The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #26

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    Sorry, harder on the ear, not harder in the sense more difficult to play. Although, as you say, jazz is usually more complex and therefore probably harder to play technically.

    But who's to say? Playing blues, like Chicago blues, really well, with all that depth of feeling, is hard in itself. Every style has its own issues.

    But I meant harder as in raw, more harsh, more visceral. But it's probably a generalisation too.

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #27

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    I just looked up hard in the dictionary. It has many, many meanings, many more than I realised. Hard is not an easy word!

    Hard Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

  4. #28

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    How's about a little bluesy Piedmont jazz.........or maybe some jazzy Piedmont blues? This is my 7 string flattop and my National Tricone, both mic'ed.


  5. #29

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    Nothing wrong with a bit of 'other styles' :-)


  6. #30

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    I used to play bass for a rock n roll band. It was great. No rehearsal because it was all obvious, just stand at the back grinning while you bang out a shuffle.

    Nice

  7. #31

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    Never should, really enjoyed that. Fun idea, and you pull it off.

  8. #32

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    Quote Originally Posted by ragman1
    I used to play bass for a rock n roll band. It was great. No rehearsal because it was all obvious, just stand at the back grinning while you bang out a shuffle.

    Nice
    But then you realize you can't miss a single beat!!

  9. #33

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    nevershouldhavesoldit -

    Hope you don't mind my asking but, as this is your tune this week, were you going to play it as a jazz tune? I mean, presumably you wouldn't take your Dobro along to a real jam and call it... or maybe you would, I don't know!

  10. #34

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    Quote Originally Posted by ragman1
    nevershouldhavesoldit -

    Hope you don't mind my asking but, as this is your tune this week, were you going to play it as a jazz tune? I mean, presumably you wouldn't take your Dobro along to a real jam and call it... or maybe you would, I don't know!
    As usual, I hadn’t given it a thought until I sat down to record a take. I love playing tunes in new ways, some of which turn out great and many of which are not worth listening to a second time. I’ve pushed my jazz band into a funky What a Difference a Day Makes, a slow, jazzy Cold Sweat, an uptempo swinging Wave, and a slow, soulful version of Tower of Power‘s Don’t Change Horses in the Middle of a Stream.

    We had a busy weekend, so I finally got to think about this one Monday morning. My first thought was electric blues, so I tee’d up a shuffle drum track and laid down a classic bluesy bass line with my Fiesta Red ‘57 P. I was halfway through an overdriven lead track thinking how ordinary it sounded, when I looked at my National hanging on the wall and an acoustic blues was born. The tricone is a really smooth sounding metal body resonator guitar, which I think makes jazzier lines sound beautiful. The major 7th / diminished 7th / minor 7th spectrum in this tune leaves room for a lot of subtleties in lines played with a slide. And the flat top suddenly seemed like the only backing I needed.

    Would I do this at a jam? Absolutely, but it depends on the venue and the players. I don’t go to many jams as a player - I lead the house bands at a weekly jazz jam on Thursdays and a blues jam on Sundays, and that’s enough. If friends invite me to an acoustic jam, I’ll bring the tricone and/or the flat top. And I carry both brass and glass or ceramic slides in my electric gig bags.

    I see the VJ as a chance to try new stuff - voicings, rhythms, fingerings, harmonies, time signatures, note timing etc. I thought it was supposed to be spontaneous one take tracks for fun. Some of the interchanges over some tracks are far out of Jeff’s posted context and guidelines and some are frankly misguided or worse. Taking umbrage at comments about your playing is kinda childish - you can’t play in public with skin that thin! But I do think that criticism should be constructive and actionable, i.e. it should offer something you can do to address the stated concern. Frivolous, gratuitous negative comments don’t deserve a response. And deep searching for hidden meaning in VJ posts seems to me to border on the paranoid. Sometimes a cigar is just a smoke, Dr Freud.

    I know several leaders who only hire me when they can’t get their first choices. I still like their music and have lived with this every time I’m called in to help them because their first choice got sick, had a conflict etc (and in 2 cases I know of was in jail).

