ANSWERS TO YOUR JAZZ GUITAR QUESTIONS
Click a subject below to see the submitted question and our answer:
Q1 - Gypsy Jazz chords and arpeggios
Q2 - Using Melodic, Harmonic and Dorian minor scales
Q3 - Gypsy Jazz Guitar - unusual left hand technique
Q4 - Guitar Chord Voicings in Jazz Progressions
Follow this link for another page with more readers questions and answers, or this one to see even more questions and answers
Question 1
Here's a Gypsy Jazz Guitar question to start off this new feature. This was sent in by Fabian Wünsch from Bavaria, Germany. Fabian writes:
hello,
first i v got to say thanks!couse yes,your lessons are very usefull! i v been searching a long time on the internet for such understandingly and cool lessons, luckily i found yours ;) especialy i try to learn to play the gypsy guitar and your arpeggio stuff was really helpfully! ;) i m really looking forward for the next lessons! maybe you can email me some more "gypsy chords" and witch substitute arps i can play over them, or maybe whats the meening with "arpeggio with cromatic lines". lots of questions i know, and i dont wanna steal your time! but i really fall in love with gypsy jazz and my fingers are burning for more ;)
thanks alot! fabian
Fabian
|
Tony Oreshko replies:
Thanks a lot for agreeing to let us use your questions to start off this new feature, Fabian. Thanks also for such nice compliments on the free lessons!
I think this is such a popular and interesting topic that it's worth trying to write a Gypsy Jazz Guitar Crash Course! This first question will therefore get an unusually long reply - I can't guarantee to answer future submitted questions at such length!
So, here goes...
GYPSY JAZZ CHORDS
This is a huge topic, so rather than try and cover lots of theory in this short space I've given some examples for you to listen to and to try out yourself.
One of the main features of the gypsy jazz style is the chord voicings. Many of the shapes use only three notes, often played on the lower strings, and you have to learn to miss out or deaden the strings marked with a 'x'.
One great thing is that you only need to know a small number of different shapes. The trick is to learn how to combine them, as they can be used in a huge number of ways. Here are some examples of different chord patterns you can play just with a handful of shapes.
Notice how many of the chords have more than one name, depending on where you play them in a sequence:
 Gypsy Jazz Chord Example 1
Gypsy Jazz Chord Example 2
Gypsy Jazz Chord Example 3
SUBSTITUTE ARPEGGIOS
Let's now look at some arpeggios that can be played over these chords. I've already dealt with quite a few of these in the lessons, so where appropriate I'll point you to the relevant page in this website. I'll also give you some new arpeggios to try.
Click on an arpeggio diagram to listen:
Here are some guidelines for using the arpeggios against the chords in the examples.
Chord Example 1
Over the A9 chord use a C#m7b5 arpeggio. See soloing lesson 2.
Cm6 chord use an Am7b5 arpeggio. Explained in soloing lesson 3
For the G/B try using this new substitution - a Bm7 arpeggio
For Bbdim7 use a Bbdim7 arpeggio. See soloing lesson 4.
Am7 use a Cmajor7 arpeggio
D7 use a D13b9 arpeggio
G6 use a G6/9 arpeggio
Chord Example 2
I'd treat the first eight chords (Gm6-D7/A-Gm/Bb etc. up to the G/B) as basically all on a Gm chord. The D7/A and G/B are what is called 'passing chords', just ornaments in between the main harmony of Gm. Against this Gm section I'd use an Em7b5 arpeggio (to get a Gm6 sound). See soloing lesson 3.
Cm6 chord - use an Am7b5 arpeggio. Also in soloing lesson 3.
I'd treat the D7-Eb7-D7-D7/A as all on a D7 chord, (the Eb7 is another passing chord). I'd use a D# diminished arpeggio for this block of D7 harmony. The use of a diminished arpeggio over a dominant chord is explained in soloing lesson 5
Chord Example 3
G6 use a G6/9 arpeggio
C7 use an Em7b5 arpeggio. See soloing lesson 2.
Here I'd treat the G6-G/B-Bbdim all as a G chord with passing chords and use the G6/9 arpeggio over all three chords.
ARPEGGIOS AND CHROMATIC LINES
An arpeggio is just the notes of a chord played one after another, rather than all at the same time. I explain this in more detail in soloing lesson 1
A chromatic line is one that uses something called the chromatic scale. A chromatic scale is one that uses ALL the semitones in an octave. Here's an example of a chromatic scale on A:
A Bb B C C# D Eb E F F# G Ab A
One way to play this scale is by starting on your open A (5th) string and then playing every fret on this string from 1 to 12.
