March 2012 - Misty

**wizard3739** · 03-10-2012, 04:38 PM

This is a backing track for "misty" (vocal) in Ab, It is a BIAB real tracks version.

Misty--->Misty in Ab (vocal)_Render.mp3 - File Shared from Box - Free Online File Storage

PDF lead sheet---->Misty.pdf - File Shared from Box - Free Online File Storage

Hope this works for you all.

wiz

**mr. beaumont** · 03-11-2012, 11:49 AM

Here's a video...

I'd love to talk harmony on this one, as well as favorite keys...

**Soco** · 03-11-2012, 01:55 PM

Nice take Jeff.
Here is a take from a while back, Eric Alxeander takes a really great solo here.

**wizard3739** · 03-11-2012, 04:31 PM

Well done Jeff! I especially liked the your choice of chord voicings and the natural swing feel you have on this one.

wiz

**larryb** · 03-11-2012, 08:55 PM

That's beautiful, Jeff. Thanks for sharing.

**fep** · 03-12-2012, 01:10 PM

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

Here's a video...

Awesome Jeff, you are really playing great, better than ever I think.

Okay now post a transcription so we can all learn from this. (just kidding

)

Is it a transcription if you notate your own playing? hmmm

**fep** · 03-12-2012, 01:14 PM

Originally Posted by Soco

Nice take Jeff.
Here is a take from a while back, Eric Alxeander takes a really great solo here.

No kidding, Eric wow! Digging your playing too, Soco, I love when you mix in a blues line here and there. You guys can play forever and not run out of ideas.

**fep** · 03-12-2012, 01:26 PM

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

I'd love to talk harmony on this one, as well as favorite keys...

Well here's something about the first few chords:

"Oh (C)give me a (C7)home, where the (F)buffalo (Fm)roam, and the
(C)dear and the antelope (G7)play.

C | C7 | F | Fm | C | G7 |

becomes

Cmaj7 | Gm7 C9 | Fmaj7 | Fm7 | Cmaj7 Am7 | Dm7 G7 |

and that's the first part of Misty. It's just Home on The Range.

**mr. beaumont** · 03-12-2012, 01:58 PM

Originally Posted by fep

Awesome Jeff, you are really playing great, better than ever I think.

Okay now post a transcription so we can all learn from this. (just kidding

)

Is it a transcription if you notate your own playing? hmmm

Thanks!

It'd be a transcription for sure for me, because who knows what I'm going to do once I get going...I have this idea in my head, but it all goes to hell as soon as I make my first mental slip...then it's pretty much "how well do I know the song? Looks like we'll find out!"

...I love making these youtube videos so I can watch as I paint myself into a corner and see how (or if) I get out of it! I'm actually learning a bunch from it--it's like a video journal.

One thing for sure--I'm using the "walk down from the ninth to the root" on dominant chords a bit much, methinks...

**mr. beaumont** · 03-12-2012, 01:59 PM

Originally Posted by fep

and that's the first part of Misty. It's just Home on The Range.

Well, ain't that a kick in the head? How am I not gonna quote "Range" in my solo for evermore on Misty now?

**Soco** · 03-13-2012, 11:13 PM

Originally Posted by fep

No kidding, Eric wow! Digging your playing too, Soco, I love when you mix in a blues line here and there. You guys can play forever and not run out of ideas.

Thanks for the kind words, as a matter of fact he just started playing the tune and it took me a few rounds before I remembered the changes. it is a great tune, but it doesn't get called too often around here.

**mr. beaumont** · 03-14-2012, 12:13 PM

Finally got to listen...yeah, that's smokin'.

I love when folks are unafraid to get bluesy on a "pretty" song.

**Soco** · 03-15-2012, 10:50 AM

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

Finally got to listen...yeah, that's smokin'.

I love when folks are unafraid to get bluesy on a "pretty" song.

Thanks Jeff. Playing bluesy on a tune like this almost gives the same effects as playing outside. It works quite well on some ballads, I think I have done it on Chelsea Bridge as well.

