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Old 04-01-2021, 07:39 PM
Deliberate1 Deliberate1 is offline
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Default Chord melody help

Friends, I have started studying the concept of chord melody and would appreciate links to any resources.
Specifically, I am forming major triads with the top three strings and replacing the top note with the appropriate scale note, to create a voicing different than the usual major chord.
Much obliged.
David
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Old 04-01-2021, 08:36 PM
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All kinds of resources on the internet with a google search. With chord melody the top note of a chord is usually
a melody line note and thus the color usually comes from the harmony notes below.
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Old 04-01-2021, 08:40 PM
Deliberate1 Deliberate1 is offline
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Originally Posted by rick-slo View Post
All kinds of resources on the internet with a google search. With chord melody the top note of a chord is usually
a melody line note and thus the color usually comes from the harmony notes below.
I like that observation. Makes it more than a mere exercise.
David
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Old 04-02-2021, 03:59 AM
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https://www.robertconti.com/product/...assembly-line/

If you are serious, this is a comprehensive tutorial on how to do it.

Cincy
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Old 04-02-2021, 09:02 AM
Deliberate1 Deliberate1 is offline
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Originally Posted by Cincy2 View Post
https://www.robertconti.com/product/...assembly-line/

If you are serious, this is a comprehensive tutorial on how to do it.

Cincy
Cincy, thanks kindly for the link. It surely gets a lot of love. I am curious to know if you have used this tutorial.
Cheers
David
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Old 04-02-2021, 11:17 AM
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Have not read that tutorial but there is so much readily available free info on the internet that's good. Chord melody is not really that complicated of a subject.
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Old 04-02-2021, 02:42 PM
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The legendary jazz guitarist Ted Greene wrote books about chord chemistry and taught guitar. There is an on-line archive of his arrangements and lessons and it is an excellent resource for chord melody arrangements and lessons.

www.tedgreene.com/

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Old 04-02-2021, 09:54 PM
Deliberate1 Deliberate1 is offline
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Thanks all.
David
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Old 04-03-2021, 07:31 AM
Bikewer Bikewer is offline
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Another good source (if you can find copies....) is the “Contemporary Chord Solos” for guitar by Mike Elliot.
Eliot’s arrangements are nice, and he gives clear information on inversions, substitutions, and the like.
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Old 04-03-2021, 10:28 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Deliberate1 View Post
Cincy, thanks kindly for the link. It surely gets a lot of love. I am curious to know if you have used this tutorial.
Cheers
David
I have used this tutorial. If you do get this, I suggest you also get his book/DVD set, "The Formula".

"Assembly Line" teaches you the mechanics of putting together a chord melody solo from a fakebook. You will learn an entire chord vocabulary to harmonize any melody note in any key. The chord forms are presented for the key of C, but you then learn to move them around for any key. By the time you finish this book, you will be able to open a fakebook to any tune and come up with a chord melody solo.

"The Formula" teaches you how to come up with an endless variety of ways to harmonize a tune. It uses the forms you learned in "Assembly Line" and adds new forms that were shown in the back of the "Assembly Line" book, but were not used in "Assembly Line".

Both books come with DVDs. The teaching is very clear and step by step so you can't not get it. At the completion of "Assembly Line" Conti walks you through arranging the tune "Danny Boy" using just what was learned in that book. On completion of "The Formula", Conti walks you through a couple of tunes, including a more advanced version of "Danny Boy" plus a couple of other standards.

"Assembly Line" comes with one 2 hour DVD, and "The Formula" comes with two DVDs.

For self-teaching, this set of two book/dvds is very well done.

Tony
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Old 04-03-2021, 10:35 AM
tbeltrans tbeltrans is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bikewer View Post
Another good source (if you can find copies....) is the “Contemporary Chord Solos” for guitar by Mike Elliot.
Eliot’s arrangements are nice, and he gives clear information on inversions, substitutions, and the like.
These are good, especially if you have the Pat McKee "Jazz Harmonies" system series of the same publisher that lays out how all those chords actually work.

Also, there is a second pair of books that follow on the Mike Elliot books Len Braunling. The Mile Elliot books cover standards, and the Len Braunling books cover pop tunes of the time such as "Endless Love, "You Needed Me", etc.

There are a total of 6 books in the complete series, with each of the three authors contributing two books each.

One thing contrasting the Conti books discussed in this thread and the books discussed here is that the Conti books use chords that don't have nearly the required stretches that some of the chords in the Mike Elliot and Len Braunling books do.

Also, good luck finding any of these books, and if you do, being able to afford them. The Conti book/dvds are all immediately available:

https://www.robertconti.com/product/...assembly-line/

https://www.robertconti.com/product/the-formula/

Another in his series that may be of interest...

https://www.robertconti.com/product/...s-turnarounds/

Tony
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Old 04-04-2021, 04:01 AM
Cincy2 Cincy2 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Deliberate1 View Post
I am curious to know if you have used this tutorial.
Cheers
David
Yes I did. It helped me analyze a piece for chord melody arrangements. I didn't care for Bob's style much however...chords for every melody note. The system is good. All I do is insert melody notes where appropriate instead of a full chord for every note.

Cincy
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Old 04-04-2021, 06:49 AM
tbeltrans tbeltrans is offline
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Originally Posted by Cincy2 View Post
Yes I did. It helped me analyze a piece for chord melody arrangements. I didn't care for Bob's style much however...chords for every melody note. The system is good. All I do is insert melody notes where appropriate instead of a full chord for every note.

Cincy
Conti says that the reason for a chord for every melody note is to show the harmonic possibilities and that you (the student/player) should make whatever you play, your own. In other words, it is not his intention that you must play a chord for every melody note. That approach is the learning process to get the chord forms into your hands, but not intended for performance.

Tony
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Old 04-04-2021, 08:55 AM
MikeB1 MikeB1 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tbeltrans View Post
Conti says that the reason for a chord for every melody note is to show the harmonic possibilities and that you (the student/player) should make whatever you play, your own. In other words, it is not his intention that you must play a chord for every melody note. That approach is the learning process to get the chord forms into your hands, but not intended for performance.
Tony
This is a great point Tony. When I studied with Howard Morgen, he taught all the inversions on the set of top 4 strings, the bottom 4 strings, and the middle four strings.

Then years later when I studied with Alex Adrian, he explained the point you just made. Once you learned all the shapes, not only did you you not have to play a chord for every note, but you didn't always have to play the entire chord. For example, he said once you are in the context of the piece, if it's time for a major 7th chord, you don't always have to play the root, 3rd, 5th, and 7th. You can leave out the 5th, or maybe just play two notes. He would say; "Just play notes baby."
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Old 04-04-2021, 10:05 AM
tbeltrans tbeltrans is offline
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This is a great point Tony. When I studied with Howard Morgen, he taught all the inversions on the set of top 4 strings, the bottom 4 strings, and the middle four strings.

Then years later when I studied with Alex Adrian, he explained the point you just made. Once you learned all the shapes, not only did you you not have to play a chord for every note, but you didn't always have to play the entire chord. For example, he said once you are in the context of the piece, if it's time for a major 7th chord, you don't always have to play the root, 3rd, 5th, and 7th. You can leave out the 5th, or maybe just play two notes. He would say; "Just play notes baby."
You studied with Howard Morgen? I am jealous.

I do have all of Howard Morgen's books AND the tapes that went with several of them. Most of these are now out of print and I have long since converted the tapes to MP3s, fortunately. It would have been great to have first-hand experience with him though because a book can only go so far. This is why I highly recommend Conti, because those DVDs that come with the books are just like him sitting in your living room explaining how to work with the material step by step.

Tony
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