Tal does his best to explain jazz....

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[Tal Rules]

Here goes nothing gentlemen...

In this thread I will attempt to explain some basic jazz concepts and how they relate to the guitar. I predict this thread will become quite lengthy and I will be posting examples in MP3 format as well as written explanations of what I'm doing. Feel free to download the examples and jam on them or leave comments or questions in this thread...

Hope you enjoy this and I will try my best to abide by the KISS rule (Keep It Simple Stupid)..

New topics in this thread will be centered and bolded...
So let's begin...

Topic #1

Two Chord Vamps.

Two chord vamps are just what the name suggests. Two chords that are repeated over and over again.
The first example I have chosen for you jamming pleasure is a 2 chord vamp consisting of Bminor to Aminor for a backing track.

Now we could probably just jam in B minor or A minor over this vamp but being as this is a Jazz How to thread we're going to change keys with the chord changes...

Don't get scared.. It's not as bad as it sounds..
We're just going to stay in the first position and move our licks up or down 2 frets to follow the Bminor to Aminor progression..

Besides the raw vamp for you to jam on I have also included a track with me playing lead to this 2 chord vamp for examples...

There are just a couple of lead patterns that you will have to learn.

So when the B minor chord is played play


B minor Penatatonic 1st position:

1st string 10,7
2nd string 10,7
3rd string 9,7
4th string 9,7
5th string 9,7
6th string 10,7

Then when the A minor chord is played play this...

A minor Pentatonic 1st position:
Notes are as follows..(Same pattern as above slid 2 frets down..

1st String: 8,5
2nd String: 8,5
3rd String: 7,5
4th String: 7,5
5th String: 8,5

About the 1st minute of the example with the lead is nothing but A minor pentatonic with B pentatonic over the appropriate changes to give you a feel for how the tune sounds..


From the one minute mark until about 1:45 I play B natural minor scale over the B minor chord and A natural minor scale over the A minor chord..

B Natural minor scale 1st position..(Played over the B minor chord)

1st string: 10,9,7
2nd string: 10,8,7
3rd string: 9, 7, 6
4th string: 9,7
5th string: 10,9,7
6th string: 10,9,7

A natural minor 1st position (Same pattern as above just move down 2 frets and play over A minor chord)

1st string: 8,7,5
2nd string: 8,6,5
3rd string: 7,5,4
4th string: 7,5
5th string: 8,7,5
6th string: 8,7,5

From about 1:45 to about 2:10

I play Dorian same as natural minor but with raised 6th note and also include the Blue note. (Flatted 5th)

B Dorian with Flatted fifth.. (Played over the B minor chord)

1st: string 10,9,7
2nd Sting: 10,9,7 (9th fret = raisied 6th)
3rd String: 10,9,7 (10th fret = Flatted 5th)
4th String: 9,7,6 (6th fret = raised 6th)
5th string: 9.8,7 (8th fret = flatted 5th)
6th string: 10,9,7

Move everything down 2 frets and play A Dorian with flatted 5th (Played over A minor chord)

1st string: 8,7,5
2nd string: 8,7,5 (7 = raised 6th)
3rd string: 8,7 5 (8 = flatted fifth)
4th string: 7,5,4 (4th fret = raised 6th)
5th string: 7,6,5 (6th fret = flat 5)
6th string: 8,7,5...

Rest of the tune with the lead is just me combining the above elements and changing keys with the changes..
Notice the lead patterns move up and down 2 frets just like the chord changes B minor to A minor..

Work on this and if you have any question respond in this thread..
Remember:
Attached are a backing track with the changes and the same backing track with the leads runs above given in the appropriate places....

I think this will be a fun thread and if you have any questions feel free to ask or comment on this thread..

Thanks,
Tal...
 

Now to give you a few more tools to work with

The Penatatonic Minor Scale in the key of A minor

I know scales (Groan )
That's okay only five to learn to get from one end of the neck to another.....
5 patterns that's all you need to know to play A Penatatonic Minor from one end of the neck to another.
All the notes are the same for all 5 patterns just playing them at different places of the neck..

Naming conventions of the order of these patterns are that the 1st pattern always starts on the note of the scale on the 1st string.
Example the first pattern of A minor pentatonic will start on the 5th fret.

Naming Conventions of the patterns are important as we move these patterns up and down the fret board to change keys.

