Jazz guitarists love chord melody preparations, and for good cause.
Enjoying chords, bass notes, and licks over a melody lifts any jazz normal from the mundane to thrilling.
Although you’re keen on to hear to gamers corresponding to Joe Go, Ted Greene, and Ed Bickert, it will probably appear that chord melody is out of attain.
However, this isn’t the case. B
y learning the preparations and methods on this lesson, you develop your repertoire and learn the way to construct your individual chord melodies.
Which is a really cool factor to have the ability to do. On this lesson, you research chord melody and solo guitar preparations of the usual After You’ve gone, which is within the public area.
Extra importantly, you possibly can apply the ideas on this lesson to different chord melodies you’re engaged on within the observe room.
This manner, you be taught these preparations and construct the talents wanted to create your individual chord melodies.
Now, sufficient speaking – time to play!
Contents (Click on to Bounce to a Part)
What’s Chord Melody
To start, let’s get a transparent chord melody definition so that you perceive the way it’s used on this lesson.
In dialog, chord melody refers to each group and solo guitar preparations.
However, to make issues clear, these two approaches have their very own definition on this lesson.
You find out about that comparability under. For now, the definition of a chord melody is:
Chord melody harmonizes a melody by including chords, double stops, octaves, bass strains, or different harmonic units round that line.
It sounds so easy on paper.
If solely it had been that straightforward on the fretboard! Now, let’s evaluate 4 bars of single notes to 4 bars of chord melody.
Right here’s the primary 4 bars to After You’ve Gone written as a single be aware melody.
Click on to hear chord melody 1 
Now, right here’s that very same melody performed in a chord melody association.
Click on to hear chord melody 2 
The distinction is straightforward to hear. One is performed in a single-line strategy, and the opposite is harmonized by including chords beneath the melody.
As you progress, you learn the way to harmonize melody strains and discover variations that develop your chord melody and solo guitar preparations.
Apart from defining chord melody, it’s vital to know the distinction between chord melody and solo guitar, which you discover within the subsequent part.
Chord Melody vs. Solo Guitar
As you simply discovered, it’s vital to perceive how chord melody and solo guitar evaluate earlier than learning every one.
Each approaches share related outlines, which is why they’re usually referred to as the identical factor in dialog.
However, there are basic variations between chord melody and solo guitar that make studying these two types simpler.
To start this comparability, listed here are attribute parts of chord melody.
- Performed with a small group – duo, trio, quartet, and so on.
- Makes use of smaller chord shapes, usually with out the foundation.
- Adheres to the type of the tune immediately.
- Retains in time with the band.
- Used to substitute the single-note head, then leads into solo sections.
Now, listed here are parts that characterize solo guitar.
- Performed in a solo guitar scenario, no band.
- Makes use of extra root-based and bigger chord shapes.
- The kind turns into versatile.
- Time and tempo are on the discretion of the performer.
- Could be performed as a stand alone track, or because the intro to a combo model.
As you possibly can see, although each of those approaches contain harmonizing a melody, they use completely different approaches and are performed in numerous conditions.
Understanding these variations helps you determine on the precise strategy in your subsequent chord melody or solo guitar association.
Now that you simply perceive these approaches, have a look at getting ready a tune for a chord melody or solo guitar association.
Chord Melody – Step by Step
Whereas constructing a chord melody isn’t as straightforward as placing collectively Ikea furnishings, if that’s even straightforward, there are steps to make this course of simpler.
On this part, you be taught Four steps that arrange your chord melody observe routine.
By following these steps, you present your self with the route wanted to organize any jazz normal for chord melody or solo guitar.
Now, it takes time to get this course of down in your research.
So, when you’re new to chord melody, or jazz guitar, and these steps appear out of your attain, not to fear.
Examine these steps and make notes of what you don’t perceive.
Then, be taught the preparations under and examine how they’re constructed.
After that, come again and see if these Four steps appear clearer.
From there, with a little bit of elbow grease, you’re prepared to organize chord melodies by yourself.
Step 1 -Selecting a Key
The first preparatory merchandise you want to determine upon is the important thing in your association.
Altering the important thing of a typical is extra relevant to solo guitar, the place you have got freedom to transfer round in your efficiency.
However, if a melody line is simply too excessive or too low to construct a chord melody, change the important thing for that tune to make it simpler.
You see an instance of this strategy within the Joe Go solo guitar model under.
After you’ve picked a key, you’re prepared to arrange the melody in your association.
Step 2 – Melody on Prime 2 Strings
The subsequent factor you want to do is take the melody to the highest two strings, utilizing the third string when mandatory.
Doing so offers you the house to add chords under the melody in your association.
