The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #776

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jimmy blue note
    Big question! I'll start by saying that you're going to find a lot of approaches to what you're looking for, from playing inversions, adding upper tension extensions or making chromatic notes. I don't know what your working knowledge of chord construction and logic is so I'll just throw out ideas and let you ask questions.
    Well you can experiment with sonic options without any theoretical context to tie it together. This is a great way to see how things fit together. You could, say, take a piece of paper and write out a roughly two octave scale on a chord grid type arrangement (so you can see the notes as they lay on the fingerboard) and in the lower strings, choose your chord tones, 1, 3 and/or 5 in an arrangement of your choosing. Then above that, pick any note and see what the effect of adding that note is. Experiment. Get away from thinking in "grabs" and see the ways you can combine notes of the lower structure with notes of the higher structure harmony. You find sounds you like, save them. You see some relationship of sounds to how you make them, save that knowledge. You find that different inversions or doubled notes or eliminating a note has an effect, good, save that. This is the pure spirit of experimentation. It's one way to find "interesting chords".
    Another very different avenue is using the cycles material. Again, there are tons of approaches within but I'll give you some I like using the triads.
    By using a complete cycle, you wind up using every note of the scale. That means the chord tones and extensions are within a cycle. Knowing that, a cycle will give you a very complete and melodic way of conveying a chord. If you're playing over a II- chord, say, and you start your cycle with the D- chord in the cycle (or course you'll have to put this into the key you're working in), you get some very interesting chord lines instead of one single grab. This voice led line (different depending on the cycle, or even parent scale-try a melodic minor scale or harmonic minor based triad cycle for a really wild sound!), can be beautifully jaw dropping. Try arpeggiating, for linear ideas, or break them into dyads... all sorts of ideas. Just with triads. You'll have core chord tone triads, partial triads with extensions, even rootless upper extension triads all within a cycle. And remember, a cycle is never meant to be played as a complete "thing" any more than an entire alphabet is meant to be included in every word. Find the parts you relate to and use them. Experiment. Note. Experiment. Listen. Experiment. Feel.
    You can use the triad cycles this way, or here's a fun idea: Find the triad cycles based on the fourth degree of the melodic scale and start that a half step above a target chord. You'll get some really interesting tritone sub Lydian b7 sounds, in an out kind of modal way.
    This gives you some options of sonic and fingerboard experimentation. If you can figure out how to voice a root note of the parent chord and put that in the lower register, you've got wild triad/bass note chords. TBN with melodic min or HM, you've got new sounds.
    I, of course don't know what your contextual harmony knowledge is, or if any of this makes sense, but as questions, try things out and the community here, weigh in!
    Have fun!
    Thank you for the answer! I have been playing for 45 years, on and off, depending on studies, work and opportunities. Mostly in a rock- or pop-context, but also playing jazzstandards with friends. Many years ago I was involved in a shortlived project with a saxophone-playing friend, playing some Monk and our own tunes in a very free way. I wasn't ready for that then, but it was very exciting while it lasted.

    I have always been very interested in music theory and I think that I have a pretty good knowledge of chords, inversions and so on. I decided early on to get away from "grabs" and I am using some cluster, quartals and a lot of diatonic substitution when playing with my band.

    I would like more harmonic freedom in my playing, to think more about tension and release within the context of a tune. What I'm looking for is a method to experiment with different degrees of tension, as methodical and thorough as Goodricks Almanacs. Going way out or just a little. But maybe there are no method, I just have to try different things.

    I do like the flavour of melodic minor. The idea about using triads from the fourth degree and start a half step above the target, I suppose that it means playing triads, stuctures, from Ab minor if the target is C? I like the sound of that anyway.

    So I welcome any new idea and concept.

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #777

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    Everything Mick does is elegantly voice led. Some of the ideas in action, or just for your enjoyment, from his 36 pieces.


    Last edited by Jimmy blue note; 08-05-2020 at 01:24 PM.

  4. #778

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    Does anyone know where to find a slanty arrow up an down symbol to insert into a word document?

  5. #779

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    Hi,

    On my version of Word you can get an arrow from Insert -> Shape -> Line and then you can set it to the angle you want.

    Best wishes,

    Rich

  6. #780

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    A couple of odds and ends I'm looking at -

    Cycle 4 over a progression in C 1, 2(FMaj7), 5 (Bm7b5), 1(Em7), 6, 2, 5, 1.

