Re: laerning chords through the use of tunes
Phill Lear ( kinglear@cpuinc.net )
Tue, 14 Jan 1997 16:04:44 -0600
reed wrote:
>
> At 05:15 PM 1/13/97 -0500, you wrote:
> >
> >I have always felt that comping is an art? craft?...however we
> >define it, it seems that more jazz players should be concerned
> >about...not just complaining that chord players get in the way,
> >play too many or too few chords etc., etc.....
> >
>
> Chord players are guilty as charged more times than not.
>
> They are not accompanying the soloist but rather playing something
> that they want to play which often means creating some harmonic
> pallette that is interesting for them but not at all related to
> what the horn player or other soloist is doing. Then the horn
> player either has to ignore you or else play something he/she
> didnt want to play because you have already locked them in.
>
> In the beginning it's alot of trial and error but you have to
> get a sense of where the horn player is going and hit the right
> tensions, etc.
>
> >Soloists (aka hirn players) should also have a sense of how to comp
> >so that they can communicate what they like to hear behind them when
> >they solo. I don't like being told how to accompany but I do appreciate
> >when someone points out general things about the way they hear
> >the chords behind them.
> >
>
> That is not a practical thing to expect.
>
> When someone is soloing, it's their turn to be in the spotlight.
> You are just adding to that. If they don't like what you are adding
> then you have to accept that.
>
> But even as a guitar player, you might tell the drummer to
> play a bossa nova but you might not have the foggiest idea
> what is involved in playing a bossa nova. It's just an overall
> sound you are looking for.
>
> >I especially like to hear fewer well-placed chrods that give
> >my solo a boost...I like when the accompanist takes some chances
> >behind me, especially rhythmically.
> >
> >You mentioned Jim McNeely...he and I used to get together to
> >play some duos, especiallyon his tunes. I found hiscomping to be
> >exactly what I like in a player. We talked about it some; he had
> >some great ideas. But I found it, as a guitarist, very difficult
> >to assist his solo in the way he assisted mine.
> >
> Yes, Jim is a great player.
>
> >How does one accompany a pianist anyway?
> >
> Due to the fact that the only "teachers" I've had were two bass players, a tenor/alto/sop.
saxaphonist, and a piano player, I think some of the things guitarist find impossible I find natural(and vice
versa, I still can't play barre chords). When I play behind any soloist I enter one of two modes. One:
Montgomeryesque block chord comping to the "Charleston" rhythm(and minor variations). Two: Piano player comping
using the pick and 3 fingers. Over one chord, say G7, I'll be thinking of four of five relative ways to finger
that chord and all the substituions that go with it. Then play like a piano. I can't explain it really it's
just like that. Listen to McCoy Tyner. It also helps to think of all the notes you're playing too, and adjust
them to the soloist.
Last year my high school jazz band attended a competition. You wouldn't believe how many outstanding
big bands had guitarist slinging trebly strats, and playing six note colorless chords, in a sad immatation of
Freddy Green.( By this Im mean four on the floor that never quite makes it). Why in a big band where a
trumpeter flies through a complex song the "Pressure Cooker" with the grace of a soon to be master is the
guitarist left clunkn' away in the corner like he was running through a green day song?