The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #51

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    Hi !

    Every instrument is welcome so I tried it without knowing it very well...
    Just the chords under my eyes and some ear.

    Box

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #52

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    Lionel,

    Not fair! When I mentioned playing some piano for this thread I knew it would be basic.

    First time I hear you play saxophone. Honestly, if I could play saxophone like that... I would quit guitar

    Beautiful tone. I am hearing some Lester Young and a little Ben Webster. Am I totally off base?

    We need a Jazz Forum where all instrumentalists and vocalists can chat. Makes things interesting. Helps us learn from each other. Keeps it from getting stale.

    Play more, Lionel! Play more! What did you think of the Branford Marsalis I posted?

  4. #53

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    Quote Originally Posted by PickingMyEars
    Lionel,

    Not fair! When I mentioned playing some piano for this thread I knew it would be basic.

    First time I hear you play saxophone. Honestly, if I could play saxophone like that... I would quit guitar

    Beautiful tone. I am hearing some Lester Young and a little Ben Webster. Am I totally off base?

    We need a Jazz Forum where all instrumentalists and vocalists can chat. Makes things interesting. Helps us learn from each other. Keeps it from getting stale.

    Play more, Lionel! Play more! What did you think of the Branford Marsalis I posted?
    Thanks for listening and commenting.
    I am not a fan of Marsalis but your post changed my mind. He can be kind of dirty and inspired like Sonny Rollins.

  5. #54

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    Quote Originally Posted by christianm77
    loving the tone you are getting there
    Thanks. This guitar really does cover all the bases well.

    John

  6. #55

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    Hi !

    It's not perfect, my saxophone is dying...

  7. #56

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    Hi !

    Second take on video but with a backing track... Volume problems here so it changes at 1:30
    I've got the feeling that on every tune I play exactly the same, every song equals one song.

  8. #57

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    The thread for this tune seems to die a slow death - why's that? I hope it's not that folks lose interest in this series.
    Very fine contributions by y'all - nice melodies that connect the sometimes strange chord progression in a way that everything makes sense to my ears. Good to hear another instrument as well, Lionel - well done!
    Haven't had much time to play this past week but in that little time I had figured out chord voicings / shapes / subs to come up with quite smooth transitions which help me hear the tune much better.
    I may post a late entry in a couple of days.
    If I had to play it spontaneously in a jam I'd be lost, though....

  9. #58

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    I think most of the usual suspects (6 of them) have done their thing. Lawson's tied up with the other tune. Triplejazz might still do something... it's probably one of those tunes that just gets done.

    I think we're all waiting for you, really :-)

  10. #59

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    (If people are stuck for something to do, there's 'Mean To Me' on the PS thread...)

  11. #60

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    Quote Originally Posted by TOMMO
    The thread for this tune seems to die a slow death - why's that? I hope it's not that folks lose interest in this series.
    Very fine contributions by y'all - nice melodies that connect the sometimes strange chord progression in a way that everything makes sense to my ears. Good to hear another instrument as well, Lionel - well done!
    Haven't had much time to play this past week but in that little time I had figured out chord voicings / shapes / subs to come up with quite smooth transitions which help me hear the tune much better.
    I may post a late entry in a couple of days.
    If I had to play it spontaneously in a jam I'd be lost, though....
    It seems like there's a set group of people posting to these threads, and most have done so already for this tune. I'd love to see more posting. Speaking only for myself, my goal is to spend time up front learning the tune if I don't know it(especially the head), rather than develop it via multiple public versions. Then I record/post one decent take as quickly as I can, and step back and listen to what others have done. I'm not doing super-deep dives and multiple interpretations of the tunes. I'm trying to keep the soloing as close to spontaneous as I can, within the unspontaneous constraints of recording by myself. I've also had a musically busy week otherwise. Plus I'm the tune picker for the next one, and I wanted to get that selected, shedded, and ready to go by today. Hence, limited time and attention for any one particular tune.

    John

  12. #61

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    Quote Originally Posted by ragman1

    I think we're all waiting for you, really :-)
    I don't think so, actually.... but I'm sure I will record a take...


    Quote Originally Posted by John A.
    It seems like there's a set group of people posting to these threads, and most have done so already for this tune.

    John
    Thinking twice I'm sure you got that right. There were a lot of discussions about chord progressions etc. which kicked up the number of replies on previous threads so that led me to think there was more going on than it actually was.
    Can't wait for your tune to be posted!

  13. #62

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    Quote Originally Posted by ragman1
    I think most of the usual suspects (6 of them) have done their thing. Lawson's tied up with the other tune. Triplejazz might still do something... it's probably one of those tunes that just gets done.

    I think we're all waiting for you, really :-)
    I was hoping to work on this but my week was too busy. I’m about to head into my afternoon shed, I think I’ll just blow a few chorus’s on the changes and post later.

  14. #63

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    Quote Originally Posted by Triple_Jazz
    I was hoping to work on this but my week was too busy. I’m about to head into my afternoon shed, I think I’ll just blow a few chorus’s on the changes and post later.
    Hey, this isn't a guilt trip or something, I was just going through the previous contributors. No one has to do a damn thing. I expect most people are busy with far more important things - like work!

    Maybe not so interesting, tho :-)

  15. #64

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    I’ve been busy this week... I do want to get another take down... a little tricky this Easter weekend due to childcare.

    perhaps we should let this roll for another week? Give everyone a chance to catch up.

