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Improvisation in Jazz

Improvisation in jazz is a misunderstood musical process that in reality involves a deep understanding of structure. To develop improvisational ability, the player needs to be comfortable with the chords, bass line and melody of each piece of music. Into that framework the tools of the improviser can be blended: swing eighth notes, passing tones, syncopation, ornamentation, harmonic extension, quoting and many other techniques.

Guitar Improvisation

To begin to understand guitar jazz improvisation with guitar it is important to discover how to formulate jazz lines in a jazz rhythmic context. It is also essential that the guitarist practice the arpeggio or condensed chord arpeggio fragments that make up the harmonic building blocks of a jazz solo.

To develop familiarity with any of these styles, the guitarist can employ a variety of strategies to approach the challenge of improvisation in jazz. Dividing the improvisational skill sets into several tasks or categories is critical to becoming a guitar improviser. Playing the
bass lines, chord progressions and melodies of jazz standards are a good starting point for the beginning improviser.

The Ensemble Improvisation

It is also useful to recognize that improvisation in jazz can also mean that a jazz ensemble is creating new music in the moment, as a totality, as in the case of the John Coltrane Quartet or in the music of Ornette Coleman. All of the players are pushing the boundaries of the musical structure and rather than an individual soloist playing improvised lines against a predictable rhythmic pattern, there is a higher level of rhythmic flexibility and the possibility of
playing in more than one key at the same time. Jazz improvisation utilizing the guitar can run the gamut from the solo improvisations
of Joe Pass, the fusion styles of Larry Coryell or John McLaughlin, or the straight-ahead mastery of Peter Bernstein.

Regardless of the style of a jazz ensemble or solo guitar jazz music that you are drawn to, creating a structured plan for evolving improvisational capacities will be essential to becoming confident in your skills as an exponent of improvisation in jazz.

Learn more about “creative guitar.”

Chord Melody for guitar is a method of arranging jazz standards for the instrument.   For many guitarists, this an intimidating project that can seem very complex.  Where to begin?

When I began experimenting with chord arrangements for guitar I discovered that it was important to find the simplest version of a tune that I could work with.   Because jazz musicians often embellish or modify standard songs it is important to locate sheet music or find a recorded version of the piece that can serve as a template.

If a particular tune is typically played in the key of D Major, start with that key.   Play the bass line first.  Actually, play the bass movement by itself without a complicated rhythmic style or feel, half notes or even whole notes.  Once you feel that the bass movement is clear, played rubato or very slowly, begin to find the melody in the positions that work with the bass line.

Chord Melody for Guitar on Archtop or Telecaster

One thing to keep in mind in the process, is that it’s always important to make the melody slightly louder than the bass notes.   With electric guitar, your amp’s tone settings can play an important role, as well as the type of guitar that you are using.  Chord melody for guitar can happen on an archtop, a 335, a Telecaster or a nylon or steel string acoustic.   It all depends on your right hand tone production and your level of control.

Inner Voices with Chord Melody for Guitar

The next step in creating a chord melody for guitar, after you have the bass and melody working together, is to add one or two inner voices.    The inner voices fill out the arrangement and provide harmonic richness, defining the ‘quality’ of each chord.   Quality in the context of chord melody for guitar refers to whether the chord is a Maj. 7, Min.7, 9, 13, etc.

To get an idea of the possibilities, listen to recordings by Wes Montgomery, George Van Eps, Tuck Andress, George Benson, Jim Hall and Martin Taylor.   Each one of these players has a very different approach to the challenge of creating exciting arrangements. 

It will take time to develop your own process in the search for a satisfying version of a jazz standard, that will have all the elements of an outstanding arrangement of chord melody for guitar.  

To see more about the music of Jack Gates please visit about Jack Gates

Please contact me at [email protected] for lessons or coaching.

There are some guitarists who do one thing and do it well. Then there are the ones who dabble in a bunch of styles but seem to know just enough about each one to get themselves in trouble. Then there are players like Jack Gates who play a ton of different styles and own every single one. The Northern California guitarist/composer showcases his mastery of classical, jazz, Brazilian, Latin, flamenco, and pop guitar on his latest recording, Earth Messenger [Whitegates].

“It’s part of my musical nature,” he says. “I heard Segovia when I was a kid, and then I heard the Beatles—I was amazed at each new album they came out with. The next thing was Jimi Hendrix and that was overwhelming—I still feel that he was one of the most important guitarists, acoustic or electric.” Hendrix was a role model for Gates from a technical standpoint and also as a stylistically diverse songwriter. “I’m still floored by how he could bring so many different elements to his music. He had blues, jazz, funk, and classical and he brought all that to his writing.”

Gates’ rock influences led to steady gigs and sessions, but all the while he was drawn to the classical world. Studying with virtuoso David Tannenbaum gave Gates the guidance to hone and refine his nylon-string technique.

“It was a huge learning curve to go from playing with a pick to getting the right-hand technique you need to play classical,” says Gates. “He repositioned my hand and got my alignment correct so I could play with a relaxed technique and really get a lot of sound out of the instrument naturally. I did a lot of practicing over the years to get my sound.”

