The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #26

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    Quote Originally Posted by charlieparker
    Curious how people record video while recording audio with something other than a phone?
    I record audio in Logic while my phone captures the video separately. Then I import the video into Logic for syncing. You can see at the beginning of my clip I whack the strings to help me sync the audio to the video in Logic.

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  3. #27

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    Backing track with shell voice comping at 70 bpm. Recorded 3x3 choruses of root notes, trying to find ways to make that interesting—lots of little octave or larger interval leaps that I would probably never dream of without having done this root note exercise. So, early paydirt for me, I guess. Also feeling some increased fretboard organization awareness coming together behind the scenes. There are a few nooks and crannies I haven’t explored too much yet (open strings and first fret....I’m looking at you).

    After I recorded my three root note takes, I took a stab at improvising over the form. Clunky at best, but I can feel different gears turning. Without thinking about it too much, my improvisation sort of coalesced around the various root notes I have been grabbing. It wasn’t quite this dramatic, but it almost felt like I had never conceived of position playing or scales before. A lot of work could be invested with this approach, I think. Repeating for each interval, not just root.

  4. #28

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    Also, and just a thought here, which is likely reflective of my own fretboard knowledge limitations from a lifetime spent learning the fundamentals of the guitar half-assed...if you can learn to find root notes on the fly at tempo, and you have some ingrained “system” for knowing how and where the intervals cluster around the root on the fretboard... that could lead to quite a bit of freedom from “grips” when comping and “positions” when soloing.

  5. #29

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    Recorded two choruses at 60 bpm. Struggled with the just playing roots. Amazing how tricky can be on a new tune. I anticipate the changes coming but don't always know which part it is so I am still getting lost in the form a bit.

  6. #30

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    Quote Originally Posted by charlieparker
    Recorded two choruses at 60 bpm. Struggled with the just playing roots. Amazing how tricky can be on a new tune. I anticipate the changes coming but don't always know which part it is so I am still getting lost in the form a bit.
    One thing you could try: just focus on one string at a time. Or the top two strings, etc.

  7. #31

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    I had a good session this evening. Of course, it's often easier to have satisfying sessions when the tempo is so relaxed and easy. Forgive my ignorance, but I don't really have a quick and easy way to record myself comping. I could record via the Memos App on my iPhone, but that seems somewhat unsatisfactory. Also, I have so little time to play guitar I really don't want to spend that time trying to figure out some computer software based recording equipment.

    Anyway, I comped the tune for five to ten minutes to try and internalize the changes and the flow and movement of the piece. Then I did root movements along with iReal Pro. I wasn't looking at the lead sheet. Trying not to cheat! I did that for a while. Then I mixed it up with some simple soloing. All of this was at 75 bpm. Oh, and I incorporated some dyads as well. Then I ramped up the bpm to 145 to see how much of what I worked on earlier would come to play at double the tempo. There were occasional moments of getting lost and not articulating the changes quite so succinctly, but all in all it went well.

    One nice thing about the Super Chops program was knowing exactly what you were supposed to do every night for a given amount of time. I'm certainly not suggesting that JBN or anyone else chart out specific daily goals. Perhaps it's good and a bit liberating to be free to tackle whatever one chooses. But that also makes me feel like we're not all in step with one another. Just an observation.

  8. #32
    The Three Week Immersion: Study group for a tune based practice routine-screen-shot-2021-07-07-12-54-35-pm-png
    Here's the chart in C. I'll make up a lead sheet for this tune based on Roman numeral chord identities instead of chord letter names.
    The Three Week Immersion: Study group for a tune based practice routine-screen-shot-2021-07-07-4-32-43-pm-png
    Using quarter notes to create a bass line:
    Exercise suggestion:
    After you can play the roots of My Romance with Half and whole notes, try filling in the other beats of the measure with either other chord tones or passing notes to chord tones. Try to keep beats 1 and 3 with strong chord tones and experiment with notes that feel good and make a melodic bass line on 2 and 4.
    This is the stepping stone between a disciplined and strong bass line and playing melodies that convey harmony, which we'll be doing next week.

    You might be mindful to work on these new ideas in smaller bite sized pieces. For instance, work with only the first 4 bars until you can really be imaginative and sure footed with the changes. You now have one system, one solid phrase that you shouldn't need to look at a page for. Break the piece up into "episodes" of phrases that you know intimately so you can playfully transition from one familiar section to the next.

