The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #51

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    One of the most surprising things I heard in this video is how he didn't really care to keep his skills up, that he left his guitar in its case for long periods.

    This shows us that too much of anything can get old. I suppose I got a small taste of it when I played in an orchestra years ago. I do remember getting bored and frustrated during long sessions. Johnny had to have been brutalized by his commitments to broadcasting, gigging and practicing.

    I guess I should be happy that I can't play as much as I want.

    I also was a bit surprised that he saw amplification mostly as a means to get louder. I know that sounds obvious, but it really is profound. That interview was done in the day of the electric guitar.

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  3. #52

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    Although this interview was posted here months ago, and discussed at great length with the guitarist who did the interview, it still remains the definitive source of info about how JS played the guitar.

    It cleared up once and for all the role of the forearm in picking across the strings, and I still practice all of the arp studies in Aids To Technique how he advises in the video.

    Some of his techniques, which seemed profound when I read about them in print interviews, turned out to be fairly ordinary when he demonstrated them in the video. I'm mainly talking about his 'organ' derived way of moving from chord to chord.

    There's a biography on JS that still hasn't come out yet. It was written by the UK guitarist who did all the Mantovani sessions.

  4. #53

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    He did things in songs that no one else could pull off. He rarely played the same line twice in an arrangement. And he would always throw some thing in that mere mortals could not do. Decending bass lines along with ascending melody lines at the same time, with a pick no less.. As much as I love Joe pass, I still believe Johnny to be the technical Grand Master.
    This video filled the only thing missing for me in my guitar life. To hear my idol speak, at length, was a bow on the gift that I've received from him. all the years of admiring his music. My feeble attempts at playing his stuff. Just hearing him speak, proved to me what a really special human he was. I wish I could have met him. He was a genius and a gentleman.
    Joe D

  5. #54

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    Lin Flanagan has been working on it for some time. I'm on the waiting list.




    Quote Originally Posted by sgcim
    There's a biography on JS that still hasn't come out yet. It was written by the UK guitarist who did all the Mantovani sessions.

  6. #55

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    I also was a bit surprised that he saw amplification mostly as a means to get louder. I know that sounds obvious, but it really is profound. That interview was done in the day of the electric guitar.
    Jim Hall saw it the other way around: "I actually use an amplifier to play softer, because I feel that I can get a beautiful sound out of the guitar, and still project with an amplifier. I don’t have to hit the strings hard.”
    Last edited by PMB; 08-23-2015 at 09:43 PM.

  7. #56

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    Some of his techniques, which seemed profound when I read about them in print interviews, turned out to be fairly ordinary when he demonstrated them in the video. I'm mainly talking about his 'organ' derived way of moving from chord to chord.
    I don't know about profound but it certainly contributed to his sound. I've rarely seen the opening chords to "Moonlight in Vermont" transcribed correctly, i.e. descending on the same string set with close position voicings but that's the only way to approximate Johnny Smith's immediately identifiable legato with its almost Hawaiian lap-steel quality.

  8. #57

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    The decending chords are played on the middle four strings; many people try to play them on the top four and the stretches there are impossible for most hands- you end up having to sacrifice the bass note on some of them. Even on the middle four it's sort of a stretch.

  9. #58

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    Can someone tell me what chords he is using in the opening to Moonlight in Vermont?

  10. #59

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    The first three chords are inversions of a C6/Am7 chord:

    x.15.14.12.10.x

    x.12.10.9.8.x

    x.10.7.5.5.x

    followed by an E-7:

    x.7.5.4.3.x

    then a D-9 (no root):

    x.8.7.5.5.x

    and a G13b9:

    x.7.6.4.5.x

    The C6/Am7 chords are repeated then followed by Bb7, Bb9#11 and Bb7 (no root). The last chord is simplified to an open D string and Ab 1st fret/3rd string in this video but it's played as noted below in the original 1952 recording:

    x.8.6.3.3.x - x.8.6.5.5.x - x.5.3.1.x.x

    A few of the notes are ghosted in that same recording but these are the chords as JS conceived them (I've seen them written out in his own hand).
    Last edited by PMB; 08-25-2015 at 04:38 AM.

  11. #60
    destinytot Guest
    I'm pretty sure Troy Grady's graphic analyses have helped me appreciate the content (which I prefer with subtitles for the hard-of-thinking), but this video really speaks to me. There is so much substance behind this man's style - including what he says in a few (soft-spoken) words on technique.

    From its full tone, the three-octave Maj7 arpeggio around 1m50 of Moonlight in Vermont seems to be played horizontally. It seems to me that several great players have drawn on this and also adapted it - with 'enclosures', 'chromatic approach/embellishment' and such elements.

