The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #51

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    Quote Originally Posted by lawson-stone
    So here's another run at this, thinking maybe the Telecaster will stir some different ideas?

    Observations, insights, advice, always welcome.

    Your ideas are more than fine—you play firmly idiomatic bebop stuff. The delicate criticism part is the execution of those ideas *in time*—sometimes you're in the pocket, sometimes you're not. Since you *can* play in the pocket, I think you need to figure out what is happening when you fall out of the pocket. It sounds to me like your longer phrases start out ridin' strong but gradually fall off the horse, so to speak.

    Two suggestions:


    • What if you tried playing shorter phrases? Don't give yourself enough time to fall off the horse.
    • Fewer phrases with more space between them. Take more time to hear ahead without feeling like you're chasing the changes.


    Also: Superchops. Seriously. Well worth the time commitment to do the whole 20 week routine at least once in your life.

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  3. #52

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    Quote Originally Posted by wzpgsr
    Your ideas are more than fine—you play firmly idiomatic bebop stuff. The delicate criticism part is the execution of those ideas *in time*—sometimes you're in the pocket, sometimes you're not. Since you *can* play in the pocket, I think you need to figure out what is happening when you fall out of the pocket. It sounds to me like your longer phrases start out ridin' strong but gradually fall off the horse, so to speak.

    Two suggestions:


    • What if you tried playing shorter phrases? Don't give yourself enough time to fall off the horse.
    • Fewer phrases with more space between them. Take more time to hear ahead without feeling like you're chasing the changes.


    Also: Superchops. Seriously. Well worth the time commitment to do the whole 20 week routine at least once in your life.
    Thanks for those observations. I often "fall off" because, believe it or not, my mind wanders! I lose my concentration, forget about a chord change, momentary brain-fade! Shorter phrases is an idea worth trying.

    I've also thought about the Superchops course from time to time. Might be worth digging into.

  4. #53

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    Quote Originally Posted by lawson-stone
    Thanks for those observations. I often "fall off" because, believe it or not, my mind wanders! I lose my concentration, forget about a chord change, momentary brain-fade! Shorter phrases is an idea worth trying.

    I've also thought about the Superchops course from time to time. Might be worth digging into.
    Superchops (as dumb as the name is, I like to think it was Howard Roberts having a bit of a goof) can definitely help with training your brain to focus. The gist is that you play at a tempo whereby you make virtually zero mistakes. One of the tricks to success is not getting caught up in HR’s recommended tempos. The idea is to never exceed what you can play without making too many errors. The other trick, for me personally, was to use shell voicings instead of HR’s voicings. That’s not to say there’s no benefit to *eventually* using his voicings, but I found that I was spending more time trying to perfect his sometimes crazy voicings than I could afford. So yeah: shell voicings, get off the book as fast as you can, slow and steady with no pressure to increase tempo. I think this could really help iron out your time.

  5. #54

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    I promise this is my last post and I understand any who just haven't got time. But the recommendation above to try shorter phrases struck me as worthy of the attempt, so I have tried that here. I think I fell into making them more or less the same length, and maybe even a call-response kind of pattern... so.. anyhow, this is an attempt to play with shorter, more deliberate phrases.

    Also--I use the BruteEQ pedal directly into my digital audio interface here, so if you want to hear what the "Polytone in a Pedal" sounds like, this is your clip!

    Comment welcome of course.

  6. #55

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    My old teacher had me transcribe solos by ear and grunt out all the notes, get them on the guitar, BEFORE I wrote the solo out. Vocalizing rhythm is deceptively easy. There is a nuance to what notes are accented, swallowed, long, short. Vocalizing rhythm also gets you to pay attention to rhythm.

    One exercise involved taking a short phrase from a tune we were working on and grunting out improvised rhythms. Each phrase, a new rhythm, a new place to start in the measure, a new place to end the phrase.

    The first 4 or 8 measures of Afternoon in Paris, try grunting out some rhythms. Transcribe the rhythms. Put notes to the rhythms.

    If I can figure out how to properly do a print screen I can show you what I did with "Stablemates" (the tune we were working on). I'd like to try that same exercise with our tune of the week. Definitely worth a shot
    Last edited by PickingMyEars; 06-03-2021 at 08:40 PM.

  7. #56

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    Quote Originally Posted by lawson-stone
    I promise this is my last post and I understand any who just haven't got time. But the recommendation above to try shorter phrases struck me as worthy of the attempt, so I have tried that here. I think I fell into making them more or less the same length, and maybe even a call-response kind of pattern... so.. anyhow, this is an attempt to play with shorter, more deliberate phrases.

    Also--I use the BruteEQ pedal directly into my digital audio interface here, so if you want to hear what the "Polytone in a Pedal" sounds like, this is your clip!

    Comment welcome of course.
    Sounds like you’re onto something here. The intentionality to play shorter lines improved your time and also seemed to push you towards more interesting rhythms. Nice work.

  8. #57

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    Quote Originally Posted by lawson-stone
    I promise this is my last post and I understand any who just haven't got time. But the recommendation above to try shorter phrases struck me as worthy of the attempt, so I have tried that here. I think I fell into making them more or less the same length, and maybe even a call-response kind of pattern... so.. anyhow, this is an attempt to play with shorter, more deliberate phrases.

    Also--I use the BruteEQ pedal directly into my digital audio interface here, so if you want to hear what the "Polytone in a Pedal" sounds like, this is your clip!

    Comment welcome of course.
    Imagine Sammy Davis Jr. teaching a tap routine to a young hoofer.

    Sammy: "It's bah dah be doo be BEE dah,,, uh uh uh".

    I'd suggest channeling Sammy's rhythmic feel.

  9. #58

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    Here's a quick one I did with a looper.
    Glad to see the jam continues!

    Last edited by Ronstuff; 06-03-2021 at 09:49 PM.

  10. #59

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    Quote Originally Posted by lawson-stone
    I promise this is my last post and I understand any who just haven't got time. But the recommendation above to try shorter phrases struck me as worthy of the attempt, so I have tried that here. I think I fell into making them more or less the same length, and maybe even a call-response kind of pattern... so.. anyhow, this is an attempt to play with shorter, more deliberate phrases.

    Also--I use the BruteEQ pedal directly into my digital audio interface here, so if you want to hear what the "Polytone in a Pedal" sounds like, this is your clip!

    Comment welcome of course.
    You settle in nicely about 1 minute in, and your time improves a ton!

    I'm going to PM you about something I've noticed.

    NICE TAKE!

  11. #60

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    Quote Originally Posted by lawson-stone
    I promise this is my last post and I understand any who just haven't got time. But the recommendation above to try shorter phrases struck me as worthy of the attempt, so I have tried that here. I think I fell into making them more or less the same length, and maybe even a call-response kind of pattern... so.. anyhow, this is an attempt to play with shorter, more deliberate phrases.

    Also--I use the BruteEQ pedal directly into my digital audio interface here, so if you want to hear what the "Polytone in a Pedal" sounds like, this is your clip!

    Comment welcome of course.
    I think this second take is a lot more in the pocket than the first. Sounding better and better; keep at it.

    I think more intention is what I always want from learners. Usually that’s rhythmic intention.

  12. #61

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    Finally took my time to read and listen to all the posts. There's some fine playing here all around. Nice tune that I enjoy playing over the changes and maybe there will be a late entry by me.