[Rick StoneKeymaster]

Ken,

Yeah, I need to get the transcriptions of these up yet. And like I said, there was an audio problem so if I wind up having to completely redo the videos, it’s unlikely that I’d play the same voicings the same way again, so I figured it’s better to wait until the video is squared away before I start writing them all out.

It’s really more about learning the concept though. Each player might find different ways to play these voicings anyway.

Musically Yours,
~ Rick

[Rick StoneKeymaster]

Nick,

I don’t exactly practice chords or chord voicings per se. I usually practice tunes, and in that context there are a number of things I might do with regards to chords:

1) I usually listen to several versions of a tune and start making note of what voicings are being used under the melody. For me this means mostly paying attention to the top note of the chord voicing and what colors are in the chord (this is especially true for dominant 7th chords since there are so many variations; 9, 11, 13, 7(b5), 9(#11), 13(b9), 7(#5#9), etc.). If you’ve got the right note on top and can hear what colors are really in the chord for guitar, it’s pretty simple. The same process is true for piano except that you often won’t be able to grab the exact voicing as the piano player (since they can voice notes much closer whereas on guitar we usually need to spread them out a bit). I’ve on occasion transcribed a chord melody, but rarely played it after I learned it as I’m much more interested in working out my own personal arrangements.

2) While I don’t exactly “transcribe” another players comping, I’ll often grab some specific things if I hear something that I like. This would definitely include things like substitutions and approach chords, maybe some chords played supporting the melody, etc.

3) When I started playing jazz, I was initially fascinated with the chords, and a friend recommended the old Mickey Baker Book “How to Play Jazz Guitar” which had lots of basic 6th and 5th string root chords. I started with those and when I got into my first jazz group, that’s pretty much what I relied on. Then I started learning chords in between those on the neck and just started filling in the blanks. It wasn’t necessarily playing strict inversions (although I did practice that too), but just finding compatible chords from the same family (major, minor or dominant) that sounded good together. Then a little at a time I learned passing chords and approaches. Barry Harris Sixth/Diminished concept also helped me a lot (I really need to make a video about that!)

4) I really do think about chords in a kind of “top-down” way (thinking of a melody note and then grabbing the chord down from that). Have you watched the videos on Chord Melody Voicings and Harmonic Ear Training? I think those will give you some insight into how I think about chords.

5) One specific chord study that I sometimes do is “Chords in 4-Frets” where I’ll try to find good voicings for the entire tune within each 4-Fret region of the neck (actually usually more like 5 frets as you’ll sometimes need to shift to get everything). I’ll do this starting with frets 1-4, then 3-6, 5-8, 7-10 and finally 9-12. It’s difficult at first because you may find that you don’t know many great sounding voicings in all those areas, but the more you practice it, the easier it gets. It’s a great study it gets away from those comfortable places on the neck where we always play and forces us to fill in those kind of “in between” areas. BTW, so excellent sources for chord voicings are Ted Greene’s book Chord Chemistry and Joe Pass Guitar Chords.

6) Try playing the chords of a song with all the same chord tone on top; All roots, then all 3rds, all 5ths, 7ths, 9ths, 11ths, 13ths. I rarely actually play this way, but it’s a great exercise to just become consciously aware of (and really hear) all the chord tones.

7) Another thing I sometimes like to practice is “Directional” comping. I’ll play a tune from any starting chord, and then try to keep the top note moving in a more-or-less scale-wise manner with each chord change.

And since you’ve had private lessons with me, you know that I tend to sing the top note of everything while I’m doing this stuff. I think that’s really the key; to listen and internalize these sounds, to develop a personal style. So that whether you’re playing a chord melody or comping you can be “in the moment” (as my teacher Ted Dunbar used to say). You’ll always be using bits and pieces of things that you’ve worked out or done before, but if you’re paying attention to what’s going on around you, you’ll learn to naturally just make good musical decisions.

I hope that kind of answered your question, but you know the whole “comping” thing is something that I really learned from just being “in the trenches” playing with other musicians and also doing a lot of solo guitar gigs. In each situation I’d have to just figure out what I could do to make the music better and then when I’d go home I might continue to think about it and practice things that I could use on the next gig. It was a pretty “organic” process and didn’t always move in a methodical straight line.

Musically Yours,
~ Rick

• This reply was modified 9 years, 5 months ago by  Rick Stone.

[Rick StoneKeymaster]

Jeff,

Thanks for writing.

Have you looked at the Chord Construction Workshop series? In it, we start with a drop-2 voicing of a diminished 7th chord, then show how to create 4 different dominant 7ths from that chord (by lowering one-note at a time). Then we learn how to convert these to major 7th, minor 7th, 6th, minor 6th, etc., and how to add the color notes (9ths, 11ths, 13ths, altered 5ths, etc.). Finally you’ll learn how to use these chords in IIm7 V7 I progressions and turnarounds (which make-up about 90% of the harmonic content of most jazz standard tunes).