**jster** · 03-27-2012, 10:52 AM

1) Can I join you guys?
2) Are you still working on Misty?

**fep** · 03-27-2012, 10:56 AM

Originally Posted by jster

1) Can I join you guys?
2) Are you still working on Misty?

Yes and yes. These "practical standards" threads lately have been lasting one month. I think we need some more activity on this one. You can always post to the old threads too.

Thanks for reminding me, I wanted to post a recording for this one too. I better get to work.

**jster** · 03-27-2012, 12:59 PM

Originally Posted by fep

Yes and yes. These "practical standards" threads lately have been lasting one month. I think we need some more activity on this one. You can always post to the old threads too.

Thanks for reminding me, I wanted to post a recording for this one too. I better get to work.

I love to say be careful what you wish for, but in this case, I'll just have settle for be careful what you agree to. Hehe. So if I get out of hand fep you'll just have to send me a PM and tell me to take it easy! I won't bore folks with any biography. I'll just get straight to it.

OK, I learned the melody and the chords. But:

1) How should I play the chords?? Typically I just record the chords and then play melody and a solo to the recording. But I just learned all the drop 2 and 3 chords, so I want to use them, but I don't know when I can use the ones without the root in the bass. Are there any rules of thumb for that? Can somebody point me to a thread? I guess that would be the same as if you were accompanying a singer all by yourself. Are you stuck always playing chords with the bass in that case? Do I need a band to use the other voicings?

2) I looked at some of the other practical standards threads and you guys don't seem to spend a lot of time discussing how to solo over these things. Can I talk about that? I can use arpeggios now pretty well. But how can I supplement that? I guess that means chord-scale theory or whatever you call that Mark Levine stuff. Any ideas for Misty in that direction?

I'll leave it at that because as you can see, I'm going to be a regular (and I do mean regular) pain in the arse, asking all manner of flatfooted question. (block that metaphor!)

Thanks.

**fep** · 03-27-2012, 05:29 PM

Originally Posted by jster

I love to say be careful what you wish for, but in this case, I'll just have settle for be careful what you agree to. Hehe. So if I get out of hand fep you'll just have to send me a PM and tell me to take it easy! I won't bore folks with any biography. I'll just get straight to it.

OK, I learned the melody and the chords. But:

1) How should I play the chords?? Typically I just record the chords and then play melody and a solo to the recording. But I just learned all the drop 2 and 3 chords, so I want to use them, but I don't know when I can use the ones without the root in the bass. Are there any rules of thumb for that? Can somebody point me to a thread? I guess that would be the same as if you were accompanying a singer all by yourself. Are you stuck always playing chords with the bass in that case? Do I need a band to use the other voicings?

2) I looked at some of the other practical standards threads and you guys don't seem to spend a lot of time discussing how to solo over these things. Can I talk about that? I can use arpeggios now pretty well. But how can I supplement that? I guess that means chord-scale theory or whatever you call that Mark Levine stuff. Any ideas for Misty in that direction?

I'll leave it at that because as you can see, I'm going to be a regular (and I do mean regular) pain in the arse, asking all manner of flatfooted question. (block that metaphor!)

Thanks.

Hey jster, those questions, that's what these threads are all about. If you go back to the early version of these threads (I think it was around Nov 2010), there was a lot of discussions on these threads. It's really just goes the way the posts lead it, posts exactly like yours.

I've never been able to remember what these drop this that and the other chords mean. Maybe I already know some, but I don't know them by that fancy terminology. I will say this, I don't always play the root. I'm more likely to play roots when there isn't a backing track though. I just go for what sounds good to me. In jazz it seems one can take a lot of liberties.

Your second question: Great question and yes those are great things to discuss on these threads. Not everyone approaches this the same way but I'll briefly try to describe how I currently approach it.

Most of the time (always and never are non musical terms):

1st I'm working off of a picture of a chord. Let's say for example, a G7 chord at the third fret.

On top of that chord is the arpeggios which I also think of as being the chord.

