Composing/ chord progressions

Mute

Hello,
Can anyone share some knowledge on the process of creating jazz chord progressions, or even putting chords together in a solo (like Django's improvisation tunes) ? If you're playing a melody with the top note of the chord how should you choose the root - or is it okay to just follow standard progressions like I-VI-II-V all the time? When I do this I cant seem to come up with anything original. I hope this makes sense...

Appreciate any help, thanks!

Elliot

I don't see anything as being original in music actually...or any art for that matter.

Picasso said to the effect that it is always the same thing - the pipe sitting on the chair, the apples and pears on the table, this from the most innovative artist of the 20th century. When you take a kite out to fly, do you expect it to be an original kite design every time? No, you toss it into the air and let it float on the breeze for a beautiful flight, and this is precisely what I believe one should go for - a beautiful flight. The idea of originality in art is a modernist conceit.

The best gypsy player from this perspective is one who has learned all the stock Gypsy phrases, and can move them in or out of a musical situation at will, at its height creating unexpected combinations fresh to the ear, like making new meaning out of the same alphabet and sentence structure, but the structure remains the same.

This is what enabled Django to sit with anybody and spin out beautiful lines at will, his only instruction in regard to what they were planning being "you start..." as he could immediately pick up where the song progression was going, by past experience.

JazzDawg

Elliot,

That is a great post! I agree completely. It's the moment that matters in art, from photography to music to theater to painting.

Now, from a more practical standpoint, If you want to compose jazz chord progressions, just pickup a book on songs from the '20's, '30's, '40's, and '50's. Take some notes on the progressions used. Then, really look over them. You will find that many have similar chord progressions, and even some of the melodies will sound familiar. The 'originality' was in the slight changes of phrasing, and placement of the notes to the chords, and the clever lyrics that matched the melody. One chord progression that you will find over and over is the one to 'I've Got Rhythm'. There are many others. Start with some classics, take a shot at creating a melody from what you hear in a progression to express your 'originality'. If it sounds cliche or boring, expand your knowledge of musical phrases.