    Have fun!

  9. #33

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    I am probably the worst guitar player on this site, so I cringe when listening to the playback of this, but I uploaded the root exercises at 60 bpm.



    The next step of creating bass line melodies sounds really interesting. I am totally digging this approach to learning a tune.

    I've been working in Bb. Does it matter? Should I switch to C?

  10. #34

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    Just started the bass line exercise. Finding a good note to connect the roots is challenging. I am finding that approach notes often make the best choices here as opposed to outlining the harmony which is typical of my clumsy bass lines.

  11. #35

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    Totally off book now. Had to take last night off because I strained my hand and didn't want to push it. No metronome or backing track tonight, but I played perhaps just a tad faster than I was playing two nights ago—say 78 bpm or so. When I did the root note exercise two nights earlier in the week, I (perhaps incorrectly) assumed that I should be targeting roots all over the neck, not just bass notes. So the experience I gleaned from those practices helped me feel comfortable pretty quickly when targeting the roots on just strings 5 and 6 tonight. After a chorus or two of just bass notes played with a two-feel, I started approaching the roots on the weak beats, usually from either a half-step above or below, sometimes connecting with a two note chromatic run. I have been working on this kind of thing with a teacher, so it was nice to see how ingrained some of this has become. By the end of my short little practice, I was feeling pretty comfortable throwing in little syncopated chords here and there. Short practice tonight, but will pick this up again tomorrow feeling pretty energized.

  12. #36

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    Yea... this thread can have great possibilities for helping players become aware of Music and becoming musicians.

    If you can't play a great Bass line... how can you play a great solo.

  13. #37

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    One thing I've really been enjoying about this process is a similar experience I had at the beginning of Super Chops. I believe I alluded to this in my last post, but it's enlightening to play slow and really, really outline the changes. Almost to the point where it sounds square and vanilla. Like the root movement exercise, I believe this slow, deliberate outlining of the changes enables my ear to truly hear the backdrop of the harmony. Might be obvious, but it certainly seems like this slow, deliberate exploration of the changes, along with the root movement, is a wise way to first tackle any tune.

  14. #38
    I'm loving the comments I'm seeing. Thanks for being a part of this adventure!
    Any piece is made up of a landscape of familiar structures, diatonic chords (only 7 or them for a start), shifting and moving key centres (these are the things that make the conversation colourful, full of surprises and ...exciting), and dominant or crunchy dissonant approaches (the adjectives and adverbs of your musical story).
    I thought I'd look at this vocabulary in a breakdown of this piece. These are the framework devices that Richard Rogers created that make this piece so pleasing, and the framework that you will be using to compose your own versions (otherwise known as a solo).
    Let me lay out some of the things we'll encounter in this piece. Then they'll be familiar when you encounter them.
    Diatonic chord areas.
    In the first system (measures 1-4) you've got a lot of happy related chords. These are major based chords, diatonic and based on the I chord or our root or home base chords. These are marked in green. When you solo all through the green zone, you can't really go wrong; listen for the key and play/experiment with melody.

    In the second system (measures 5 and 6) you visit the minor tonality, or the realm of the VI chord. The minor is also a strong entity and often played out in parallel or contrast with the I. Notice the melody is a similar 1,2,3 in each mode? Here you can look as this as playground in minor.

    In the bridge, the third system has a nice interplay between the diatonic areas of IV and I. They talk with one another, and you can find short phrases to convey that sense of dialogue.

    There are other diatonic areas but they're brief areas along the side of the road (the III in measure 14, the II in measure 26), let's not pay too much thought at the moment, your ear will learn these and guide you better and more truly than descriptions.

    Dominant chord movement.

    These chords and passages, which I've marked in red are your colourful descriptors, the adjectives and adverbs of musical grammar. Like descriptors, you can build up your own vocabulary and substitute once you've become adept. They generally (always) go hand in hand with a chord following them and you feel a sense of arrival when that passage or phrase is complete.

    V7 to I that we see in measure 3 is our strongest because it leads home and is a part of the key.
    You can also put dominants on other diatonic chords (secondary dominants) and that's like marrying outside the family, not a part of the diatonic chords of that key, but strong harmonic combinations.
    Straight dominants from a 4th below (5th above) are cool and all over the place. They're called Secondary Dominants.
    You see them in the III7 at the end of measure 4. It sounds cool, edgy and bluesy, and it's opening up some dissonance as a prelude to the VI minor chord that follows.
    Some common secondary dominant passages:
    III7 to VI minor
    I7 to IV
    II7 to V
    VII7 to III
    We'll see all these in My Romance. Learn to recognize them. Learn to hear them. Learn to be imaginative with them. They'll appear in different forms in all the pieces you'll play as a jazz player/composer (ie soloist).

