I love the way you make the melody ring out while the chords are softer and less bright. Not sure how you achieve that, but it really sounds like 2 guitarists.
So glad I ran across your channel! Within a couple of videos, you’ve already elevated my thinking about chord movements and unlocked some new melodic concepts. I think I can speak for most of the viewers when I say that your work here is greatly appreciated!
when a channel called "jazz memes" yields the best videos on anything from practicing to harmony and what not. the internet is a marvellous place and I'm glad this channel is a part of it.
Haha thanks for the comment. JazzMemes is the brand my brother and I have been using for years but our background is teaching. I might change the RU-vid channel name at some point though because some people dismiss the educational value when they only know the brand for the humor.
That intro predates Ahmad Jamal. The original bop cats came up with it and they played both chords as raised 9ths. Check Bird of Paradise (1947) by Charlie Parker.
Really nice playing - thanks for this lesson! What strategies do you use to keep up with all the shifts in tonal centers for single note playing? I find that aspect of this tune so difficult
Great tone, great feel, great lines! Dig it! If I may geek out a little bit about the intro--interesting point about Ahmad Jamal using the Db minor chord. The version that most people do, with two sharp 9 chords, I think comes from Charlie Parker's "Bird of Paradise." Ahmad's version uses the same bass riff that Bird wrote, but changed the quality of the first chord.
Love that performance. This is exactly what I was hoping you would work up to! Would be cool to see how this works with something like a Charlie Parker head.
Great lesson John! One thing that would interest me would be this idea of the big band style voicings just within the chordal movement...IE no single line just chordal movement through the changes that goes beyond just moving from one chord grip to another when the chord changes. You kind of elude to this starting at 4.44 or so.
Well everything in this vid is awesome. Your playing, both the single line and the chord melody, dynamics, the selection of notes, time, technique etc .Plus the tone, which is both in your hands and how fantastic that guitar sounds. Lame last question but what strings are you using :)
Would also be cool to see a set of examples of those "big band chord" things, like licks but with chords. (Super easy to find single note licks that can be applied easily, but harder to find the equivalent "chord licks" to plug into the changes.)
So funny, as I was thinking this was a fast lesson, but it is how I want to play it cordially, but look at comments. We want to know your chord progressions you did in the initial playing of it. I bet a bunch of us know the chord shapes, may even use some in other songs. Give us a slow tempo cord progression of your choice playing if this classic! We may not know we are playing a c sharp 7 flat 9 with a raised 13, but we know that chord fulfills what out ears want to hear. Thank you guys for your hard work.
