A Chord A Day

A Chord A Day Presents: Blue Monk

2008-08-07T03:44:00.000-07:00

Hi!

Well, this isn't a chord post but instead I'm posting a recent video of me playing Blue Monk - a jazz blues composed by Thelonious Monk. For the most part, I only worked out the head (the melody section) and the solo section is a combination of chords, single note lines, double stops and some walking bass lines with chords.

The chords I used in this performance are what I consider to be Joe Pass-inspired chord vocabulary. Joe is a great inspiration to me particularly when I started out learning jazz guitar. My favorite album is the Virtuoso: Live! album and his later CD entitled Songs For Ellen. It is a very sparse album with mostly him playing the melody of the songs and not much soloing (if any) but I really relate to the feel of the album.

Anyway, here's my take on Blue Monk!

Cheers,
Az
PS - I'll be starting to post new chords in this coming week..

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Chord #88 - G7b5(13)

2008-06-04T23:23:00.000-07:00

Today's chord is a 6-note dominant voicing. Though more sparsely used in most modern jazz settings (smaller 3 to 4 note voicings are more common), these kind of chords are great to use in ballads and solo settings.

For more examples of these kind of chords, check out recordings by Tal Farlow. For notated examples, check out Steve Rochinski's The Jazz Style of Tal Farlow (Hal Leonard). Steve studied with Tal and his book has a very insightful section on Tal's chordal language.

For my musical example today, I played a Dmin9/G and then today's chord. This could be used in an intro leading to a song that starts on C Major.

Enjoy!

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Chord #87 - Bmin(add9)/F#

2008-05-31T23:20:00.000-07:00

Today's chord is a minor voicing. It can be viewed as a close position second inversion minor triad with an added 9th.

In the musical example, I played a series of II-Vs (Bmi7-E7-Amin7-D7-Gmin7-C7) that resolves to an F Major chord.

Enjoy!

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Chord #86 - A7(#11/#9)

2008-05-29T11:21:00.000-07:00

Today's chord is a dominant voicing that can be either from an Altered scale or a Symetrical Dominant scale (half-whole scale).

For the musical example, I played Emin7-A7-Dmin7-G7 resolving to C6/9 (no root).

Enjoy!

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Chord #85 - Amin7

2008-05-28T11:33:00.000-07:00

Today's chord is Amin7. It can also be viewed as a C(doubled 5th) over an A bass note.

For the musical example, I played an arpeggiated version of the chord followed by a B/G (G+Maj7).

Enjoy!

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Chord #84 - Esus4(b9)

2008-05-21T23:54:00.000-07:00

Today's chord can be used as a Phrygian voicing or a Mixo(b9) voicing.

In the musical example, I used it in the Phrygian context and followed it with F and E minor triads. This is a common device for modal settings - using the I and II triads from the mode.

Enjoy!

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Chord #83 - Emin6(7)

2008-05-15T23:57:00.000-07:00

Today's chord has a minor 2nd on top which creates a nice bite to the chord!

For the musical example, I played a funk-flavored groove with Emin7 going to A7. I also played a tritone slide on the A7, which is very idiomatic to funk. I've heard this a lot from Jaco Pastorius's bass lines.

Enjoy!

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Chord #82 - CMaj7

2008-05-14T23:03:00.000-07:00

Today's chord is a useful 3-note voicing. Piano players sometimes refer to these kinds of voicings as shell voicings.

In the musical example, I played an arpeggiated version of the chord with an approach note before playing the 7th. This is way of embelishing chords that I've seen guitarists like Jon Damian, Howard Alden and Martin Taylor use in their comping. The progression I played is CMaj7-EbMaj7-AbMaj7-DbMaj7.

Enjoy!

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Chord #81 - E7b9(#9)

2008-05-13T22:33:00.000-07:00

Today's chord is an incomplete voicing with two tensions and one guide tone (the 3rd of E7).

In the musical example I played Bmin7b5 - E7alt - Amin7(9).

Enjoy!

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Chord #80 - Eb dim (Maj7)

2008-05-12T22:41:00.000-07:00

This is a tonic diminished voicing. It can also be viewed as a D triad over an Eb bass note.

For the musical example, I played a bossa-nova comp with the Ebdim(Maj7) resolving to an Eb69 chord.

Enjoy!

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Chord #79 - Fmin(Maj7) add11

2008-05-11T21:35:00.000-07:00

Today's example is a 3 note tonic minor voicing.

In the musical example I used today's chord in combination with another more common voicing. In both instances I did not sustain the bottom two notes (F and C on the 6th and 5th string). Only the other 3-notes are fretted at once.

Enjoy!

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Chord #78 - GMaj6(9) no 3rd

2008-05-10T22:46:00.000-07:00

This is a nice major chord voicing that I can see myself using a lot in pop settings.

For the musical example, I played an embelished GMaj7-Amin7-Bmin7-CMaj7 progression.

Enjoy!

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Chord #77 - A7#5(#9)

2008-05-09T23:34:00.000-07:00

Today's voicing is a nice altered dominant voicing.

In the musical example, I played a series of minor ii-Vs that resolve to BbMaj. This is similar to the chord sequence in the last 8 bars of the jazz standard - Stella By Starlight though in my example, the harmonic rhythm is much faster and occurs in 4 bars.

Enjoy!

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Chord #76 - A7b5(b9)

2008-05-08T02:27:00.000-07:00

Today's voicing is an example of a fourth voicing. In this case, the intervals that make out the chord are a perfect 4th, an augmented 4th and a major 3rd (enharmonically a diminished 4th).