    Those elements are what I'm turning my attention to - according to my current musical priorities (1. rhythm 2. dynamics 3. consonance 4. 'blues') and based on growing familiarity with the fretboard. A short-scale neck is opening up more horizontal playing to me (it's suddenly easy to do a same-string major 3rd interval strech), but I'm listening to Django's articulation on a longer-scale.

    It seems to that some of my heroes have listened very closely to Johnny Smith's
    smooth articulation (of single notes and chordal passages) - and to his beautiful tone.
    Last edited by destinytot; 08-26-2015 at 07:53 AM.

  12. #61
    destinytot Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by PMB

    and a G13b9:

    x.7.6.4.5.x
    Love this. Just sounded G3 & F3 at the piano, and played that Emaj triad over it - beautiful!

  13. #62

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    'Afternoon all!

    I've been watching some of the posts in recent times with interest and thought you would like to know the good news. It has been a long time coming (far too long), but Moonlight in Vermont: The Official Biography of Johnny Smith is now available at last from Centerstream Publishing. Also, there's an official website for the Great Man: www.johnnysmith.org

    Best wishes,
    Lin Flanagan

  14. #63

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    Thanks for the post! Johnny lived out his life in Colorado Springs...had a music shop there. Many tried to talk me into visiting his shop when he was still hanging around the shop. I had heard that he went deaf in his later years. Tragic.

    I also remember seeing some great JS Gibsons on consignment racks. All the young kids were asking "Who was Johnny Smith?" Perhaps if Jimmy Page had played a JS instead of a LP they would have known who he was.

  15. #64

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    Eddie, I can assure you that Johnny wasn't deaf at all. Far from it. His eyesight wasn't great towards the end, but his hearing was absolutely fine.

  16. #65

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    Hey Lin, I tried ordering it for my library, but they said it was just published, so they told me to try again in Oct.

    Do you discuss how he got that incredible sound in the studio on his "Foursome" LPs on Roost?

    Do you go into his picking technique in depth? Did he talk about working out his single line solos on his records, or were they all completely improvised?

    Thanks for writing a book on one of the world's greatest guitar players!

  17. #66

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    Thanks for everybody's kind support and good wishes. There was a chapter which was dedicated to the analysis of Johnny's playing. Unfortunately, I had to remove it because page numbers were limited. Nevertheless, I managed to work some of the information into the biography, and I've saved the whole chapter for the follow-on Johnny Smith project.

    Signing copies is probably not viable, unfortunately, but thank you for the kind gesture, Dennis. Living in Britain has a lot of drawbacks (Don't get me started on a rant, though) and the cost of postage to the US is just one of them. Aside from which, my ego would probably inflate and I would be in danger of actually thinking that I was important. Eek!

    Marty! Yes, I do remember you!

    Cheers,
    Lin

  18. #67

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    I was wondering how your conversation went with Jor-El? (Johnny Smith's father)

  19. #68

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    Actually, what's going on here is quite a bit more than just Max Dijulio's piece. His Concerto for Electric Guitar and Orchestra in One Movement was... a single-movement piece. This is only the first fifteen minutes of the Youtube video/audio. Max composed it specifically for Johnny and it was premiered in 1968. Max had it recorded privately and the original copy has a much better sound quality. The Youtube version will be several generations down the line, hence the lesser quality. Incidentally, Max also composed a mass for Johnny and a choir of five voices, Littlemass, which is haunting. Johnny premiered it in 1969 and Max had that recorded privately, too.

    The rest of this Youtube clip is actually Johnny Richards' Annotations of the Muses, for which Johnny was a member of the orchestra in 1955. You should be able to hear the difference in musical style between Max Dijulio's Concerto and Richards' Annotations. The latter is available on CD with much better sound quality on the Legende label.

    I hope that helps to increase some knowledge.

    With best intentions,

    Lin Flanagan

  20. #69

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    Lin- are the two Dijulio pieces available on disc or vinyl?

    My favorite recording of Johnny with strings was his LP "My Dear Little Sweetheart" which IMHO was a perfect blend of his D'Angelico and string orchestra, which can only be described as warm. I don't think that was part of the Mosaic set.

  21. #70

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    I don't have any proof, but Johnny seems to me to be inspired by Segovia and classical guitar (kind of like Harry Volpe): the precision, the attention to tone, the solo pieces he wrote, the attention to solo repertoire, the way he dressed, the way he carried himself...

  22. #71

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    from great interview:

    Matt: How about on classical guitar, did you have any favorites?

    Johnny: Oh yeah, Segovia. He was the, in the early days he was about the only classical guitarist of note. I still respect him as being really the forerunner of classical guitar. Then came Julian Bream and all these different guys.

    Matt: Did you ever get a chance to hear Segovia perform?

    Johnny: Oh yeah, I sure did. When I was with Bing (Crosby) in London on one occasion. He was staying at the same hotel, and this hotel was, they kind of catered to big names, you know. And hell, he’d walk around the lobby and nobody’d bother him. But I got him to autograph his book for me.


