The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #601

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    Quote Originally Posted by GuyBoden
    ||CGE|CAF|DBF|EBG|ECA|FDA|GDB|GEC||

    An easy triad progression from Vol1, I still play this a lot, it's beautiful.
    Hey, I have the book. Haven't looked at it yet, but your post intrested me and I played through and I was amazed. This sounds totally like Bach Cello Suite no.1 Is there a name for this kind of movement of voices? Seems like Bach beat Goodrick in discovering this movement. Sounds beautiful.

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  3. #602

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    Quote Originally Posted by jetaman
    Hey, I have the book. Haven't looked at it yet, but your post intrested me and I played through and I was amazed. This sounds totally like Bach Cello Suite no.1 Is there a name for this kind of movement of voices? Seems like Bach beat Goodrick in discovering this movement. Sounds beautiful.
    I don't know if there is a name for this type of movement, but it's every 4th chord in a cycle.

    The progression is (Cycle:4): CMaj, FMaj, Bdim, Emin, Amin, Dmin, GMaj


    CMaj FMaj Bdim Emin Amin Dmin GMaj
    ------------------------------------------------------
    |CGE|CAF|DBF|EBG|ECA|FDA|GDB|GEC|

    The voice leading to each chord note is:
    5th to 3rd to 1st to 5th etc
    3rd to 1st to 5th to 3rd etc
    1st to 5th to 3rd to 1st etc

    There are lot's of beautiful voicing and progressions in the books. (IMHO)

  4. #603

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    I’ve had the three Almanac volumes since they came out, but am just coming back to them after a long layoff from the guitar. One big reason was that I’m getting into 7-string guitar, and the almanacs (like the Van Eps books) are great for that — moving the bass note to the low B string makes some of the unplayable voicings become playable, and forces me to learn the 7-string better. The other reason was that I’ve been studying Dave Creamer’s book on the 43 Octatonic scales (another universe unto itself), and found that using material from the two books together gives very interesting results.

    For example, just taking the first few chords from Almanac 1, and adding a bassline from octatonic scale number one (C,Db,D,Eb,E,F,Gb,G). The fairly vanilla progression and the not-easy to use scale generate some nice sounds.

    (E) C E G
    (Eb) A D F
    (D) G B E
    (Db) F A C

    Which could make an intro/turnaround/ending, e.g. spicing up the last couple chords a little:

    (D) Gb G B
    (Db) F A C E
    —> C E B D (F#)

    Etc. Am especially curious to see what happens when combining the more used octatonic scales, like the various bebop scales, since they are supersets of the 7-tone scales in the Almanacs (and one could use different roots...).

  5. #604

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    Quote Originally Posted by TH
    Goodchord enthusiasts, I have something to discuss with you. I'm trying to present this material to Chuck Sher publishers and I've run into some interesting issues.
    For long, we've recognized the potential in this material, everything from re-envisioning the way we choose chords to the re-hearing the way we get from chord A to chord B.
    Up until now, it's been a task that is the realm of the inquiring mind and the unique player that has been up for the challenge of connecting sound and linear movement in what can only be called a "reframing of harmony". That's what the almanacs do for me anyway.

    It's come to my attention that from a publisher's point of view, this gap between "Untapped harmonic/melodic material in a reference book form" and "How can I understand and use this off the bat?" is a bit of an intimidating one.

    So I'd like to get some ideas from you.
    Do you have any stories or anecdotes that show how you are breaking through this wall?
    Would you be willing to share, in video or written form how you play a cycle, and then apply it to or within a song form? (Ex: play cycle 4 melodic minor by itself ending on the V7 chord and superimpose that on the middle section of Stella...)
    Can you share some application of this material in a compositional situation?
    Are there ways you wind up combining chord family groups or cycles in ways that are not strictly "from the book"? (Ex: I regularly combine melodic minor chords with diatonic chord cycles and the mixture automatically creates "tension" and "resolution" situations from chord to chord.)
    Has the use of this material changed the way you hear? (I move internal voices a lot more now)
    Is the notational system used intimidating or even prohibiting? Would an intermediary publication of notationally more conventional examples or a "primer" on the cycles written with standard or even TAB applications ( only for one specific example to allow an easier interface) be useful?

    Any ideas would be welcome. Throw your thoughts on this thread. It may wind up being a website where your contributions are acknowledged and credited, maybe a book we all contribute to, something else. The goal is to lower the perceived "wall of impossibility or incomprehensibility" that even some seasoned players/authors have seen as an impediment to working with Goodchord material.

