Blue Bossa Melody

**jazz omaha** · 05-19-2010, 07:04 PM

My teacher is having me start on Blue Bossa.

The Melody in the real book is pretty complicated looking campared to anything else ive read up til now. Any tips regarding the melody?

Also chord voicing for the 7b9 chord i dont know any. Any versions i absolutly need to hear?

**JohnW400** · 05-19-2010, 10:00 PM

Use Ab dimished 7 on the 6x5432x sting set. Works great

Ab x F B D x ( 4 x 3 4 3 x)

**mr. beaumont** · 05-19-2010, 10:11 PM

gotta hear kenny dorham's original with joe henderson on joe's "page one."

pat martino does a great one on "exit."

oh, 7b9 chords--here's two easy "grips"

root on sixth string

C7b9: 8 x 11 9 8 x

you could also leave out the low E and play the root on the high E

x x 11 9 8 8

root on fifth string

C7b9: x 3 2 3 2 x

**3shiftgtr** · 05-20-2010, 03:50 AM

Great chord stuff here for someone just getting started with the tune.

**SteveCarter** · 05-20-2010, 09:01 AM

Originally Posted by JohnW400

Use Ab dimished 7 on the 6x5432x sting set. Works great

Ab x F B D x ( 4 x 3 4 3 x)

Be careful when using that voicing with a bass player. Your low Ab against the bass player's G could sound pretty muddy.

Steve

**fep** · 05-20-2010, 09:37 AM

Congrats on moving on from ATTYA. I think blue bossa is much easier and you'll get thru it more quickly. Lots of good advice, I love that video.

I'll add a couple of 7b9 chords that are common but haven't been mentioned yet.

G7b9 (no root) This chord repeats itself in a different inversion every three frets - here's the first two, notice how they containg the same notes (and this is the same chord JohnW listed but on a different set of strings, his fingering also repeats itself every three frets)

x B F Ab D x (x 2 3 1 5 x)

x D Ab B F x (x 5 6 4 6 x)

And the same thing on the top four strings:

x x F B D Ab (x x 3 4 3 4)

x x Ab D F B (x x 6 7 6 7)

PS I like Mr. Beaumont's version, nice blusey feel, sparse accompainment, it's really easy to hear the guitar clearly in his arrangement, like he said it should be easy to transcribe - at least the single note stuff.

**jazz omaha** · 05-20-2010, 03:23 PM

ooops sorry i wasnt quite awake yesterdy when i posted. I meant to ask for a way to play the i believe G7#5(#9) ive never even heard of such a chord before. Also my real book says the third chord is a B7 and my instructor says this chord is incorrect, but never stated which chord goes there. thanks for the 7b9 voicings anyways, i only knew one form so they still will come in handy.

**mr. beaumont** · 05-20-2010, 03:40 PM

3rd chord should be a Bb dominant chord of some sort, your call.Your teacher isn't teaching you how to build chords, is he? I'm gonna smack this guy, Jazzomaha, I'm telling you!G7#5(#9)this means a G7th chord with a raised fifth, and if you're gonna put a ninth in, raise that too. If I were writing a chart, I'd just write "alt" and let the player use his ears."alt" is short for altered, which means all alterations (b5, #5, b9, #9) are fair game. On the guitar, it's not practical to grab all of 'em, so you make do with the alterations that sound the best.In the case of "blue bossa", I find a good old G7#5 is plenty of tension on that chord, usually.

**jazz omaha** · 05-20-2010, 03:52 PM

Bb dominant? okay that seems to fit pretty well. And we havent gone over building chords i think he believes i have a solid enough understanding from my lessons i previously took with my old teacher. The rythem in my realbook is more complicated than anything i have ever read before. Besides listening to the song itself any thoughts on what to do about this. i honestly dont know if im gonna be able to play it as is written. im working on my feel using this exercise called the grid my teacher taught me. You turn the metrenome on to 16th notes and play along muted... then you un mute on 1 four times... then you mute everything but e four times than mute everything but and four times and finally a four times... you the ndo that all agian but only two times and finally once... its seems to be helping my instructor was tought this excercie by his teacher... this cat named dana... real hip on the drums..

**Gramps** · 05-20-2010, 04:21 PM

" i honestly dont know if im gonna be able to play it as is written"

Blue Bossa starting on C-? The third chord I play is D-7b5.

I use something like this:

|: C-7 | C-7 | F-7 | F-7 |

D-7b5 | G7(b9) | C- | C- |

Eb-7 | Ab7 | Dbmaj7| Dbmaj7 |

D-7b5 | G7 (b9)| C- | C- :|

That's the simplist way I know but like other have said, none of these chords are written in stone but the function within the song is consistent.

**BigDaddyLoveHandles** · 05-20-2010, 04:22 PM

Originally Posted by jazz omaha

The Melody in the real book is pretty complicated looking campared to anything else ive read up til now.

What do you find complicated, the syncopation? Listen to some versions. It's all about being in the groove.

**jazz omaha** · 05-20-2010, 04:35 PM

syncopation?

**BigDaddyLoveHandles** · 05-20-2010, 04:49 PM

"Syncopation" is when you play off the beat, like in Blue Bossa.

**jazz omaha** · 05-20-2010, 04:52 PM

so anything not landing on 1 2 3 4... is syncopated?
and in respons to gramps the changes dont seem to difficult now but its the melody

**BigDaddyLoveHandles** · 05-20-2010, 04:56 PM

Originally Posted by jazz omaha

so anything not landing on 1 2 3 4... is syncopated?