The sound that Gates refers to is actually hundreds of tones and colors that jump out of what might strike some a one-tone instrument—a nylon-string guitar. “One thing that’s true on any guitar,” he explains, “is that as you move your picking hand from the bridge to the fretboard, it’s almost like an EQ. The tone is very bright by the bridge and gets progressively darker as you move toward the neck. You can use that to get the timbre you want for any musical situation.” Those tonal shadings can be heard in the tune “Ocean Samba” and the Latin jazz of “Tigris and Euphrates.”

Gates’ main instrument on Earth Messenger is a classical guitar built by Antonio Marin from Granada, Spain. “This Marin guitar intonates really well. It lets me play complex jazz voicings high up on the fretboard, and I can count on them being in tune. That’s sort of unusual with a lot of acoustic guitars.” Gates will often play those voicings against open lower strings, for chords that might sound more at home on a piano.

“I’m influenced by Baden Powell and South American guitarists who use the whole instrument. I’ll stretch chords out that way. I love the coloristic differences between open strings and fretted notes, but the guitar has to really play in tune to make those chords sound right.”

All the hard work on tone and chops certainly seems to have paid off, with Earth Messenger being the culmination. “This record really reflects my back-
ground and my tastes,” he says. “I like a lot of different kinds of music. It’s exciting for me because I’m using a classical guitar to play Latin-influenced music with a jazz rhythm section and throwing in pop and fusion elements too. It all came together. It’s a sound I always imagined but never thought I could achieve.”

Composer and guitarist, Jack Gates published a solo guitar CD : five of them are
his original compositions, a sixth one was written with his wife Sharyl (a painter of refined
sensitivity) and eight pieces are by other artists which are primarily in the contemporary
genre..
Without resorting to any special effects of any kind, the listener is invited into an
atmosphere which is almost “live,” full of harmonies, marked by melodic journeys which,
coherently travel from Brazilian to Latin, to Spanish to Jazz and even to Pop (intensely,
in the song “Yesterday), thanks to a stylistic knowledge, which, with great agility passes
from the melodic to the elegiac (sad), crossing extraordinary ranges (“Naima” from
Coltrane, “Nardis” from Miles Davis, “Night and Day” from Cole Porter), with surprising
expertise, which reveals an uncommon mastery of the instrument, creating emotionally
intense and original instances, floating casually and with intelligence, in the colors and
tones.
His path is that of a virtuoso and is strongly expressive – maybe at times stylistically
patinated – but always elegant and kind, serene and pleasing. Jack is an artist of
undoubted conceptual sensitivity, of noteworthy talent, courageous in his attempt to
tackle pieces such as “Naima” (a really interesting philological re-reading of the master
piece from Coltrane!) or “Berimbau” (magnificent Evergreen from Baden Powell) in a
light and explemplerary way, even more so if you take into account that it is done with
an acoustic nylon string guitar and that’s all…..
The works which are more strictly and stylistically jazz, are produced with soft
“savoir faire” across a sonic landscape of pastel colors, one could say, a velvet
atmosphere and wisely balanced stylistically, because Jack is a profound expert of
traditional “jazz guitar” and, at the same time, a lover and singer of the Samba and of the
Bossa Nova, by virtue of his eclectic and pure musical language, distinct because of his
natural inclination towards “a knowledge of the world.”

mwe3: Your 2017 album, Bring The Flavors is one of the finest guitar
albums of the year. You say it takes an approach like cooking where you
add in a range of spices, to sum up with something fresh. Also what
spices are on the cover? You also mention Tibetan Buddhism as being an
influence. How did both cooking and Buddhism add to your musical
approach on Bring The Flavors?

Jack Gates: I feel that there is a relationship between flavors and
sonic qualities. What I’m trying to convey is an almost palpable aroma
or the sensation through the music. I think that the acoustic guitar is
particularly well suited to this process.
The spices on the cover are from a region of India called Kerala.
Buddhism provides a method for developing self-understanding. It also
helps to focus the mind and transform negative thinking.

mwe3: How do you maintain such a peaceful sonic outlook on Bring The
Flavors? With the world so stressful these days especially, do you align
music in a way as to soothe the beast so to speak? New Age and
Classical-influenced jazz is very popular these days no doubt but people
are looking to music as an aural form of meditation.

Jack Gates: The challenge for me is to tune out the world of
technology, email, and news. If I can get up in the morning with a fresh
perspective, perhaps with a view of the forest, my mind is clear enough
to allow the natural music inside of me to emerge.

The other aspect is choosing a recording environment that is free of
distractions. I’ve been lucky to work with Justin Mayer at Bear Creek,
he really has designed his studio to be transparent to the user and he
also brings that approach to his recording technique.

mwe3: You studied guitar with classical legends David Tanenbaum and
Julian Bream. What did you learn from your early guitar teachers and
how did they influence your own music performance and writing?