    Second you don't have to start with the 1 chord of a cycle, in melodic minor I'm looking at starting on the Eb+M7.

  7. #781

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    Quote Originally Posted by JohnoL
    A couple of odds and ends I'm looking at -


    Second you don't have to start with the 1 chord of a cycle, in melodic minor I'm looking at starting on the Eb+M7.
    YES!!!!!! And you don't even need to play much of the cycle. THe cycles when you run them through completely, include all inversions, so you can get a manifestation of the cycle, or a part of it, ANYWHERE on the fingerboard. Take three crucial pivotal chords, or ones that capture a harmonic essence you like, and you can play them moving, as they move you up or down the neck, continue that segment in an inverted form (from the next line in the layout of a page). Then you can come "back into" the piece at any point by voice leading to the chords you want to define the cadence with.
    This is what Bako was saying long ago when he said they are transitional passages. Try it! You'll find things you can bring into YOUR vocabulary and then innovate by adding chromatic passages or superimposing different parent scale families (HM or MM) for a effect. Find a passage you become really good at using so it's as easy as "a grab" and never get bored with inclusion of chromatic passing elements.
    Listen to Mick's compositions. They're voice led, and there's something Bach-ish about them. That's how HE chose to use them. Someone who learns to extract upper tension harmonic interpretations over the existing harmony will wind up with Ravel. It's developing your ear as you develop your facility. That's the work you do. That's what you can't copy. That's how you develop your own sound, you live with the templates and sounds will reveal themselves as you chance across them. You remember the context and you've got some very hip ways to make unreal harmony.

  8. #782

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    Quote Originally Posted by thule
    I spent a lot of time with Van Eps Mechanism-books in the 90's. And I have been working with triads, cluster, quartals and seventh chords from the Almanacs. Especially the seventh chords that I started with this spring opened up the fingerboard. I play in a pop-rock-band, Drunk on the Moon, but I am very interested in more improvised music, call it jazz or whatever.

    I work with jazzstandards but I think that my playing and chordchoices are so polite, nice and vanilla most of the time. I would like to be more free from the given chords and be able to choose more interesting chords. I'm looking for methods, concepts that could help me find new sounds. I haven't been working with Van Eps displaced concept but maybe I should try that.

    Any ideas?

    As a matter of fact, I think that I have found what I was looking for. Jordan Klemons has a new format for his melodic triad courses. I am not into his quadratonics concept right now, but he has a course covering four types of chord movement: dominant, diminished, chromatic and diatonic. He is using shell voicings, but that doesn't matter. This methodical way of looking at chord movement is very enlightening for me and what I need at the moment to progress. There is really nothing new theoretically for me, and it is kind of embarassing that I haven't been able to figure this out myself.

    thule

  9. #783

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jimmy blue note
    Take three crucial pivotal chords, or ones that capture a harmonic essence you like, and you can play them moving, as they move you up or down the neck, continue that segment in an inverted form (from the next line in the layout of a page). Then you can come "back into" the piece at any point by voice leading to the chords you want to define the cadence with.
    This sounds very interesting, but I don't quite understand. Could you please exemplify, how to do it in a tune?

    thule

  10. #784

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    Quote Originally Posted by thule
    This sounds very interesting, but I don't quite understand. Could you please exemplify, how to do it in a tune?

    thule
    Glad you checked in again thule. I've been putting together an answer to your question on harmonic options. It turns out it's a HUGE question with many answers that go in many directions. I'll post something on the sonic effects that you get when cycling through different voicing families from close voiced (close voicing or drop 2) or very spread voicings on the other end of the spectrum (double drop 2 drop 3) and how contrast of the familiar and the unexpected can transform even an overplayed approach to chordal movement into something full of contrast and surprise. I'll post that (long) answer soon.
    But I did want to suggest you check out Ben Monder's first course where he covers triads and substitutes within basic triadic forms. He's able to very concisely present triadic materials in a way that allows the student to expand and experiment with very exciting sounds. Ben's from another planet!

