The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    Recently I have thought that more discussions should take place on the philosophy of music, in particular improvising. I am looking for answers to questions like 'what is improvising' (ie, beyond the dictionary definition), 'can improvising really be taught or learned? If so, how? If not, how do we know we have the inate ability to improvise?

    So many authors of musical theory introduce you to techniques and theories that are supposed to help you understand 'how' to improvise. After reading and learning these books I have found that I have just learned what and when to play things, and I end up just grasping at 'improvising' itself.

    I think these things instead of paying attention in summer school (urgh! but at least I get to graduate faster!) And I wonder if anyone else has stopped to think about improvising beyond the scales and chords, and think of it metaphysically, something that is certainly lacking in most modern texts.

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  3. #2

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    well, there's that line, that gets attributed to bird or whoever the quoter is talking about at the moment, which essentially is, "learn all the the theory you can, then forget that shit and play."

    which is fine to an extent, but i'd be hard pressed to find an example of a player who's playing jazz who isn't thinking at all. i think the key is to be able to make your thought and action happen as simultaneously as possible. let's face it, if you're racking your brain for the changes of a tune, or stopping to think "can i use lydian here?"--you're dead--the change is gone and you've floundered. so again, the mind must be concious of what is being played, but in tune with the physical action as much as possible, again, to the point of simultaneous thought and action. it's also a heck of a lot easier to do this if you are improvising a single note line--once you get into chordal improv, your mind needs to split--thinking melody and harmony...more on that in a minute.

    when i improvise a single note line, in the purest sense, there needs to be a couple of things that have happened beforehand...

    i need to know the tune well enough that the chord changes can play in my head whilst i improvise a new melody line over it,

    and, i need to be aware of the original melody as a touchstone. i'm not saying i can't ever go in cold and simply feel my way through the changes of a tune--because, let's face it, there's a lot of similar movements in jazz that happen in a lot of different songs.

    the point of where my brain has become familiar enough with the song that i can truly think "new melody" and not "what chord is next?" is when the most pure and real improvisation happens in my book.

    i am at the point on the instrument where i can grab a starting note, hear a moderately complex melody line in my head, and play it without floundering or hunting and pecking...this comes from a lot of practice--simply playing the guitar and hearing notes, but also in training my brain to recognize intervals. sometimes, the melody i hear may be three or four "touchstone" notes, but i might play 8 notes in the line, accenting the notes in my new "melody" while using the other notes to create tension or to build up to the notes i want to stress.

    this seems to come in two forms--firstly, times where muscle synapse takes over and i "connect the dots" with chromatic tones or fill in the scale tones/chord tones that lie between the notes i want to accent.

    but there's another option i've been digging lately, which throws things open a lot more. again, i can hear a melody line and play it for the most part--so sometimes i will simply take an interesting visual pattern, deliberately stepping outside of any scale box or arpeggio pattern i've familiarized myself with, to travel between the notes. while this occasionally gets pretty outside, i've found that knowing what i want to accent and where i want to resolve helps keep the line sounding "confident" and "true." it's an interesting way to improvise, because half is known and half is left open to chance.

    but again, there's also another situation i come across. being a player who does a lot of solo and small group stuff, i am often the sole polyphonic instrument in the setting. i fully believe in exploiting the guitar's polyphony, so that means i'm soloing in chords as well. this area gets dicey for me, because the at the level i am currently at, i cannot improvise quite as purely in this manner. i need to be much more aware of the chord of the moment, so that my melody line stays on top of the correct harmony...i'm still working thru this, but i have found that learning the chords to a tune in as many places as humanly possible really helps keep the creative doors open when playing in this style.

    i'd like to see other's comments on how they approach improvising as well--good thread sc06yl

  4. #3

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    Quote Originally Posted by sc06yl
    Recently I have thought that more discussions should take place on the philosophy of music, in particular improvising. I am looking for answers to questions like 'what is improvising' (ie, beyond the dictionary definition), 'can improvising really be taught or learned? If so, how? If not, how do we know we have the inate ability to improvise?

    So many authors of musical theory introduce you to techniques and theories that are supposed to help you understand 'how' to improvise. After reading and learning these books I have found that I have just learned what and when to play things, and I end up just grasping at 'improvising' itself.

