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Originally Posted by matt.guitarteacher
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06-08-2015 11:27 PM
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Originally Posted by Nylonstring
Below is my "practicing" through the tune they're doing for the practical standards thread this month on the forum, I Wish You Love. I'm reading this out of a real book. Didn't really play it before today, and it's rough. But it does show what you can do with things on an improvisational level once you get the fingering concept together. I'm not a great soloist, but I did some improv on this just to illustrate where I'm trying to get to eventually. I'd have to practice this tune a good bit more to really do it, even on this pretty simple tune. It kind of tanks at the end. :-)
Anyway, my point is, as amateur as the solo and the playing are, I don't really play a lot better without the chords. It's not like I'm a lot better with a backing track, and only this good playing solo. I've just mostly improvised with chords the last couple of years.
Anyway, the melody of this tune is particularly suited to leading with the melody first, like I was talking about earlier. As a kind of exercise I tried to play the melody note first most of the time, and then the chord after. My fingering is occasionally weirdo, but again, some of that's because (in addition to the tune being unfamiliar) I'm fingering the end of the line with the destination chord in mind, instead of the other way around.
I'm really trying to comp behind my "inner saxophone" (the melody I'm playing). I want them to sound like separate entities, even though it's largely based on an actual fixed chord. I'm trying to not compromise anything about the melody's phrasing itself, just to suit the chord, or to set up a new position. I hope that comes across, and I hope to soon have a little better vocabulary and actual improvisation skills to use with this stuff. But the technical concept of what I'm talking about is there and should work with whatever lines/chord voicings I add to my playing in the future.
Sorry to be long.
Last edited by matt.guitarteacher; 06-10-2015 at 05:30 PM.
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Originally Posted by matt.guitarteacher
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Originally Posted by Nylonstring
Anyway Ligon's big thing with shedding any new line is to make sure to practice it on, before and after the beat. It's kind of stamped big on his material "On, Before, After". So that you're not phrasing things exactly the same way all of the time. I attached a pdf. Kind of looks bad. Baby stuff really. But it's a simple example. Helps with getting away from always being on the same part of the beat, and even from having to begin with the chord. you'll notice that on the last one the target is on the chord.
Re. Band in a Box, I need to "get my life right" and work with something like it. I've got an old copy which is outdated on any machine I have now, I think.Last edited by matt.guitarteacher; 06-11-2015 at 11:01 PM.
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Okay. Here is straight from Ligon . Beginner stuff available for free, from him, on his website. I'll probably remove this when I find the link.
And...
Anyway, I am always trying to integrate chords into whatever.
A lot of this kind of stuff in his comprehensive technique book as well. It's not guitar specific.
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Originally Posted by destinytot
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Originally Posted by Nylonstring
Certainly I feel there's a long way to go for myself. I feel that playing with rythmic strength and nailing the chord tones in one's line goes along way towards making a trio situation complete - far more so than a more complex guitar style executed with slightly dodgy time - then sprinkling some little partial chords and a bit of chord soloing is just the icing on the cake.
In fact, I would say due to some slight issues with rhythm the chord/melody soloing thing actually sounds less good in my playing than just playing single note lines and breaking it up with comping - even for duo.
Of course, YMMV, and everyone has different strengths and weaknesses :-)Last edited by christianm77; 06-12-2015 at 08:15 AM.
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Originally Posted by matt.guitarteacher
You can play this type of thing with a pick as well, which is important for me for various reasons (although I'm starting to see getting into Hybrid picking or playing with a thumb pick would open a lot of doors.)
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Originally Posted by christianm77
Thanks for your comments BTW. I'm still learning for sure. Enjoy reading your posts.
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Joe Pass!
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I've finally found an instructional lesson on specifically what I've been asking about. It's one of Mike's Masterclasses by Juampy Juarez. Here's the preview video:
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I am also working on this technique with my teacher, in a CM context. A couple of things I have learned intellectually (and am trying to incorporate in actual playing) is to always try to connect the chords with a bass line, and whenever I am playing a single note (melody or solo), always have a chord form over it so I can decide to play it or not. It's a lot easier to grab the chord if it's sitting right there ready to be pressed than it is to play a line and then have to set up for the chord you want to drop in. I also spend a lot of time coming up with a chord for every note I am playing, so I am learning/figuring out a lot of new grips (someone mentioned playing more like a piano player - all I pretty much listen to is solo piano or piano trios as that is the sound I want out of the 7 string).
Personally, I do not care for long phrases of single be-bop style guitar lines in solo style playing, even if they outline the harmonic structure - I just find it too sterile sounding, so perhaps that's why my instructor is having me learn as described above. I am finding it difficult, but I do believe that I will end up with the sound I am ultimately looking for, especially when he just does it as a demo in my lesson, but he has been doing it for 40 years - I feel hope and despair at the same time <chuckle>. He is primarily a 7 string CM solo player, and I am also striving to be one. Well, at least striving to have fun on the way, no idea if I will ever get there...Last edited by ah.clem; 06-23-2015 at 03:37 PM. Reason: Typo
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Originally Posted by ah.clem
Forgive me for being dense...but what does CM stand for?
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Originally Posted by Nylonstring
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Originally Posted by matt.guitarteacher
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I found a complete lesson on YouTube addressing this issue. I really like his ideas and will try and incorporate them into my practice plan. I think mapping out exactly which chord changes you're going to grab ahead of time is a great idea. I also like his idea of making the solo phrases more meaningful. What I've been trying to do is just simplify them down to just 3 or 4 notes, but in my conversations with my former teacher Mark Stefani he was encouraging me to do exactly what this fellow is advocating by using more meaningful jazz language. I think the other thing I'm gleaning from this is to LEAVE MORE SPACE! IOW, don't be afraid of some silence between the end of the line and the chord punctuation.
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