To see how this works, take a look at this phrase from After You’ve Gone within the unique octave.
Click on to hear chord melody 3 
Observe that there’s not a lot room to add chords under that melody.
Right here’s that very same phrase up an octave as a comparability.
Click on to hear chord melody 1 A lot better proper?
Earlier than studying the preparations on this lesson, play the melody to After You’ve Gone on the highest two strings.
This offers you a way of the melody earlier than exploring the chord melodies.
As nicely, it exhibits you ways to be versatile with a melody in your chord melodies.
When working by the preparations, discover that notes get moved round to match completely different chords and bass notes.
So, when understanding the melody on the highest two strings, don’t consider the fingering as dogma.
Be versatile, and don’t be afraid to take a be aware you performed on the second string and transfer it to the primary string if wanted.
After You’ve Gone Backing Observe After You’ve Gone Backing Observe
Click on to hear chord melody 4 
Step 3 – Choosing Hand Selections
The subsequent alternative in preparation for a chord melody is deciding on a choosing approach.
Listed here are the three selections for choosing when it comes to chord melody and solo guitar.
In case you select choose solely, you nail the one notes, however may need bother with sure chords or basslines.
Fingerpicking is nice for chords and basslines, however lags behind on single-notes with most gamers.
Lastly, hybrid choosing is the perfect of each worlds, however takes time getting used to in your taking part in.
Regardless of which possibility you select, there are execs and cons.
Strive every of those variations and see which one fits your taking part in model the perfect.
From there, stick to that choosing strategy or use it more often than not with others coming into play when the conditions requires it.
Step 4 – Including Chords to the Melody
Now comes the powerful half, including chords over the melody.
As you see within the preparations under, you possibly can select to harmonize some or all the notes in a chord melody.
When doing so, one of the simplest ways to discover the precise chord is to establish the interval of the melody be aware.
Then, discover a chord form that has that interval as the highest be aware and that’s the chord you utilize over that melody be aware.
For instance, if the melody is A, and the chord is F7, you play F7 with the third on prime, corresponding to a root place drop 2 chord.
In case you want a refresher on voicings and inversions, take a look at these classes.
These classes have the notes written out as intervals on the fretboard, which could be very useful in your chord melody research.
After you set the chords beneath every melody be aware, or as many melody notes as you’re feeling is required, you’re prepared to play your chord melody.
With these steps in thoughts, now you can take a typical and provide you with your individual association, or transfer on to be taught the pattern preparations under.
Chord Melody Association
Now that you simply studied chord melody and solo preparations on paper, it’s time to take that data to the fretboard.
Right here’s a chord melody model of After You’ve Gone to be taught, each with a metronome and backing observe.
As you’re employed on this association, make notes of any parts that stand out to you. It may be a chord voicing you want or a right-hand approach that grabs your ears.
Make a remark of them for additional research.
Lastly, as is the case with any association, the music on the web page is a place to begin, not an ending level.
Due to this, you hear slight variations within the audio examples all through this lesson.
These may very well be slides, picking-hand variation, and different guitar methods utilized to the written chord melody.
Take this strategy in your individual chord melody and solo taking part in.
Deal with these preparations like lead sheets.
Be taught the notes on the web page after which add your individual interpretation of these notes.
This helps you be taught chord melody ideas and brings a private contact to any association you be taught.
After You’ve Gone Backing Observe After You’ve Gone Backing Observe
Click on to hear chord melody 5 
Solo Guitar Association
After studying the chord melody for After You’ve Gone, discover a solo guitar model of this tune.
As you discovered earlier, you set extra concentrate on decrease bass notes on this model.
And you’ve got extra freedom to discover phrasing and pauses on this association.
Within the audio, you hear one strategy to the phrasing of this solo guitar normal.
However, don’t let that be the one strategy that you simply work on.
As an alternative, be taught the model under.
Then, provide you with your individual approach of phrasing – slowing down, rushing up, and including pauses to the association.
With the liberty that solo guitar permits, it’s these musical selections that make any chord melody personalised in your taking part in.
Click on to hear chord melody 6 
Chord Melody With Substitutions
Now that you simply labored out two variations of After You’ve gone, you possibly can apply a chord substitutions to this normal.
When taking part in chord melodies, you need to use lots of the similar chord subs that you’d when comping or soloing.
On this association, you research three chord substitutions you can take out of this context and add to your individual chord melody preparations.
Discover that none of those subs steps too far exterior the given key, however they add curiosity in contrast to solely utilizing diatonic chords.
Chord subs don’t have to be extremely chromatic to be efficient, they simply want to be musical and utilized on the proper second for that sub to work.