    I think these things instead of paying attention in summer school (urgh! but at least I get to graduate faster!) And I wonder if anyone else has stopped to think about improvising beyond the scales and chords, and think of it metaphysically, something that is certainly lacking in most modern texts.
    Let me start off by saying that single note playing is the weakest part of my current skill set. Because of this, I read and think alot about it, and ask questions of the pros I know and admire, along with practicing it. With regard to your first paragraph, there is probably more than one definition of improvisation. A more rudimentary level is to learn a bunch of material (scales, triads, licks, arps, etc) and then turn them loose over a tune in a creative way, reorganizing them every time. This follows the Play What You Hear = Play What You Know idea.

    We all have had experiences where we cut loose and just let it flow, without any regard for the above devices, and just listened and responded. I guess that is a different sort of level of improvisation. Riskier but probably more rewarding. I think that maybe speaks to your 2nd paragraph. I do think it can be taught, or at least you can be shown the door to walk thru.

    A few months back in GP, Carlos Santana did an extensive interview, and he is certainly someone who lives in the "music comes from a metaphysical/spiritual place." I happened to agree with much of what he said, and it was a refreshing viewpoint to the typical artist interview. Some of it was a bit over the top though.

    I would suggest Kenny Werner's Effortless Mastery if you haven't picked it up. Certainly addresses this sort of thing pretty well, and has exercises to foster this development.

  5. #4

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    It was either Dolphy or Shorter who said that "until the day we die, we ae searching for our voice, experimenting and changing our approach to improv. We never really reach a destination, improvisation is a never-ending road." I got that from a new documentary that's on the Ovation channel, entitled "Jazz in the Present Tense." I remember Eric Dolphy did go through a period where he abandoned everything he learned, except intervals and key families, he just played using intervallic patterns

  6. #5

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    IMHO improvising is just like talking or walking or writing or playing sports, or anything else. You might not be able to speak another language today, but if you learn the rules, learn the vocab, practice, practice, practice, eventually you'll move from stuttering from one word to the next to expressing your thoughts and ideas fluidly and without much thought. Why should music be any different?

    That's my whole philosophy.

    I guess at some point you hit a creative wall, because there aren't many people like Wes Montgomery, just like many (most!) people can express themselves verbally better than I can. To me it's just about finding that place where I hit that wall. Not in a bad way, but in the way that I've acheived all I can and can't get any better. I also believe that I won't reach that point within my lifetime, because there's always room for improvement, and with the right attitude, you can always improve...!

  7. #6

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    Uhm..
    It's just music, man

  8. #7

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    Actually.... It's also an art form. And being such it is subject to things like different 'Schools of thought" , philosophies, evolution, etc.

    It's the same with art and literature.

    If you want to say it's just music, then let's only say that about all the stuff that get's released that follows some predeterminedcorporate formula for success like all the Miley's , Jonas Brothers, Brittany's , etc out there. There's no philosophy there. Only dollar signs

  9. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by Luan
    Uhm..
    It's just music, man
    yea i agree... simple.

  10. #9

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    Wait a second, Miley Cyrus and Jonas Bros are not music. It's entertainment, performers, NOT ARTISTS!!!! It's been said that mindless "music" which involves someone singing a song that someone else wrote, while dancing on stage is called pop, and you really don't have to think about it when you perform, perrformers are actually forgeting lyrics now. Meanwhile, the jazz musician, is an artists. Why? b/c he/she has to use the mind to create, and when so, the human soul is reflected, in the form of an intimate improvised piece of music

  11. #10

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    it's also been said that 50% of improv is rehearsed licks or patterns, just rearranged, and 50% is stuff we've never played before

  12. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jazzyteach65
    Wait a second, Miley Cyrus and Jonas Bros are not music. It's entertainment, performers, NOT ARTISTS!!!! It's been said that mindless "music" which involves someone singing a song that someone else wrote, while dancing on stage is called pop, and you really don't have to think about it when you perform, perrformers are actually forgeting lyrics now. Meanwhile, the jazz musician, is an artists. Why? b/c he/she has to use the mind to create, and when so, the human soul is reflected, in the form of an intimate improvised piece of music

    I don't think you understand what I said in repsonse to Luan, who claims that improvisation is just music. Just music is what Miley, et al play. Theres no art there. But it is indeed music. Has notes, tertial harmony, etc. it is indded just music. no philosophy there.

  13. #12

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    Provided you have a reasonable natural ability to hear music, interpret it, and respond with a melodic statement of your own then...

