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  #1  
Old 05-17-2015, 10:11 AM
kswilson89 kswilson89 is offline
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Default Billie Holiday

I've been listening to a lot of Billie Holiday recently and was wondering what genre of jazz this is?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hs4AUuZ9TKk

Also, I'd love to be able to play this style of music on solo acoustic guitar, walking bass and all. Does anybody have any tips on how to approach this?

Cheers!
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  #2  
Old 05-17-2015, 11:00 AM
JonPR JonPR is offline
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That period of jazz (30s-40s) is loosely known as "swing", and I'd say this falls into that genre. Light in mood, with a medium-tempo dance rhythm. This was the popular music of that era.
It has something in common with "hot" jazz, which - as the word implies - was usually more energetic, typical of the late 20s/early 30s, often played by small bands (check out Django Reinhardt's Hot Club quintet, especially if it's the acoustic guitar angle you want).
The guitar rhythm in hot jazz was often called "woodchopping", because of that percussive 4-beat rhythm.
Here's the only good film in existence of the master:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6bZskQlY4w
(Look at that crippled left hand, then watch the solo at 2:10...)
The chords are fairly straightforward: make sure you know your standard jazz 7th chords, in all their various shapes: maj7, dom7s, min7s, dim7, m7b5; also major 6ths and min6ths for tonic chords.

Also check out Eddie Lang and Lonnie Johnson, acoustic virtuosi of the same era: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBpwKcnEzL8

"Swing" was a kind of mellowed out, commercial version of hot jazz, usually played by big bands - typified by Benny Goodman (with guitarist Charlie Christian), Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, Count Basie.

For solo guitar with walking bass (ie self-accompanied) you may need to look into the later "chord melody" styles, usually played on electric.
Here's a neat trick: fitting two bass guitar strings on 5th and 6th:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8ydx_9hZKI
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Last edited by JonPR; 05-17-2015 at 11:09 AM.
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Old 05-23-2015, 01:01 PM
kswilson89 kswilson89 is offline
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Originally Posted by JonPR View Post
That period of jazz (30s-40s) is loosely known as "swing", and I'd say this falls into that genre. Light in mood, with a medium-tempo dance rhythm. This was the popular music of that era.
It has something in common with "hot" jazz, which - as the word implies - was usually more energetic, typical of the late 20s/early 30s, often played by small bands (check out Django Reinhardt's Hot Club quintet, especially if it's the acoustic guitar angle you want).
The guitar rhythm in hot jazz was often called "woodchopping", because of that percussive 4-beat rhythm.
Here's the only good film in existence of the master:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6bZskQlY4w
(Look at that crippled left hand, then watch the solo at 2:10...)
The chords are fairly straightforward: make sure you know your standard jazz 7th chords, in all their various shapes: maj7, dom7s, min7s, dim7, m7b5; also major 6ths and min6ths for tonic chords.

Also check out Eddie Lang and Lonnie Johnson, acoustic virtuosi of the same era: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBpwKcnEzL8

"Swing" was a kind of mellowed out, commercial version of hot jazz, usually played by big bands - typified by Benny Goodman (with guitarist Charlie Christian), Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, Count Basie.

For solo guitar with walking bass (ie self-accompanied) you may need to look into the later "chord melody" styles, usually played on electric.
Here's a neat trick: fitting two bass guitar strings on 5th and 6th:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8ydx_9hZKI
Thanks very much for your reply JonPR, it's much appreciated! Do you know what the progression is for J'attendrai Swing?
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Old 05-24-2015, 05:18 AM
JonPR JonPR is offline
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Originally Posted by kswilson89 View Post
Thanks very much for your reply JonPR, it's much appreciated! Do you know what the progression is for J'attendrai Swing?
I just found this online, which seems broadly correct:
http://guitarejazzmanouche.com/grilles/81/J%27attendrai
However, that you tube is out of tune - sounding more like B than C. (A close look at their fingers suggests they are playing in C, but either they are all tuned below concert (which is possible), or the original film has been slowed down a little.)
There's also a couple of glitches in the film where an edit between shots adds or drops a beat or two (between the solos).

