Mr. Goodchord

[gravitas]

My guitar teacher has these books he loves. The Mr. Goodchord series by Mick Goodrick. They're called:

Mr. Goodchord's Almanac of Guitar Voice-Leading for the Year 2001 and Beyond Volume I: Name That Chord

Mr. Goodchord's Almanac of Guitar Voice-Leading for the Year 2001 and Beyond Volume II: Don't Name That Chord

Mr. Goodchord's Almanac of Guitar Voice-Leading for the Year 2001 and Beyond Volume III: Beyond the Mother Lode

Anybody have any experience with these? Worth the money? I read standard notation fairly well.

[m78w]

Hey
There is no notation in these books, it is a collection of "cycles" with various chord voicings.

So a C major scale in 2nds looks like so:

G A B C D E F G
E F G A B C D E
C D E F G A B C

It's a great book, the last time I was in a masterclass with Ben Monder he told me he just bought these books and was working out of them.


MW

[Holmes Monaco]

ugh i hate those books. every semester i had to learn cycles out of those. i would never worry about them until a day or two before my jury and then i would have to spend hours trying to get them all down. they do have a lot of good stuff voice leading stuff though.

[gravitas]

Aren't they a pleasure to learn?

[musicalbodger]

I've just started working on some of the stuff in his Advancing Guitarist (found details of that through this forum — so thanks, Dirk, once again). Suddenly realise just how many holes there are in my technique! He has a great touch when it comes to explanation and opening new avenues of exploration. Excellent stuff but you have to be motivated — but I guess that applies in whatever field if you want to be better than just good. The pleasure I find in using the book is that you can take out of it just what you need or feel like at the time.

I checked out the Goodchord books (never heard of them before reading this thread — thanks gravitas) and they look as though they're essential for anyone wanting to develop to their ultimate, unless of course you're a natural genius, which means they're certainly on my wish list.

[gravitas]

Hehehe... If it's any consolation, most natural geniuses have some form of autism.

What's the Advancing Guitarist on? Technique?

[musicalbodger]

Think I can do without the autism, have enough trouble coping with the world as it is!

What's the Advancing Guitarist on? Technique?

It's not a how to book, or a method book, it's more like scrabbling through his brain and picking out tasty morsels — but perhaps not quite as cannibalistic as I've made it sound. Divided into 3 sections, the first is Approach, which is basically attempting to persuade you to learn the whole guitar and know it as an instrument in it's own right, not taking second hand piano theory and adapting. A lot of playing on single strings and breaking habits. Second is Materials which deals with triads, quartal harmony, slash chords, etc. Again in a very individual way and very gentle and thoughtful. Third section is more philosophical but also revolves around time, tempo, rhythm, silence and life related to pursuit of a goal i.e. playing to the best of your ability, rather than being the best.

I guess it's probably summed up by the first paragraph in his introduction, "This is a do-it-yourself book. It's not a method book. You supply the method; you do it yourself. I may make some suggestions along the way — point out some things that seem important or relevant. But what you do with it is entirely your business; it's entirely up to you. Don't depend on anyone but yourself for your own musical growth. (I've taken steps to arrange the this book so that you have to depend on yourself as much as possible.)"

It doesn't show you how to play Stella but if you work on what he points out you'll be playing Stella in ways you'd never dreamed of. A lot of thoughtful stuff but you have to work at it. Probably superseded by the Goodchord books, but in one volume it'sa cheaper and has a phenomenal amount in it.

[gravitas]

Neat. I'll invest in it next year... Maybe I can write it off as a school book haha

[derek]

Yeah, Advancing Guitarist is a pretty out of the box sort of book. I am not sure I have seen anything like it. If a guy ever got stuck in a rut, this wouldn't just lead you out of it, but would body slam you out.

[m78w]

My favorite part of the book is the page that is Goodrick's favorite moments of silence from his solos over the years. It looks something like this:

1)


2)


3) 4)



5)


MW

[musicalbodger]

Yeah, he's got a light touch and a good sense of humour. It certainly inspires you to think differently, that's for sure.

[ewit]

The only other book I've seen I would compare to Goodrick's is Jon Damian's. Now there's another guy with a pretty creative approach.

[perhapsguitar1234]

The book is just chord cycles with all their inversions in all twelve keys in major, harmonic minor, and melodic minor. Your just going to find it all of just ways to voice triads and tetrads in different cyles. You can teach what he's trying to do yourself, just write out all 24 ways to voice one tetrad and learn them on the guitar, and go from one to the other in as many creative ways as possible. or just buy the book lol.

[qtguy]

Please help! I'm searching for Mick Goodrick's Almanac of guitar voice leading, vol. 1 and 2 (I have vol.3)...there are years now. Could anyone help me to get those two volumes? I just cannot find them to buy anywhere on the internet. Thannks.

Good chords to everyone!

[qtguy]

Where can I get the volumes 1 and 2? It's impossible to buy them from the internet, they just dissapeared.......

[JakeAcci]

Yes, they are out of print.

[whatswisdom]

Good luck. They're long out of print. You'll have to search lots and will likely pay big bucks if you're lucky enough to find someone willing to sell. Get his latest book instead, the one he wrote with Tim Miller. And make sure you have Advancing Guitarist. If you stick with those, by that time you might be ready for the 50th anniversary ed. of Almanac I, II, III.

[qtguy]

Yes, they are out of print.

