Lyman Lipke here. Today is going to be a little different. I’ve shared some pretty theoretically heavy guitar ideas with you before, but I just wanted to keep it a little lighthearted today. Let’s talk about the music of memes, and how I’m trying to put these songs to use towards a practical goal.
lyman lipke
Hi, LWM blog readers. Lyman Lipke here, and it’s been a while! This week, I’m beginning a series for the Jazzandgrass instagram going over two choruses of the chord changes to “I Got Rhythm”, by George Gershwin. Many different bebop melodies have been written over these chord changes. Oleo (Sonny Rollins), Rhythm-a-ning (Theolonius Monk), Cotton Tail (Duke Ellington), and Anthropology (Charlie Parker) are just a few examples of tunes that use these chords. With the ubiquity of these changes, it would be a good idea to take a look at the framework, and some different ways we can approach these chords.
Lyman Lipke here, with your semi-regular dose of jazz knowledge. Today, we’re going to be taking a look at a concept called “secondary dominant chords”. A quick definition, in any given key, a chord that is dominant (contains a major 3rd and a minor 7th) that isn’t the V chord, is called a secondary dominant. Confused? All right, here’s a quick example. In the key of C, you might see an A7, an E7, a D7, a C7 or an F7. Those would all be considered secondary dominant chords. If you’re feeling especially spicy, you might see chords like Bb7 and Eb7 in the key of C. G7 is not a secondary dominant in the key of C.
Lyman Lipke here once again. Last couple times I was here, we took a look at some chords. I’ve been putting off talking about single note lines, but if you’ve taken a good look at my previous posts on chords (or at the very least, pretended to), we can look at a few lines. Our study of chords will give us a deeper understanding of how these single note lines relate to the chord-sound we’re trying to play over.
I want to address a concept in jazz called “making the changes”. We’re trying to define what’s going on in the harmony through our single note lines.
Lyman Lipke here, again. Today we’re going to be looking at a few dominant chords that pair well with the minor 7 chords we looked at last time. If you need a reminder on what those chords are and how they can be used, feel free to refer to my last post. If you feel comfortable with those chords, we can move on. Now, the reason we’re looking at dominant chords today, is so we can contextualize them in a ii-V-I. In my post “Easy Chord Voicings for Jazz Guitar”…
Lyman Lipke here, once again, with an article pertaining to jazz. Is it time to learn the scales and the notes and how to shred? Not quite yet. Apologies for dangling the soloing carrot in front of you, but trust me, as someone who learned the scales and the notes before learning how to play the chords and connect them, you’ll be far more valuable (and employable) as a jazz guitarist. I’d like to talk a little bit about drop voicings, constructing a minor 7 chord, and…
Do you follow Jazz and Grass on instagram? If so, I’m Lyman Lipke, the other half that isn’t Marcel. If you don’t follow Jazz and Grass, then I’m just some guy with a few opinions on guitar and music related things. Marcel and I have played in groups before, including a bluegrass band! I want to make something clear though, I am NOT a bluegrass guitar player. I bow to The Billy Goat in that respect.