They seem to be playing slight variations on those chords at times, but you can regard the above sequence as a good guide, the basic chords. (It's unusual in having a 26-bar sequence (8+8+10), rather than the standard 32 (8+8+8+8).
Django's solo is two choruses long.
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Old 05-25-2015, 08:24 AM
kswilson89 kswilson89 is offline
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Thanks Jon... Something I find confusing is that in conventional theory some of those chords would be foreign to the key of C, such as Gm and Fm... But a lot of jazz musicians seem to make these chords fit perfectly... Do you know why this is?
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Old 05-25-2015, 08:50 AM
JonPR JonPR is offline
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Originally Posted by kswilson89 View Post
Thanks Jon... Something I find confusing is that in conventional theory some of those chords would be foreign to the key of C, such as Gm and Fm... But a lot of jazz musicians seem to make these chords fit perfectly... Do you know why this is?
There's two things going on there.

1. Secondary dominants (and secondary supertonics).
Fancy words for a simple idea! (Thoroughly "conventional", btw, but in theory books is usually considered more "advanced" than diatonic - one-scale - harmony.)
At that point in the tune, there's a suggestion of moving to the key of F major - a very common thing to do in the bridge of a song in C. The way they do that is to introduce the ii and V of the new key first. That's Gm7-C7 = ii-V in F major.
The key doesn't actually change to F - it comes back to C too soon - which is why we call C7 a "secondary" dominant: "V/IV", i.e. dominant of the IV chord (of C). The Gm7 before it is the "supertonic" (ii) of F, so is called "ii/IV".
Any chord in a key can have its own secondary dominant. So in key of C major you might find:
A7 going to Dm;
B7 going to Em;
E7 going to Am;
D7 going to G.
These moves are extremely common in jazz (and each of those dom7s is likely to have its ii7 chord in front).

2. Borrowed chords. Fm is borrowed from the parallel key of C minor. It's an extremely common occurrence when following an F chord in C, to put in Fm before returning to C, so you get that nice chromatic descent in the harmony: A-Ab-G. Sometimes called a "minor plagal cadence". (A normal plagal cadence being IV-I.)

In rock music, secondary chords are rare, but you find borrowed chords all the time. In key of C major you're likely to find Bb, Ab or Eb, as well as Fm - all from the key of C minor.
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Last edited by JonPR; 05-25-2015 at 09:56 AM.
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Old 05-25-2015, 11:45 AM
kswilson89 kswilson89 is offline
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Jon you have helped me so much! Thank you! I've just been noodling around with those secondary dominants, those dominant chords that once sounded awkward placed randomly within a progression now sound right when they resolve to their tonic! Thanks again! I often find I know a load of chord shapes for all the common jazz chords but don't know HOW to use those chords ina progression. Would you be able to suggest a book/DVD or anything that explains how chords function?
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Old 05-25-2015, 04:13 PM
JonPR JonPR is offline
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Originally Posted by kswilson89 View Post
Jon you have helped me so much! Thank you! I've just been noodling around with those secondary dominants, those dominant chords that once sounded awkward placed randomly within a progression now sound right when they resolve to their tonic! Thanks again! I often find I know a load of chord shapes for all the common jazz chords but don't know HOW to use those chords ina progression. Would you be able to suggest a book/DVD or anything that explains how chords function?
Good question - but I learned most of what I know from songbooks! (I've studied songs for way longer than I've studied theory.)

A good book for jazz theory is http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jazzology-En.../dp/0634086782
- but a good tip for jazz standard-type sequences is the circle progression, which is where roots move up in 4ths (or down in 5ths).
Eg, Autumn Leaves:
Cm7-F7-Bbmaj7-Ebmaj7-Am7b5-D7-Gm- (and back to Cm)
Every move is a 4th up/5th down. (Fly Me to the Moon is the same except it starts on the Gm.)
The odd one out is Eb-A which is a #4/b5, which keeps the root sequence diatonic to Bb major. And you may notice the D7, which turns the key into G minor . (In fact, in this case, D7 is the primary dominant, because the key is G minor; F7 is the secondary one in this case, temporarily "tonicising" Bb.)

The exceptions in jazz tend to be when substitutes are used - eg, if you saw Ab7 instead of D7 between Am7b5 and Gm. Ab7 is a "tritone substitute" for D7, and jazz loves tritone subs (because of that cool half-step move in the bass).

In rock, OTOH, the reverse sequence is more popular. E.g., D-A-E in key of E. Hey Joe has 5 chords in the same sequence: C-G-D-A-E.
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