Jack Gates: David was my main teacher, he aligned my hands for
correct positioning and taught me how to read a score and the
elements of creative interpretation within the historical context. The
Bream master class, which I audited, was a revelation of sonic
possibilities. Julian Bream could get more varied timbres out of the
instrument than any guitarist of his time.

mwe3: You like to combine classical guitar with jazz and even rock. How
do you approach and blend all those genres and styles that sit side by
side on Bring The Flavors?

Jack Gates: It was a very gradual process over many decades of trial
and error. I’ve been lucky in that my career as an on-call guitarist
has pushed me into live performance and studio situations where I had
to quickly adapt to many different styles of music.
I wouldn’t suggest that any guitarist try to emulate that approach.
Really, I’ve used classical guitar as a tool for my own compositional
purposes rather than as a career classical peformer.

Electric guitar with overdrive is a very different animal than an
unamplified nylon-string instrument. It requires a completely different
touch and attack of the note.

mwe3: On Bring The Flavors you’re supported by a different group of
musicians than on Voyage of the Troubadour album. How would you
compare both albums and did you take a different approach on Bring
The Flavors this time around?

Jack Gates: I did consciously take a different approach. I have been
fortunate to work with great musicians on both recordings. Steve
Robertson brings special skills to the process, as he is an expert in jazz
trap set as well as Brazilian and Latin hand percussion. On this latest
record, he plays pandeiro (pan – dare – oo) and timba (chim – ba) , which
are not often heard in the U.S. Pandeiro is becoming more well known
through the growing interest in choro music, a style of acoustic
instrumental music that originally was heard in the U.S. in films by
Carmen Miranda.
Some of the tracks use the Steely Dan approach of layering each track
one at a time. On others, Steve and I played live together and
improvised as well.
Stan Poplin is the bassist on this record and was a member of the
famed Robben Ford/Jimmy Witherspoon Group. He brings great feel
and presence to the recording.

mwe3: You recorded another album with Tim White called Impromptu.
When was that album recorded and released? How would you compare
the Impromptu album with Tim to your other recordings with Tim? Is

Tim playing sitar on that album as well? It looks like you guys have a
great musical community in California. What’s new with Tim?

Jack Gates: Impromptu was released in 2015. It was completely
improvised in the studio. I’ve been recording and playing with Tim for
several decades, we both studied with the great Ustad Ali Akbar Khan.
The music community in this part of California is still extremely active
and diverse, although many of the players that I knew in the past have
relocated to New York or other areas.
Tim has been working on recording projects with Alam Khan and many
others. He’s a very active producer, recording engineer, and teacher in
Northern California and he has a classical sitar performance career as
well.

mwe3: Has there been any new developments in the guitar world for
you? You recorded Voyage Of The Troubadour with classical guitars
made by Antonio Marin and John Mello and a Telecaster on the electric
parts. What guitars are featured on Bring The Flavors and can you tell
us what strings and amps you are currently using and if there’s any
other tech news?

Jack Gates: I used the same Tele on many of the electric parts on
these new songs. I also played a 1971 Guild Bluesbird guitar.
The amp is a modified Joe Morgan RV40 with 10-inch speakers in an
open back cabinet by J Design.
I used an OCD Fulltone pedal as well as a tc electronic delay.
The acoustic guitars are a John Mello classical with Honduran
Rosewood, a Jesus Jimenez flamenco negra from Spain, and a blanca

made by Miguel Malo. I also play a Glenn Canin flamenco double top in
performance.
I typically use La Bella 2001 normal tension trebles and either
composite or normal D’addario Pro Arte basses.
The electric strings are Curt Mangan .11s.
The acoustics were recorded using combinations of Neumann KM 140s
and an AKG 414 TLII.

mwe3: Did you overdub different guitars on different tracks? How
many guitar tracks does a song need? A good example of that is on
track five, called “Seraphic Journey”. That track is just over eight
minutes, the longest track on the CD, and you describe it as a
combination of Renaissance music as well as Brazilian music and rock
too. How did you overdub guitars on that track and then layer it with
the other instruments?

Jack Gates: On Seraphic Journey I recorded the entire acoustic
track in one take. Then I thought for a long time about how to
overdub something that could create a conversation between the
acoustic and electric guitar.
I decide to overdub a clean sound in the first section, then an
overdrive sound in part 2. The first section is influenced by Dave
Brubeck, Bach and Rennaisance guitar music. Part 2 is like bossa and
samba music of the 60s and 70s with some blues thrown in for good
measure. The only other instrument is the jazz trap set that Steve is
playing, which he played after I laid down the acoustic guitar.
So, two guitars and drums, that’s it.

mwe3: What other things like performing, writing and recording and
producing are you planning for 2017?

Jack Gates: I’m working on a new album that will probably feature
woodwind and brass instruments in arrangements with acoustic nylon
string guitar. I’ve been performing with sitarists Tim White and Phillip
Porter, two different ensembles with tabla accompaniment.
I’m working on several guitar books which will eventually be completed!