    Modal interchange dominants.
    These are cool other types of dominant movements.
    bVII to your target (measure 11)
    bIII7 to II in measure 14.

    I'm going to leave this as your basic toolkit.

    If you can find and recognize some of these structures, your ear will become MUCH more informed, the piece will become more three dimensional and your learning the piece will become more modular AND integrative. The piece will come to life.
    It takes time, but this is the kind of informed visualization and auralization that lets you really have FUN. It becomes a go kart track or a video game, where you see things coming and you meet them boldly.

    The Three Week Immersion: Study group for a tune based practice routine-screen-shot-2021-07-10-7-40-59-am-png

    Hint: Take your time with this. It takes time. And it isn't soup until you can HEAR it. THAT's the goal.
    Hint: Create your own exercises and see how these devices are used in the piece.
    Hint: Use the Roman Numeral fingerboard chart once you feel adventurous. You'll see there are LOTS of ways to play these progressions...all over the fingerboard.

    Please post all questions. Everyone is at a different level, a different part of the journey. I can address approaches to experimenting (called creative practicing) for everyone. SO let's have fun!

  15. #39
    Quote Originally Posted by charlieparker
    I am probably the worst guitar player on this site, so I cringe when listening to the playback of this, but I uploaded the root exercises at 60 bpm.

    The next step of creating bass line melodies sounds really interesting. I am totally digging this approach to learning a tune.

    I've been working in Bb. Does it matter? Should I switch to C?
    That sounds GOOOD!!! Be very proud. When I'm listening to live music, I always listen for a sense of "Are they THERE?" Do they have a good working relationship/partnership with the piece? (A piece is not a bunch of changes you play off a page, it's a partnership with another musical personality)
    You sound solidly aware of your partnership with the piece.
    When you can hear in your playing what I hear in listening, there's nowhere you won't be able to go. Nice job!

    As far as what key, which ever you're committed to is going to teach you everything. I change keys every day because it teaches me about the fingerboard and it teaches me the nuance of every key and most importantly, it breaks down my prejudice about key preferences.

  16. #40

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jimmy blue note
    I'm loving the comments I'm seeing. Thanks for being a part of this adventure!
    Any piece is made up of a landscape of familiar structures, diatonic chords (only 7 or them for a start), shifting and moving key centres (these are the things that make the conversation colourful, full of surprises and ...exciting), and dominant or crunchy dissonant approaches (the adjectives and adverbs of your musical story).
    I thought I'd look at this vocabulary in a breakdown of this piece. These are the framework devices that Richard Rogers created that make this piece so pleasing, and the framework that you will be using to compose your own versions (otherwise known as a solo).
    Let me lay out some of the things we'll encounter in this piece. Then they'll be familiar when you encounter them.
    Diatonic chord areas.
    In the first system (measures 1-4) you've got a lot of happy related chords. These are major based chords, diatonic and based on the I chord or our root or home base chords. These are marked in green. When you solo all through the green zone, you can't really go wrong; listen for the key and play/experiment with melody.

    In the second system (measures 5 and 6) you visit the minor tonality, or the realm of the VI chord. The minor is also a strong entity and often played out in parallel or contrast with the I. Notice the melody is a similar 1,2,3 in each mode? Here you can look as this as playground in minor.

    In the bridge, the third system has a nice interplay between the diatonic areas of IV and I. They talk with one another, and you can find short phrases to convey that sense of dialogue.

    There are other diatonic areas but they're brief areas along the side of the road (the III in measure 14, the II in measure 26), let's not pay too much thought at the moment, your ear will learn these and guide you better and more truly than descriptions.

    Dominant chord movement.

    These chords and passages, which I've marked in red are your colourful descriptors, the adjectives and adverbs of musical grammar. Like descriptors, you can build up your own vocabulary and substitute once you've become adept. They generally (always) go hand in hand with a chord following them and you feel a sense of arrival when that passage or phrase is complete.

