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Reading Chord Changes


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wetbrad
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Joined: 29 Jan 2002
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Location: San Francisco, CA

PostPosted: Wed Mar 13, 2002 5:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

An excellent book covering jazz chord theory, including chord symbol notation, is pianist Mark Levine's JAZZ THEORY BOOK. This book covers all of the modes of the major scale, all of the modes of the melodic scale plus other key topics such as blues changes, pentatonic scales, diminished scales, and tri-tone subs. It's a great primer. Levine breaks down jazz theory into simple, easy to understand terms. It covers a lot of ground and is very well written. The book doesn't assume that the reader has had years of formal education with theory. Check it out.
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jhatpro
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 18, 2002 5:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I wouldn't worry too much about the changes. Stick to key centers and use your ears. Chet Baker couldn't read changes at all and he did all right. Remember, no matter where you are you're only a half-step away from being right. Just rear back and play.
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Strawdoggy
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 22, 2002 8:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

After reading Beboppin's post, I began to question whether my reply to the original question was pertinent. I think the answer is "yes".

If someone wants to learn to read, they must know what it is that they are reading sounds like. That is why reading teachers in elementary school have reading "groups" where the kids read aloud so that the teacher can see if the sounds they associate with the letters turn into actual words. IMHO, reading changes is very close to that. One must understand the chord structures (which is why I suggested the Chord Voicing Handbook) and what they sound like.

I am sure that Rich, like me, knows what a m9, maj7, dim, V7 etc. chord sounds like before it is played. Knowing that helps with reading on the spot, doesn't it? Also, when sightreading, after some experience, good players can see ii/V7/I s coming in the chart and know what they are going to sound like.

That is my point. Unless the original question concerned "silent" reading, being able to hear it is half the battle of recognizing changes.

Steve
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BeboppinFool
Donald Reinhardt Forum Moderator


Joined: 28 Dec 2001
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 25, 2002 1:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:

On 2002-03-22 11:45, Strawdoggy wrote:
I am sure that Rich, like me, knows what a m9, maj7, dim, V7 etc. chord sounds like before it is played. Knowing that helps with reading on the spot, doesn't it? Also, when sightreading, after some experience, good players can see ii/V7/I s coming in the chart and know what they are going to sound like.

That is my point. Unless the original question concerned "silent" reading, being able to hear it is half the battle of recognizing changes.

Steve


Yes, Steve Strawdoggy, you are absolutely correct. I will challenge you cats to take it to yet another level, and that is getting the sounds of the changes so much in your head that you can sit down *away from the piano* and write out an improvised solo. To me, this might just be the basis for really being able to sightread changes: having spent enough time at the piano and on the horn working through changes that you can sit away from the piano and horn and write out an "improvised" solo that makes sense.

As I have mentioned elsewhere on one of these forums, Rich Matteson told us (when I was in his improv class at NTSU) that the way we write is actually the way we really *want* to play, and slowing it down to the extreme (writing note by note, measure by measure) is such a great discipline for learning your way through changes and tunes. I really hope you give that a try.

Incidentally, all of the duets in my "I'd Rather Be Boppin' " series were written away from the piano, away from the horn. They are, in a manner of speaking, improvised solos written over changes that I knew well enough that I could hear them in my head. They are the way I'd like to be able to improvise on those changes.

Writing (for me) has been an important means of becoming a better improvisor, and I would strongly urge anybody who's serious about improving their jazz playing to spend a lot of time writing melodies over chord changes.

Again, I feel that the above mentioned discipline improves one's ability to sightread chord changes.

Y'all have a nice day, now, y'hear???
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PH
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Joined: 26 Nov 2001
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 25, 2002 3:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Rich is right on it here!

One of the things I do is have my students put on a play-along and record themselves scatting the kind of stuff they wish they could play. Then I have them go back and learn all the coolest parts of what they sang (especially the stuff that is unlike what they usually play).

For some people it helps to write the scat solo down when you transcribe it. For others it is better to just learn to play along and memorize what you sang.

Like Rich said (actually both Riches), this is more like what the real inner you hears than what you play probably is. A lot of what we play in our solos is stuff we have practiced and stuff we learned and play mechanically. The real poetry comes when you get to where you hear great stuff and can make what you hear audible to everyone else just the way you hear it as you hear it.
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