"Killer Joe" (solo guitar live)

[JazzPadd]

"Killer Joe" is one of my favorite jam session tunes, and I decided to try working up a solo guitar version. This was impromptu. I was booked to do a solo set and needed an extra few minutes so I put this together quickly to tack on at the end of the set.

My usual approach to working up a song is to use the melody as a kind of theme for the entire arrangement. "Killer Joe" has the signature riff F E G, E C Bb over the C7 and Bb7 vamp. So I looked over the melody and the chords and realized that those five melody notes, C E F G Bb, work well enough with both chords, giving the Bb7 a kind of Lydian vibe, and the D, though not in the melody, works well, too. That leaves the Ab as a kind of outlier note. Although it would work on C7 as a flatted 6th, I don't really like that sound. So sticking to just the main melody and the vamp for now (the bridge is a different matter, although it's related and provides a nice contrast), I avoid the Ab with the C7 and use it only for the Bb7. And, since my chord melody playing is limited technically speaking, instead of working out elaborate and varied ways to re-harmonize the main melody, I like to start off with an atmospheric intro, then play the melody more or less in tempo, followed by looping a two chord vamp for some ad-lib, before playing the melody again (if the mood hits me or time permits) and wrapping it up with an atmospheric outro. For the ad-lib section on "Killer Joe," I fiddled around until settling on something suggesting C7-Bb7: G6 E4 G3, Ab6 F4 G3, G6 E4 G3, F6 Bb5 D4, and use the scale C D E F G Ab Bb C for ad-lib (which also provides a nice opening to use whole tones, but that's another matter). So, once I have an idea and a form, I play it live to see how it goes over and then tweak it on subsequent outings.

The above version of "Killer Joe" worked well, despite some glitches, and has some promise to rework it the next time an opportunity arises to do a solo set. Over the years, using these occasional opportunities, I have worked up several tunes, including jazz standards such as "Dindi," "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most," "Watermelon Man," "Someone to Watch Over Me," and a few others. With "Dindi," for example, I began playing that live five years ago and gradually evolved it at each opportunity.

Taking a cue from Bill Frisell, I have applied this approach to working up solo takes on pop and rock songs. That led to a "Beatles Suite" built from individual songs, and the old Kinks song, "Tired of Waiting for You." I suppose I could add a few more and then do a complete evening set or polish them more to make an album, but I'm not interested in doing either of those. I prefer to wait for an invitation to participate in a live event and then pick and chose among these tunes to suit the occasions and the allotted time (it's usually 20 or 40 minutes, depending on the venue and the event). I usually use pedals for solo sets, and to provide variety from looking at my decidedly un-entertaining stage presence I also display a few artworks on stage (usually by local artists and students), but this is getting verbose so that's for another thread.

As an "amateur" player (in the sense of Andy Merrifield "the pleasures of doing what you love"), I do these sets when an opportunity arises or when the mood hits me. My skills as a solo guitar player are limited. But rather than endless shedding, I prefer to make the most of what I can do. I have worked as an entertainer in the past, but I'm not very good in that role and prefer to just play for whoever might like to listen. I'm very fortunate to live in a place with an active, diverse, vibrant amateur music scene, centered around "live houses." These are not bars or restaurants; they are venues the main business of which is to provide a space for live music. There are several within reasonable driving distance that also host jazz jam sessions and open mics.

In any case, all this talk will probably make the actual performance above seem anti-climactic, but I do think some of you might be interested in hearing about how other amateur players develop a work flow to approach various performance situations. So I thank you very much for listening and wish you all the very best in your live playing.