In the musical example, I played a D Dorian vamp followed by a cadential area using A altered over the D pedal note. The first voicing I played is today's chord and after that are two voicings that are basically the same structure moved down scalewise.

Enjoy!

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Chord #75 - Emin69(7)

2008-05-07T23:43:00.000-07:00

Today's chord is a modal Dorian voicing.

In the musical example, I played a comping example in 3/4. This has a question and answer quality to it because of the melody in the top line as well as the use of space in the second half of the phrase.

Enjoy!

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Chord #74 - A+7(#11)

2008-05-06T23:46:00.000-07:00

This voicing uses guide tones and two tensions, namely the altered 5ths (b5/#11 and #5/b13).

For the musical example, I played a little vamp using single notes to establish the tonality and then played the voicing. This would make a good background for a solo using an A altered scale, A symetrical dominant scale or even an A whole tone scale.

Enjoy!

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Chord #73 - G7(add4)

2008-05-05T23:32:00.000-07:00

Today's chord uses a very standard 3-note G7 voicing (a Freddie Green styled root and guide tones voicing) and adds a 4th on top. This creates a little minor 2nd bite to it! From a theory standpoint, this is a G Mixolydian voicing.

In the musical example, I played a I-VI-ii-V and used today's voicing as part of this comping/chord melody phrase.

Enjoy!

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Chord #72 - F+(#9add4)

2008-05-04T00:07:00.000-07:00

I'm going to call this a scary chord!

It has notes that would normally be said to be wrong notes but because of this, it creates a great texture in setting a dark mood.

In the musical example, I played an alternating bass pattern with a little melody using the top three notes. I can picture someone like Buckethead playing this chord.

Enjoy!

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Chord #71 - A

2008-05-03T00:34:00.000-07:00

Today I played a simple A Major chord!

The fingering I chose however makes this a useful movable voicing.

In the musical example, I played a I-IV-V-IV progression over an A bass pedal. This is one way of using today's voicing in a rock/pop context. An interesting rhythmic device that I used here is a polyrhythm between the bass and chords. This is a 3 over 2 pattern which is very common in African music.

Enjoy!

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Chord #70 - G6 (no 3rd)

2008-05-02T09:49:00.000-07:00

This is a sparse voicing that is useful to create contrast compared to bigger voicings. I might use this chord for one section of a song (perhaps an earlier verse) before using a more elaborate voicing later.

Again, because there is no 3rd in the voicing, this can be used for Major, Dominant and Minor Chords.

In the musical example I used it as a replacement for a G Major chord. Here, I played a simple pattern between the I and IV chords in G.

Enjoy!

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Chord #69 - Dsus2(addb6)

2008-05-01T23:46:00.000-07:00

Today's chord can also be called a BbMaj7(b5)/D but I think the name I chose is more reflective of how I used it in the accompanying example. As this voicing is basically a sus chord with an added b6, it can be used for Major, Dominant and Minor (Aeolian) situations.

In the musical example, I played an accompaniment pattern that could be used behind a vocal line. I think I was inspired by the kind of music I heard recently in Tim Burton's movie, Sweeney Todd.

Enjoy!

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Chord #68 - CMaj7(no 3rd)

2008-04-30T23:20:00.000-07:00

Today's chord is similar to Chord #30 and Chord #65. In today's voicing, I avoided the 3rd of the chord therefore making it usable for both CMajor7 and Cminor(Maj7).

In the musical example, I played a repeating 3-3-2 picking pattern which is a very common rhythmic device particularly in rock (think of the piano part for the Coldplay song - Clocks). It is also used a lot in the music of New Orleans.

The chord progression implied is CMaj7-EbMaj7-BbMaj7-DbMaj7. In the jazz world, using one chord quality throughout a section of a song is referred to as using a 'constant structure'. It is also a great compositional device that is very friendly to guitarists.

Enjoy!

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Chord #67 - A7sus4

2008-04-29T23:38:00.000-07:00

Today's chord is a Drop 2+4 voicing - which is less commonly used by guitarists in general. This particular voicing could be used for an Aminor7 chord or an A7sus4.

For the musical example, I played a fingerstyle funk vamp. I was thinking of Amin7 to D7. The embellishments on the D7 chord could be analysed as D7(9)no 3rd to C/D to D7(9).

I believe it's important to keep a relaxed touch while playing this and getting the stacato attacks on the chord adds to the rhythmic drive of this example.

Enjoy!

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Chord #66 -D/C

2008-04-28T23:30:00.000-07:00

Today's chord is a hybrid voicing. It contains an open voiced D Major triad over a C bass note.

For the musical example, I played a simple bossa nova vamp using today's chord and G/C chord voiced in a similar manner.

This could be used for an introduction for a Major Key Bossa Nova piece. In fact, one of the songs that today's chord reminds me of is Aquas De Marco (Waters of March) - a composition of Antonio Carlos Jobim.

Enjoy!

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Chord #65 - C7#5-b5

2008-04-27T13:57:00.000-07:00

This chord is a practical 3-note voicing. There is movement in the top voice (the G# going to the F#) to make the chord a more melodic comping idea. This voicing can also be played with the exact same fingering on the 5th,3rd and 1st string.

As the 3rd is not present in the voicing, this chord can also be used in place of a minor7(b5) chord.

In the musical example, I played a typical minor progression (F minor-Ddim-G7-C7) and used today's voicing in both the G7 and C7.

Enjoy!

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