The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
Reply to Thread Bookmark Thread
Page 8 of 11 FirstFirst ... 678910 ... LastLast
Posts 176 to 200 of 261
  1. #176

    User Info Menu

    Here's my take on Elle.

    • No improvising. I just played the head followed by the arpeggios (ascending and descending).
    • Backing track: Band In A Box. BPM: 110.
    • This rather simple looking exercise took a great deal of practice for me to get through the 16 bars relatively smoothly, cleanly, and consistently.
    • Like most things I play, it could use more work but I wanted to get something on record before we move to chapter 3.



  2.  

    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #177

    User Info Menu

    Nicely done, losaltosjoe. Really clean, lovely tone, and a great feel. G F would be delighted!

  4. #178

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by losaltosjoe
    Here's my take on Elle.

    • No improvising. I just played the head followed by the arpeggios (ascending and descending).
    • Backing track: Band In A Box. BPM: 110.
    • This rather simple looking exercise took a great deal of practice for me to get through the 16 bars relatively smoothly, cleanly, and consistently.
    • Like most things I play, it could use more work but I wanted to get something on record before we move to chapter 3.

    Well played, you are getting a really nice jazz tone. The backing tracks sounds real good too.

  5. #179

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by losaltosjoe
    Here's my take on Elle.

    • No improvising. I just played the head followed by the arpeggios (ascending and descending).
    • Backing track: Band In A Box. BPM: 110.
    • This rather simple looking exercise took a great deal of practice for me to get through the 16 bars relatively smoothly, cleanly, and consistently.
    • Like most things I play, it could use more work but I wanted to get something on record before we move to chapter 3.


    Sounds great, losaltosjoe. Looks like you've got those arpeggios pretty solid... I'd say it's time to let loose and start using them to improvise over the progression if you're not already.

  6. #180

    User Info Menu

    How is everyone going? I hope you're all working hard, getting these shapes in your head and under your fingers, and taking Elle through the keys.

    One thing I find helpful is to practice improvising over Elle in a new key each day, through the cycle, but stay in the same general area of the fretboard (say, frets 4ish to 8ish). That way you get a new set of shapes to work on each day over a familiar set of changes.

    At the end of this coming week I'll start the new thread for Chapter 3. Onward and upward!

  7. #181

    User Info Menu

    Must confess, haven't tried Elle in any key but the original.I turned the page and discovered the four triad shapes - which are straightforward enough, but have still been trying to learn those in all keys. Again, it's easy (easier than the exercise earlier in the chapter) to play the four triads sequentially through the cycle, but to be able to choose the right triad (i.e. the nearest one to where you happen to be on the fretboard at any given moment) from any randomly generated Minor7 chord instantly is proving very tricky (for me). My memory is just not up to it!

    I have worked through the final pages of Chapter Two, also - the six ways of playing the given lick. Close to having these memorised.

    Looking forward to Chapter Three even if I feel I've only skimmed the surface of Chapter Two.

    Derek

  8. #182

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by digger
    Looking forward to Chapter Three even if I feel I've only skimmed the surface of Chapter Two.

    Derek
    No problem. I don't think it's about leaving a chapter behind as soon as you have worked through it - you can always go back to revisit and freshen up your memory.

  9. #183

    User Info Menu

    I’m starting to change my stance on the four shapes at the end of chapter 2. There’s a lot of thinking there for me—“Crap, what’s the minor third of C#? What’s the fifth? Crap, that’s the fourth.”—and I am finding it pretty challenging to run these through the cycle as efficiently (in terms of my limited practice time) as the earlier stuff. I can breeze through the examples in Gm from bottom to top to bottom, but also find myself flailing with overthink when I try to play them from top to bottom to top. This, I think, really demonstrates how much of a crutch CAGED-type fretboard organization systems can be.

    Then I flog myself for decades of dependence on one or two minor pentatonic shapes rather than, say, memorizing intervals and note names in all keys, and start to contemplate a simpler hobby, like checkers.