We will start these patterns at the bottom of the neck and go to the octave so the pattern at the bottom of the neck will probably not be the 1st pattern. (It's located on the 5th fret for the key of A minor pentatonic and any scale in any key of A.

A minor Pentatonic Scale Patterns.....

Pattern 5:

1st string: 3, Open
2nd string: 3,1
3rd string: 2, Open
4th string: 2, Open
5th string: 3, Open
6th string: 3, Open

Pattern 1:
1st string: 5,3
2nd sting: 5,3
3rd string: 5,2
4th string: 5,2
5th string: 5,3
6th string: 5,3

Pattern 2:
1st string: 8,5
2nd string: 8,5
3rd string: 7,5
4th string: 7,5
5th string 7,5
6th string 8,5

Pattern 3:
1st string: 10,8
2nd string: 10, 8
3rd string: 9, 7
4th string: 10, 7
5th string: 10, 7
6th string: 10, 8

Pattern 4:
1st string: 12,10
2nd string: 13,10
3rd string: 12, 9
4th string: 12, 10
5th string: 12, 10
6th string: 12, 10

Pattern 5 (the first pattern we played with open strings now up and octave.. Ocatave = 12 frets)
1st string: 15, 12
2nd string: 15, 13
3rd string: 14, 12
4th string: 14,12
5th string: 15, 12
6th string: 15, 12

When not working on the two chord vamp stuff. PLAY these 5 Patterns over and over until you can play them in your sleep...Believe me.......
IT WILL PAY OFF......
By learning these 5 patterns you have effectively learned 10 (Hint: C major Pentatonic)

Any questions please feel free to post on this thread.
If you would like an MP3 posted of me playing these patterns, let me know and I will post it...

Very important that you learn these patterns because the next post we will add only 2 notes to each of the patterns to create the A natural minor patterns (Same 5 patterns with just 2 more notes added per pattern) Which in turn are the same patterns for C Major and most of your modes as well will be played off of these patterns...

So get these 5 patterns down...(Look to be simialar to AC's caged system. I figured these out on my own a long time ago before I even went off to music school and these patterns have helped me tremendously through the years....)

Any questions or comments please feel free to post on this thread...
These 5 patterns are just another of those building blocks for our house we're building...

See Ya,
Tal...

[Dark Jer]

Once is a mistake...

Twice is jazz.

[jimz0]

Once is a mistake...

Twice is jazz.

LOL

but seriously, thanks for this Tal.  I will definitely be giving this a shot next time I get a chance to jam.  Always looking for new ideas...

[Iliace Vladimirovich]

Once is a mistake...

Twice is jazz.

That's totally true.  Play a stupid riff, and you'll look stupid.  Do it four times in a row fast, and you're a guitar god.  It's funny how the brain works.

[Tal Rules]

Once is a mistake...

Twice is jazz.

Once is a mistake...

Twice is jazz.

That's totally true.  Play a stupid riff, and you'll look stupid.  Do it four times in a row fast, and you're a guitar god.  It's funny how the brain works.

Still too complicated????
Notice the two tracks at the end of the post....
One of them is the 2 chord vamp.
The other is the two chord vamp with the lead examples thrown in....
I would suggest to download the two chord vamp look at the lead patterns posted on the thread and jam to them.. That's the secret to any music is to have the tools to jam on the changes. Two chord vamps with changes about every 8 bars gives you time to jam in one key and then move to the next key and jam..

Pretty simple in my own mind. Just a couple of scale runs moving up and back down 2 frets to change keys. I could have wailed over the changes but I played the lead very slow and deliberate to give you an idea how the scale runs would sound...

If it's too complicated let me know and I can back up even further...

But so far I only see one download on both posts...
Believe me....
This is a starting place and a lot of building will continue from here.
Learning to jam is a lot like math.
You learn a principle and then apply it to the next principle..

These same principles will hold true for Blues, Country, Metal, Rock, Jazz, Classical....
If you can play something that is changing key signatures constantly, playing in lead guitar in one key to most popular music becomes fairly easy..

Two chord vamps are an excellent starting point to start learning those skills..