Secondary Dominant Chords
With these chord subs, you substitute a diatonic chord with the V7 of the subsequent chord within the tune.
An instance of this can be a Cm7 to F7 development and also you substitute Cm7 with C7.
This creates a V7/V7 to V7 development, known as a secondary dominant, because it’s the dominant 7th of one other chord moreover the tonic.
As nicely, this may additionally imply seeing C7 for a bar, and shifting between C7 and G7 over that measure.
This creates the identical secondary dominant sound, however this time over a static chord quite than a chord development.
Including secondary dominants to your taking part in is an efficient approach to boost a chord melody association.
It may be overdone, so watch out. However, it will probably additionally create curiosity in tunes with repetitive progressions as you alter these in every refrain of chord melody.
Secondary ii V Chords
You gained’t see this strategy on this chord melody, but it surely exhibits up within the Joe Go model of After You’ve Gone.
That is an extension of the secondary dominant substitution, solely now you insert a ii V as an alternative of solely the V7.
To take action, when taking part in Cm7 to F7, you play, Gm7 C7 to F7.
This replaces Cm7 with a secondary dominant, C7, and it’s associated iim7 chord, Gm7. As nicely, you need to use this strategy over a static chord.
As you added C7-G7-C7 over a static C7, you possibly can play C7-Dm7 G7-C7, to create a secondary ii V development.
As a result of the iim7 and V7 are intently associated, you need to use them as a combo, or one by one, in a chord sub scenario.
Dim7 as 7b9 Chords
The last substitution performs a dim7 chord over a 7th chord, implying a 7b9 sound.
This was a favourite Wes Montgomery chord approach, particularly when paired with secondary dominants.
Everytime you see a 7th chord, play a dim7 from the b9.
This turns that 7th chord in a rootless 7b9.
Not solely does this create a brand new harmonic shade, it offers you stress to play with over that chord change.
The vital half is resolving that stress so it sounds musical and never like a mistake.
Now that you understand the speculation behind these ideas, it’s time to play them.
As you undergo the next chord melody, discover how the chord subs alter the sound of the tune as in contrast to the model you discovered earlier.
It’s not a drastic change, however one which brings new curiosity into the association.
After You’ve Gone Backing Observe After You’ve Gone Backing Observe
Click on to hear chord melody 7 
Solo Guitar With Substitutions
You now add chord subs to a solo guitar model of After You’ve gone.
When doing so, you utilize the identical ideas you explored within the chord melody model.
However, you now have extra concentrate on the bass motion and freedom to play with time and phrasing.
As you taking part in extra bass notes in a solo model, the bassline turns into extra vital when selecting chord subs.
Not solely are you able to select subs based mostly on their sound high quality and harmonic impact, however on their bass motion as nicely.
Including diatonic and chromatic chords creates harmonic curiosity in your chord melodies and brings a much bigger sense of melody to the bassline.
After you be taught this association, apply subs to any normal you’re engaged on within the observe room.
Click on to hear chord melody 8 
Joe Go Chord Melody Fashion
Any research of chord melody wouldn’t be full with out trying on the most acknowledged solo jazz guitarist, Joe Go.
Joe turned the jazz world the wrong way up together with his Virtuoso recordings, and lots of followers think about them to be the head of solo jazz guitar.
To deliver the Joe Go solo guitar model to your chord melody repertoire, right here’s a Joe Go model association.
Musical Textures
The first Joe Go idea is an often-overlooked one, and that’s Joe’s use of textures.
When listening to a Joe Go solo efficiency, you discover that he mixes full chords, damaged chords, arpeggios, scales, octaves, blues riffs, and so on., as he navigates even one tune.
Within the instance, you see many of those textural variations utilized to After You’ve Gone.
As you undergo the research, don’t simply make be aware of chord alternative and single-note runs.
Maintain a watch out for the completely different textures to get your ears in tune with recognizing this facet of chord melody.
From there, return to your favourite Joe Go recording and make be aware of the assorted textures you can hear in Joe’s preparations.
Shifting from a 2 to Three be aware voicing looks as if a small alternative, for instance.
However, it’s these small textural particulars that make Joe’s taking part in stand out from the remaining.
Phrasing
The subsequent ingredient of Joe’s taking part in you can add to your individual vocabulary is his concentrate on phrasing.
Joe was a grasp at jazz guitar phrasing.
By working phrases, strains with a starting, center, and finish, you lead the listener by your association as opposed to consistently throwing notes at them.
As nicely, a giant a part of Joe’s phrasing was his capability to put in pauses, decelerate phrases, and velocity up strains.
