, and if they can't, they need to work on it.

This is where a lot of the Mick Goodrick "play on one or two strings" practicing helps a lot. I feel like it allows for better ear/hand connection and lends itself to playing melodies more like a vocalist.