If you do all the assignments in those lessons, you’ll work through everything pretty methodically. And the drop-2 voicings on strings 1-2-3-4 of the guitar can easily be converted to drop-3 voicings simply by moving the note on string 1 to string 6 so that you have a drop-3 on strings 2-3-4-x-6 (the 5th string will be muted).

Drop-2 voicings will always be on 4 consecutive strings on the guitar, so there are 3 possible string sets. After you’ve worked out strings 1-2-3-4, you should learn them on strings 2-3-4-5, and finally 3-4-5-6.

Drop-3 chords on the guitar will always have a muted string between the first 3 voices and the bass note, after you’ve worked out string set 2-3-4-x-6 learn to play them on strings 1-2-3-x-5.

I’m not quite sure what you mean about E-B-C-G not sounding like a Cmaj7 chord. It’s pretty common to play it in an inversion like that. But of course chords are often more than one thing and it largely depends on the context (for instance, I use the one we’re talking about here as an Am9 all the time).

Try putting the chord in a IIm7 V7 I progression:

Dm9 – F-C-D-A
G7b9 – F-B-D-Ab
Cmaj7 – E-B-C-G

I think that will probably help you to hear it.

Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Musically Yours,
~ Rick

[Rick StoneKeymaster]

David,
I can’t find the pdf you’re referring to (with the missing notes). Can you do me a favor and cut and paste the URL and also tell me which tab you saw it in?
Thanks.
~ Rick

[Rick StoneKeymaster]

Sorry that I didn’t see this before (usually I get a copy of these messages to my inbox, but this one never came through). Anyway, it sounds like it could be a mistake. I’ll have to check this out.

[Rick StoneKeymaster]

David,

Yes, what Hal is talking about is playing in 2/2 time (not 2/4). He means feeling the measure in “two” where the main beats are ONE and THREE. It enables you to handle fast tempos much more easily, and all the great bop players I’ve been around (notably Barry Harris, Tommy Flanagan, etc.) feel the music this way (all you’ve got to do is watch how they pat their foot when they play and you’ll see it right away).

As far as my playing pre/post Hal, it’s all out there. The two albums I did before I studied with Hal were “Blues for Nobody” and “Far East.” Another “Steppin’ Back” was recorded right after the period with Hal but that session was rather rushed (the whole thing was recorded in 3 hours) and I don’t feel like the concepts were really absorbed at that time. Two that I recorded later (when the concepts were more fully formed) were “Samba de Novembro” and “Fractals.” Of course they were recorded over a fairly long period of time and there were lots of other influences as well, but I’d like to think that I play with a much deeper rhythmic maturity on the later stuff.

You can find them all on CD Baby https://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/RickStone

Musically Yours,
~ Rick

[Rick StoneKeymaster]

The half-step dissonance is more of an issue if it’s between the melody and the 2nd voice of the chord (although that’s exactly what Thelonious Monk plays on the Ebmaj7 at the end of the 2nd A section Round Midnight, it is pretty dissonant and not what you usually want on a major 7th chord).

When it’s between the 2nd and 3rd voice, or 3rd and 4th voice, it can sound really nice though. You do usually want to soften it with a third, fourth or fifth above the half-step (that’s the secret to those Bill Evans voicings).

[Rick StoneKeymaster]

David,
Thanks. It’s now fixed (so much easier when I know exactly what I’m looking for ).
~ Rick

[Rick StoneKeymaster]

Yikes, now I see it, and yes this was just an oversight. The one that’s posted is an older version of this document and had some mistakes. I’ve got a newer one that I’ve been using for the past couple years, so I’ll need to replace it (and try to find that old version and kill it so that this doesn’t happen again). Thanks for pointing it out.

[Rick StoneKeymaster]

Jeff,

Thanks. I checked out the thing from Guitar Player. My one comment about that is; when would you ever do that in music? I know that some guitarists practice very mechanical things like that, but I personally don’t find it very useful. We’ve all got limited time and have to choose our battles. I think it’s better to practice something that sounds musical that will have some sort of real-world application. Practicing melodies, bebop heads, scales & arpeggios, IIm7 V7 I licks and phrases, etc. will ultimately lead you to a more musical way of playing. The ears and the hands “remember.” Why spend time teaching them to remember something that doesn’t sound good?

I’ve seen the Tuck Andress stuff and he does an excellent job of sorting it out.

I also just realized that I discuss picking technique a bit in this video on my scale studies. It’s on the blog https://www.jazzguitarlessons.com/scale-studies-for-jazz-guitar-part-1/

Check it out (if you haven’t already) as I think it will give some insight into technique and also how to build good lines using scales.

[Rick StoneKeymaster]

Jeff,

I too started off as a rock player (about 50 years ago) and was largely self-taught (but I did have some lessons in the beginning, enough to get through the first couple Mel Bay books anyway). But the first right-hand technique I learned for eighth-notes was alternate picking, so for me anyway, economy picking felt foreign to my hand and required a bit of conscious retraining.