The most effective elements of taking part in solo guitar is that you simply don’t have to fear a couple of band following you, and vice-versa.
In case you really feel the phrase wants to decelerate, gradual it down.
If you would like to maintain a pause longer than regular, go for it.
These are the kinds of small musical selections that make solo jazz guitar so efficient, and a lot enjoyable to play.
And Joe was a grasp of creating these selections in simply the precise moments.
Deciding on the Proper Key
When studying the association under, discover that it’s in a brand new key, D in contrast to Bb within the different preparations.
One of many coolest issues about taking part in solo guitar, and one thing Joe Go took benefit of, is you possibly can change keys with out worrying about different devices.
To make a melody simpler to harmonize, use sure areas of the fretboard for bass notes, and even deliver open strings into your association, change the important thing.
That is one thing you see in a lot of Joe’s preparations, together with his well-known model of Spherical Midnight performed in E in contrast to the unique Eb.
Chord Substitutions
Joe additionally beloved to boost his chord progressions when taking part in jazz guitar utilizing all, and extra, of the substitutions you discovered about earlier on this lesson.
Within the research under, you apply ii-V, secondary dominant, dim7 as 7b9, and extra substitutions to After You’re Gone.
One of many issues that made Joe such a genius, is that he not often used superior substitutions.
At the least not regularly. As an alternative, he went for what was straightforward, and most significantly, what sounded greatest for that musical scenario.
Finding out Joe Go preparations is a lesson in subtlety and the way to successfully use a number of substitutions for max outcomes.
As you already studied these subs earlier, see when you can spot them on this Joe Go chord melody.
Odd Meter Bars
Right here’s the place Joe actually places his stamp on chord melody and solo guitar.
For Joe, the road he’s taking part in at all times trumps the shape.
Not to say that he ignored kind, he didn’t.
However.
When he performed a phrase, he let the phrase play out quite than shorten it to match the bar.
This meant including bars of 5/4, 2/4, 3/4, and so on. when taking part in solo guitar.
You may see this strategy within the research under, the place a bar of 5/Four is used to prolong an extended, single-note run.
Once more, when taking part in solo guitar you have got the liberty to prolong your strains.
Give it a strive, however don’t overdo it.
When used correctly, as Joe did, odd-meter bars could be extremely efficient.
However, if overused, these moments change into predictable and long-winded.
Discovering the precise moments for these strains, and utilizing them sparingly, is vital to discovering success with altering time signatures in your chord melodies.
Riffs vs. Melody
The final Joe Go idea is using riffs vs. the melody.
This isn’t the identical as placing strains between the melody, which Joe was keen on doing.
It’s changing the melody with a chord or single-note run.
When doing so, Joe performed a run and left that part of the melody out of his association, no less than in that refrain.
As at all times, this can be a extremely efficient idea to use in your chord melody taking part in.
However, if overdone you lose the sense of melody all collectively, inflicting the association to sound like a solo and never a tune.
Discover the place these moments happen within the association.
Then, return and hear to your favourite Joe Go album and see when Joe replaces the melody with a riff of his personal.
Doing so offers you the arrogance to correctly use this idea in your chord melodies.
Now that you simply studied the Joe Go chord melody ideas, it’s time to take this research to the fretboard.
It’ll take time and observe to get this chord melody beneath your fingers.
However, it opens new doorways in your taking part in, and prepares you to be taught a Joe Go solo guitar association.
Click on to hear chord melody 9 
Bassline Chord Melody
The last strategy to chord melody, is to use a strolling bassline beneath the melody.
Including a bassline offers you a brand new texture to play with, and it will probably offers a technical problem to overcome within the woodshed.
This strategy was used to nice impact by Ted Greene on his Solo Guitar album.
Within the instance under, you add a strolling bassline beneath the melody, conserving the melody totally on the higher 2 strings and the bass notes on the decrease 2 strings.
By doing so, you permit room to add in chords, 3rds and 7ths principally, between these strains.
As is the case with any chord melody, you want to be versatile along with your melody fingering.
Right here, there are occasions when the melody wants to be adjusted from the unique fingering to match the bassline.
As nicely, the melody makes use of the threerd string when wanted to make the bassline work extra easily beneath that line.
In case you determine to put chords in between the bass and melody, rethink these fingering selections to make the chords simpler to squeeze in between.
However.
For now, start by studying this chord melody.
Then, when prepared, take a melody you understand, pop it up on the highest strings, and add bass notes under.
It could appear to be a troublesome approach, and it may be, particularly from a fingering perspective.
However, with time, and expertise, you possibly can add this chord melody strategy to your combo and solo-guitar repertoire.
Click on to hear chord melody 10 
