Swing Guitar: Part Three

This week is the third part of my series on swing guitar comping.  We will be learning our first tune!

Before we get started, there is a bit of confusion to alleviate.  Copyrights are difficult.  Getting your own stuff copyrighted and then knowing how not to infringe on the copyrights of others.  It can get really confusing!  Without getting too technical, the copyright on music here in the U.S. lasts as long as 120 years.  This means, the only music that you can count on being public domain is something that was written 1893 or before (it's 2013 today).  Since most swing music came out of the 20s and 30s, it presents a problem.

Like the tune "Bye Bye Blackbird" which I want to use for this lesson.  Written in 1926, it won't be public domain until 2046.  So, since guitarists are so clever, those of us not wanting to tempt fate will either use the chord progression (always a derivative) and use a clever pseudonym.  For our use, I'm calling this piece that I just wrote "Goodbye, Dark Grey Bird". (I'm hilarious!)

Moving On...

First, the chord chart (and an explanation):

Created Using iRealB

For the most part this isn't just totally hard to understand.  But, there is some symbology that may need to be interpreted. (In the final outline of this class for the conference, I'll probably have already covered it...)

First, the chord symbols are a bit different.  Here is the guide:
G^7 => Gmaj7*
A-7 => Am7

These are very common jazz chord notations.  Get used to seeing them because they are used a lot in swing repertoire.

Also, you see the "%" symbol being used in a measure with no chords.  This symbol means to repeat the previous measure the same way it was played.  Again, just a common short hand that we use.

A couple of other things to point:  This song is a variation on what is know as AABA song form.  It doesn't follow it strictly, but it does follow the sense of that form.  Song forms are similar to rhyme form only in regards to melody and harmony.  Think of it as a "Verse, Verse, Chorus, Verse" form which is common in rock and folk styles.

A key difference in the AABA form of this song from others like it is that usually the A sections are the same (give or take a turnaround or ending).  That's just a good thing to note here.

Now, let's look at the chords we are using:

As I said in the previous lesson, some of our chords do not have a root or tonic note in them.  This is alright as many times we play with a bass player and we can rely on him/her to play that note.  Even solo, we can still play this chord in context and it sounds real good!

How to Practice Tunes

I'm going to assume that you are a beginner level player.  If you aren't, then learning tunes should be easy and you can skip ahead if you like.

The best way I know to practice a tune is to break it up into sections.  For this tune, we have already stated that it is an AABA form. So, take the first A section a few times and play through the chords out of rhythm.  Just strum them to get the movement under you fingers. 

If there are any chords you are having trouble fingering, then go back and forth to them from others until the movement is easy and natural.  This may take some time, but you should concentrate on building that muscle memory.

After you have one section, move to the next doing the same thing until you can easily change chords without much space between.

Now, it is time to start up your rhythm again.  Remember the four-to-the-bar rhythm?  Use that!  Set yourself an easy pace, say 80bpm or so at first.  Play through it making sure to stay at that pace. (USE A METRONOME!)  Once you can go through it easily, up the it by five or ten bpm and keep practicing until you can play it faster than you need to live.

Here is an example of what it should sound like:

Goodbye Dark Grey Bird (Soundcloud)

When you follow that link, notice that Soundcloud does a spectrum thingy (technical jargon) to display a visual of the sound.  In a straight four-to-the-bar comp style, that looks like spikes or fence posts evenly spaced. This was an unintended side effect of recording it on Soundcloud.

Melody

In the workshop, there won't be much talk about working melody and solos, but I figure I should at least give you something. 

My tune doesn't have a melody line listed, but I'm betting you could use the melody to Bye Bye Blackbird here if you wanted.

The first step to soloing is not scales. At least not in swing.  Later, those can be really cool.  In swing, the first step is being able to play the melody in time.  Once you can do that, you can build solos off of the melody using scales, arpeggios, or any other melodic device you want.  But first, LEARN the MELODY!

That's all for this week, let me know if you have any questions!


Foot notes
* The delta symbol is hard for me to type. I can't quite get it.  For now, assume that '^' is the same as a delta triangle.
** Because we rarely play the verses in swing, the A sections are actually choruses and the B is the bridge.