Appendix 3 - Melody Comping Chords
Notes to Appendix 3
As a quick review of Appendix 2, we can think of 3-note comping forms as Mickey's Chord Forms on a diet. We ended that appendix by saying that from time to time, we'll accompany soloing instruments that play in the lower registers, such as a trombone, tenor sax, or probably most commonly, a bass. To add contrast, it's a great sounding technique to convert our melody chords into rhythm or comping chords. We don't have to modify any of our forms as we did in Appendix 2. And for the most part, the forms each comprise 4 notes, and mostly are played on the 1st through 4th strings. All of Mickey's rules for chord substitution apply. For major forms, we may play Maj7 to Maj6, or Maj9 to 6/9 forms. Minor forms follow suit as min7 to min6. Dominant harmony may use practically any of the highly colored chords without the fear of sounding muddy, or with less of a chance to clash with the melody due to the separation.
To illustrate this, I've taken the Lesson 45 and Lesson 46 exercises from Mickey's book as I did in Appendix 2. I've written a melody chord comping part in Module 1. I converted the lead part to a Bass and it's Module 2. I've left Module 3 which has the original rhythm chords that Mickey gave us as substitutes, but I've muted it. You can unmute it and mute the melody chords module to hear the contrast. I've just given you the "prime" keys, so it's up to you to convert them to all the other keys.
The rhythm I used in these 11 examples continues to be the familiar "chunk" that we've used throughout the course, for the same reasons as before - not to let the rhythm distract from the chord selection. Probably more commonly using this style of comping, you'll play short phrases that will sound like a counter melody that punctuates the soloing instrument. Jazz pianists are wonderful proponents of this style and a great source of inspiration are the early recordings of the Nat "King" Cole Trio, with Nat on piano. Another wonderful source are the recordings of the Count Basie Orchestra. Just listen to the art of Freddie Green on rhythm guitar keeping faultless tempo, and Bill "Count" Basie adding the punctuation, while the soloists each take a chorus.
Most likely, in actual gigs, we'll use all of the rhythm comping techniques to add variety to our arrangements. It doesn't take long before you'll create your own signature comping style.
About the lessons: Rather than learning a totally new concept, I'm confident that we'll find that we're just applying old friends in new ways. I've divided the chords into three lessons, and we'll use the Key of C:
Lesson 1 - Major Forms
Lesson 2 - Minor Forms
Lesson 3 - Dominant Forms
Let's jump right in and look at these forms.
Remember to keep it fun!