"Introduction to Jazz Guitar Soloing" Applied to the Blues

[fep]

This study group is about the book "Introduction to Jazz Guitar Soloing" applied to the blues.

[fep]

I'll start with a chord progression. The IV7 chord at measure 2 would indicate this is a "Quick Change Blues Form", the IIm7 chord at m:9 would indicate that this is a Jazz blues form.




From here we can develop our 'Common Situations' like Chapter four and then apply the subsequent chapters ideas to those situations. And this will be a bit of an improv. We'll see where it takes us.

Do you all think this is a good starting point?

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For notation I'm moving from Sibelius to MuseScore. MuseScore is free so anyone who wants to put in the effort can use it too. Also, we can share xml files if anyone is interested. The xml files can download into many of the notation softwares.

[fep]

Blues Situation 1:

Attachment 12617

[fep]

Ch 5 - The connecting game. I think this is a good exercise to start with. Refer to the book for the definition of the connecting game.

Connecting game over situation 1, G7 arpeggio and C7 arpeggio. Here's an example (I'll try to do a video at some point). (Sorry about the redundant accidentals, just trying to learn MuseScore this morning).

[MarkRhodes]

Fep (-Frank; which do you prefer?), thanks for starting this thread about using the Connecting Game with the blues.

As for situation number 1, this would be bars 3 and 4 (the I7 chord) and 5 & 6 (the IV7) chord, correct?

I am excited about getting to work on this!

[Frank67]

Hi Frank,

very cool - Thanks a lot for the initiative!

I had studied a somewhat more involved minor (I just happen to like the sound of minor better) jazz blues progression today that I stole from a book. I found it quite challenging because there were so many 7b9 and 7#5 chords in there. It sounded fine with pentatonic noodling but I guess that's not the point - but maybe we can put a major and a minor example up for practice?

... now back to practicing.

Have a nice day everybody!
Cheers,
Frank

[fep]

Fep (-Frank; which do you prefer?), thanks for starting this thread about using the Connecting Game with the blues.

As for situation number 1, this would be bars 3 and 4 (the I7 chord) and 5 & 6 (the IV7) chord, correct?

I am excited about getting to work on this!

Yep, Sit. 1 fits over those measures. I was thinking that there are a couple times were you move between the I7 and IV7 chords.

And in that spirit. Sit 2:

[MarkRhodes]

I'm glad you did this, Frank. For one thing, it's a good separate exercise because it is one measure of each chord rather than two, and it is also the first two measures of the song-form, so when you get these two situations down (at least in one position) you have a big chunk of the tune.

Which scale patterns are you starting with (-or are you playing this in all positions already)?

[fep]

I'm glad you did this, Frank. For one thing, it's a good separate exercise because it is one measure of each chord rather than two, and it is also the first two measures of the song-form, so when you get these two situations down (at least in one position) you have a big chunk of the tune.

Which scale patterns are you starting with (-or are you playing this in all positions already)?

I'm using what I consider to be pattern one. Same as pattern one in the book but with the 7th flatted. So for the G7 chord I'm playing an arpeggio with the root being on the 6th string 3rd fret and for the C7 chord the root is on the 5th string 3rd fret.

And like you said, I want to work them out in all positions.

I will say that playing the connecting game over these chords doesn't sound bluesy to me. That's okay, it's an exercise that 1) get's us identifing, playing and hearing the chord tones and 2) it helps us to hear the chord changes and the chord changes in our lines.

Just a bit of brain storming on what I think will be next... Playing the arpeggios but not following the straight eight note rule, I like to add that to the end of my connecting game exercise.

After that, the blues scales starting on a chord tone and ending on a chord tone. And, the blues scale mixed with arpeggios. At this point we should start to sound bluesy.

Then, using those tools and coming up with our own licks.

And of course, everyone is free to come up with ideas on how to progress. I'm probably missing some obvious things that we could work in.

[unit9]

Hi everyone, two things I would like to talk about, first as Frank said just playing arpeggios does not sound very bluesy. I always think of the blues scale with the arpeggios for each chord superimposed over it, so that all important major third gets sounded over each dominant chord. Those players who only think of the blues scale over the whole progression end up playing that minor third of the blues scale over the one chord and the two chord, I always feel they are missing out on a great sound. Another way I sometimes played was to play mixolydian over the one chord and blues scale over the two chord(which tends to have the notes from the mixolydian scale for the two chord anyway). But as we are trying to apply the connecting game to this I will try the arpeggio method. So the question I would like to ask is are we going to call these non resolving dominants in which case according to the book we should be using Lydian dominant. I personally have always thought of a blues as being made up of dominant chords that never truly resolve, what do you all think. I suppose you could also play mixolydian over each dominant, which I think Robin Ford does a lot of, at least to my ears. Although I am new to jazz playing I have studied blues quite a bit, so I hope I can contribute a bit towards this study group.

[unit9]

Been thinking about this a bit more. G7 to C7, G7 is a resolving dominant, so maybe G# altered. C7 to G7 is non resolving so maybe A Lydian dominant. I will have to try this to see how it sounds.