    Practice improvisation and you will get good at it. It's the only way. I'm not talking about 15 minutes a day. I'm talking about hours upon hours upon hours.

    My philosophy about improvisation is just PRACTICE IMPROVISATION RELENTLESSLY!

    If you don't want to spend that much time improvising, then forget about improvising - it's not your bag, so find something else about music you like.

  14. #13

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    Quote Originally Posted by derek
    A more rudimentary level is to learn a bunch of material (scales, triads, licks, arps, etc) and then turn them loose over a tune in a creative way, reorganizing them every time. This follows the Play What You Hear = Play What You Know idea.


    Derek that really sums it up for me but I see it as two separate things…

    1) Play what you know. That’s where we apply the scales, triads, licks, arps, etc that we have practiced to a piece. This can overlap with the play what you hear as you will often hear the scales, triads, licks, arps, etc that you practice.

    2) Play what you hear. For this type of improvisation, to me the ideal is to hear original ideas, not the scales, triads, licks, arps, etc that you’ve been practicing. An easy way to test this, and something a guitar teacher tested me: find a tune that you know the melody well in your head (i.e. you can hum it) but you’ve never played on guitar. Then play the melody on your guitar, if you can do it effortlessly with no mistakes the first time through then you’ve got the ‘ears’ to improvise simple melodic lines under this second definition… and that is a beautiful thing. If you can do the same with say a Stravinsky tune, then you’ve got the ears to improvise complex lines. If not, and if this second type of improvisation is important to you, then I think the best way to practice is to practice playing by ear melodies of songs you’ve never played.

    The beauty of this exercise is you can’t fool yourself into thinking your creating you're own orginal lines by 'playing what you hear' when all your doing is improvising under the “Play what you know” definition. Otherwise, it's sometimes hard to know.
    Last edited by fep; 05-08-2009 at 05:22 PM.

  15. #14

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    Composition and improvisation are a continuum.
    I believe that musical improvisation is the act of creating a real time sound response to each moment and the possibility of transcending our skill sets and who we believe ourselves to be. It can be either profound or ordinary but it is always honest.

  16. #15

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    Is art a form of communication? I think it is.
    Charlie Parker 'invented" bebop as a reaction to the dance music of the day. He wanted to communicate to other artists not the general public. Since when are entertainers not artists? They have an art that is different than yours. You are not better because you think your art is more highbrow than theirs.
    I love Mylie Cyrus she is cute, a breath of fresh air, and I take her for what she is. She is good at what she does just like Bird was good at what he does.
    I bet Bird could not dance like Madonna.
    I would not expect him to. His art hits me on a different level. Not
    'better' just different.

  17. #16

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    i agree with the poster that related improvising to learning a new language, in this case it is the language of music.

    you want to get all that stuff you can learn (arpeggios, chords, scales/modes, licks, etc) and ingrain that in your mind, so that when you hear an specific sound you can answer to it like you answer "doing good" to "how you doing?".

    but, the same way you can teach a person how to write and they can make typos or have a very limited vocabulary, you can teach someone chords, scales, arpeggios/chords and they can still lack creativity and do it not quite good.

  18. #17

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    One thing about art is that it stands the test of time. Here it is 2009 and we're still talking about Charlie Parker and his music, Lets see ,when did his last LP come out?

    Does anybody think that People will be talking about all the nonsense groups that have come out with their bubblegum sound on a forum 40 years from now?

  19. #18

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    Quote Originally Posted by JohnW400
    Does anybody think that People will be talking about all the nonsense groups that have come out with their bubblegum sound on a forum 40 years from now?
    Talk about...what? Already forgot about all of those!

  20. #19

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    Some great artists drive the art form forward and open unseen avenues and ideas for others to develop and continue to expand. Charlie Parker was certainly one of those artists and that is one of the reasons he is still so famous. But that shouldn't belittle others who don't have such an impact.

    Miley Cyrus or whoever else may not have added much development to current music, and may well be forgotten in five years, but that should not denegrate what they produce as 'not art'.

    There have been countless artists who were shunned in their own time and only became famous and whose work only had an impact a long time after their death. There are also countless people who made a big impact when they were alive but who are now all but forgotten, especially jazz artists!

    Once we start saying something is not art or that one art form is better than another we are on very shaky ground. There is no proof for any of this and it is only a matter of opinion.