    It’ll come with time, I’m sure...

  10. #184

    User Info Menu

    Exactly what I'm struggling with, wzpgsr. I'm actually pondering on whether to simply stick with the given examples (i.e. not work each example through all the keys) and get the benefit of the whole methodology (which will still take a year or more) then worry about doing it all in all keys later.

    I'm unlikely to ever be on a jazz bandstand so this is all for fun. I could be old and grey and very arthritic in the fingers (and maybe elsewhere) before nailing every exercise in every key.
    Last edited by digger; 01-26-2020 at 04:06 PM.

  11. #185

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by wzpgsr
    Then I flog myself for decades of dependence on one or two minor pentatonic shapes rather than, say, memorizing intervals and note names in all keys, and start to contemplate a simpler hobby, like checkers.

    It’ll come with time, I’m sure...
    Don't beat yourself up! If you know two minor pentatonic shapes, that's good. Adding more usually means transfering shapes you already know to another string set. Knowing these things does not mean being able to recite them while you're playing!

  12. #186

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by Jehu
    How is everyone going? I hope you're all working hard, getting these shapes in your head and under your fingers, and taking Elle through the keys.

    One thing I find helpful is to practice improvising over Elle in a new key each day, through the cycle, but stay in the same general area of the fretboard (say, frets 4ish to 8ish). That way you get a new set of shapes to work on each day over a familiar set of changes.

    At the end of this coming week I'll start the new thread for Chapter 3. Onward and upward!
    I must admit, the thought never even entered my head, though to be honest, and since you mention it, I couldn't tell you which key it's in to start with!

    And on a related theme...

    Quote Originally Posted by TOMMO
    If I'm thinking at all it's more like: I - bIII - V - bVII...
    Or, are the four triad shapes - Gmin, Bb, Dmin, F, - the ii, IV vi, I in the key of F? (Para 3 p.11).

  13. #187

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by michael-m
    Or, are the four triad shapes - Gmin, Bb, Dmin, F, - the ii, IV vi, I in the key of F? (Para 3 p.11).
    Yes - the Gmin here is the IImin of F. It'll be clearer a little later in the book when the melodic extensions will be including C7 and E-7b5.

  14. #188

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by WillMbCdn5
    As much as I love the concept behind the book I just can't seem to find the time to sit down and get the work done that's needed to get anywhere with it. I hope everyone else stays with it and I look forward to seeing you progress through the material !!!!

    cheers
    Will
    If there is one takeaway from GF (at least for me) it is to simplify your playing. However you currently approach creating lines that make the changes, GF gives you permission to think in terms of simple triads. For color, there is a secondary triad to use.

    If you don’t go on, at least think try to use that. I believe he chose his modal “Elle” tune precisely so you don’t think functionally. To me, those are the hardest changes to make because the shifting harmony isn’t related functionally. You can’t just think in terms of one or two notes in the scale that shifts.

    But thinking only triads makes the mental gymnastics much easier. Just about anyone can find and play the underlying triad to a chord on a chart. Just try doing that the next time you practice a standard. Boredom will lead you to the “helper” triad. It really is about first being able to make any changes, at any tempo, easy by using a triad pair. Then worry about adding in the “jazz”.

    The rest of the book seems to be about how to add complexity, tricks to visualizing triads on the fingerboard, more hip triads to use, etc. But if you get nothing else out of it than permission to simplify the changes into triads, I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how much that can increase your fluency.

    I was.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

  15. #189

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by rlrhett
    If there is one takeaway from GF (at least for me) it is to simplify your playing. However you currently approach creating lines that make the changes, GF gives you permission to think in terms of simple triads. For color, there is a secondary triad to use.

    If you don’t go on, at least think try to use that. I believe he chose his modal “Elle” tune precisely so you don’t think functionally. To me, those are the hardest changes to make because the shifting harmony isn’t related functionally. You can’t just think in terms of one or two notes in the scale that shifts.

