![]() Jane Miller is a guitarist, composer, and arranger with roots in both jazz and folk. Whatever role you are called upon to play as a guitarist, you will be prepared. The longer that part of the list gets, the more comfortable you will be at playing solo gigs, duo gigs and even trio gigs. Write your ideas down for future reference, either your own or someone else’s. Again, the power of visual representation is considerable. Many players and arrangers for solo guitar performance write out their chord-melody arrangements in notation for other players to use and perform. Make notes to yourself as much as you need to. Listeners will appreciate that, too, when the time comes to perform the piece. Take your time and craft it and let it build in a way that you like. There, as if written on the sky, I saw so clearly what had been going on: they had practiced! Be creative and reach for the unexpected harmony when making choices in a chord-melody solo. I couldn’t imagine how those gorgeous voicings and reharmonization ideas were just flowing out so effortlessly. I used to watch and listen to jazz guitarists play tunes all by themselves as if they had just decided to pick up the guitar that moment and see how it goes. You’ll gain freedom and a deeper understanding of the tune by playing it intuitively rather than relying on exactly what’s on the page. You’ll be able to visualize the phrases and the form as you play. More often than not, you’ll impress yourself by knowing at least one part of the song: the chord changes or the melody. Try going chart-free during a practice session. If, however, you have always used a chart for a song that you’ve played again and again, you’ll need to wean yourself from it. It seems that if we learn a song without having read it from a written part, we will never need a chart for it. (That’s likely one you can add to the chord category, as well, if you know the modified 12-bar blues form). Then go over it a few times every day to be sure. So you worked out a comfortable fingering for the head to “Billie’s Bounce?” Write it down. Just learned a new song last night on the bandstand by someone calling out the chords to you? You’ll probably never forget it. Try not to look unless you really get stuck. Go through fake books and try playing songs you’ve heard for many years, but you’re just not sure if you know the changes. You might surprise yourself to know that in fact you do have the chords to “Donna Lee” memorized quite easily, you just need to work on the melody some more. It will be a good feeling to discover that you actually can play the head to “Stella,” for example, and you just didn’t realize it. Songs you can play if you have a chart in front of you can go on a separate list-that’s worthy, too, but not quite in your repertoire. We’re talking about memorized melodies and chords here. Take an honest inventory of your playing. I recommend one piece of paper with three column headings across the top: HEADS, CHORDS, CHORD SOLOS. It might start with one song in one category, or you might find that you have several songs already at your disposal, but the important thing is to begin. To illuminate exactly which songs you “know” and enjoy playing in different ways and in different ensemble contexts, let’s get a few lists going. There’s nothing like seeing something in writing to make it seem so much more official. The better you know the chord progression, the more confident you can be while soloing and playing a chord-melody solo. The better you have the melody down, the better you can interpret it freely and refer to it in a solo. The more fully you understand a song, the better you will be able to improvise on it. While not all tunes will fall neatly on the neck as a chord-melody solo, learning to express at least some of the chord quality behind a melody will give you the best understanding of the song. These four aspects of a tune are all related and helpful to each other. As a jazz guitarist, it’s important to know the following four aspects of a song: 1.) Melody (playing “the head”) 2.) Chords (comping) 3.) Melody and Chords Together (playing a chord-melody solo) and 4.) Improvising (taking a solo over the chord changes or harmony of the tune). ![]() It turns out that knowing a song and being able to play it are two entirely different things. What do you like to play?” “Well, do you know Stella?” “Uh, let’s see… (noodle noodle)…Um, how ‘bout a blues? Do you know any blues heads?” And on and on it goes. “Wanna play some tunes?” “Sure, what do you wanna play?” “Uh, I don’t know, what tunes do you know?” “Oh, I don’t know, I know a lot of tunes, really. ![]() This time, however, let’s get some repertoire practice underway and start booking some gigs. We’ve examined the other kind here in months gone by, and there will be plenty more of that to come. There are two kinds of practice: repertoire practice, and the other kind.
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