Chromatic Scale on A.
A chromatic line doesn't need to use all the chromatic scale. The best way of thinking of it is that if you are going up or down one fret (or semitone) at a time then you will be playing a chromatic line.
As you may know, Django Reinhardt basically invented gypsy jazz. Django often used long chromatic runs in his soloing. He would start on a note of an arpeggio, and then play a chromatic scale (or part of a chromatic scale) before finally landing on another note of the arpeggio.
Here's a short chromatic run Django sometimes used at the end of minor key tunes:
E7 chord - chromatic run: E Eb E F F# G Ab A - Am6 chord
Chromatic Line Between Arpeggio Notes
Here we have a chromatic line linking two arpeggio notes - the note E in the E7 and the note A in the Am6 chord Get the idea?
Phew! That ends the Gypsy Jazz Guitar Crash Course - hope you got something from all this!
Tony Oreshko
Back to Top
Go to Guitar Lesson Index Page
Question 2
James Hunter from Arkansas, USA, wrote in to ask about using the Melodic, Harmonic and Dorian minor scales:
I need some infformation on how to use these scales on chords. I was very pleased with the appregios you did on your lessons and understood all the information very well. I need help in how to use the above scales as related to jazz progressions.
Thanks so very much!!
Tony Oreshko replies:
Thanks for this question, James, and glad you liked the stuff on arpeggios! We'll be adding a new series of free lessons on scales in jazz over the coming weeks, but in the meantime I hope this information gives you something to work on.
First of all, let's get clear about how to play these three minor scales. I've used D as an example to show the notes in each of the scales:
D Dorian: D E F G A B C
D Harmonic: D E F G A Bb C#
D Melodic: D E F G A B C#
As you can see, the scales only differ in terms of their 6th and 7th notes. Here are some fingering diagrams for the scales. Each scale is shown for one and a half octaves:
Click on a diagram to listen
There are lots of different ways in which you can use these scales. I'll give all the examples in this one key and leave it to you to transpose them to other keys.
First of all, if you have just a Dm chord to solo over you can generally use any of these three scales against it. Each scale has a slightly different flavour, and it's up to the player to decide which sound they prefer at any one time. Have a listen to these short licks:
D Harmonic Minor lick over Dm chord
D Dorian lick over Dm chord
D Melodic Minor lick over Dm chord
Next let's look at what is called a 2-5-1 chord progression. In the key of C this would be the chords Dm7 G7 C. Notice how in a C scale the note C is 1, D is 2 and G is 5. So a 2-5-1 progression refers to the chords built on each of these three scale notes, D, G and C.
In this progression D Dorian is a safe scale choice for soloing over the Dm7 chord. Over the G7 you could use something called a G Mixolydian scale, and over the C chord a C major scale. This is a modal approach to soloing. It sounds fine, but is not what most 'real' jazz players would use. See below for the G Mixolydian and C major scales.
Click on a diagram to listen
If you have a 2-5-1 progression in a minor key then the harmonic minor will work well over all three chords. So for example Em7b5 A7 Dm is a 2-5-1 in the key of Dm. All of these chords can be built from the D harmonic minor scale, and the scale can be used over those chords. This has a slightly Eastern or gypsy-ish sound to it.
Finally, here's a real jazzy, bebop sound for you that uses substitution. Play the D melodic minor over a G7 chord and you'll begin to sound like Wes Montgomery! Listen to this example:
D Melodic Minor over G7 chord
For any dominant 7th (or 9th, 11th or 13th) chord just count up a 5th (7 frets) from the root note of the chord, and then play the melodic minor scale starting on this note. This kind of sound is so cool that you're almost obliged to wear shades!
Hope this is some help. I'll cover these scales and 2-5-1 chord progressions (and lots of other stuff) in more detail in the future.
Tony Oreshko
Back to top
Go to Guitar Lesson Index Page
Question 3
Istvan from Hungary writes about the unusual left hand fingering used by gypsy jazz guitar players:
hi! i have a question about gypsy jazz"
i noticed that the gypsys like Stochelo Rosenberg use fingerings that seem to me a bit different! i don't really understand the logic of this technic!