    V7 to I that we see in measure 3 is our strongest because it leads home and is a part of the key.
    You can also put dominants on other diatonic chords (secondary dominants) and that's like marrying outside the family, not a part of the diatonic chords of that key, but strong harmonic combinations.
    Straight dominants from a 4th below (5th above) are cool and all over the place. They're called Secondary Dominants.
    You see them in the III7 at the end of measure 4. It sounds cool, edgy and bluesy, and it's opening up some dissonance as a prelude to the VI minor chord that follows.
    Some common secondary dominant passages:
    III7 to VI minor
    I7 to IV
    II7 to V
    VII7 to III
    We'll see all these in My Romance. Learn to recognize them. Learn to hear them. Learn to be imaginative with them. They'll appear in different forms in all the pieces you'll play as a jazz player/composer (ie soloist).

    Modal interchange dominants.
    These are cool other types of dominant movements.
    bVII to your target (measure 11)
    bIII7 to II in measure 14.

    I'm going to leave this as your basic toolkit.

    If you can find and recognize some of these structures, your ear will become MUCH more informed, the piece will become more three dimensional and your learning the piece will become more modular AND integrative. The piece will come to life.
    It takes time, but this is the kind of informed visualization and auralization that lets you really have FUN. It becomes a go kart track or a video game, where you see things coming and you meet them boldly.

    The Three Week Immersion: Study group for a tune based practice routine-screen-shot-2021-07-10-7-40-59-am-png

    Hint: Take your time with this. It takes time. And it isn't soup until you can HEAR it. THAT's the goal.
    Hint: Create your own exercises and see how these devices are used in the piece.
    Hint: Use the Roman Numeral fingerboard chart once you feel adventurous. You'll see there are LOTS of ways to play these progressions...all over the fingerboard.

    Please post all questions. Everyone is at a different level, a different part of the journey. I can address approaches to experimenting (called creative practicing) for everyone. SO let's have fun!
    Thanks,. I have to say your posts are full of really great advice The Three Week Immersion: Study group for a tune based practice routine
    I'm a little late to this,. My romance is something I have not heard before.
    Really starting to love this tune .
    Trying to get to grips with the chord progression at the moment.
    Irealpro is great also to learn the structure of the song.
    Biggest challenge for me right now is where to play the chords on the neck

    Sent from my Redmi Note 7 using Tapatalk

  17. #41
    Quote Originally Posted by android
    Thanks,. I have to say your posts are full of really great advice The Three Week Immersion: Study group for a tune based practice routine
    I'm a little late to this,. My romance is something I have not heard before.
    Really starting to love this tune .
    Trying to get to grips with the chord progression at the moment.
    Irealpro is great also to learn the structure of the song.
    Biggest challenge for me right now is where to play the chords on the neck
    That's why I put a three week time span on these tunes. It does take time to immerse oneself (myself especially; I'm slow to "get INTO" a piece) and you can join at any time. If we wind up doing other pieces, you'll see that just jumping in at anytime gathers tons of useful information. It's not linear, it's a process where it's up to you to keep the ball rolling.
    My thoughts on where to play the chords: There's plenty of time. Pick a root area (on the lower strings, on the higher strings, and HORRORS-on the middle strings, and play with melody until you know where the notes are, and you can play with confidence. You'll experience an increase in speed and confidence and a feeling of flying. Then move to another "region". Soon it'll all tie together.
    In short, each week work a tempo spectrum from slow at the start to fast at the end, each week rinse and repeat.
    First week I suggest harmonic and structure framework that can help "see" by hearing, the character of the piece.
    Second week I suggest melodic things that will let us develop and assemble our own melodic and lyrical abilities. Emphasis on hearing our own personality.
    Third week is using our vocabulary to play and dance with the form.
    All of this comes slowly but my experience is, having a piece or activity feel alive and engaging motivates me to do much more; and look forward to my time on the instrument.
    Ask any questions; chord voicings, construction, dyads, etc. Anything. We all have so much collective experiences and trepidations, it'll be a great hang.
    Welcome!

  18. #42

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    Something that I tend to get hung up on is missing the larger sense of harmonic motion during long descending runs of chords (like in this song) that contain lots of secondary dominants. I typically approach soloing with a combination of chord shape visualization, chord tones, and scales, but moving dominants are almost always hit or miss. And of course, there’s not really time to think it through when performing.

