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Hi Guys,
Today, a look at how jazz guitar master Julian Lage harmonises, creates and improvises on jazz standards with simple 2 note chord voicing’s:
Many guitarists, and many instructional manuals display what are commonly called jazz chords as big block barre chords with overbearing resonance and no resolution to the movement.
But, the reality is that someone really good at comping in jazz will distill big block chords into simple 2 note voicing’s that don’t intrude and that pierce through the band or ensemble.
2 NOTE VOICING’S PART 1
To begin with, let’s take a ii V I [Example below]. Notice that the C moves down a semitone to the note B and and then back up the semitone to C. The F note is played in both chords and then resolves down a semitone to the note E.
Now, let’s apply this to the minor key. Here we have iim7b5 V7 i [note the 1 tone movement from the F to the Eb]
ADDING A SIMPLE MELODY:
Below, is an example of how to add a little melody to our 2 note voicing’s of our ii V I – [notice that it creates a clear and uncluttered sound].
We, will now apply this same concept to the minor key.
Julian Lage: Chord Melody-“All Things” Concept.
Applying, what we have learnt so far let’s look at the first few bars of the standard “All the things you are”
First of all let’s take the basic harmony and see how the chords connect.
From here, we will now add the melody to this skeletal structure.
SOME MORE 2 NOTE VOICING’S:
Here, is a nice easy way to string some V I’s together on the guitar fingerboard.
Below, is a great way to modulate. Here, we have V7 I with I becoming the new V7 [third inversion] that modulates/resolvess to the new I chord [1st inversion] This works so well on the guitar with simple 2 note voicing’s.
This last example, is super easy and is a great case in point as the same shape just moves down in semitones through the cycle 4ths/5ths.
ADDING COLOUR NOTES:
Although, 2 note voicing’s cut through, it can still be okay to add colour notes. For instance, below we have the use of a Major 3rd and minor 3rd to create a bluesy sound on the dominant chord.
In the next example let’s add the 13th [F#] and the #9th [C]. This again, works well and creates colour when used sparingly.
Playing simple 2 note voicing’s in a structure:
Here, is a simple Blues structure example exploiting these voicing’s:
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