On top of that are various scales to choose from such as, mixolydian, blues, penatonic, diminished, whole tone, altered. I might use them but I'm not really conscious of their names, to me it's all just a bunch of G7 stuff.

There are also licks that I tend to use, that are mostly just based off all that stuff I mentioned above.

And chromatic notes to add some notes between where I started and where I'm fixing on landing.

But mostly I'm thinking chord tones and using this other stuff to go from one chord tone to another, and often the "another" chord tone is a chord tone of the next chord coming up.

Say I start on the D of a G7 chord and want to end on an E of a Cmaj chord. I might just go up chromatically, I might do some sort of bluesy lick and then land on the E, I might Play an arpeggio and land on the E, or an altered scale and land on the E, etc.

Using this chord tone approach, I believe it is easier to stick ideas/licks/scales etc. into my ear. My reasoning is the Chord Tones limit the number of note choices to the ones that to me are really important. Isolating those tones in my mind, ear and eye creates landmarks on the fretboard that I can anchor on and relate too.

I should add, to use this approach you need to be aware of where you are in the chord progression at any given time. I'm basically playing solos over the chord shapes that I might have been comping with if I wasn't soloing at the moment.

Does that make any sense or is it too much blah blah blah?

**fep** · 03-27-2012, 05:38 PM

I put this together today. I had to get creative and do it in two pieces. 1) the intro and 2) the part with the backing track. That is the only way I could figure out how to come in with the backing track in time the way I did.

Both parts are 1st takes, I'd like to take some more shots at it as there are some bits I didn't like too much, but that's the way it always is with me. I can do take after take until the cows come home. So I'll stick with this, at least it's raw.

**Dad3353** · 03-27-2012, 06:02 PM

Where's the 'Like..!' button..? What..? Oh, well, 'Like...', there, that's better...
Very nice, Fep; sober, lucid, serious, intellegent... I could go on. That's the way to do it..! Thank you, sir.

**Will Glen** · 03-27-2012, 06:34 PM

Loved it Fep. Thanks for sharing.

**fep** · 03-28-2012, 10:19 AM

Originally Posted by Dad3353

Where's the 'Like..!' button..? What..? Oh, well, 'Like...', there, that's better...
Very nice, Fep; sober, lucid, serious, intellegent... I could go on. That's the way to do it..! Thank you, sir.

Originally Posted by Will Glen

Loved it Fep. Thanks for sharing.

Yes, definitely 'sober'. Thanks so much for listening and your encouragement. Cheers.

**Soco** · 03-28-2012, 10:50 AM

Originally Posted by fep

I put this together today. I had to get creative and do it in two pieces. 1) the intro and 2) the part with the backing track. That is the only way I could figure out how to come in with the backing track in time the way I did.

Both parts are 1st takes, I'd like to take some more shots at it as there are some bits I didn't like too much, but that's the way it always is with me. I can do take after take until the cows come home. So I'll stick with this, at least it's raw.

Nice job!

**jster** · 03-28-2012, 01:34 PM

Thanks for the long replay fep. Right now, all I do is use arpeggios. I don't know what else to do. I could add a few bluesy licks and I could put in some chromaticism. But, I have no idea when to use the whole tone scale. Sure one takes liberties in jazz, but I don't exactly what I am taking liberties from! I always thought there was some way of analyzing a tune like this bar for bar that would give you ways of using modes. What would a "full analysis" of the tune look like?? When I look at jazz web pages, usually what I see is something that I am beyond or something that is beyond me. I thought that if I learned all the modes of MM, then I all kinds of doors would open up. But rather, it just seems like there is all this controversy about whether chord-scale theory is any good. Whoa! So what am I to do with my MM modes? I watch Reg's videos and some of it is working its way into my brain through osmosis. But his explanations are so advanced, he sees all kinds of possibilities. I just want to know the handful of most likely ways of approaching soloing over a tune. I looked at the lessons on this site, and there is some good stuff, but most of it is too basic for me, or so it seems. I mean guys go on about the II-V-I and for good reason. Sure they are the chords leading into the final resolution. Sure they are all modes of the same scale. And I can use my arpeggios and dip a bit into the modes and make it sound pretty good. Grandma approves. But isn't there something else? The classical sites do a somewhat better job of giving intermediate level info. But the jazz sites seem to jump from basic to a zillion possibilities. I thought there was some kind of developed "functional harmony" theory that I would be using. (I may not have a clue what I am talking about!) I guess the exception, the most intermediate book, is the Levine book. I own it, but it is in another country. And as I said before, it seems controversial. But am I just supposed to think of jazz as like making pizza? Choose your toppings. We got 23 toppings, so you got 23, or really 23x23 ways to proceed. I didn't think we could take that many liberties! Now maybe I am just being lazy and I am supposed to look at the CST tables and see what modes I am allowed to use for each chord. But that doesn't take into account what is going on in the tune. And so seems rather hit or miss.