    Sometimes charts make the presence of a chord (and all the notes of that chord) seem more important than it really is, when what is actually important is just a single chord tone that might be used as a passing tone. But with four or two beats to “fill up”, there’s some implied pressure to outline or evoke the sound of the entire chord. But then as I have been learning a ton of tunes, I’ll notice things like, hey, over this dominant chord, the melody doesn’t even include a chord tone—you might see/hear just a 13 being played in the melodic statement over that dominant.

    Any ideas on how to approach these two related thoughts? One thing I’ve noticed in the jam of the week threads is how Mr. Beaumont players blues licks over all kinds of harmonic movements—that was sort of a revelation to me but I haven’t worked too much at incorporating it into my own playing.

  19. #43

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    Can someone please remind me about chord symbols....I believe the triangle denotes a major chord?
    What is the small zero,. Diminished,?

    Sent from my Redmi Note 7 using Tapatalk

  20. #44

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    Jimmy will I'm sure break it down well.... But Just like there is musical organization with roots and chord tones, there is also musical organization with extensions. With jazz, everything has a Reference, and usually that's a Root. It doesn't need to always be played... but it's always the starting musical reference from which you create relationships and develop them.

    Mr. B is just a funky Blues player, maybe a rocky blues player.... they're both great. With Blues or use of Blue notes there is also musical organization. Although generally most just play by ear and use a tension release approach... which leads to Function which is how most eventually musically organize the use of chords. It does get somewhat complicated.

  21. #45

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    Quote Originally Posted by android
    Can someone please remind me about chord symbols....I believe the triangle denotes a major chord?
    What is the small zero,. Diminished,?

    Sent from my Redmi Note 7 using Tapatalk
    Chord names and symbols (popular music) - Wikipedia

  22. #46
    Quote Originally Posted by wzpgsr
    Something that I tend to get hung up on is missing the larger sense of harmonic motion during long descending runs of chords (like in this song) that contain lots of secondary dominants.

    Any ideas on how to approach these two related thoughts? One thing I’ve noticed in the jam of the week threads is how Mr. Beaumont players blues licks over all kinds of harmonic movements—that was sort of a revelation to me but I haven’t worked too much at incorporating it into my own playing.
    Listen to this a few times. Not too casually and not too hard.
    When you know the words and can hear Ella's voice singing them, those are the phrases.

    As to secondary dominants, if you're taking them off the page then you're not going to notice where they are are aren't, but take 15 minutes of the practice time and create or take a musical segment and try to play it with regular dominant changes, then try it again with secondary dominants.
    Have you worked with a piece like All Of Me? It's full of secondary dominants. I learned a lot about how they sound by learning that song.

    And let me address an issue about fruitful practicing, or one suggestion I really found useful: Know what you're practicing and create goals that you can break into 15 segments and then leave til the next time. Don't run the whole song, or not until you are ready to; maybe the last 15 minute segment of your session. Take a system you found to be nebulous and loop it. Then practice that segment mindfully until you wear down your prejudices, and the underlying possibilities emerge. Really nail that first system. Make it your entire universe...for 15 minutes.

    Areas I work on for 15 minutes:
    The song form entire with a metronome on 2 and 4
    The song without a metronome focusing on nailing the roots on the first beat.
    2 or 4 bar segments with an interesting chord twist as it's written.
    Those same 2 or 4 bar segments on a different part of the neck.
    Work without a metronome emphasis on listening to my lines, trying to make them flow, fixed numbers of measures looped.
    Work with a metronome with emphasis on making the changes.
    Walking bass line with metronome.
    ...what ever is giving me trouble. My practice sessions have recurring areas and new ones every time.

    Hope there's something in there that helps.

  23. #47
    Week 2 The melodic possibilities on My Romantic Changes
    Speed: Progressive from ballad through the week to uptempol
    Key: Of your choosing
    Weekly focus: Melody.

    Most often when people think of a good solo, they think of a melodic and magical creation where everything is executed with an exciting mixture of ease and total surprise. This week we'll look at melody and begin to respect the parameters and boundries, then work within them, and at some time you may chose to erase them.

    One suggestion for your practice time.