    But thinking only triads makes the mental gymnastics much easier. Just about anyone can find and play the underlying triad to a chord on a chart. Just try doing that the next time you practice a standard. Boredom will lead you to the “helper” triad. It really is about first being able to make any changes, at any tempo, easy by using a triad pair. Then worry about adding in the “jazz”.

    The rest of the book seems to be about how to add complexity, tricks to visualizing triads on the fingerboard, more hip triads to use, etc. But if you get nothing else out of it than permission to simplify the changes into triads, I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how much that can increase your fluency.

    I was.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
    Yeah - I took some lessons from a very good local jazz player and his approach to the blues/jazz blues was to basically arpeggiate a dom chord . So from the 3rd you get a m7b5 (ext 3,5,b7,2) from the 5th you get a min7 (ext 5,b7,2,4) from the b7 you get a maj7 (ext b7,2,4,6) and from the root you get the dom7 (ext 1,3,5,b7) . At the time i thought it was a very interesting and practical/simple way of looking at and organizing things. I think GF's triads make that idea/approach/organization even simpler and manageable.
    I will be continuing to explore the book but at a pace as time available allows)

    Will

  16. #190

    User Info Menu

    Chapter 2 Pages 18 - 22


  17. #191

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by fep
    Chapter 2 Pages 18 - 22
    So nice, fep! Love that mood / groove. Plus bass!

  18. #192

    User Info Menu

    Here's my "End of Chapter Two" submission. Nothing fancy - just the shapes at the end of Chapter Two recorded direct into the camera as time's tight.


    I'm not sure if I read it in the book when I skimmed a few chapters or saw it on You Tube but I gather the key thing (or one of the key things) about these shapes is the little three string "rake" will occur on a different set of notes in each shape - which will become important later. Or maybe I dreamt all that?

    Derek

  19. #193

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by digger
    I'm not sure if I read it in the book when I skimmed a few chapters or saw it on You Tube but I gather the key thing (or one of the key things) about these shapes is the little three string "rake" will occur on a different set of notes in each shape - which will become important later. Or maybe I dreamt all that?

    Derek
    I agree taht three string 'rake' is important. It's a nice way to play triads---notes on 3 adjacent strings. One, it is easy to play that way. Two, it saves time because you don't have to consider all the different ways to play them. I know it's common to hear teachers stress the ability to play things "all over the neck" (and I'm not saying that's wrong) but it is also important to find the most efficient way to play anything one will need to be able to play fast.

  20. #194

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by digger
    I'm not sure if I read it in the book when I skimmed a few chapters or saw it on You Tube but I gather the key thing (or one of the key things) about these shapes is the little three string "rake" will occur on a different set of notes in each shape - which will become important later. Or maybe I dreamt all that?

    Derek
    Check this:




  21. #195

    User Info Menu

    Excellent series of videos. What a lovely sounding guitar - although I dare say the fingers have a lot to do with that tone!
    Last edited by digger; 01-28-2020 at 05:49 PM.

  22. #196

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by fep
    Chapter 2 Pages 18 - 22

    Nicely done, fep. And a good lesson for people who say they don't have time to practice -- that's a good chunk of this chapter's material in 3 1/2 minutes!

  23. #197

    User Info Menu

    Any takers for a final video showcase of our progress on Elle or other aspects of Chapter 2? I’ll try to put something to myself before midnight tomorrow.

  24. #198

    User Info Menu

    In the meantime, the February thread is up:
    Garrison Fewell's Melodic Approach - Ch 3

  25. #199

    User Info Menu

    This was the best take of the night, but that does not mean it was a good take! I’m definitely feeling overwhelmed by all the fingering options. Onward to chapter 3.


  26. #200

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by wzpgsr
    This was the best take of the night, but that does not mean it was a good take! I’m definitely feeling overwhelmed by all the fingering options. Onward to chapter 3.
    I like how you take your time and build up.