    There is no yardstick to measure it by. Not sales, not money, not fame, not longetivity, not critical acclaim. It is all a matter of personal taste.

    I seriously doubt that most of the current crop of pop stars will be remembered for long at all, and imho Charlie Parker was an extremely rare breed who far outweighs all but a tiny minority of people who followed him, but that is all just my personal opinion, and I don't think we should say that what others' produce is 'not art', regardless of how bad we think it is.

  21. #20

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    Quote Originally Posted by Paul J Edwards
    Is art a form of communication? I think it is.
    Charlie Parker 'invented" bebop as a reaction to the dance music of the day. He wanted to communicate to other artists not the general public. Since when are entertainers not artists? They have an art that is different than yours. You are not better because you think your art is more highbrow than theirs.
    I love Mylie Cyrus she is cute, a breath of fresh air, and I take her for what she is. She is good at what she does just like Bird was good at what he does.
    I bet Bird could not dance like Madonna.
    I would not expect him to. His art hits me on a different level. Not
    'better' just different.
    Can't let that comment escape without at least a token objection. You may as well be saying that the writings of Shakespeare are just "different" from Avril Lavigne's lyrics, not necessarily better.... yeah, right..... Jazz is art, Pop is craft, if you don't understand the difference then stick to craft and don't make ridiculous and deeply insulting comparisons. The ideals of Art are loftier than those of Craft (see Oscar Wilde), and as artists, we are allowed to say so. Elitist? You bet!!!

  22. #21

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    Quote Originally Posted by JohnW400
    One thing about art is that it stands the test of time. Here it is 2009 and we're still talking about Charlie Parker and his music, Lets see ,when did his last LP come out?

    Does anybody think that People will be talking about all the nonsense groups that have come out with their bubblegum sound on a forum 40 years from now?

    Well, essentially that's what I'm trying to say. There's music that is timeless, roots, jazz etc. Golden eras of these genres (ragtime, electric blues movement in Chicago, ect) stand out most, but the music always lives on. Jazz is over 100 years old, and even though all it's changes, it's really the only American music accepted in the academia as an institution that can be studied. Meanwhile nobody will remember pop music, and even some parts of rock, because it's not timeless.

  23. #22

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    But 100 years is nothing. And jazz is hardly a mainstream art form these days. I believe jazz is an extremely advanced musical art form and supercedes most others, but would never say that some other music is not art.

    Jazz may be considered high-brow now, but it certainly wasn't during it's infancy. Older generations always reject younger music, and we can't say for sure that Miley Cyrus or Avril Lavigne won't be seen as visionaries in the future, as ridiculous as that sounds at the present!

  24. #23

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    Quote Originally Posted by abracadabra
    Once we start saying something is not art or that one art form is better than another we are on very shaky ground. There is no proof for any of this and it is only a matter of opinion.

    There is no yardstick to measure it by. Not sales, not money, not fame, not longetivity, not critical acclaim. It is all a matter of personal taste.
    i dont know about this
    Last edited by sfas; 02-21-2013 at 02:36 PM.

  25. #24

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    Abracadaba, I think history bears this out already. Just look at all the corporation marketed bands and singers that have come out in the last 30 years. The only history that most have made is to appear on VH1's 'Where are they now" type programs.

    As far as JAzz not being mainstream, perhaps not quite as mainstream as hip hop or even country but lets ask the educators here like Matt and Jake about how many applications their universities receive for new students every year.

    Listen, even the Beatles were on that same level up until they reached Sgt Pepper. They started to find their way on Revolver. And I'm a huge Beatles fan. Before Revolver, just an extremely successful band. I don't consider what they did before that to be art.

    Art is a funny thing. There's that old expression, "I don't anything about art but I know what I like". My seven year old nephew makes some intersting drawing in school. Is it art or is it just a drawing? I ask the same about all the Jseeica Simpsons, Hansons , etc. Is it art or is it just people singing

  26. #25

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    So when does one become an artist. John Lennon was just a pop singer till June 5th 1966 when he woke up and became an artist. What rubbish!

    Take a look in A Hard Days Night, the movie. John is in his hotel room and playing one of those mouth piano things. Well he is fooling with the chords to Strawberry Fields. Hm this was like 1965. Surely he could not have written that as a mere pop star.

    Is early blues like Son House and Robert Johnson art. This was music played at house parties for people to dance and drink to.