Yup, or rather when you emphasize a note that doesn't land on the beat. And a lot of Blue Bossa's melody notes are off the beat, right?

**jazz omaha** · 05-20-2010, 04:59 PM

yes alot of the melody is off beat. Any tips for comping? my teacher usually has me just do quarter notes, but my friend who is going to college said that playing quarter notes is cool when your starting out, but that most guitar players comp more like piano player now a days? what does this mean?

**BigDaddyLoveHandles** · 05-20-2010, 05:05 PM

Originally Posted by jazz omaha

yes alot of the melody is off beat. Any tips for comping? my teacher usually has me just do quarter notes, but my friend who is going to college said that playing quarter notes is cool when your starting out, but that most guitar players comp more like piano player now a days? what does this mean?

1. You gotta walk before you can run. Until you've got it memorized and under your fingers, I wouldn't get fancy.

2. "piano" style can mean many things, but I bet he meant a sparse style: a short stab here, a longer held chord there...

3. The best tip for comping is to listen to other guitarists and shameless copy someone you like (You could listen to pianists or whomever, too, but it's more straightforward to think about copying from another guitarist). YouTube awaits you.

**randalljazz** · 05-20-2010, 06:08 PM

Originally Posted by jazz omaha

yes alot of the melody is off beat. Any tips for comping? my teacher usually has me just do quarter notes, but my friend who is going to college said that playing quarter notes is cool when your starting out, but that most guitar players comp more like piano player now a days? what does this mean?

highest recommendation:

Amazon.com: Maiden Voyage Guitar Voicings: Mike Di Liddo: Books

eight choruses with different voicings and rhythms (it's called "solar flair"--copyright thing, same chord progression as "blue bossa").

**mr. beaumont** · 05-21-2010, 10:09 AM

Originally Posted by jazz omaha

And we havent gone over building chords i think he believes i have a solid enough understanding from my lessons i previously took with my old teacher. ..

And you obviously don't.

I'm not trying to be an asshole here, I feel bad for you--this teacher hasn't a clue.

I'm coming off as so harsh, I'm sorry...not enough coffee yet. I just get really pissed when I see someone as eager to learn as you being screwed with by an inept teacher.

**Goofsus4** · 05-21-2010, 01:01 PM

Jazz Guitar Chord Theory - How To Construct Jazz Chords?

Surprise your teach in your next lesson with your mad chord construction skills!

Seriously, it takes about an hour to learn the basics of chord construction theory, then you'll never be mystified again by a chord and you can throw the chord books away.

**brian329** · 06-13-2010, 09:32 PM

Here's a great version of Blue Bossa by UK guitarist (and one of my favorites) Mike Walker.

**jeffstritt** · 06-14-2010, 10:34 AM

A couple of things... First off when you are getting started learning some of the standard tunes, its really important to listen to them. Hear how the piano player voices the chords, hear the soloists, and really internalize the melody. As was mentioned, Page One, by Joe Henderson is going to be a must have for your album collection anyway might as well pick it up now. "Recorda-Me" is probably another tune you have coming up and it is on there as well.

As far as the G7b9, or G7#5... Most jazz players when they see those chords aren't going to be extremely particular about which one to play. When I see an altered 9th or 5th, I basically think of that chord as an altered dominant chord, so must of us will probably use G7b9, G7#9, and G7#5 pretty interchangeably unless a note in the chord conflicts with the melody.

**BigDaddyLoveHandles** · 06-14-2010, 11:03 AM

Originally Posted by jeffstritt

As far as the G7b9, or G7#5... Most jazz players when they see those chords aren't going to be extremely particular about which one to play. When I see an altered 9th or 5th, I basically think of that chord as an altered dominant chord, so must of us will probably use G7b9, G7#9, and G7#5 pretty interchangeably unless a note in the chord conflicts with the melody.

Plus, most players would look at the chords around it and see what's going on. The progression is Dmin7b5 <that G chord> Cmin. That's just a ii-V-i in C minor, so they'd play a G dominant chord that fits into C minor, which means any combination of a b9, #9, b13 (Ab, Bb, Eb).

The melody (both times) over the G chord uses the notes G, Ab and Bb (root, b9, #9), so that fits with using the above altered notes.

**Marten** · 06-14-2010, 11:49 AM

Hi everyone, have you noticed that in the original Henderson version, it sounds like they're playing a Bb7 (or Bb13) in bar 4. (easy to check for all of you out there with Spotify..) Could this be the case..?? Feels a bit... well, bleak, to move from Bb7 to Dm7b5, I think... BTW, Jazz Omaha, are you still out there? It would be interesting to discuss the mechanics of learning a melody... Try to focus on listening more, and don't worry so much about how the notes are written. Trying to un-code notation can be so very un-musical and killing all the fun. Just a humble advice from a modest guitar-teacher (without knowing anything about you skill-level...)

**BigDaddyLoveHandles** · 06-14-2010, 12:02 PM

Originally Posted by Marten

Hi everyone, have you noticed that in the original Henderson version, it sounds like they're playing a Bb7 (or Bb13) in bar 4. (easy to check for all of you out there with Spotify..) Could this be the case..?? Feels a bit... well, bleak, to move from Bb7 to Dm7b5, I think...

Yes, Blue Bossa is just one 2-5-1 after another except for that. Bb7 to Dmin7b5 is more of a non-progression. I cheat and pretend it's all Bb7