#16
|
|||
|
|||
I go about this from the bass instead of the melody as a vocal accompaniment style. Then I work out the melody or a guitar solo break section. I also have a handful of solo guitar pieces where I play the melody, the bass line, and everything in between.
I use drop-D a la Mundell Lowe or Johnny Smith in order to get a little more pitch range between the melodies and bass lines. I’m sort of a “one trick pony” on guitar. I do this one style and that’s it. I seem to impress people at my own gigs, but I wouldn’t be relevant in a band context. It sounds like this: https://youtu.be/bnY_-jnjIDo |
#17
|
|||
|
|||
|
#18
|
|||
|
|||
Quote:
If you learn to play each melody-chord by picking the melody note first and then the rest of the chord after, you develop an articulation technique which facilitates basically playing melodies which can always land in a chord. Maintains a lot of rhythmic freedom in melody playing and keeps things improvised more. Most of us are probably pretty good with picking the bass note first for any chord. This is the same thing but with melody. Sort of like Carter style, but with melody in the upper octave. Anyway, if you practice that the "busy way", the end result is that you can play melody the way you WANT and fill in chords before or after as you like. Jeff has a VERY free melodic style this way and it's largely improvised, but you don't have to actually be a monster player to learn this at a basic level. It's just an articulation pattern we don't develop as much usually. |
#19
|
||||
|
||||
I did, and felt more comfortable with his approach than the typical approach with a jazz player I hear turning everything into a "standard." I still get that nagging feeling that I'd prefer the piece to be done with two players splitting the chores.
Bob
__________________
"It is said, 'Go not to the elves for counsel for they will say both no and yes.' " Frodo Baggins to Gildor Inglorion, The Fellowship of the Ring THE MUSICIAN'S ROOM (my website) |
#20
|
|||
|
|||
I came to guitar from a piano background and so I try to do a lot of voice leading on the bass and inner voices rather than go from block chord to block chord. Martin Taylor is a master of voice leading on guitar but he just hints at that in the video a few posts back.
|
#21
|
|||
|
|||
I've also found that if you know the chords to a song, more often than not the melody note is in there anyway. You just have to feature it, then the melody notes lead to the next "featured" note in the next chord.
..if that makes sense. I'm not a hard core jazz player by a long shot but this approach is a good starting point for me.
__________________
National Resophonic NRP 12 Fret Loar LH-700-VS Archtop Eastman E8-OM Herrmann Weissenborn Recording King RP-10 Recording King RG-35-SN Lapsteel Maton 425 12-string ESP 400 series telecaster Eastman T485 Deering Americana Banjo My Youtube |
#22
|
|||
|
|||
First off, I've always enjoyed this "style" of playing - if you call it that.
Secondly, you guys are way beyond my knowledge skills in this area. I'm reading your posts and have a vague idea of what you're saying but that's about it. So...........in order to start down this road and begin to learn to play this style, where in the heck would I begin? I can play ok - mainly fingerstyle (I would rate myself as a solid intermediate). I'd love to incorporate some of this into my regimen. Any suggestions?
__________________
Dan |
#23
|
|||
|
|||
Chords and tunes.
You want to know all the 4 string drop 2 and 3 voicing for maj7, m7, 7, and m7b5 chords at a minimum, you'll also probably want to know your 6, m6, 6/9 and definitely altreed dominants. Should be able to find these with a simple Google search, if not, PM me. Apply everything to tunes. Do not wait to start learning songs. Songs move in very predictable ways, and often what one song teache's you will be applied in 10 others... |
#24
|
|||
|
|||
Quote:
My perspective is that if I practice it up by myself, I still can (and do) play with other people when they are available. I also really like playing with instruments other than guitar. When a piano player solos, he can comp his own chords. This lets him trade of solos with a saxophone or jazz even though there is no-one comping chords during his solo. I try to do the same on guitar. Yes it is fun to do single note solos with a pianist or another guitarist, but it is also nice to have more flexibility with other instruments. |
#25
|
|||
|
|||
This is my typical style when rendering instrumentals from published songs. While I never play them the same way twice, they're usually reasonable facsimiles of the original artist's work. I do try to respect them for the most part while exercising some artistic license.
This is B.Taupin's - E. John's Yellow Brick Road (short instrumental) and like this piece, all of the pieces I render from published songs are chord melody. |
#26
|
|||
|
|||
Quote:
You don't need to know "hundreds of chords", just a few dozen. What you NEED to know is the basic triads in major and minor, variations such as the 7th, 6th, augmented, flat 5 and such and diminished...of which there are only three. The chord names change from key to key, but the basic structures are constant. You will end up expanding your fingerings by using inversions, but this is easy enough when you understand the basic building blocks behind the names/symbols. Building an arrangement on melody and using triads and or expanded triads is not difficult. Clearing your mind, building patience and learning what to listen for is the task. Good luck.
__________________
Harmony Sovereign H-1203 "You're making the wrong mistakes." ...T. Monk Theory is the post mortem of Music. |
#27
|
|||
|
|||
Quote:
Very pleasant. Do you have an arrangement of "Stardust"?
__________________
Harmony Sovereign H-1203 "You're making the wrong mistakes." ...T. Monk Theory is the post mortem of Music. |
#28
|
|||
|
|||
Thanks,
Hoagy Carmichael's Stardust? |
#29
|
|||
|
|||
Quote:
|
#30
|
|||
|
|||
Quote:
Not to pick nits, but the style is absolutely valid despite the tendency of some (many, actually) towards gratuitous changes/progressions and simply over-play. Ted Green was amazing, but I tire of the eventual homogenization ensuing from a single-minded quest such as his. So I would tend to fault the player rather than the style or approach. I agree that when it becomes about the "style" rather than the uniqueness of the melody that it's run off the rails. Personally, I divide it more as tri-line melody guitar rather than chord melody. 1. Melody line 2. Bass line 3. Interior/harmony/counter line. I'll add a fourth note for color/shading, but it's triads for me, sort of "Mickey Baker Minus One". As always, love your input and insight. W
__________________
Harmony Sovereign H-1203 "You're making the wrong mistakes." ...T. Monk Theory is the post mortem of Music. |