Re: laerning chords through the use of tunes
CLAY MOORE ( cmoore4@ix.netcom.com )
Wed, 15 Jan 1997 08:41:12 -0600
Phill Lear wrote:
>
> 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?
Because high school band directors don't know how to teach guitarists. I
remember when I was in high school the guy who played in the jazz band
and
I scratching our heads in puzzlement and intimidation at all the chords,
rhythms, etc. on the charts. Many of those charts are written by
arrangers
who have no idea of how to write for the instrument. I remember getting
a
part once with seven note block chords moving in 8th note rhythms at a
fast tempo. It's a lot to expect of a kid who's maybe been playing
guitar
for two or three years and not had much instruction to be able to read
and
interpret those charts.
Clay