The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    Hi,

    i'm studing jazz guitar and play quite well in this style.

    But i play in pop/rock band and have hard time switching to this kind of music and harmony (many chromaticism that sounds bad).

    What is good approach to soloing in pop/rock music? What to practise and how to think?

    Greetings

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    Hi.

    I know the problem...
    It´s a question of habit and also of vocabulary.

    You have to listen a lot and transcribe, of course...

    but anyways, as for shortcuts, I found these three books extremely helpful:

    Rock Lead Basics
    Rock Lead Techniques
    Rock Lead Performance
    (all MI Press)

    Cheers,
    H.

  4. #3

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    For me... I've started out pop/rock, bluesy, and am now transferring to a more jazzy approach, if you will. I can totally see the chromatics not entirely fitting in. I would say alot of the soloing here is pentatonic, and often revolves around the notes found in chord embellishments. Even though there is certain theory involved, to a certain degree I would say.... "think simple, and feel it". Please do not take this as an insult to Jazz, or you. I find that because of most pop/rock doesnt "use" pre-mastered theory as much as jazz does in songs. Therefore the soloing might seem more simplistic, but harder for the ones that come from jazz and are used to following a more-or-less set of rules, not literal RULES, but the common use of arpeggios and certain ways of phrasing that are family to the jazz genre. Try to listen to alot of pop/rock of course, to get to know the language. The more melodic solo stuff found in pop/rock is divers but for me often traces back to simple melodic vocal lines, enhanced with a bend-here and there.

    I think that an easy step would be to think easy, and to not try and follow the chords per chord too much but stay inside the key center most of the time, if you want to sound like quite standard pop-rock.

  5. #4

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    I've played a lot of pop lead guitar. Just listen to it! If you've done ear training it should be fairly simple, relative to jazz, to catalog the techniques and articulations. I find that even if the chords change, playing off of the I (or i) chord tends to be melodic and fitting to contemporary pop styles.

    When I hear jazz guitarists play over pop songs they tend to overdo it with notes or try to be too clever, in my opinion. I think it's all about just getting a nice texture and feel.

    Just curious, what kind of tunes do you do in this band?

  6. #5
    Thanks for replies.

    Can you recommend some good pop/rock guitarists or solos to listen?

    I tried following chord changes, but thought it wasn't best approach and now i just play "key center"

  7. #6

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    Paul Kossoff - Free | Rock

    John Mayer - Pop/rock

    AC/DC | ROCK

  8. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jessesmit
    Paul Kossoff - Free | Rock

    John Mayer - Pop/rock

    AC/DC | ROCK
    LET THERE BE ROCK!

  9. #8

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    Checkout some John Jubu Smith guitarist with many groups and sessions.

    Jubu with Gouche Praise Jam

  10. #9
    Emphasising the chord tones works for pop and rock, as well, but you generally stay diatonic. I mean, okay, you get the odd chromatic note, like in a blues scale, but it's mostly diatonic.

    So work on being able to emphasise chord tones of the current chord while still staying in the major scale or minor scale or whatever. If you look at a lot of rock solos, they do tend to use chord tones a lot, although I doubt it's a conscious decision. Dave Gilmour is a good example.

  11. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by docbop
    Checkout some John Jubu Smith guitarist with many groups and sessions.

    Jubu with Gouche Praise Jam
    This dude is the TRUTH.

  12. #11

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    I think the more you practice the better you get. One of the things that I think helps is to learn scales and to find backing tracks and stuff on youtube to practice those scales over.

    I even play along to the radio sometimes. Find a rock radio station and just play along with it. You'll hear some cool and relevant licks/examples/timings that you can learn from. Just a suggestion.

  13. #12

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    Sweet guitar lick at 1:14 - 1:19 of that Jubu video...could definitely drop that into a jazz setting too.

    As for rock stuff, you can't go wrong studying Duane Allman's playing on his two Anthology albums (or any of his playing, actually).

  14. #13

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    Holy crap, that Jubu guy is RIDICULOUS. That's why I come to this site, to learn about new players.

  15. #14

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    Listen to a ton of Guthrie Govan!

  16. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by Zippoarm
    Listen to a ton of Guthrie Govan!
    Guthrie can do anything... especially fusion! Take a listen to famous studio players as well, Brent Mason, Duke Robbilard etc...

  17. #16

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    So many guitarist who do the more listener friendly stuff like pop/rock to listen to. Michael Landau, Dan Huff, Robben Ford and a lot of the modern Country players will help you out in this style. I think most pop rockers have a good amount of blues in thier playing as well.