**fep** · 03-28-2012, 04:12 PM

Hi jster,

First, please do me a favor and put more separation in your posts with paragraphs. It hard on my eyes to read that many sentences bunched together.

My previous post is the advice I really am going to give you on this subject.

I've learned a ton of music theory, a lot of it I'm not planning on using any time soon. Yes, I know all that modal stuff and CST, I just don't like to think that way.

I've seen forum members go in a million different directions discussing theories but when I hear them play, I quickly see that they are concentrating on the wrong things.

I might give them constructive criticism that they came up with a real complex arrangement which is true enough. And then I might suggest they try to play it with a metronome. I try to be positive in my comments but what I see is that their timing was bad and consequently the performance just sounds bad.

I see it in myself. My theory knowledge is way beyond my playing. Advanced in theory and a beginner in playing jazz guitar. Definitely not something I'm proud of. I've put an end to studying theory for the time being.

When I've been critiqued on this forum or at my college juries or recitals etc. I've never heard anyone say, "you need to know your modes better". I've never heard anyone say, "play more melodic minor modes".

I have heard them say, "When you started the comping with a walking bass line your timing lagged". Or, "Try putting more chord stabs interspersed in your solo". Or, "You had a really good groove on that second chorus.

I could quickly see the hierarchy of things. Feel, dynamics, groove, the build and structure of a solo, much more important than knowing a bunch of fancy scales/modes.

I don't know if all this applies to you, specifically that you're trying to absorb a bunch of theory, but not working on your groove and learning songs and building vocabulary. I think I see this in a lot of forum members.

Check out this video by Reg.

To me this is some great sounding jazz. Reg, doesn't do anything fancy, mostly the basic scales and some blues licks and blue notes. What makes it so good? It grooves and it's musical.

If you go to Post #110 on this page, I have a link to where I notated the solo.

https://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/theor...y-group-4.html

If all this doesn't apply to you, I apologize. If not, not a complete loss, I know it applies to some.

**fep** · 03-28-2012, 04:26 PM

Hi again jster,

I will do a quick and basic analysis. These are the chords I like, they may or may not follow your chart. Here is the A section, this is a real simple approach. Play this and add some blue notes or blues licks.

Like I said, this is not my approach as I start by thinking chord tones not scales. But I think this the simple part of what you're asking for.

And if you want to use a MM mode, play the Bb altered scale over the Bb7 or over both the | Fm7 Bb7| , just resolve it to a chord tone of the Ebmaj7, the third would be a good choice.

Code:

Ebmaj7  |       |  Bm7             | Eb9        |
Ebmaj scale        Abmaj scale

|Abmaj7  |Abm7  Db9 | Ebmaj7 Cm7 | Fm7 Bb7 |
        Ab dorian    Ebmaj scale

Gm7   C7  | Fm7  Bb7  ||
G dorian    Eb maj scale

I'm getting tired, how about you do the rest of the progression. And I'll comment on what you come up with. And post yourself playing on this, it's so hard to continue without hearing you. For all I know you may be way over my head and all this is for not.