JOE PASS 48 Dominant Seventh Chords 

My lone claim to fame....I was working the NAMM show in Anaheim, California, early '90's. Joe Pass was walking up my aisle and stopped by, grabbed a guitar, and we played a few rounds of Stomping At The Savoy. He could have obliterated me, but instead, he was kind and encouraging......a sign of greatness.

The different chord voicings for jazz are closely related to the picking style. Joe Pass uses a traditional classical guitar based finger picking style, which is useful in chord note structures interspaced around muted or unused strings. Wes Montgomery uses a thumb picking style. So, Wes had to develop thumb picking chord voicings. If you use a guitar pick, as in the video with Tina, then the chord voicings will follow a slightly different structure and traditionally include using the alternate picking style, much like Al Di Meola, although the method I think actually evolved in the USA from Bluegrass players, Al did not invent alternate style picking. The many picking styles have their advantages and disadvantages, and which one you like or learn really depends on the sound you wish to make with your guitar. It's not about the guitar or the notes or the style, what we hear is sound. Music is sound, how you create it is up to you, there is no wrong or right way. I like using a finger pick for jazz because the attack is much more pronounced and sharp, especially if you strum some strings that are muted but still played, which is essentially augmenting the notes played as expressing rhythm (like in Flamenco Guitar playing), which historically will be called a picking style (older teachers call it a strumming style), meaning the style is based on holding and using a guitar pick but also keeping a set musical rhythm or syncopation. A good example of traditional American folk picking can be seen in Bob Dylan's early songs, where he intentionally searched out the traditional country, folk and bluegrass guitar players to analyze their strumming style and largely adopted what I would call the primary folk strumming styles. From a musical expression standpoint we are trying to resolve which is more appropriate or important, the rhythm or the melody. Bob liked using a specific strumming style to set a mood. If you use a finger pick the jazz chords chosen for a guitar arrangement with be grouped to produce smooth transitions and complementing tones (the string resonance needs to be even and balanced). Which is actually, in my opinion, harder to arrange than if you use a classical finger picking style like Joe Pass. Joe is not as constrained in the basic arrangement, however, rhythmically he cannot match the different styles as Al Di Meola in how the strings have a pronounced initial attack. Here again there is no right or wrong way, adopt an approach which expresses your emotions. What I find interesting about Joe Pass is how he seems to use a guitar strap and not a foot stool, even while sitting. For the traditional classic style, which Joe is actually doing, I prefer to use a foot rest (stool). Joe could actually improve his guitar playing posture if he used a stool to help support the instrument. The basic approach for the classical guitar sitting style taught, is to put the student sitting in a chair with good posture, then have the student hold the guitar, and the left foot elevated (it is good to have an adjustable foot rest) until the guitar is at a position whereby the student can support the instrument without holding it. Then a slight adjustment is made to the foot rest to have the player's hands in the proper position for playing, meaning the hands find the proper playing position without supporting the instrument, placing hands on the instrument is repeatable and consistent. The guitar is supported by the body position and not the hands. A strap actually holds the instrument too close to the body for the left hand (if you play right handed), this is why Joe's guitar is always played with a sideways slant when he is playing, he has to move the instrument away from his body to be comfortable for his left hand. You can maintain good posture and still play the guitar. When you play standing up then a strap is mandatory, and you will find that the playing position tries to be as close to the neutral position as possible as learned while sitting. Some classical performers never play standing up. If you play different guitars and use different picking styles, what you will find is the classical style has a mid weighted attack on the note (no matter how hard the extended finger nails), which tends to produce more overtones. But, a finger pick, especially a very hard one that Al uses, produces a more pure tone, and allows quicker alternate picking. Brian May from Queen actually used a metal coin as a pick, which gave a metallic tinny sound to the note (a very sharp attack). However, if Brian was from the USA in the south he would have easily found a metal guitar pick, which would have the same sound as his coin.

Thank you for the lesson, appreciate your time & your patience to show us all the chords.🤍

Tina, I just came across your channel. I have this book and have struggled with it. I find many of the grips not usable for me at least at this time. Pass always says keep it simple. I have found shell voicings to be a game changer for me. I'll take another look at the book and see if I can simplify the chords to make them useful for me. I appreciate you making this video and will look forward to more!

luv Joe Pass , thanks for your time to do this , , it inspires : )

I would call that (1:33) just Fmaj7/G. Off course, in this context, we need to understand the extensions, etc...

These are fun reference books to look back on and make exercises. Thanks for the vid

This is fun! took that 6th one and because that shape without the root and without E is triton apart ( Db triad ) u can move it around in minor thirds without the root.. ( imagining root being played by bass) fun exploration !

oh wow! I loved this video so, so much. I just got the joe pass book and this is exactly the type of video I was looking for -- going though section with another person was so wonderful! if you have time, going through the other sections would be so fun as well

i have a copy of the book, albeit a different cover, under my desk. i pulled it out to check it out while watching your vid. i'll be watching your vid a second time later on and trying the chords.

so nice many thanx

The last chord is interesting... G7b13 or Ebmaj#5/ G ... an augmented sound and you can play Cm/melodic to improvise.... Great video! Danke für die Inspiration 👏👏👏

Joe Pass said keep it simple. Major minor and dominant seven

One day ill be able to understand your videos (the theory i mean) but for now just know i am your subscriber for your enthusiasm, dont let anyone ever take it away :)

Muy bueno

The book with 10 how pass style estudes has tablature?

super!!!!!

well it is a tuturial or a work in progress

Danke! Ihre Videos bekommen zu Unrecht zu wenig Aufmerksamkeit!

Joe Pass was a mighty fine jazz guitarist....no doubt about that, but when it comes to playing pretty piano-like chords, then I think Ted Greene, Johnny Smith and George Van Eps were the masters.

The fish eye camera look nice to record your hand clearly, but on you're face the deformations are huge... better prefer a narrower lens for recording full plan of you talking