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| Functional Chord
Melody By Bruce Forman |
Free
guitar lessons from GuitarMadeSimple.com |
Functional chord melody is a
term I use for the ability to make up arrangements on the fly,
to use all of the musical information you know and blend it together
into an expressive and cohesive musical statement. This technique
is most commonly used in solo, duo with bass, and trio with bass
and drum settings.
- Melody is the MOST important thing, chords
should NEVER interfere with the phrasing and flow
- Just like your solos, the theme and the
texture of the statement should develop
- While chord melody by definition sounds
as if chords and lines are always simultaneous, it is actually
a variety of techniques:
In its simplest fashion, functional chord
melody is a mixture of melody, harmonized melody and chordal response
to melody (which might be called comping or call and response).
In order to really play a functional chord melody you must
be able to swing the tune in single line fashion. This is mandatory.
If you cannot do this, it should be practiced first! Once you
are comfortable with the melody and have an awareness of the basic
harmony, you are ready to begin.
There are simple things you can do with the basic chords that
create motion or the appearance of motion and assist in the rhythmic
flow or swing of the performance in their basic forms:
- Diatonic: Playing scalic
ideas or harmonized voicings (often referred to as modes)
- Inner voice movement: Moving tones
(commonly called voice leading) inside a voicing is a great
way to create movement and direction without a bunch of new
harmonic data being thrust on the tune or listener. First
try the 5th. Move it chromatically up to the 6th and back.
I'm sure you'll recognize having heard this in many people's
playing. If it is a dominant 7th chord, go up to that tone
from the 5th and back down (maybe to the flatted 5th?). The
major 7? +11? Minor major 7? etc. With a dominant 7th chord,
another effective movement in use is the b9 to #9. You probably
play it in blocks all of the time.
- Parallel: Chord voicings always
work when moved in parallel fashion and are very easy on the
guitar! Smooth resolution is affected if all of the notes
resolve in a uniform way. While chromatic resolution is the
smoothest and easiest, try other sequential groupings.
- Harmonic: This is a large group,
one that consists of substitutions, chromatic (parallel and
other) and superimposed progressions. For "function"
it is important that you NEVER interrupt the flow or try to
stuff so much in that you arrest the melodic and rhythmic
flow. Harmony is color and should be your last consideration.
Examples:
An Aminor chord: The first harmonic thing would be to create motion
from and back to that chord. The most obvious is Aminor to E7
and back to Aminor. Or A minor to Bb7 to Aminor. In the last case,
it contained what is often referred to as the tritone substitution.
Regardless of its name, I'm sure you recognize its relativity
to the parallel concept with only one different note. It is also
contained in the moving voice section as the notes in the chord
except the root is the same as the chord it is replacing and its
5th to 6th motion is the same as the b9 and #9 of E7 (the original
chord)
You might also create progressions:
Aminor, F#m7b5, E7b9
Aminor, G13, F13, E7
Aminor, Cmaj7, B7#5, Bb13
And that's before you use bass motion (ascending and descending,
chromatic, diatonic, whole tone), extend the progression, modulate
or any one of a number of techniques you are probably already
using in other songs.
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About the author
Bruce Forman, acclaimed a "prodigious talent" by Down
Beat, has developed his dazzling guitar signature over 20-plus
years as a professional musician. Embracing the spirit of musical
freedom expressed by bebop wizards Charlie Parker, John Coltrane,
Miles Davis, Wes Montgomery and others, Bruce has cultivated what
Option Magazine calls "a truly original style." In JazzTimes,
Barney Kessel "Bruce Forman is one of the great lights of
our age". Leader, as well as sideman, with many of the greatest
names in jazz, Bruce has performed at most major jazz festivals
and clubs around the world. Luminaries such as Stanley Turrentine,
Grover Washington, Bobby Hutcherson, Ray Brown, Eddie Jefferson
and Richie Cole have featured him in their bands. Visit Bruce
on the web at http://www.bruceforman.com
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