I know they are, but I was wondering if there is anyone who could sell used ones (but who should do that..? ) Anyway, thanks

[TH]

68 Track 68.mp3

https://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/theory/15853-anybody-use-goodchord-voice-leading-books.html

David

[dkaplowitz]

I was studying jazz with a guy in Philly who encouraged me to bring any books I was interested into delving into and understanding more. I brought him volume 1 of this series and he couldn't have reacted more negatively to it. He basically dismissed it as garbage after examining it for a minute or two. It was pretty much the beginning of the end of my time studying with that teacher. It's not to say that these books are so good that anyone putting them down is wrong. It's more about his attitude toward something he couldn't figure out in a couple minutes.

[TH]

I was studying jazz with a guy in Philly who encouraged me to bring any books I was interested into delving into and understanding more. I brought him volume 1 of this series and he couldn't have reacted more negatively to it. He basically dismissed it as garbage after examining it for a minute or two. It was pretty much the beginning of the end of my time studying with that teacher. It's not to say that these books are so good that anyone putting them down is wrong. It's more about his attitude toward something he couldn't figure out in a couple minutes.

I'm not surprised though, because jazz is such a different thing to so many people. Yeah I was in Philly for a few years and the scene there was its own thing; a strong emphasis on the tradition and the bebop roots. I was there during the fortunate time when Natalie's hosted a weekly jam. Warm and inviting and a lesson in bebop traditions in the best sense. But that world brings with it the aural vocabulary that has its own assumptions and filters. It's not really set up to accept radical theoretical innovations. Maybe at one point in the history, it may have been among some players, Andrew Hill studied with Paul Hindemith and brought that to his playing, Parker was not always embraced for his explorations which included Stravinsky, and for the most part, teachers of traditions are not teachers of things unknown to them.
There has always been an element of restless re-definition. Wayne Shorter, Herb Pomeroy, Ornette, and I'll put Mick in there too. They looked at ways to expand the possibilities of tradition, respectfully incorporating it but not holding it unchangeable. The almanacs can be unrecognizable to the traditional approaches of linear harmony, and by Mick's admission, they are raw resources of chord progression that leaves the application up to the user.
I've talked about this a little on the Almanac thread but you can't just think "Chord symbol=chord grab" with this approach, you've got to see a chord symbol as representing a group of moving chords that describe harmony as a passage of voice led chords. Well, of course your teacher didn't get it. Only a handful of players I've met get it. That's largely because only a handful of players care or want to. I think you've got to find a teacher who wants to think differently first.

You know I'll tell you a story though. I was living in Philly and I played with a guy who was studying with Jimmy Bruno, a mainstay of the traditional school. I showed Mark, my friend, the voice leading cycles and we played around with them. Then he brought them to his lesson with Jimmy. Jimmy listened and said "I like that! What are you doing there?"

It's in the ears where the judgement lies.

David

[christianm77]

I've lost patience with this stuff TBH... I'd rather work on harmony through tunes.

I'm sure it's my loss. Maybe I'll come back to it. Some great players swear by these exercises.

I'm in more of an 'advancing guitarist' kind of mood at the moment. It's great that goodchord's teaching covers both the Math and Art sides of our craft so brilliantly...

[bako]

I've lost patience with this stuff TBH... I'd rather work on harmony through tunes.

I'm sure it's my loss. Maybe I'll come back to it. Some great players swear by these exercises.

I'm in more of an 'advancing guitarist' kind of mood at the moment. It's great that goodchord's teaching covers both the Math and Art sides of our craft so brilliantly...

Some thoughts on application to tunes:

Cycle 3 and 6 move through extensions.

Cycle 4 for back cycling, perhaps also cycle 5.

Cycle 2 and 7 for diatonically arriving from here to there.

Adding voice led approach chords can add another layer to this game.

Integrating cycle movements between scales helps address musical events beyond one note collection.

Another expansion beyond the already massive written material is the integration of different voicing spreads.

Voiced high enough, each chord can be viewed as an extension 3 5 7 9, 5 7 9 11, 7 9 11 13, etc.

The movement between any 2 chords in a progression, can be understood as a component of this or that cycle.
It is possible with a little thought to tie this material into tunes ...... or not.
Songs as the vehicle for discovery, what can be done, what has been done.
Also an excellent path. All good, whatever helps move us along to where we want to be.

[christianm77]

Some thoughts on application to tunes:

Cycle 3 and 6 move through extensions.

Cycle 4 for back cycling, perhaps also cycle 5.

Cycle 2 and 7 for diatonically arriving from here to there.

Adding voice led approach chords can add another layer to this game.

Integrating cycle movements between scales helps address musical events beyond one note collection.

Another expansion beyond the already massive written material is the integration of different voicing spreads.

Voiced high enough, each chord can be viewed as an extension 3 5 7 9, 5 7 9 11, 7 9 11 13, etc.

The movement between any 2 chords in a progression, can be understood as a component of this or that cycle.
It is possible with a little thought to tie this material into tunes ...... or not.
Songs as the vehicle for discovery, what can be done, what has been done.
Also an excellent path. All good, whatever helps move us along to where we want to be.

I think also the cluster headache that playing these exercises caused discourages me from practicing them. I need a 15 minute lie down after doing each one.

I'm only slightly exaggerating.

OK I'm a wimp.

[jazzguy100]

is the goodchord books anything like the Generic modality compression book he wrote with Tim miller?