    Thanks ahead of time for your thoughts. Exciting times!
    David

    Why not get the books published on an online self publishing company like for example Lulu?

    Lulu

  6. #605

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    Quote Originally Posted by GuyBoden
    Why not get the books published on an online self publishing company like for example Lulu?

    Lulu
    In the process. The new edition is almost completely redone with a lot of supportive material that is intended to bridge the conceptual gap between the understanding that comes of more traditional approaches and the frameworks of conceptual thinking that are necessary to really run with this material. It's a COVID project that Mick is finding fresh ideas with now that he's officially retired from teaching and the public eye.

  7. #606

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    Guys (to skip all 600 posts)

    So, is someone trying to republish the Almanac now? Is Mick involved? When is the approximate date of release? Thanks

  8. #607

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    Quote Originally Posted by jetaman
    Guys (to skip all 600 posts)

    So, is someone trying to republish the Almanac now? Is Mick involved? When is the approximate date of release? Thanks
    Yes, it's with Mick. It was going to be a simple re-publish of the original almanacs in the form they were originally written, but since we had the time opened up to us thanks to the shut-in, it was thought it'd be a worthwhile endeavour to create a format that was as comprehensive as the almanac, but with supportive material that would bring this material into the parameters of a larger number of players.

    I gathered a small number of players who've worked deeply with this material, and studied with Mick and we're doing this project with the springboard of our time, and the freedom to explore it. It was observed from just about everyone who found benefit from these books that there was a pretty steep conceptual shift from visualizing the navigation of the fingerboard in drop 2 root and inversions to a multi-line awareness and control of interwoven voices. There are assumptions Mick had as to a student's fundamental awareness that were a leap for many. So the material will be in there but within material that can develop a sense of multiphonic melody/harmony through exercises and etudes. There will be new original material by Mick.

    As to the original almanacs in their raw form, there may be a website we set up with a voice leading generator or a reprint in paper and/or digital download.

    Timeline for this material's release is unknown, but it depends on how long this shut-in goes on for, and what we're seeing as an approach that can be friendly, and comprehensive at the same time.

    As we work on these cycles, new possibilities as to their application are coming up week by week. It's simply astounding what can be uncovered through immersion in this material when trapped in a virtual room with other liked minded spirits for months at a time.

  9. #608

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    Cool to hear! I was wondering about this.

  10. #609

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    Thank you for this update, jimmy blue note, — that's really exciting news!

    I've a related publishing question, about Mick Goodrick's other book 'based entirely upon Steve Swallow's Falling Grace'. This book was mentioned by Mick at the end of Almanac Vol. 3 (and used to be listed as 'available soon' on the defunct Mr Goodchord website) but I don't remember it ever being available to buy. Has anyone on the forum seen it, please?

    Our older players on this thread will recall that Mick's website used to offer the Almanacs for sale, alongside two versions of his book of original compositions '36 Solo Pieces for Fingerstyle Guitar' (one version for guitar, one version for piano), and also his mind-bending Factorial Rhythm book (as deep as the Almanacs, but dealing systematically with small rhythmic units instead of intervals). It would be so good to see all of these important books available again, in some format or other — there is nothing quite like any of them.

  11. #610

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mick Wright
    Thank you for this update, jimmy blue note, — that's really exciting news!

    I've a related publishing question, about Mick Goodrick's other book 'based entirely upon Steve Swallow's Falling Grace'. This book was mentioned by Mick at the end of Almanac Vol. 3 (and used to be listed as 'available soon' on the defunct Mr Goodchord website) but I don't remember it ever being available to buy. Has anyone on the forum seen it, please?

    Our older players on this thread will recall that Mick's website used to offer the Almanacs for sale, alongside two versions of his book of original compositions '36 Solo Pieces for Fingerstyle Guitar' (one version for guitar, one version for piano), and also his mind-bending Factorial Rhythm book (as deep as the Almanacs, but dealing systematically with small rhythmic units instead of intervals). It would be so good to see all of these important books available again, in some format or other — there is nothing quite like any of them.
    The Falling Grace book was completed. Mick's former publishing partner told Mick that he had a publisher in Germany who would publish it. He took the manuscripts and that's the last anyone heard of them. That was three years ago. Mick considers it a loss though many have tried to track the manuscripts down. So far no luck.