  11. #35

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    Quote Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit
    As usual, I hadn’t given it a thought until I sat down to record a take. I love playing tunes in new ways, some of which turn out great and many of which are not worth listening to a second time. I’ve pushed my jazz band into a funky What a Difference a Day Makes, a slow, jazzy Cold Sweat, an uptempo swinging Wave, and a slow, soulful version of Tower of Power‘s Don’t Change Horses in the Middle of a Stream.

    We had a busy weekend, so I finally got to think about this one Monday morning. My first thought was electric blues, so I tee’d up a shuffle drum track and laid down a classic bluesy bass line with my Fiesta Red ‘57 P. I was halfway through an overdriven lead track thinking how ordinary it sounded, when I looked at my National hanging on the wall and an acoustic blues was born. The tricone is a really smooth sounding metal body resonator guitar, which I think makes jazzier lines sound beautiful. The major 7th / diminished 7th / minor 7th spectrum in this tune leaves room for a lot of subtleties in lines played with a slide. And the flat top suddenly seemed like the only backing I needed ...

    ...I see the VJ as a chance to try new stuff - voicings, rhythms, fingerings, harmonies, time signatures, note timing etc. I thought it was supposed to be spontaneous one take tracks for fun.
    I thought it worked really well and I enjoyed it. Totally with you on just trying stuff for the sake of experimentation and fun (hence my occasional whammy-bar excursions). IMO, we should definitely not be dictating style or approach on the VJ.

    Quote Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit
    Some of the interchanges over some tracks are far out of Jeff’s posted context and guidelines and some are frankly misguided or worse. Taking umbrage at comments about your playing is kinda childish - you can’t play in public with skin that thin! But I do think that criticism should be constructive and actionable, i.e. it should offer something you can do to address the stated concern. Frivolous, gratuitous negative comments don’t deserve a response. And deep searching for hidden meaning in VJ posts seems to me to border on the paranoid. Sometimes a cigar is just a smoke, Dr Freud.
    Big +1 on this.

  12. #36

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    So here I am enjoying my morning cappuccino with my wife when I get a sudden mental image of Chet Atkins and Johnny Smith out in the woodshed together trading solo versions of MBB. And this is what it sounded like.....



    Yes, the 7th string on my flat top is a bit boomy for this - I need to palm mute it more effectively, if I'm going to use this guitar this way. This style sounds a lot better on an archtop with flats or on a big voiced, small bodied acoustic like an 0-16NY. I haven't played Chet style for decades, since there's no call for it and I've never been asked for anything by him in 60 years of solo gigs. I learned the basics in high school from his albums Teensville and The Most Popular Guitar. But I haven't played that style since long before I switched to a 7 string in the early '90s.
    Last edited by nevershouldhavesoldit; 08-10-2022 at 02:55 PM.

  13. #37

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    Never -

    Thanks for your reply. Sorry for the delay, I had to mow the lawn and the mower died on me. New one coming soon!

    Playing tunes in new ways is good, no question. I was actually looking forward to seeing what you did with it. My problem with the tune is that, although it's called a blues, it comes over to me as more a sort of folk or gospel tune. It seems quite 'pure' so I wasn't sure how to handle it.

    I can usually hear when a tune needs (or could do with) a blues treatment but I couldn't really hear it with this. When Alter produced his really good blues version I had to hand it to him, it was great.

    I'm glad they do acoustic jams, that sounds wonderful. I'd assumed that it was always the usual sax, keys, bass and drums line up by default. With others adding to it.

    I enjoyed your Piedmont, naturally. It inspired me to do that country version. That's why I did it, couldn't resist.

    But I still tried to find a way to play something with the usual rhythm and found it quite hard. But, as you'd chosen the tune and you were an experienced player, it was going to be interesting to see what you did with it. That's all that was about, really.

    I agree we should see what we can make of things. When I first came here I did that a lot. I seem to remember a reggae version of Honeysuckle Rose and a belly dancing version of Caravan... but I was told to shut up so that was that :-)

    Thanks. Tom Waites was asked once what his definition of a genius was. He said 'Anybody who manages to stay out of jail'. So I guess that settles that

  14. #38

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    Quote Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit
    How's about a little bluesy Piedmont jazz.........or maybe some jazzy Piedmont blues? This is my 7 string flattop and my National Tricone, both mic'ed.

    I loved it. What’s next, Hot tamales, she’s got them for sale?


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