[unit9]

After trying out a few different things I still think the best way to look at a blues is as a series of chords that never resolve. I feel its like jumping from one moving train into another moving train but never stopping at a station. As a result to me it has to be Lydian dominant if we are going down the melodic minor mode route.

[fep]

Larry Carlton demos the altered scale (7th mode of melodic minor) on this video.

[unit9]

Well Fep that pretty much sorts that out,what I didn't manage to say with words Larry says it all with his guitar. Mind you I think Larry Carlton could play a shoelace tied to each end of a banana and make it sound like blues. If I remember rightly there is also some killer videos on you tube of Mike walker using the altered scale over a blues, I need to go and try to dig it out, it has been a while since I watched it. You think you've got blues playing down until you watch players of this calibre, and then its like oh oh back to the woodshed.

[MarkRhodes]

Larry Carlton demos the altered scale (7th mode of melodic minor) on this video.

Man, that's nice. Enjoyed the split screen so I could watch his right hand during that. Lot to learn from there.

[unit9]

Yeah Mark, larry is the man, his plying is so tasteful. I think if I could be any player in the world it would be Larry. I once borrowed a teaching dvd of his a long time ago and remember being blown away with his playing, cant remember which one it was, might need to look that up.

[Frank67]

ok, its probably not a good idea to upload a video after a Larry Carlton clip :-)

I've been practicing a bit on a 12 bar minor jazz-blues progression. The result was something of undefinable style ( if any ... :-)) but was using the concepts from the books (3- and 4-note arpeggios, diminished arpeggio substitutions, altered/wholetone scale, chromatics, canned licks ... mmh, the list probably sounds better than the result :-)). The progression is not so simple is one wants to track it accurately (but one doesn't go far astray with pentatonics either). It is:

| Am7 | Bm7b5 E7b9| Am7 | A7#5 |
| Dm9 | G13 | Am7 | F#m7b5 |
| F7 | E7b9 B7 | Am7 | E7#9 |

A quick take from this morning is here:

Enjoy practicing everybody!
Cheers,
Frank

[Rob MacKillop]

You should change your name to Frank Teaches. Well done, I applaud anyone who can get up after Larry Carlton. Very brave.

Three unsolicited comments, ignore them if you want:

1. That's a fantastic guitar, but because of the effects you have used I can't hear the real guitar underneath.

2. Your solo is a series of scales and arpeggios. Now, so is Larry's. So what is the difference? I wasn't aware that he was playing scales and arpeggios - he has such an incredible command of melodic phrasing, he seems to say a lot more by doing a lot less. It's clear he listened to BB King a lot at some point in his formative years.

3. You are doing great, really! Keep it up!!

[MarkRhodes]

ok, its probably not a good idea to upload a video after a Larry Carlton clip :-)

| Am7 | Bm7b5 E7b9| Am7 | A7#5 |
| Dm9 | G13 | Am7 | F#m7b5 |
| F7 | E7b9 B7 | Am7 | E7#9 |

A quick take from this morning....

Nice work, Frank. I enjoyed that. You're right, Larry Carlton is a tough act to follow. But you're really getting somewhere and that's to be celebrated.

[fep]

Nice job Frank, I really like the bit starting at :47. Definately a more difficult blues form.

Thanks for getting the video excercises started.

[fep]

I really haven't been practicing and need to almost start over with this connecting game business. So So I'm sticking with the spirit of the book and keeping it simple to start.

I just did one for that "Blues Situation 1" that I defined. ||: G7 / / / | / / / / | C7 / / / | / / / / :||

Started with connecting game excercise, ended with using just G7 and C7 arpeggios but varying the rhythms. I used only Dom 7 chord tones except on one little chromatic part. I also tried to stay in one position.

[Frank67]

Hi Frank, sounds great - and definitely bluesy! I noticed your right hand technique is different from the Benson that you were practicing when we started the study group. Did you switch again? I'm interested in your take as right hand technique is an ongoing issue for me.

Thanks also everybody for their nice comments on my little attempt! Rob, I appreciate your feedback. The effects are only reverb and delay, but probably a bit too much of a good thing :-) ... the guitar does sound great in person - I'll keep it in mind for next time. The recording was somewhat intermediate between practicing the connecting game and making music - hence it was also a bit too busy ... but of course, no matter how hard I try, I could never sound as smooth and fluent as Larry Carlton and i see of course what you mean. Since I have been practicing a fair bot of gypsy lately I guess that many of those phrases had some of that vibe. I happen to like it.

Keep 'em coming - this is fun! Enjoy music everybody!

[fep]

Thanks Frank. My attempt to sound bluesy in the context of the exercise. Of course with the exercise contraints there are only four notes to pick from for each chord at this point. And no blue notes.

Yes that's more of my 'original' picking technique. Which was actually my attempt a long time ago to imitate Larry Carlton's picking technique. I've always appreciated the dynamics and articulation in Larry's playing. And, it's a good hand position for hybrid picking (which Larry also does).

I've kind of settled on a few ways to hold the pick and I move back and forth from one to the other. The Benson technique is still one of the ones I use most often.