    Anyone interested in the Factorial Rhythms book, or a VERY limited number of the 36 solo pieces (which are going through extortion sales on the market), or the piano version of these pieces (no limit on those), can PM me and I can make connections.
    And at this moment, I have the Almanacs on PDF and we're share-ware-ing these to fund the new project which I talked about.

    If there's interest in working on these materials, maybe the more advancingly inclined of the community here might be interested in a Shut-In work group based on this thread? Either way, I'm happy to have a discussion in the abstract or concrete about these remarkable reference almanacs. So many people have considered it beyond their realm of interest or discipline; maybe it's a good time for those with the adventurous spirit to open up this particular spice cabinet?

  12. #611

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    Hello Jimmy Blue note and others

    I have been a lurker for the past several years, but this thread has given me the nudge I needed to introduce myself.

    I went to Berklee 1974 - 1976 (Joe Cohn was an old friend of mine who lived down the hall when we both lived in the dorms). I studied with Mick for one summer (1976) but eventually switched to the New England Conservatory where I received a degree in classical guitar under David Leisner.

    Unfortunately I developed a a nastty hand condition (left hand, i.e., my fretting hand) that is called focal dystonia. This was during a time before the medical establishment knew anything about this bizarre brain condition. I actually developed focal dystonia before David Leisner came down with the condition (David is a rather well known case because after a dozen years he was able to return to the concert stage). Eventually (after a two year quest to seek help with every notable hand doc in the country) I retrained and I now teach psychology at a large midwestern university in the Twin Cities. I stopped playing and didn't pick up the guitar for 35 years.

    4 years ago I decided it was now or never (I am currently 63) and thus I fulfilled a life long dream and went out to a fantastic local guitar store called Willies and purchased an anniversary L5 (I had wanted an L5 since I was 15 after hearing Wes on the radio).

    I have been slowly retraining my hand by going through volume 1 of the Mr. Goodchord series and volume 1 of the Van Eps triology (we now know that one can literally retrain the brain and improve focal dystonia by very, very slow practice -- its my nightly meditation). Progress has been slow but steady.

    These books have brought music back into my life --- and I would be VERY interested in participating in any group that works with Mick's new (old) material. I actually own an mimeographed copy of the advancing guitarist that I purchased from Mick 40 odd years ago -- I also have one of the earliest Real Books from 1974 (I guess I'm a geezer).

    I have always loved Mick's playing (I saw him with Burton's quintet in the 70's and was mesmerized-- I also saw Metheny play with Jaco [admission was an astounding 50 cents) in a bar one night during the world series. Every time Boston hit the ball the band would stop playing and all eyes were glued to the TV.

    So greetings to all. Once again, I would love to participate in any way with this project.

    Best wishes during these crazy times

    Niels

  13. #612

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    Hello Niels (ad others)
    Slow practice is great - but with Van Eps' Mechanisms plusthe Almanacs that sounds like a very long haul ... (but, then again, my copy says 1984 insde the front cover. I'm going to get going on his pieces one day as well).
    Thanks for posting your stories and good luck with the
    retraining. Your comment, about this thread giving you a nudge, has prompted me to get this one page study score out & polished up a bit this afternoon. I've been meaning to post more bits and pieces here for a number of years and after jimmy blue notes' suggestion that we need to open up the spice cabinet, I thought I'd put my head above the lockdown parapets. Anything worthwhile in this is Mick Goodrick's work and any errors are mine etc. etc. I think I can attach a pdf to this post, so here goes...

    This is a simplish Major 7ths moving in Whole-tones 'Grip Slipping' Study based upon Almanac 3 (page 162). Hope someone else finds this useful.