    Warm up and stretch. Clear your head and relax.
    Play 5 minutes of warm up exercises, for your ear, for your fingers, for your fingerboard awareness.
    Lay down a rhythm track (or bass line if you'd like) for My Romance at your chosen speed of the day. 5 minutes.
    Next 5 minute segment. Play over the changes as best you can. You can use any or no guidelines, just listen for good time, harmony awareness and a pleasant sound out of your instrument, in other words, play with your ears.
    Rest and take inventory. Are there things that tripped you up? Would you like to focus on one of those things?
    Next 5 minute segment. Solo with a focus on the point(s) that you outlined for yourself. Don't worry about anything else (including getting tripped up or missing a beat, or finding yourself on an unexpectedly ugly note...your goal will be the points you've set out to work on. You'll learn a lot from not stopping and finding your focus while keeping the time. REALLY important real life skill.
    Rest, take inventory.
    Next 5 minute segment. Now you're making progress. Pick out another aspect for focused playing and solo on the form.
    Rest, take inventory.
    Last 5 minute segment. Go back to the sound of the original head and use that for inspiration, and see if you can weave some improvisational ideas into the sounds you create. See if the phrases you create give you ideas that you can create something new from.

    Rest and take some notes on what you'd like to do in future sessions.

    This week as we think of melodies, some things to keep in mind:
    Short phrases will give you more to build with than a long and winding road to nowhere.
    You can think of a note, a couple of notes, a figure or a phrase as a question. Answer it in your next statement.
    You can take a short idea and move it to a different area of the fingerboard (see the map below) and playing something in a new place will give you a whole new page to create on.
    You can take any idea and change octaves (that map again) and it'll profoundly change your flow.
    Awareness of flow: Listen to what you do and strive to create flow. You'll know when you have this one. Listen to other players on recordings, and listen to flow. How is what they do different from what you know/ Take notes. Steal ideas.
    Ask yourself "What direction did I just go in? What direction do I want to go in next?"

    These are a few ear openers.
    This is a gradual and eventual map of where the notes you hear will be found on the guitar. For an example, the tune My Romance begins with a major scale passage: 3 4 5 from the scale. Find a root and get that sound in your ear. Then find the melody by ear, in different parts of the fingerboard. This is what you'd like to be able to do on the fly. This is why we practice.

    The Three Week Immersion: Study group for a tune based practice routine-screen-shot-2021-07-11-10-33-24-pm-png

    Melody is the way you can achieve total expression of your personality. Improvisation is the means by which we meld the harmony that everyone can sense, with the personality you can convey.
    Have fun and find your melody.

  24. #48
    Some exercises for a melodic solo.

    Using the rhythm track you make/use, feel the beat on 2 and 4 and create a solo using only the root of the chord. No scale. No other notes. No arpeggios. Just the root, but PAY ATTENTION TO RHYTHM. Start on a beat, start off a beat. How short can you make a meaningful phrase? What happens when your note groupings get longer? At some point you can use pickup notes to enter the next chord root...then play only that note for that change.

    Play the melody by ear. When your get thrown off the horse, use soloing ideas to find your way back to the melody. This will help you stay on track and show your weak spots.

    Take one of those key area passages or turnarounds I'd outlined previously and loop it. Then just play over it until you "unlock" the inner music of it.

    These are exercises you might to for 15 minutes at a time, then don't run it into the ground or fatigue your brain. Keep it fresh.

    for later!

  25. #49

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    Spent some of the weekend working on bass lines. Needless to say I don't sound like a competent bassist yet. =)

    I haven't really internalized the melody, yet. I really want to do that today or tomorrow before I start improvising. I am also learning drop 2 voicings and I might spend some time working them through the tune.

    I'll try and post something once I have the melody and some of the voicings worked out.

  26. #50

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    Got the A section of the melody down, and a half-assed chord melody part of the way down. Recorded 9 choruses of walking bass lines over a 5+ minute loop of me comping changes. I think I’m 90% of the way there with the bass line.

    For some reason easier for me to get lost in the playing bass over my comping. Learning that half note approaches don’t always work well if the key is modulating. Maybe this is what I have heard referred to as “modal ambiguity”?

    Now here’s the interesting part. I haven’t really tried to improvise over the tune before until tonight. Lots of listening to various versions, comping with shell voicings, walking bass, walking bass with chord stabs, etc. and just a little bit of dedicated work playing the melody. And despite that, although my improvisation really sucked, I was playing almost entirely by ear and actually pre-hearing the changes in a pseudo-melodic way. My actual playing was halting and often behind the changes, but it was pretty neat how clearly I could anticipate the changes. I think my inner ear is audiating the secondary dominants and their targets in some new way I can’t quite yet articulate very well.