  23. #72

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    Does Girl with The Flaxen Hair qualify ?

    A Debussy prelude.....another gorgeous piece just nailed by Johnny Smith.

  24. #73

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    Unfortunately, Johnny's premieres of both of Max DiJulio's pieces were only recorded privately, so they have never been issued on vinyl or CD. I looked into the feasibility of making that happen, but (considering the distance in time) it's impossible to identify all the performers who were involved and then track them down in order to obtain their consent. I'll keep working at it, though.



    You're absolutely correct – the Mosaic box set didn't include Johnny's two albums with orchestral accompaniment or his three albums with female singers. They kept the set within the bounds of Johnny's instrumental small combo work.



    Much of what Johnny played on the guitar was influenced by the piano (e.g. Chord voicings, three-octave runs, etc.), but much of how he played it was influenced by classical musicians, including classical guitarists (most notably Segovia, as he was the most prominent classical guitarist of the mid-C20th). Hence, while other jazz guitarists were focusing their attention on finding the right note, Johnny was pursuing the classical ethos of finding the right tone and improving his technique for both hands by meticulously practicing long scale runs and arpeggios, all of which were part of the daily practice schedule for classical musicians, but totally alien to jazz guitarists. There were also classical and Segovian influences upon Johnny's choice of repertoire.



    As for how he conducted himself as a person... That came from his upbringing rather than any Segovian influence. At the risk of appearing tactless (which is not intended), if you get a chance to read his biography you'll discover quite a bit about his formative years and how these shaped his personality. In talking to Johnny and his brother, it was obvious that the Great Depression years were real John Steinbeck days. But neither of them made a big deal out of it. This is just the way it was. Nevertheless, despite the absolute destitution, their parents raised them to treat everybody with respect and to conduct themselves in a polite and classy manner.


    Cheers,

    Lin

  25. #74

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    Lin- Did Johnny extend his classical influence to pre-planning or writing out his single line solos, in order to achieve the 'right tone' on his records?

    This is not to insinuate that Johnny didn't or couldn't improvise; the recordings of him playing live in a club in Colorado show that he definitely improvised in live situations, but they lack the melodic cohesion of his solos on his records.

    His recorded solos are perfectly executed, complete melodic statements, rather than the stream-of-consciousness solos that were typical of both the swing, bebop and Cool
    periods.

    Rhythmically, his solos also differ from the jazz solos of those three periods. This is made clear on his recordings with Hank Jones in the 1960s; Johnny's classical approach to eighth notes differs greatly from Hank Jones' bebop approach.

    On the recordings with Bob Pancoast in the 50s on Roost, there is so little difference in their rhythmic approaches that this is not noticeable.

  26. #75

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    Ooh, that's a very good question! And the answer is rather complex. Having read Marty's post about his Emrad amp, where some messages cited, uncited, re-cited, mis-cited, near-cited and short-cited (?) each other to the point that some of us forgot what we were arguing about… I need to choose my words carefully to make sure that I don't open up a Pandora's box of multi-misunderstandings.

    Johnny never wrote down any of his single-line solos. The recordings and live dates that he did during the 1950s were improvised. He had a box of favorite phrases that he would repeatedly call upon, as we all do, but generally no more than that. His particular phraseology and his restrained approach in the recording studio make some of those recorded solos sound premeditated (too melodic?), but they weren't. Johnny was aware that premeditated music usually has more 'melodic cohesion' and he aimed to incorporate this characteristic into his improvised music. His 'melodic statements' (you're right to use both of these terms) do sometimes sound too crafted to be off the cuff, but that's exactly what he was aiming to achieve in his improvisations – crafted solos. This is part of the reason why he earned a reputation among New York's jazz guitar community in the late 1940s and 1950s as a formidable improviser. He certainly wouldn't have survived playing in Birdland night after night and week after week if his live and recorded solos had been premeditated.

    When he settled in Colorado and opened his music store, Johnny was under less of a spotlight. During this period, some of his lead lines were wholly improvised, while others were partially improvised. By which I mean that when he was improvising, he would 'stumble across' phrases that he really liked at particular points in the solo and would keep them in thereafter. Over time, there would be increasingly more of these in each solo and they acted as a framework between which improvised phrases would sit. This is what Johnny meant when he famously stated that he wasn't really a true jazz guitarist. His lead lines were often not 100% improvised. But this should not be misconstrued that they were 100% premeditated.

    The club recordings that are floating around are from the 1980s. By this time, Johnny was performing less frequently. The virtuosity and pureness of tone were still present, but he preferred to spend his time fishing etc. I wouldn't say that he didn't care any more. Far from it. But, he had earned the right to spend his time indulging in his hobbies rather than spending hour after hour working on his music for increasingly fewer gigs.

    A complex answer, which I hope has shed some light. Marty, I hope you're still having fun with that Emrad!

    Lin