When I played professionally people would aske me if I could play this tune or that tune.
My flippant response was...
I can play anything for a quarter...
I still enjoy playing several styles of music.
Check out my Sound Click web site for examples of Country, Jazz, Rock, Funk, Classical.... and it's all because of my knowledge of jamming over changes..
http://www.soundclick.com/rollandharrison

Not bragging but I am willing to share the little that I do know if anybodies interested..

Two chord vamps are part of your tool kit to achieve that goal..

See Ya,
Tal..

P.S.
If you need a simpler explanation I'll be happy to try to accomodate but you do need to download the mp3, study the lead examples and try jamming on them.
I can explain until I'm blue in the face but work is still required on the students end..

[jimz0]

Tal, you are THE man.  That vamp alone is excellent.  can't wait to hear this with the lead.


wow, love it.  great post and terrific examples of how to get it done. 

[Tal Rules]

I will keep ammending the top thread with more info as I have time to write it.
When I have added a new addition I will make another post so that this thread will come up as unread in your browsers..

New addendum is 5 positions of A pentatonic minor....

Look at the top of this thread...
5 postions of A Pentatonic minor posted...
Good building blocks...Enjoy...


See Ya,
Tall

[300m]

Tal
  Great post!!    cannot wait to go home and try this after homework that is.......  You know that stuff our kids get we have to do...  Thanks a ton for this!!

You generated some questions with this topic. 1st postion???  I leaned from both my instructors that 1st postion was 1 fret, 2nd position 2nd fet etc.  So you examples would be 7th and 5th postion.   Which is correct???
 I do know the caged format and do pratice that every morning, at least I try.     I normally do major with the root on pinky for C, & G, Middle for A, E, & D  Make sense, engineer here trying to logic music   
I don't know that minor scale, I will start working that tonight and add to my daily tomorrow.

[Tal Rules]

You generated some questions with this topic. 1st postion???  I leaned from both my instructors that 1st postion was 1 fret, 2nd position 2nd fet etc.  So you examples would be 7th and 5th postion.   Which is correct???

I understand what you are saying......

As I stated these pattern numbering names are a naming convention just so everyone will be on the same page when we talk about pattern 1 or pattern 3...

For uniformity's sake pattern 1 will always be the first pattern played where the root of the scale is encountered on the first string...

Example:
A pentatonic minor: Pattern 1....

Pattern 1:
1st string: 5,3 (A is on the fifth fret. As we're ascending the neck this is the 1st pattern we come to with A on the 1st string
2nd string: 5,3
3rd string: 5,2 (A is on the 2nd fret)
4th string: 5,2
5th string: 5,3
6th string: 5,3 (A is on the 5th fret)

We could move pattern 1 up 2 frets and now we are playing
B pentatonic minor: pattern 1

Pattern1:
1st string: 7,5 (B is on the 7th fret. 1st place on 1st string we play B. Therefore position 1)
2nd string: 7,5
3rd string: 7,4 (B is on the 4th fret.)
4th string: 7,4
5th string: 7,5
6th string: 7,5.(B is on the 7th fret)


So as you can see by moving these patterns up and down the neck we can play in any key...
VERY IMOPORTANT CONCEPT TO GRASP...

You did bring up a valid point 300 and I probably need to address it....
I'll go back to the top thread and idendify (as I have done in this example) where the note A is located in all five of the positions...

Any other questions or comments feel free to post on this thread..

See Ya,
Tal..

[AC]

Fun lessons buddy.

[300m]

Thanks Tal.  1st postion just threw me as I thought i learned something wrong again.  1st pattern postion I follow .

[300m]

I am going to give this a shot Sat evening and Sun evening as I should have some free time then.  Been praticing the natural minor as I did not know that scale.

[Tal Rules]

Going through a few of my old threads...
Did anybody out there actually try this and get anything from it...
If so let me know, and I'll put something else together for jamming purposes (Probably 12 bar blues related)...
If not that's fine as well..
Will save me some time putting something together...
Willing to go on with it if anybodies acutally trying this stuff...
If you are actually doing this stuff, upload your lead on the 2 chord vamp rhythm and let's talk about it...
Would love to hear it if anybody actually did anything...

See Ya,
Tal...

[mikola200]

Tal, great info here,

thank you !!!

please don't be discouraged, curious minds will find this info. I found it very useful as I am trying to move to new genres out of usual bluesy, rock feel that I have been playing for a while


keep it up, man !

M.

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