  16. #65

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    I like a weekly cadence (which fits my habit of regularly trying new tunes). To me, it's the best of both worlds -- those who want to get in and out quick without waiting too long for the next one can, and those who want to do deeper explorations can still work at their own pace. A slower cadence puts everyone in the same deeper dive, uh, boat.

    John

  17. #66

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    TBH contributing isn’t a priority, but it’s nice to know I can dip in and out. I’m easy.

  18. #67

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    I'll confess here... the tunes are just getting too hard for me to invest a week of work into. I barely get the melody and chords figured out, struggle to play lines over the changes, and then honestly, just my opinion, I don't like seeing other instruments in a guitar thread. Nobody should stop, of course, it's just me. But I want to see guitar players here. So I will likely not continue because I just can't keep up and I want to keep focused on the guitar.

    Not condemning or judging anyone else. It's just where I'm at.

  19. #68

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    Quote Originally Posted by ragman1
    Hey, this isn't a guilt trip or something, I was just going through the previous contributors. No one has to do a damn thing. I expect most people are busy with far more important things - like work!

    Maybe not so interesting, tho :-)
    I appreciate the challenge and the encouragement to keep going. I’m not inspired by this tune and that doesn’t help my motivation but a project thread like this is very productive and rewarding. I spent an hour on this and what a bizarre song, but I tell you what, I’m glad I did because I learned some thing new. When playing through atypical arrangements one is forced to do new things and I unlocked some new fingerings to supplant some old habits. I have a few takes I’ll listen back to and post later.

  20. #69

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    Triple -

    Actually it's not so daft as it looks. It's been made to look more difficult than it is by the likes of Bernstein and Kreisberg. But that's what they do :-)

    If I may make so bold, listen to my 'plain' version that only uses major scales and a couple of arps, etc. It's not weird but it can be made weird.


  21. #70

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    On the other thing. I think, to be honest, we should stick to the one-a-week format. Most of the tunes have been played in a couple of days and it already feels rather tedious for some to be waiting for Friday. There were 7 or 8 versions by different posters by Tuesday!

    On the other hand, it does take time to get inside a tune properly so I fully understand those who don't have the spare time to get to grips with them fairly quickly but we don't need to do every one. And, as Mr. B has repeated many a time, one can always, always, do whatever tune we like when we're ready.

    I'm fairly certain that the once-a-month tunes in the PS threads are no more troublesome than any others excepting the very modal ones. But for some reason that other site has died a death recently. It wasn't always that way, people would contribute with enthusiasm. Stella ran to 4 pages. But, alas, no more for some reason that eludes me. Who cares when a tune was written? Does earlier equal easier? I don't think so!

    As for not renaming the site Jazz Sax Online, Lawson may have a point. I do quite a neat paper and comb if anyone's interested :-)

    He wasn't playing too badly, actually.

  22. #71

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    This part of the discussion raised a question in my mind about how people work on an unfamiliar tune.

    What is your process? What do you do to get to the point where you're ready to play it?

    Here's mine:

    I can read the melody and I know the notes in the chords. For most chords I have some applicable knowledge of scales.

    So, that allows me to scuffle my way through almost anything.

    To do better than scuffle, I have to get the sound of the tune in my ears. That's repetition of the harmony, from listening to recordings or just strumming the chords in the chart. Then, it's a question of coming up with ideas to make melody -- which sometimes works better than other times. I've done multiple takes on most of the tunes, but usually because I've glitched a note or played a clam. I haven't worked out any solo material in advance.

  23. #72

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    Quote Originally Posted by rpjazzguitar

    What is your process? What do you do to get to the point where you're ready to play it?
    Are you asking me, or generally?

    If I don't know it at all I first find a lead sheet because that'll give me the melody and the chords. Then I generally listen to various versions of it, the simpler the better. That takes the notes off the page and brings them to life.

    Then I get a feeling for how fast or slow it should be and what the rhythm is. Then I try playing the chords for a backing for soloing. Then I try playing the melody to see how that goes.

    Then I spec out the chords. There may be more than one lead sheet from the RB, the 557 book, the vanilla site, the grilles site, and some backing tracks on You Tube. So I select one I think is okay and work with that. I look at the chords and see how they go. I've done it for a million tunes so I'm used to it. I can work out how to play it fairly quickly by now. Then I try it.

    I probably do it quite a few times to get some fluency before I commit to anything. Quite often what I think is wonderful at night is not so clever in the morning! But I keep going till I feel fairly confident with it. Then I'll do a version. Some of it I keep, a lot can get discarded depending on how it goes.

    Some tunes come easy, quite a few don't so they take longer. Night Dreamer drove me round the twist at first and it probably took a few weeks till I felt I understood it properly. But some come fairly quickly.

    The act of posting it publicly exposes a lot so I might delete it and try again. None of it comes easy. And all I do is play lines over chords. I should think trying to sort out chords or a chord melody is very hard indeed. In comparison I think I have it easy.

    You asked :-)

  24. #73

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    Quote Originally Posted by ragman1
    Are you asking me, or generally?

    You asked :-)
    I was asking generally. Thanks for your answer.

  25. #74

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    If you asked generally, every answer is particular :-)

  26. #75

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    Here’s a chorus of UMMA recorded in my “shed”

    I never heard this tune before and to be honest didn’t like it. I’m glad to have tried it. My process for learning tunes is usually charged by my passion for the tune. Of all the tunes on this virtual jam UMMA was the only one I never heard before. I’ll usually be familiar with a tune that’s called in a jam post situation and so I just pay closer attention to it and listen a few times. The way you guys are doing it is much better because there’s analysis and discussion. On JOTW for instance it’s post and ghost for many.