    All the best
    MW

    Study_from_Almanac_3.pdf

  14. #613

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    I'm so glad to see some activity on this thread. About a week before spring break at Berklee, Mick was preparing to close up his office for the last time. The word about the school closing its doors for the remainder of the semester went out and this being his last semester, it also meant it was the last days that would end a career that spanned a half century at Berklee.
    He wrote the Almanacs and they became at once a gateway to a quantum shift in linear perspective and a source of fathomless vexation for many.
    He recorded examples of these, mostly so he had a documentation of some of the cycles, and they defied what I thought could be done on a guitar. Anytime I would ask him for help or guidance on working with the cycles, he'd either give me explanations that would take me months to tease out, or explain something which he saw as fundamentally simple but would take me sometimes years to appreciate the gravity of.
    I did, many times ask him if he'd write a book that would attempt to "bridge the conceptual gap" between more traditional ways of looking at guitar navigation (CAGED, drop 2, scale patterns and arpeggiation) and the real time navigation of multiple voices that grows out of the cycles in the Almanacs. For many, the departure from the shapes and pathways we feel familiar and safe with would prove to be too much of a leap, and for many, the Almanacs became shelved volumes of untapped potential.
    During his last weeks teaching, I asked him what he'd think of my writing "bridge material" to make voice leading more accessible to any who wanted to explore it, and if he'd consider it a project he'd like to do. To my surprise, he said yes, it's be a good project.

    Now he's retired. Now the world has closed down and now I've been networking with others who've actively worked with the voice leading almanacs and the results are astounding. The Almanac cycles are just jumping off points with completely new applications and uses that were unimagined before we began sharing what we're doing.

    So maybe if there's interest here, and some of us want to use our available time to dig in to changing what is possible, we can start by sharing some thoughts on our reactions to the almanacs.

    They are out of print. All hard copies are now gone. If you're really interested, PM me. I can give you materials. I'll put things on posts here as long as there's interest.
    I'll put together a post and talk about what I'm getting out of it and what I'm working on now.

  15. #614

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    Hey Jimmy Blue Note,
    Is your real name "Dave???"

    We've missed you here!

    And too bad about the "Falling Grace" manuscript ... that would've been gold!

    Peace,

    Marc

  16. #615

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    Mick

    Many thanks for posting the pdf. I will add it to tonight’s practice materials!

    Best

    Niels


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  17. #616

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    Hey guys,
    Please allow me one off topic question: what is this kind of guitar Mick plays? With no headstock, and really wide body. I tried googling it but no luck. I don't even know what to put in search field. I also know that Jody Fisher plays such guitar. What is it anyway? Thanks.

    ????????? ??? ???? SM-J730FM, ?????????????? Tapatalk

  18. #617

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    Quote Originally Posted by jetaman
    Hey guys,
    Please allow me one off topic question: what is this kind of guitar Mick plays? With no headstock, and really wide body. I tried googling it but no luck. I don't even know what to put in search field. I also know that Jody Fisher plays such guitar. What is it anyway? Thanks.

    ????????? ??? ???? SM-J730FM, ?????????????? Tapatalk
    He had two built by Klein. One was black, solid body and he played this with Jack DeJohnette's Special Edition, after he first played a Steinberger type Hohner guitar. Then he had a chambered body Klein built which he played with Paul Motian. This is also the lighter coloured one you see him playing in the duo with Pat Metheny in the Montreal concert.
    Mick had a third Klein that was supposed to be built by Klein. He paid for it but Klein filed for chapter 11 or something and Mick never got the guitar nor his money. After Steve Klein reorganized is comeback, Mick didn't hear from him. That's the story of Klein.
    He had a bodyless nylon string he played when he was with Charlie Haden's liberation Orchestra. That was an instrument with a frame and a centre body that Pat Metheny gave to him.

  19. #618

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    Quote Originally Posted by jetaman
    Hey guys,
    Please allow me one off topic question: what is this kind of guitar Mick plays? With no headstock, and really wide body. I tried googling it but no luck. I don't even know what to put in search field. I also know that Jody Fisher plays such guitar. What is it anyway? Thanks.
    Klein:

    Anybody use the Goodchord Voice Leading Books?-mick-jpg

    Some of us here have similar models by Chris Forshage in Texas:

    Anybody use the Goodchord Voice Leading Books?-forshage-orion-finished2-png

    Both very comfortable guitars; I had a Klein but sold it to get a Forshage!

  20. #619

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jimmy blue note
    In the process. The new edition is almost completely redone with a lot of supportive material that is intended to bridge the conceptual gap between the understanding that comes of more traditional approaches and the frameworks of conceptual thinking that are necessary to really run with this material. It's a COVID project that Mick is finding fresh ideas with now that he's officially retired from teaching and the public eye.

    Excellent.

  21. #620

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jimmy blue note
    He had a bodyless nylon string he played when he was with Charlie Haden's liberation Orchestra. That was an instrument with a frame and a centre body that Pat Metheny gave to him.
    These fantastic instruments are built in Germany and are called FrameWorks guitars -looks like a travel guitar but isn't. In fact it is a highly professional guitar also played by people like Ralph Towner or Wolfgang Muthspiel.