I agree, and I certainly don’t “think” about my picking when I’m playing (OMG, I can’t even imagine how awful that would sound). And yes, I’ve run into students who used economy picking by default without even realizing it. But then sometimes they’d have problems with certain passages, rhythms, etc., and didn’t always know how to solve them. I’ve also run into students who do some rather “odd” things with their picking (like one guy who picks every single note with up-strokes and it really doesn’t sound or work very well). So sometimes at certain points in your development, it does pay to actually think a little bit about what your right-hand is doing. Not to get totally anal about it or anything (I’ve seen people go down that road and it’s a dead end). But to consider the choices and find what feels best for the situation.

Over the years I’ve practiced and used a number right-hand techniques:

All down-strokes
Alternate (strict down-up, down-up)
Sweep picking (basically just economy picking applied to an arpeggio across the strings)
Economy Picking (always picking into the direction of a new string)
Classical Fingerstyle
Pick and Fingers
Probably a whole bunch of others that I’ve forgotten to mention

I still use them all when I play, but definitely don’t “think” about it (by the time you’re playing, you should already have your technique internalized and your body will usually make the right decisions). When I was learning though, I definitely spent time considering the differences. Particularly the sound and phrasing that each produced. Over time I made decisions (some conscious, but many unconscious) about which felt “best” in the moment.

BTW: I’ve listened to Pat for years, transcribed a bunch of his solos, and hung out with him. I can tell you for sure that contrary to what a lot of people seem to think, Pat definitely doesn’t pick everything. He does pick a lot of notes, but many others result from the judicious use of well-placed hammer-ons, pull-offs and finger slides. The thing is, when you’re using these techniques well, the difference can be very subtle.

So anyway, that’s my (somewhat more than) two-cents worth . . . .

Musically Yours,
~ Rick

• This reply was modified 9 years, 5 months ago by  Rick Stone.

[Rick StoneKeymaster]

David,

Yes, technically in 2/2 there are only two beats in the measure and I’ve even seen some books where they’ve said you should count your quarter notes as One And Two And. But I don’t think that most musicians do it that way. We’re way too programmed to count our eighth notes that way, so it’s easier to just read our eighth notes the way we’re used to, and simply tap the foot in “two” with the emphasis on beats One and Three.

So that counting a regular measure of eighth notes in cut time can be counted like this:

“ONE and two and THREE and four and”

And if you’re feeling them in Forward Motion (as Hal Galper suggests) you actually count everything as if it was a “pickup” and read across the bar-lines so that it becomes:

“and four and ONE and two and THREE”

With regard to the Barry Harris video, yes I’ve seen it (and heard most of this stuff from Barry in person as I studied with him for about 5 years when I first moved here in the 80s and then for a couple more after I finished my Masters Degree in the early 90s). Barry is a true master of the music and there are now a lot of videos of his out there. I’d also highly recommend the two sets of books/DVDs of his put out by another former student Howard Rees http://jazzworkshops.com/the-barry-harris-workshop-video/ http://jazzworkshops.com/the-barry-harris-workshop-video-part-2/

Yes, the 6/8 over 4/4 thing is very prevalent in jazz rhythm, so anybody who knows what they’re talking about is going to probably mention it when they talk about rhythm. And it does come from the New Orleans Second Line Rhythm as demonstrated in this video by Bernard Purdie https://youtu.be/Khsy0eECpRI

I’m certainly been aware of the parallels in Barry’s and Pat Martino’s thinking on using the Diminished chord to create all the 7th chords (that, combined with the basic arranging rules I learned at Berklee in the 70s forms the whole basis for my “Chord Construction Workshop” series) https://www.jazzguitarlessons.com/chord-construction-workshop/ I don’t know how aware Barry is of Pat Martino as they’re of different generations. There are definitely some differences in the way they use the diminished chords though.

Musically Yours,
~ Rick

• This reply was modified 9 years, 5 months ago by  Rick Stone.

[Rick StoneKeymaster]

David,

Great. Thanks for the heads up. Yes, it’s usually $9.95, but every once in awhile he makes it available for free as a promotion.

~ Rick

[Rick StoneKeymaster]

David,

Yeah, Kenny’s book is excellent. Another great one I thought of is called The Practice of Practice by Jonathan Harnum. It’s an easy and fun read, but will definitely get you thinking about how you’re spending your practice time, what’s working, etc.

Musically Yours,
~ Rick

[Rick StoneKeymaster]

David,

Thanks. Yes, a video on time and syncopation would probably be a good thing. I do discuss it a little in some of the technique lessons (creating syncopation using the 3 against 4 concepts and vice-versa) but I haven’t really done one that was just about time. That is a really important topic, and Hal is right, it’s largely overlooked in jazz education. So I guess that will go on the (very long and continuously growing) list of videos to record.

I will say that in my own education, time was never much talked about, but I was always listening, playing along with recordings and playing with people. So time and syncopation was something that I learned in a less disciplined way, but more via osmosis. It wasn’t until I studied with Hal Galper that it was ever really discussed extensively. Just being around great players and copying the tradition is how many of us learned.

But meanwhile, check out Hal’s stuff (there are a bunch of other videos on youtube) and get Mike Longo’s Book/DVD. I’ve seen it and it’s excellent.

Musically Yours,
Rick

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