  11. #785

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jimmy blue note
    Glad you checked in again thule. I've been putting together an answer to your question on harmonic options. It turns out it's a HUGE question with many answers that go in many directions. I'll post something on the sonic effects that you get when cycling through different voicing families from close voiced (close voicing or drop 2) or very spread voicings on the other end of the spectrum (double drop 2 drop 3) and how contrast of the familiar and the unexpected can transform even an overplayed approach to chordal movement into something full of contrast and surprise. I'll post that (long) answer soon.
    But I did want to suggest you check out Ben Monder's first course where he covers triads and substitutes within basic triadic forms. He's able to very concisely present triadic materials in a way that allows the student to expand and experiment with very exciting sounds. Ben's from another planet!

    Great, I'm really looking forward to your answer on harmonic options. By Ben Monder's first course, do you mean his course on My Music Masterclass? I have that but I haven't watched it for a while. I will go through it again. Monder is one of my absolute favourites.

    thule

  12. #786

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    Since the big thread has been a little quiet, here is Berklee Professor Jim Kelly in tribute to Mick Goodrick.

    Professor Jim Kelly in tribute to Mick... - Berklee Guitar Department

  13. #787

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    Hi JohnoL
    Nice one - Falling Grace is such a great composition.

    While it's been quiet here, I've been working on this page below, from near the back of Almanac 2. It's TBN2 with drop 2 voicings in melodic minor. which arpeggiates beautifully, and the repeated notes in the lowest and highest voices make good pedal & inverted pedal tones. As usual, there are some rare and unexpected sounds amongst others that are more familiar: quartels, 13ths etc..

    One penny dropped for me, this week. I've wondered about the Almanacs' voice-leading context of the chord G7(#5) for quite a while. It's a common enough sound, and it puzzled me because the augmented triads in both the HM and MM minor scales produce the major 7 (#5), rather than the dominant 7 (#5), when another third is added above the triad.
    In the middle of the fourth line of the chart, below, the Eb+/F chord is the G7(#5) chord that I'd been looking for (it's about their uses, not their names, I know, and it might also be called B(alt) or F9(b5), and that's just for starters). They're all in here, somewhere.
    All the best
    Mick W
    Attached Images Attached Images Anybody use the Goodchord Voice Leading Books?-img_2365-jpg 

  14. #788

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    In the middle of the fourth line of the chart, below, the Eb+/F chord is the G7(#5) chord that I'd been looking for
    Hmm, and there on the first line, 2nd chord is the minor nine with no b7 that I've been searching for. I'm going to have to take a closer look at the TBN's.

  15. #789

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    I've been using the almanacs for compositions for many years, mainly Vol 2, but I've never looked into Vol 3. I've been saving Vol 3 for when I thought I had exhausted the possibilities with Vol 2, but I don't think I will ever exhaust the possibilities of Vol 2.

    Any insights into Vol 3 ?, I'm curious and might just take a quick peep.

  16. #790

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    Hello Guy

    Mick Goodrick says that the chapter starting on page 72 is the 'most important' in Volume 3: 'Twenty three-part chords you should know'. The fun starts when you explore 'some uses' (chromatic uses) of each of these 20 different three-part chords – the triads, quartels, clusters, 7 (no 3rd), and 7 (no 5th).

    Can anyone else comment on, or explain, the square boxes around certain chords on pages 79-84, please?

    Also, the section called 'Analyze This' (pages 165-187) is fascinating (p.177 is particularly good fun, alternating TBN I and 4-part 4th voicings). This chapter is a work-book section, where you are given three dozen 'puzzles', numbered 1-36 to solve. All of the 'answers' are given, but they're 'lettered' A - JJ and in no particular order, so that you have to match these up with one another. The mixture of theory, great sounds, and great germs of improvisational/compositional ideas is breathtaking.

    All the best
    Mick W
    Last edited by Mick Wright; 09-18-2020 at 11:52 AM.

  17. #791

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    re. Vol. 3 insights — Below is Mick Goodrick's 'short-form' sketch from Vol. 3 p. 177, followed by my own unpacked 'long-form' version (I've cleaned up my handwritten draft in this repost). It's worked out using the first four chord pairs as drop 3 voicings. (I'm reading the final two pairs as more spead out drop 2&3 voicings, and they'll be fun too, for a further two page long-form expansion, sometime soon.) I'm not sure what the bracket on the left of this example implies. I like how the rising fifth of each TBNII forms the quartel, then the quartel's root rises to form the next TBNII – in effect just two beautiful passing notes. Much of this drop 3 material is guitar-friendly and sounds good whether played low or up the octave higher in the middle of the neck. There are a few bigger stretches so please be careful and arpeggiate or use open strings where they're an option.
    Anybody use the Goodchord Voice Leading Books?-img_2376-jpg Anybody use the Goodchord Voice Leading Books?-based-almanac-3-p177-jpg (There is a higher-res printable version of this thumbnail in post #795 below)
    Last edited by Mick Wright; 10-24-2020 at 06:51 PM.

