Appendix 2
Notes to Appendix 2
Mickey's Lesson 1 is a chord familiarization lesson with "bread and butter" modern chord forms. Remember that? It seems like a lifetime ago, doesn't it? Eventually Mickey gave us 7 additional forms making our total 33.
These chord forms were for the most part 4, 5, or 6 note forms and some had some really long names like D13b5b9. These chords are still used and important ones that all guitarists will encounter in their careers. About the time Mickey was writing this course, a new form of modern rhythm guitar was being developed. A popular way to describe things is the "On a Scale of 1 to 10". Using this scale to show the relationship of rhythm guitar playing, let's say that a single note bass line is a 1 (due to the simplicity of a single note) and Mickey's chord philosophy is a 10 (as a complex harmony). This new method would be around a 5. The general name for it is "comping". For the purpose of this appendix, we'll develop a general philosophy that you can adapt to your individual needs.
There is a "law" in music that has existed for hundreds of years. That law is "Avoid duplication of color notes in chords." A color note is defined as the 3rd, 6th, 7th, 9th, 11th, or 13th, or an altered note such as b/#5, b/#9, #11. With that law in mind, we usually double or triple the root or 5th of a chord when an extra note is needed. If we have 4 guitarists playing a C triad and 1 playing a C7, our brains say "that's C7 harmony". We can apply that law to an orchestra, whether it has 4 or 104 instruments. Usually, we don't want a bunch of folks off playing the color notes as an accompaniment when someone is soloing, especially if his color notes clash with those of the accompaniment. This isn't so much of a problem when the orchestra is a guitar, clarinet, and bass. But when it's a guitar behind a horn section that is playing 4-part close harmony, the guitarist will want to play a somewhat simpler accompaniment to avoid those clashes.
We will put our rhythm chords on a "diet", so to speak. That is, we'll just play 3 notes. The three notes will be either the root or the 5th, 3rd, and the 6th or 7th. The important note is the 3rd as that gives the chord it's major or minor sound. We'll avoid more color than a 7th, and from time to time we can use simple triads, especially if it is a 1st inversion where the lowest note is the chord's 3rd or the 2nd inversion where the lowest note is the 5th. It's fair to say that the majority of chords can be converted to comping chords just by not playing the highest 1 or 2 notes of the form.
In Lesson 1, we began referring to chords with the Tonic note on the 6th string as Group A and the Tonic on the 5th string as Group B. Let's continue that practice for our comping chords. The rules for Comping Chords are simple and pretty much follow the philosophy Mickey gave us in the body of the course: Maj7 and Maj6 sub for major chords, Min7 and Min6 sub for minor chords and dominant chords, Dominant 7th chords and their tri-tone complement substitute for any dominant, diminished, or augmented chord. Note that a 3-note dominant chord with the root in the bass will substitute for any of the augmented 5th chords.
Refer to the following figure showing Group A Major Chord Forms.
Group A Major Comping Chords
None of these chord forms should come as a surprise. The first three are taken directly from Mickey's first three chord forms. The 1st Inversion G comes from Mickey's Form 8. The 2nd Inversion G is a new form. We can walk the notes on the 3rd string from G to F# to E and have 2nd Inversions Maj7th and Maj6th chords, as well. But the most used will probably be the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th of these forms.
Now let's look at Group B Major Comping Chords:
Group B Major Comping Chords
It appears that there is a lot more of them than Group A Comping Chords. Actually, I deleted some of the possibilities in Group A Major Comping Chords because for general use, closed spaced chords in the lower registers sound "muddy". Since Group B chords have their lowest note on the 5th string, we can start to use some of these closer spaced chords. The first two are C triad chords and I give them to you as an either-or selection. Use which of the two you prefer. I have no doubt that later in your career as a guitarist, you'll eventually use both forms. But for now and this appendix's lesson, use the one you like the best. Forms 3 and 4 are C Maj7's and you can also choose your favorite. Forms 5 and 6 are C Maj6's, and you may also choose between them. Form 7 is a 1st inversion C triad. Forms 8, 9, and 10 are 2nd inversion triad, Maj7, and Maj6, respectively. I mentioned these last three forms in the Group A Major Comping Chords paragraph and they probably should be classified as Group A forms. Notice that a 2nd Inversion C Maj7 uses the same fingering as a Group A GMaj6.
Now let's look at Group A Minor Comping Chords:
Group A Minor Comping Chords
You are probably beginning to see a relationship to the chords you already know. First of all, let's remember that A min7 chords are identical to C Maj6 chords. The 2nd inversion A min is the same fingering as a Group A 1st inversion Major chord. In this example, it's a 1st Inversion C triad.
What about Group B Minor Comping Chords? Let's look at them:
Group B Minor Comping Chords
I've given you a couple of choices there for Min7 and Min6. All of these forms should feel like old friends on the fretboard.
Our last two groups of comping chords are the dominant 7's. Remember all those 7, 9, 11, and 13 chords we worked with in Mickey's course? Sure you do. You going to be surprised at how few forms we need as comping forms:
Group A Dominant Comping Chords
Now don't forget that we can substitute the tri-tone complement of any dominant chord, such as a Db7 for a G7. I put the G7-5 in as a reminder. Now let's explore Group B Dominant Comping Chords:
Group B Dominant Comping Chords
As with the other Group B chords, we have a couple of more choices or options. Don't forget that tri-tone complement chord (Gb7 for C7), which gives us even more choices.
There's about 20 chord forms and if you don't count chord forms with two different names that lowers the number even more. I have created Appendix 2 - Comping Chord Forms.TEF which compares the comping forms to Mickey's original 33 chord forms. Before you study them, listen to the MIDI playback of the TEF. You'll see the comping chords never interfere with the original chords and blend in perfectly. With these forms, you can choose your favorites and tailor your comping to your individual taste. Note that you can also throw in a 4- or 5-note chord from time to time, not to mention a 2-noter or even an octave. Remember even Mickey occasionally used an octave. In your playing you'll find that you'll invent comping chords as you play.
For fingerstyle guitarists, it's a simple PIM pinch to play these chords. Plectrum guitarists must deaden unused strings, of course, but that's not a big deal. You are free to use whatever rhythm that you desire and swings with the tune. Our Chunk style works great, or you can just fill in holes while the bass and percussion keep the beat going. Chances are you'll use both in most tunes to keep the interest going.
This lesson's TEF's: I've selected the prime exercises from Lessons 45 and 46 of Mickey's course to convert to comping style for this appendix. I've given you one key and you can transpose it to as many keys as you desire. Listen to all three parts, then mute Mickey's rhythm, and play the solo against the comping version. You'll have the solo in the middle, Mickey's rhythm guitar on one side, and the comping on the other side.
Adding modern 3-note chord comping to one's bag of tricks is about as simple as it can be if the guitarist is comfortable with Mickey's original chords. Many guitarists find they use the comping forms almost exclusively.
If you wish to create a comp to a standard and share it with us, send it to me and I'll add it to the appendix.
Before we close this Appendix's lesson, I should mention another comping scenario. It is when the lead instrument is a low register instrument such as a tenor saxophone, trombone, or any of the basses from a standup double bass to an electric "Fender bass". That's much more common than one might imagine. A trio of guitar, bass, and percussion, or a quartet of guitar, sax, bass, and percussion are very common. From time to time, the bass player solos. An energetic standup bass player is a real crowd pleaser and something we'll definitely want to take advantage of. In those instances we'll want to use melody chords on the 4 strings for our comping... which, by the way, is a lead-in to Appendix 3 - Melody Chords.
Just keep it fun!