Re: What's challlenging you?
zaubertuba wrote:
I know I asked this question once before, but one other area I'm having a hard time with is comping guitar chords in the right hand. Even simple double-stops. I've been working out basic 3rd/7th voicings of various flavors using that neat web fretboard printer, but it's really cumbersome doing this "piece by piece," and it'd be nice to actually build myself a better technical foundation so I can comp more "on the fly." Does anybody know of a good technique book that addresses this? Greg, what about your songbook?
Hi Bryce,
I haven't done this as much in the recent past but I'm starting to do more in this new quartet (which is about to turn into a quintet, I think).
It's not dealt with at all in the Song Book, because that's really for learning to play as a soloist, with the right hand focused on melody and improvisation. The KeyMaps are similar in concept to what Nintō was suggesting, but they aren't as useful in this context because they don't identify the intervals by name, only the pitches.
This might be a lame explanation, I'm no theory expert and there are others here who have studied this way more than I have.
If you know how the chord tones fit into the key you are playing, then that will help you find the chords within the position, and those that are just adjacent to the position. The m7 of the ii chord is the root of the i chord.
So if you're playing a double stop for the min 3rd and min 7th of a ii chord for a min7b5-7-min7 ii-V-i progression:
Code:
ii
| -- | -- | m3 | -- | (1)
| -- | -- | m7 | -- | (1)
the function of the top note will change for the V chord, it becomes the dominant 7th, and the lower note just drops down a half-step to serve as the Maj 3, the two strings then swap function again for the i chord, with the min3 on top and the min7 below.
Code:
V
| -- | -- | 7 | -- | (2)
| -- | M3 | -- | -- | (1)
i
| m3 | -- | -- | -- | (1)
| m7 | -- | -- | -- | (1)
Drawing on the parallel geometry found in 4ths and inverted 5ths (something Steve doveres really well in his book and DVDs), you can easily see that the intervals in these melody diads parallels the movement of the same chord tones in the corresponding bass chords.
Code:
ii
-- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
-- | -- | R | -- | -- |
-- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
-- | -- | -- | m3 | -- |
-- | -- | -- | m7 | -- |
V
-- | -- | R | -- | -- |
-- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
-- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
-- | -- | -- | 7 | -- |
-- | -- | M3 | -- | -- |
i
-- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
R | -- | -- | -- | -- |
-- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
-- | m3 | -- | -- | -- |
-- | m7 | -- | -- | -- |
Now, if you want to add the next lowest string you can ad the b5 of the ii chord which leads nicely into the root of the 5 chord, which also happens to be the root of the I chord.
Code:
ii
| -- | -- | m3 | -- | (1)
| -- | -- | m7 | -- | (1)
| -- | -- | -- | b5 | (3)
V
| -- | -- | 7 | -- | (2)
| -- | M3 | -- | -- | (1)
| -- | -- | R | -- | (3)
i
| m3 | -- | -- | -- | (1)
| m7 | -- | -- | -- | (1)
| -- | -- | 5 | -- | (3)
If it's a ii-V-I progression, (the ii isn't half-diminished and the I is a Maj7), these would be the three-note chords I might use:
Code:
ii
| -- | -- | m3 | -- | -- | (1)
| -- | -- | m7 | -- | -- | (1)
| -- | -- | -- | -- | 5 | (3)
V
| -- | -- | 7 | -- | (2)
| -- | M3 | -- | -- | (1)
| -- | -- | R | -- | (3)
I
| -- | M3 | -- | -- | (1)
| -- | M7 | -- | -- | (1)
| -- | -- | 5 | -- | (3)
It's really good for me to be thinking about this now before tomorrow night's gig. I'll be doing a lot of comping behind John D'earth for sure.
Locating these chords is easy. The minor 7 of the ii chord is the root of the i or I chord.Since the root is not on the lowest string, you'll be able to solo over the ii and the 5 from the first progression in the scale positions using the 2rd-finger-root 5th mode of the harmonic minor scale, which looks like this:
Code:
| 1 | -- | 2 | -- | 3 |
| -- | 1 | 2 | -- | 3 |
|(1) | -- | 2 | 3 | -- | (the first finger note shown in parentheses is the min7)
for the i chord you use 2nd-finger-root Aeolian of the 5th mode
Code:
| 1 | -- | 2 | -- | 3 |
| 1 | -- | 2 | -- | 3 |
|(1) | -- | 2 | -- | 3 |
I haven't seen them in a while, but I also remember that Bob has some nice diagrams for identifying notes in a single position for various chords in his videos, and Steve's chord chemistry concepts are great for this as well.
Feel free to ask questions or challenge any of this. If I'm not being clear I'd certainly want to know.
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