The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    Decided on Jordu. Has a pretty boppin melody, bluesy, enough chords but not too hard to transpose, is minor with a major section.

    Gonna practice absolutey everything lol. Harmonized melody, every key, solos, arpeggios, chords, bass lines, backing track, transcription and tune study. It's part of the quit slacking program. Comments or suggestions for the practice regimen welcome.

    Last edited by Clint 55; 12-12-2020 at 05:22 AM.

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    When I played this tune a while back I found the bridge a bit tricky, it’s just a descending chain of dominant chords basically. It wasn’t that I found it difficult exactly, the trouble is the chords change every 2 beats, I struggled to play anything particularly melodic on it, I ended up playing rather repetitive patterns. But maybe that’s just me, perhaps I should try it again.

    Of course Clifford Brown and Harold Land don’t seem to have much trouble with it!

    For transcription purposes the studio version might be a bit easier to tackle, a bit slower, better audio, shorter solos:


  4. #3

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    Cool. Yeah, that's about where I am for soloing over the bridge - working out patterns. Nothing wrong with that, that's what the melody is. But that's where the practicing it non stop comes in! Hopefully I'll get to where I can flow some lines over it.

  5. #4

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    Yes definitely try and transcribe what Clifford Brown plays when soloing on the bridge. He plays some nice long descending lines which flow through the changes neatly but do not sound repetitive or too ‘pattern’ based.

  6. #5

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    Hey Clint


    Jordu sound like a fun thing to do .. feel free to post reports along the way!


    We had our discussions in the Christiaan van Hemert thread, and I have no intention of rehashing that debate here.

    But don't know if you noticed (you probably did) .. but Christiaan discussed Jordu in the Beato vid and ends up showing Barney Kessel, Peter Bernstein and other versions of takes on that bridge. Just thought it might inspire you, so don't take this the wrong way

    Anyways ... Starts off with talking about the cycle and Jordu at 58:00 with music from 59:00 to 1:02 (And ignore all the comments of where he says the that he doesn't understand practicing the cycle )


  7. #6

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    I've been sort of doing the same thing with Ornithology/How High the Moon in the past month or so.

    I think Bill Frisell said, one tune can teach you about every other tune if you study it deep enough.
    Last edited by Tal_175; 12-12-2020 at 09:03 AM.

  8. #7

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    I learned Charlie Byrd's version long ago, done in Am, perfect key for finger-style guitar. Great tune.

  9. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by Tal_175
    I've been sort of doing the same thing with Ornithology/How High the Moon in the past month or so.

    I think Bill Frisell said, one tune can teach you about every other tune if you study it deep enough.

    Misty did that for me in my formative years, opened a lot of harmonic doors.

  10. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by Tal_175
    I've been sort of doing the same thing with Ornithology/How High the Moon in the past month or so.

    I think Bill Frisell said, one tune can teach you about every other tune if you study it deep enough.
    What Bill Frissell said is at least questionable. Hard to argue with it, we can not really proove the opposite. because "if you do not experience it, then you were not study it deeeeeep enough" Similar to "everything will be okay in the end, if it is not okay, it is not the end"

    It contradicts my belief about melodies. To produce melodies (in an impro) you must know as much melodies by heart as you can. It is not enough to know only one deeeeeeep.

    I am wroting this specifically as a reaction of Bill's quote, not as a reaction to take valuable time on Jordu, which is a great thing, especially realizing how different artists approached it, and examine some exciting solo parts.

  11. #10

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    You can also check out how the composer of the tune tackled it:


  12. #11

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    Sometimes if I practice a tune too much though I get a bit stuck in my conception of it.

  13. #12

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    Also: I’m willing to bet Bill can play most tunes after a brief listen.... guy also strikes me as someone with a HUGE repertoire and not just jazz

  14. #13

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    Quote Originally Posted by grahambop
    When I played this tune a while back I found the bridge a bit tricky, it’s just a descending chain of dominant chords basically. It wasn’t that I found it difficult exactly, the trouble is the chords change every 2 beats, I struggled to play anything particularly melodic on it, I ended up playing rather repetitive patterns. But maybe that’s just me, perhaps I should try it again.