I'd like to see for example a melodic minor or a major scale in the style of gypsy guitarists! I hope this is not a stupid question and You can give me some instructions!
Thank You
Tony Oreshko replies:
Thanks for your gypsy jazz question, Istvan. It's actually a very interesting question that you're asking.
For the benefit of other readers let me explain that many gypsy jazz guitarists use unusual left hand fingering when playing their solos. Unlike classical guitarists (and many other players) who use all four left hand fingers for fretting, gypsy guitarists tend to use only their first and second fingers.
The guitarist who originated gypsy jazz was Django Reinhardt. When Django was 19 he badly damaged his hand in a caravan fire, and was left with only two fully functioning left hand fingers. He had to completely re-learn his guitar fingering to overcome this disability, and some commentators say that because he used only the two strongest left hand fingers (the 1st and 2nd) this actually improved rather than limited his playing.
As a result, many gypsy jazz guitarists deliberately copy Django's unorthodox two finger left hand technique, believing that it produces a more dynamic sound than when using the weaker fingers as well.
Now you asked for some examples of scales using this 2 finger method. Do bear in mind that Django's whole soloing style was based on arpeggios rather than scales, but here's a tab example of a simple C major scale played with only the 1st and 2nd fingers. Hopefully you'll get the idea of how this fingering can be made to work in most other musical situations:
C Major Scale
Left hand fingers:
Incidentally, Django did have some use of his two weaker fingers, and could use them in a restricted way for playing chord shapes.
Here's a picture of Django's hand:
|
Finally, if you've never seen the famous film footage of Django playing the guitar let me strongly urge you to see it!
It is now freely available as a video clip on You Tube: just type 'You Tube Django Reinhardt' into your favourite search engine and you'll find it.
The clip is about 4 minutes long and shows Django playing the tune J'Attandrai, with some close-up shots of his unusual technique.
|
Hope you've found this answer helpful. Keep those questions coming, everyone!
Tony Oreshko
Back to top
Go to Guitar Lesson Index Page
Question 4
Here's an excellent question about the best chord shapes or 'voicings' to use when changing from one chord to another in jazz progressions:
Dear Tony,
I'am Ari from Indonesia, I would like to know about
voicing. I means the harmony fingering that efective
for harmony progrees in Jazz. Is it true that better
to make softly harmony progression by stepping
progress than than jumping progress in voicing the
harmony? Can you explain the details guitar voicing of
the harmony that you used in the your lesson?
Thank you very much.
best regards,!
Tony Oreshko replies:
Thanks a lot for writing in with this good question, Ari.
Yes, it's important to be able to join your jazz chord shapes together so that they flow nicely into one another, moving by step rather than jumping around the fingerboard. For this it's helpful to know different shapes (or voicings) for each chord, so that you can choose the best ones for building a smooth progression.
You can take a big step towards creating smooth chord movement (also called good 'voice leading') in a progression by using the tritone substitutes that I've described in lesson 3 and lesson 4. Let me give you an example.
Here's 8 bars from a common jazz blues progression that has been used as the basis of lots of different tunes. Charlie Parker's Bebop blues tune Confirmation is just one well-known example:
Fig 1 Jazz blues progression
Fmaj7 / / / | Em7b5 / A7 / | Dm7 / G7 / | Cm7 / F7 / |
Bbmaj7 / / / | Am7 / D7 / | G7 / / / | C7 / / / | Fmaj7...
Let's take this basic progression and add in some tritone substitutes (shown in red). Here's how the progression looks now:
Fig 2 Jazz blues progression with tritone substitutes added
Fmaj7 / / / | Em7b5 / Eb7 / | Dm7 / Db7 / | Cm7 / B7 / |
Bbmaj7 / / / | Am7 / Ab7 / | G7 / Db7 / | C7 / Gb7 / | Fmaj7...
With this modified progression we can now get some great voice leading. Here are some shapes that would work well:
Listen to a soundclip of this progression:
Voice leading example
If you play the sequence yourself using the chord shapes above you'll notice how little movement is involved. Follow the notes played on any one string through the chord changes and you'll see that they generally move only one or two frets, and sometimes remain unchanged. This economy of movement is one of the signs of good voice leading.
Hope this short answer gives you a little insight into the subject of voice leading. Thanks to all of you for such sending in such great questions!
Tony Oreshko
Back to top
Go to Guitar Lesson Index Page
|
|
