Woodshed Grooving Over Jazz
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Transcript of Woodshed Grooving Over Jazz
7/27/2019 Woodshed Grooving Over Jazz
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/woodshed-grooving-over-jazz 1/2
96O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 G U I T A R P L AY E R
L
E
S
S
O
N
S
WOODSHEDGrooving Over Jazz Changes
B Y P I N O M A R R O N E
For those growing up on a blues-scale diet of
rock and blues, the natural inclination for
improvising is to play modally. However, in
jazz—or in any music with shifting harmony—
the modal approach alone brings vagueness
to solos.Listen closely to any great improviser
and how their every note refers to the song’s
harmonic structure. But harmony is only half
the battle. Phrases also have to groove, or
they’ll sound dead. In jazz, we don’t just
improvise melodies that suit the changes, we
improvise rhythmic structures that suit the
groove. Our goal is to become both harmoni-cally and rhythmically eloquent.
G U I D E T O N E SLearning to connect guide tones and passing
tones is one way to train our ears and fingers
to navigate the harmonic resolutions we call
cadences. And when we harmonically
describe the changes while employing an
enticing rhythm, the notes suddenly come
alive. Bebop saxophonists from Charlie
Parker to Lee Konitz have created excite-
ment with simple lines such as the
sequenced chromatic phrase in Ex. 1. Work-
ing beautifully over the last eight measures
of the well-known “Stella by Starlight” pro-
gression, these four-note lines take place on
single strings and, with successive pull-offs,
each gracefully describes the chord of the
moment. But the notes wouldn’t grab yourears without their catchy, repeating rhythm.
T A K I N ’ I T O U TEx. 2 gains an “outside” sound by sequenc-
ing a rhythmically displaced, perhaps Nico-
las Slonimsky-inspired motif. In the key of F
T
A
B
= 1601
44
3 33
33
34 3 21
Em7 5 Dm7 5A7 9 G7 9Swing feel
12 11 10 89 7 611 10 89
10 89 7 7 6 5 489 7 6
9
T
A
B
5
33
3
3
Cm7 5 F7 9 B maj7
8 7 6 5 5 4 3 27 6 5 4 3
7 7 8
5
Melodically and rhythmically
eloquent to the last—the great
Jim Hall.
A D V A N C E D
T
A
B
= 150
44
Swing feel
Gm7 5 C7 5 Fm(maj7)
10 11
117
9 1010
68 9
95
88
9 57 8
84
simile
EX. 2
EX. 1
7/27/2019 Woodshed Grooving Over Jazz
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/woodshed-grooving-over-jazz 2/2
98O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 G U I T A R P L AY E R
minor, we are targeting strong notes from the
V chord, C7# 5, and the I chord, Fm(maj7). It
may take a moment to recognize, but in each
of this example’s two phrases, the intriguing,
angular sound results from a clever sequenceof half-step intervals and an unpredictable
rhythmic shape.
U P S A N D D O W N SEx. 3 outlines a II-V-I progression in F that
includes some chord extensions and altered
tones. But it’s the rhythmic hook—the repeated
rise and fall of the melody—that propels the
line.Try to be accurate with the the upward and
downward sweeps of the pick while remaining
rhythmically free and loose. Instead of using a
metronome, try practicing this example with a
ride cymbal pattern on your drum machine.
This gives you more subdivisions to listen to
and may help keep the example sounding
lively.
H A L L O F F A M E L I C K
Jim Hall—in many ways the father of modern jazz guitar—plays beautiful solos by elaborat-
ing on simple motifs such as the one in Ex. 4.
Listen to how this phrase efficiently describes
a very famous jazz progression—“Autumn
Leaves,” in G minor—by surrounding the 3 in
each chord with upper and lower neighbor
tones.The side benefit of this example is that it
helps us learn to swing while playing multiple
hammer-ons and pull-offs. But the real lesson
here—as with the previous examples—is in
how these notes have such a strong impact
through their rhythmic theme. Remember, like
many great jazz lines, this lick wouldn’t mean a
thing if it didn’t have that swing.g
T
A
B
= 180 44
3
5 87
6 10 67
9 5 87
6 9 66
68 75
5 58 65
Swing feel
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Gm7 C7 9 F( )
T
A
B
1
= 160Swing feel
44
5 57 4 57
Cm7 F7 B maj7 E maj7
8 8 88 87 7 76
810 7 7 7 77
8 6
T
A
B
5
G7Gm7D7Am7 5
5 5 55
7 44 45 3 4
5 3 5 3 2 3 4
EX. 3
EX. 4