    Of course Clifford Brown and Harold Land don’t seem to have much trouble with it!

    For transcription purposes the studio version might be a bit easier to tackle, a bit slower, better audio, shorter solos:

    Very similar experience for me on those descending chain of dominant chords; repetitive descending riffs.

    I really had to slow it down in order to create long lines.

  15. #14

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    Tunes are like race tracks. Once you figure out the course, you go round and round,LOL!
    The best advice I ever was given was by a great Jazz bassist. Learn the melody and follow the bass. Harmony is just the interpretation between those 2 points.
    And there are many different interpretations of the same story.

  16. #15

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    The first time I heard that tune was this version. Whenever I am in a rut, I come back to it (eternal thanks to Dad introducing me to this album from his collection):


  17. #16

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    Quote Originally Posted by Gabor
    What Bill Frissell said is at least questionable. Hard to argue with it, we can not really proove the opposite. because "if you do not experience it, then you were not study it deeeeeep enough" Similar to "everything will be okay in the end, if it is not okay, it is not the end"

    It contradicts my belief about melodies. To produce melodies (in an impro) you must know as much melodies by heart as you can. It is not enough to know only one deeeeeeep.

    I am wroting this specifically as a reaction of Bill's quote, not as a reaction to take valuable time on Jordu, which is a great thing, especially realizing how different artists approached it, and examine some exciting solo parts.
    I tend to agree with Bill (although I suspect he was exaggerating to make a point). It is better to study a few tunes in great depth when you start out, rather than ‘skating’ over a lot of tunes. I didn’t really make much progress until I did this.

    It isn’t just about melodies, it is understanding all the possibilities (melodic, harmonic and rhythmic) that can be extracted from one tune. After this, a lot of the other tunes start to make more sense than they did before.

    Of course learning a lot of melodies is also very beneficial, I would put that as the next step perhaps.

  18. #17

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    I think it's a great idea to dive that deeply.

    My only comment is to note that it has a lyric (google it) and, often, it's helpful to know the lyric.

  19. #18

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    Quote Originally Posted by Clint 55
    Cool. Yeah, that's about where I am for soloing over the bridge - working out patterns. Nothing wrong with that, that's what the melody is. But that's where the practicing it non stop comes in! Hopefully I'll get to where I can flow some lines over it.
    Clint, if you're looking to create melodic flow via patterns, maybe try linking them in a modular fashion. Here's a bunch of typical dominant patterns starting on the 3rd and a line composed from each successive module. Try the same process with patterns starting from the root, 5th etc. Mix them all up (e.g. one from the 3rd connected to one starting from the root then 5th) edit out notes or create passing tones, add some triplets and slowly that bridge will become a highway rather than a roadblock!

    I'm practicing 1 tune indefinitely-jordu-bridge-jpg

  20. #19

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    Awesome!

  21. #20

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    I forgot to mention the other day that it's also common to treat the bridge as a sequence of chromatically descending dominants employing tritone subs:

    G7, (Gb7), F7, (E7), Eb7, (D7), Db6
    F7, (E7), Eb7, (D7), Db7, (C7), B6

  22. #21

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    OP in fine form here - Newport festival '59 I think..

  23. #22

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    "The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing."

    Archilochus

  24. #23

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    Perhaps this is obvious, but I assume you are already "off book" for the tune i.e. you don't need a chart to play it...and that when you take it through all the keys you'll also do that off-book. If not, then there's my suggestion.

  25. #24

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    Yes, and I want to improve further to where I can flow better instead of thinking ok what is the 2-5-1 if I'm playing the tune in G# minor and then the 2-5-1 to the relative major, etc.

  26. #25

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    I'm powering through ad infinitum. I've reached a benchmark. Been practicing all the theory, playing the melody and arpeggios, and other exercises in all the keys. I've narrowed down some more musical goals that I have to focus on. Paraphrase the melody, work out melodies that outline the chords, work out melodies that utilize the key center approach, chord melody solos.