Gypsy Jazz Chord Book?

DjangoDjango

Wow, U really know a lot about it. Ur the master of chords !!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Klezmorim

DjangoDjango wrote:

Wow, U really know a lot about it. Ur the master of chords !!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Are you kidding? I consider myself a newbie. The stuff we've covered in these few posts is covered in a few hours of Semester One in a university-level Music Theory program. We haven't even talked about the Circle of Fifths, Key signatures, sight-reading, ear-training....

Stick with it. As you get comfortable with one thing, the next will generally make sense and fit in with what you already know.

Klezmorim

OK, you've had some practice time...

Here's an old thread you may find useful:
viewtopic.php?t=1628

It has a reference to another link of interest:
http://www.serendipity-band.com/misc/ma ... ngs-en.htm

8)

DjangoDjango

Thanks

djangology

Root on 5th string ... Bm7b5 (aka half-dimished)
Root on 2nd string ... Dm6
Implied root on 6th string, 3rd fret ... G9

thats probably the most significant thing I have learned since learning to play guitar (along with tri-tone subs and ear training for tension-release). i use that idea all the time to this day. there is so much to learn from this simple chord-sub concept.

Klezmorim

You see? It does start to make sense really quickly!

Now, here's an exercise mando-master Jethro Burns taught me. He was NOT impressed with my four-fingered death-grip, so he suggested I learn to form chords with just TWO notes.

Think about it: What fingering can you come up with, *using just two notes* to make a minor chord? It won't be a true minor chord but what two notes would IMPLY a minor chord?

Do the same for a seventh... a sixth... a major seventh.

Remember: Piano players get to make some "interesting" chords with all 10 fingers. Guitarists are limited to four (except for you dexterous so-and-sos that can wrap your lanky thumbs into the mix!). We're already "compromised," so let's take it to its logical limits.

Think about this (Part Deux): Django had limited range-of-motion in his ring finger and pinky. So... he would generally fret the skinny E-string and B-string together at the same fret. What chords can we build with those notes? Move the same two fingers down a string to the B and G. What can you come up with now?

Add in your middle (third or "social") finger to the mix. What chord shapes can you make with your third finger at the same fret as your other two? Back one fret? Back two frets?

Add in your index (pointing) finger and repeat the exercise. It really becomes a mathematical question, How many fingers are you able to use and what is their relative range of motion? And do the results sound "musical?"

Some time back, I asked for a good reference that would show me the typical Django chord voicings used in "jazz manouche." I was given a couple of suggestions that involved *buying* a book. They don't know me. I'm the 'King of Open-Source' (ie. "FREE"). In a mix of frustration and curiosity, I tried the exercise I suggested to you above. As I was doing so, I would hear some of the chords I was making and say, "Hey! That's the same chord that's in... (fill in the blank)" And then I'd be off to work that song.

But, of course, that means we have to listen to a lot of music in order to learn....

Sarge

Ive taken some theory courses, but i still found some of those links helpful

thanks!!!

DjangoDjango

Hi.

This is maybey a stuppid question, but I read some theory here and there but I cant understand why all the chords in the book Gypsy Rhythm are starting with a C. Why is that ? :?

Klezmorim

DjangoDjango wrote:

Hi.

This is maybey a stuppid question, but I read some theory here and there but I cant understand why all the chords in the book Gypsy Rhythm are starting with a C. Why is that ? :?

A couple reasons:

1. From a theory standpoint, it's easier to teach chord construction with the C-major scale because it has no sharps or flats. Students have no problem wrapping their brain around "C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C" and corresponding that with the numbers "1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8". To make a C-major chord, use a "1", a "3" and a "5", or C-E-G. C-minor = 1-3b-5 or C-Eb-G, and so on. Typical folk and blues progressions are "1-1-4-5" or "C-C-F-G" and I think you get the idea.

2. Pianists are *really* comfy in C. Remember, their "touch-stone" is "Middle C". The pianists and (and to an extent, violinists) were considered the "true musicians" in a band. The "horn guys" were just "honkers." Guitarists "got no respect" at all for the longest time. The guitar was considered a "parlour instrument" for delicate ladies to lightly strum out folk melodies on.

3. "Back in the day," female vocalists preferred to sing in C.

I'm sure there are more reasons, but these will do for starters.

-k