  22. #621

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    The Almanac has been around 20 years and in all that time, 95% of what I've heard about it has been pretty consistently the same. It's on my shelf, I'll get to it when I have the time. There have been a number of players who've devoted a lot of time to studying it in earnest and interestingly enough, what they sound like is very different from what you'd get by studying, and playing with those pages yourself. After a evening of solo guitar, Ben Monder said to me "Did you like that piece I did with the Almanac material?" and honestly, it was so entirely assimilated into Ben's playing that I didn't catch it. That's the nature of these volumes and as I've been working in depth with a number of pages during the COVID shut-in, I can say that what has emerged has not been something I can plug into my playing, per se, but rather an entirely different way of seeing the potential of the guitar fingerboard that opens up pianistic voice leading, counterpoint, untried routes of root movement, an untapped depth of ear awareness and a sonic connection with harmony that is beyond any chords my hands had learned as my chordal toolbox.
    I remember when Julian Lage was studying with Mick. Julian possessed a genius talent before he came to study with Mick, but his time exposed to this re-mapping helped lead to a new way of playing counterpoint that you can hear today. It's nothing like what you'll find in the pages of the almanacs, so don't think there are licks you can cop, but rather a means by which one can transform the way you see and hear so if one desires, you can more fully tap your own creative sense of harmony with a broader way of envisioning the fingerboard.
    The cycles in them are comprehensive, but they are NOT:
    - They are not lines you can read and instantly transfer into a solo you can play at a jam this weekend.
    - They are not progressions that coincide with changes directly out of the Real Book.
    - They are not exercises you can read from notation.
    - They are not nor can they be translated into TAB notation.
    - They are not written in any particular key but rather use C and must be translated to all other keys if they're to be of any use.
    - They are not specific to any chords you might necessarily know...

    Mick did assume there were a few things you must be proficient in before you can really delve into the almanacs. Believe me, the study of this material will be much easier if you know these things well:

    - a total knowledge of all the notes by name on the fingerboard.
    - a total knowledge of all intervallic notes on the fingerboard (knowing the fingerboard by numbers).
    - a good intervallically informed ear (know your chord tones by ear, and the 7 notes of the scale by ear).
    - an instant access to all closed triads across the fingerboard. Same with spread triads. Same with 4 part 7th chords. (Drop 2, Drop 3, Drop 2 Drop 4, in all inversions, etc)

    If you know this, and if you really want to explore what you can do beyond the limitations of the habits and tendencies of your present playing, then the voice leading almanacs are the exhaustive listing of all voice leading cycles for the guitar.

    If there's interest, I can start a growing continuation of this thread dedicated to unlocking some ways of studying, assimilating, using and owning this material.
    You might look at this and say it's way too much work, it's too technical, it's not jazz, it's not music, it's not fun. Great, this thread isn't about fielding complaints about a tool you don't want to use. But if you're an advancing guitarist and you want to open up a new landscape in possibilities, then I'd be a part of our excitement and exploration.
    I'm writing a book on this material and more detailed exercises and stuff with Mick. This would be a great way to come up to speed on that.

    What else are you going to do while you're shut in, eh?

  23. #622

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    I, for one, would love to participate in this group. I just spent the last hour with Vol 1 of the Almanac. Yoga for the fingers and a wealth of new ideas to enrich my comping.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  24. #623

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jimmy blue note
    If there's interest, I can start a growing continuation of this thread dedicated to unlocking some ways of studying, assimilating, using and owning this material.
    You might look at this and say it's way too much work, it's too technical, it's not jazz, it's not music, it's not fun. Great, this thread isn't about fielding complaints about a tool you don't want to use. But if you're an advancing guitarist and you want to open up a new landscape in possibilities, then I'd be a part of our excitement and exploration.
    I'm writing a book on this material and more detailed exercises and stuff with Mick. This would be a great way to come up to speed on that.

    What else are you going to do while you're shut in, eh?
    Absolutely would be interested, and I appreciate your efforts in preserving and extending this material.

  25. #624

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    I have been known to have a degree of interest in the Almanac continuum.
    Look forward to next steps.

  26. #625

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    Quote Originally Posted by bako
    I have been known to have a degree of interest in the Almanac continuum.
    Look forward to next steps.
    Haha, I think we spoke about this when we met up a few years ago. hope everything’s going ok?
    cheers!