The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #26

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rob MacKillop
    Lying Games?
    omg I want this book so bad. I have been so truthful all my life and look where it got me.

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #27

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    That's what you say. How can we believe you?!

  4. #28

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    The "Lying Games" riffs remind of Harry Frankfurt's famous essay "On Bullshit."

    It begins: >>>One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit. Everyone knows this. Each of us contributes his share. But we tend to take the situation for granted. Most people are rather confident of their ability to recognize bullshit and to avoid being taken in by it. So the phenomenon has not aroused much deliberate concern, or attracted much sustained inquiry. In consequence, we have no clear understanding of what bullshit is, why there is so much of it, or what functions it serves.<<<

    On Bullshit | Princeton University Press
    Last edited by MarkRhodes; 04-08-2020 at 04:21 PM.

  5. #29

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    All of Randy's books are essential reading and material for jazz guitarists. The funny things is, I took private lessons for a year with Randy when I was a music student at Sonoma State University in CA back in the early '90s. For some reason, though, I just didn't hit it off with him. He was a quiet teacher, and I'm generally a quiet and shy guy, and it sometimes felt like pulling teeth to get a conversation going. Most other people I studied with, like the late Andre Bush, were more engaging personalities that knew how to quickly see where the holes in your playing were and address them in a well thought out systematic matter. I know most other students had the exact opposite experience with Randy and benefited tremendously from his teaching. If these books had been available back then, I think I would've figured out a lot of things on the instrument in a much shorter amount of time than what I'd eventually come to learn over the subsequent 25+ years, often in meandering fashion.

    But so it goes. Randy is a player of immense talent and creativity, and his books are among the best out there for students of modern jazz guitar. Looking forward to whatever else he writes.

  6. #30

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    I've just finished the first section of this book - Rhythm Guitar Voicings.

    I've mixed feelings about it, but I think the negatives are mine rather than the books. I already knew most of the basic shapes on the 6th and 5th strings, but I did learn some neat stuff about the relationship between half-diminished / minor-sevenths and diminished / minor-sixths, and the explanation of a tri-tone sub was beautifully clear.

    The chord sequences and explanations of all the subs is very good, too, but where I feel like something went shooting over my head at a rate of knots is how and when this stuff would be used in anger - especially some of the fingerings which really hurt.

    It seems to me that the book assumes (well, actually RV states this) that the person starting this journey is in a band, or an ensemble, and faced with music that is full of complex looking changes, and is in need of understanding how to simplify these changes. He does this very well initially, but then (to me) starts to build in an entirely different set of complexities with all the subs / ascending / descending lines and so on.

    It's all good stuff and I'm enjoying it in isolation, but as a beginner I'm not sure I'd be up for translating on the fly one set of changes that I can just about get through to another with some nice moving inside lines. So, what I would have liked is some examples of where this occurs in practice, either charts or references to recordings. As it stands it feels like a chapter of great ideas that I need to come back to when I'm no longer a beginner - which kind of defeats the object of the chapter.

    Derek

  7. #31

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    I'm a real beginner but these first two chapters have been a real joy for me, I like how it's described and progresses...it's enjoyable much more so than Leavitts Modern Method which I'm working through.

    One thing I find difficult to grasp though is when:

    Ex2.-7
    "The first two bars alternate between C-9 and C-6 9. The F13 symbols above the C-6 9 chords reminds us of the II V application"

    The introduction of the F13 throws me as there no explanation of why, is there anything I can read into that will help me with this?

  8. #32

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    Cm69 = C Eb G A D

    F13 = F A C Eb D

    Notice the notes these two chords have in common.

    Cm69 is giving you the 3, 5, b7, 9, 13 of F13.

    The 9 and 13 are "colour notes" or extensions of an F7 chord.

    Cm69 could be heard as a rootless F13. Context is everything of course.

  9. #33

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    Big thing for beginning jazz guitar players to understand - sometimes the same shape can be used for several different chords.

  10. #34

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    The explanation is in the preceding paragraphs:

    The Cm69 voicing shown in ex. 2-5 could also be named F13 (F13/C no Root, to be precise) and can
    be used for F13 or F7. Because of this we can form II V and II V I progressions using our new four-
    note forms. The next two examples will demonstrate.
    Ex. 2-7 is an exercise for alternating m9 to m69 chords which can function as II V changes.

    But I guess, this is not much of an explanation, if you are a beginner.
    As David B already pointed out, the Cm69 has almost the same notes as a F13. So the exercise of alternating between m9 m69 can be used to play the start of the very common ii V I progression. ii–V–I progression - Wikipedia

  11. #35

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    Hello everyone,

    I played classical for years but am really a beginner in jazz. I've gone through the first chapter on shell voicing and I'm unsure of what to do next.

    I get:
    - M7, 7, m7, 6, m6 shapes
    - And how m7 shell voicing can be used for half-diminished/b5 chords
    - m6 shape can be used for fully-diminished chords
    - tritone substitution in ii V progression

    Concepts that are blurry/requires drilling:
    - Rootless m7 and m6 shapes with 5th in bass (can't be used for half and fully-diminished chords since the 5th is included)
    -Rootless m7 shape with 5th in bass also works as a major triad (a 3rd from the root) in first inversion [i.e. Dm7/A (no root) has the same notes as F/A]
    - 6 with 5th in the bass becomes a 6/9 chord [i.e. C6 becomes G6/9]
    - minor major7 chords
    - minor major7 chords with 5th in bass (no root) has same notes as an augmented triad
    - 7sus and 11 chords
    - add9 chords

    Sorry for the rambling list. It's mostly to summarize (to myself) what I've got from chapter 1.

    So, should I just try to apply these to a couple of songs from fake sheets?

  12. #36

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    Quote Originally Posted by David B
    Thanks. I'm not convinced those samples make it easy for nincompoops like me who ps can read and memorize classical pieces, but want to play in a jazz ensemble and are totally puzzled as to what to do in that situation to assess if they won't be just as puzzled by the book's material But at least the scores are in standard fonts thus readable (I was expecting the kind that look like penned down with a fat marker pen, as seems popular for jazzy scores).

  13. #37

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    Quote Originally Posted by digger
    ...
    It seems to me that the book assumes (well, actually RV states this) that the person starting this journey is in a band, or an ensemble, and faced with music that is full of complex looking changes, and is in need of understanding how to simplify these changes. He does this very well initially, but then (to me) starts to build in an entirely different set of complexities with all the subs / ascending / descending lines and so on.

    It's all good stuff and I'm enjoying it in isolation, but as a beginner I'm not sure I'd be up for translating on the fly one set of changes that I can just about get through to another with some nice moving inside lines. So, what I would have liked is some examples of where this occurs in practice, either charts or references to recordings. As it stands it feels like a chapter of great ideas that I need to come back to when I'm no longer a beginner - which kind of defeats the object of the chapter.
    Maybe the beginner book(s) by Robert Conti would be good companion material?