  18. #792

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    Mick could you describe your notation above the 4 part 4ths? Is that the root and what is that symbol?

  19. #793

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    Hello

    Sorry, the pencil is faint (and I'm putting the chart into Word, tonight) — It's a letter Q after the root - shorthand for these stacked diatonic 4ths. It does look dangerously like the half-dim symbol!

    I like how the only ascending voices are the fifth of the TBN I and the root of the Four-part fourth...

    All the best
    Mick W

  20. #794

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mick Wright
    Hello

    Sorry, the pencil is faint (and I'm putting the chart into Word, tonight) — It's a letter Q after the root - shorthand for these stacked diatonic 4ths. It does look dangerously like the half-dim symbol!

    I like how the only ascending voices are the fifth of the TBN I and the root of the Four-part fourth...

    All the best
    Mick W

    My god, I envy your penmanship!

    If I wrote that out, I would need a drafting table just to get the lines straight.

    .

  21. #795

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    Hi FwL
    Thanks for the kind words - that's not how my writing ever looks to me (and A4 always looks far neater, shrunk 10% smaller). I was just about to replace it with the print pdf copy below (longhand still beats clunky Word for speed, anyday).
    I had inspiring music-writing teachers (one, an engineer, wrote in an impossibly-perfect copperplate italic music hand) but I never got anywhere close to their level. I still scratch out a few pencil drafts first, then proofread, then add ink with an old 'invertible' Rotring BB nib ArtPen. It's slow work but enjoyable. Also, afterwards I picked through this sequence from memory (slowly), last night, so writing it out also helps the learning process.
    I'm still happier with dots, but the 'Universal Notation System' offers important advantages and insights of its own.
    Here's a pdf of the print version (I kept the arrows to minimum).
    All the best,
    Mick W

    Long form from Al 3 p177.pdf

  22. #796

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mick Wright
    re. Vol. 3 insights — Below is Mick Goodrick's 'short-form' sketch from Vol. 3 p. 177, followed by the my own unpacked 'long-form' version, worked out using the first four chord pairs as drop 3 voicings. (I'm reading the final two pairs as more spead out drop 2&3 voicings, and they'll be fun too, for a further two page long-form sometime soon. I'm not sure how these connect, or what the bracket on the left of this example implies.) Much of the drop 3 material is guitar-friendly and sounds good whether played low or up the octave higher in the middle of the neck. There are a few bigger stretches so please be careful and arpeggiate or use open strings where they're an option.
    Excellent, good insight, many thanks for posting info about vol 3, much appreciated.

  23. #797

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    Thanks Guy
    Glad that the posts were useful.
    Your post also helped me to figure my mystery ‘boxes’ question (see jpeg below). I'm not certain that my solution is the correct one, but the five square boxes ‘mark out’ any repetitions of this complete set of all possible three-part chords. These are the only repetitions, and they appear to be included because they’re systematically-sequenced, generated as a part of the full set of 55 (x2) different three-part chords starting on p.79 of Vol. 3.
    So, in the ‘triads’ line, there’s an ‘unboxed’ C aug triad (5th and 6th chord) then in the first box there is an ‘identical’ G# (Ab) augmented triad, and the second box again contains the same three notes, this time functioning as E aug. The enharmonics confuse the issue a bit but the boxes do flag up the repetitions. I've double-checked again, and that's about it, I think. It's enjoyable hard work, and serious fun, playing and hearing all of these grouped together.
    All the best
    Mick W.
    Attached Images Attached Images Anybody use the Goodchord Voice Leading Books?-whatsontop-boxes-jpg 
    Last edited by Mick Wright; 09-21-2020 at 07:31 AM.

  24. #798

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    Here is something I've been working on using Microsoft access to generate and transpose cycles. F melodic minor. Cycle 2, drop 2. With chord tones in parenthesis.

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

  25. #799

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    Quote Originally Posted by JohnoL
    Here is something I've been working on using Microsoft access to generate and transpose cycles. F melodic minor. Cycle 2, drop 2. With chord tones in parenthesis.

    Anybody use the Goodchord Voice Leading Books?-fmelodicminor-jpg
    may we see the SQL? Haha

  26. #800

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    A few weeks ago I began hearing from individuals who started working in depth with the Almanac materials at the start of the pandemic. Though I've been in touch with some of these guys over the course of the pandemic, most of them had been finding their own way and by some synchronicity have had very significant breakthroughs about the same time.
    First of all, none of them reported anything even resembling ennui or anything but an intense engagement with their guitar while making their way though. Everyone had experienced some revelation about the guitar and/or their relationship with the fingerboard, their ear, their intuitive finger movement when improvising "without being aware" of how their fingers were finding these sounds, finding new and fresh ways to connect familiar chord passages using new routes on the fingerboard, and feeling empowered to voice lead harmonies with chromatics and an awareness of all voices (not necessarily by way of any particular cycle, but by the awareness of motivic movement in outer and inner voices).
    As a matter of note, players seemed to be using the cycles as springboards into envisioning voice movement.
    In short, a few commonalities:
    It took immersion and enough daily exposure to cycles so the movement was effortless (etude approach).
    Some worked with a particular voicing through different cycles. Some worked with a particular cycle using different voicings. One worked with a specific voicing and cycle through the different scale possibilities (drop 3 cycle 6 major, melodic minor, harmonic minor and by alteration melodic major) and made a study of chromatic colouring that led to real control of chromatic harmony he'd never imagined. Everyone said that their ear was better than they'd ever known.
    Takeaway:
    I'd recommend for starters to work with a specific cycle and chord type and practice it until you have the entire cycle that includes all inversions. In cycle 4 and 5, this means two separate groupings. Get this til you are OFF BOOK. That means don't reference the Almanac or any other visual guide.
    You will start to see references that guide the relationships to the next chord.
    Do this by being aware of 1) what inversion you're using by ROOT MOVEMENT. Where is the next root? Then use this to pick the best inversion.
    2) find the next chord BY EAR. Each chord you play has a specific note that will voice lead to the next root. Be aware of where that "guide voice" is in the chord you're on and it will ascend or descend to the next root. This navigating by ear will be invaluable in the real time movement of chords needed to play a tune. The MSRP guide is really useful here.
    3) Look and see the fingerboard VISUALLY. Be able to see the next chord in a cycle and the placement of that chord on the fingerboard, either by looking at the fretboard or in your mind's eye, but this visualization of chord voicings will aid in accuracy of hand movement.
    4) Sharpen your aural ear training and diatonic relationships of the chords (Roman numeral ear training) and let the cycles and the awareness of your theoretical diatonicism inform one another)
    5) Learn by kinesthetics, or take segments of a cycle and really work on hand awareness and flow of your hands so they know exactly what the feel of a cycle run is.
    These are some suggestions. There are ones you will discover yourself. But one thing, if you commit to the study something WILL happen. If you don't, none of these suggestions will mean anything to you.

    In practical terms, I find that in my chord solo playing, for me, at least, it's essential that the piece I'm working with is off book before I can apply the voice leading techniques. I guess that may not be a must do for some people, but having a piece off book affords me the best chance of discerning the harmonic point of interest I want my voice leading to take me to.
    I'm working on Some to Watch Over Me by Gershwin. I'll play a passage and in my awareness of chords, I see a number of tonal areas, which are marked by a turnaround that defines a tonal destination; other chords serve to bring me there. From any point within that tonal area I'll find myself on a chord. Now I can take a cycle of voice leading and let that "run" take me to a point where, as I close in on the turnaround, I can find the dominant chord that takes be back into the piece. This is like treating an entire cycle run as I would a chord grab. It gives me a beautiful voice led line to the closing chord using the V I at the end.
    Try it.
    If you're so inclined, use chromatic alteration to add even more movement.
    I happen to like cycle 6, it's got great groupings of major tonalities grouped together juxtaposed with groups of minor. I also like cycle 4 because there's so much movement and it covers a lot of fretboard real estate. Your own vocabulary will dictate what resonates with you.