Filipo wrote:
>
> Gama <none@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:<BCD8B647.375E9%none@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>...
> > Are you reading a Berklee harmony book?
> >
> > Gama
> > http://www.dreamtracks.com/
> >
>
> No, I'm self-taught and I'm reading a book entitled "Jazz Keyboard
> Harmony" by Phil DeGreg, published by Jamey Aebersold Jazz. Its a
> great book if you're into comping, but I really want to play old
> standards with melodies, like songs taken from the Ultimate Jazz
> Fakebook. Songs like "Autumn Leaves" or "All the Things You Are" or
> "Misty". I like DeGreg's automatic II-V-I voicing exercises in all
> keys, but I'm having a heck of a time applying it to solo piano
> arrangements. The hard part is inserting the melody since the
> exercises were designed more for comping, say with a jazz trio, rather
> than with a melody inserted by the right hand fingers. Like how do you
> keep your melody finger gyrating while your chord voicing fingers are
> locked in a fixed pattern ready to pounce on the ivories in time with
> the steady beat of a metronome? Its almost like patting your head and
> rubbing your tummy at the same time!
>
> For example, Chapter 3 is entitled "Four-Voice Shell Extensions". The
> author provides the following 2-handed example but he doesn't tell
> you how on earth you're supposed to insert the melody:
>
> Key Left Hand Right Hand
>
> Em7 E D G B
> A7 A C# G b
> DM7 D C# F# A
>
> Then he goes on to another example like the following:
>
> Em7 E G D F#
> A7 A G C# F#
> DM7 D F# C# E
In the above 2 handed examples the 'melody' is the top note of the
voicing.
Usually (but not always) whatever note is heard at the top of a chord
takes on the role of melody in the listener's ear.
If you are looking for shell voicings to harmonize a given melody,
although I am not a piano player, the way to do this is to have the left
hand play
R 3 7
or
R 7 (3)
and add the melody with the right hand.
I have the 3 in brackets because for many chords it is too big a stretch
to grab the 3rd with the left hand in that voicing. So you can play just
R and 7 or you might be able to get the 3rd in with the thumb of your
right hand while you use the right hand's other fingers to play the
melody.
Of course if you are playing with a bass player you can omit the root
and just play 3 & 7 or 7 & 3 with the left hand.
Here's a blues in C with rootless shell voicing's in the left hand. Try
improvising a melody based on the C blues scale (C Eb F Gb G Bb C) with
the right hand while you play the shells.
C7 / / / |F7 / / / |C7 / / / |Gm7 / C7 / |
E Eb E F E
Bb A Bb Bb Bb
F7 / / / |F#dim7 / / / |C7 / F7 / |Bb7 / A7 / |
Eb Eb E Eb D C#
A A Bb A Ab G
Dm7 / Ab7 / |G7 / / / |C7 / A7 / |D7 / G7 / ||C7 etc.
C C B Bb C# C B Bb
F Gb F E G F# F E
> And on to other examples - shell voicings, guide tones, 3-note
> rootless voicings, 5- voice shell extensions, 4 - note rootless
> voicings, 4-note open position voicings, etc. Nowhere does he explain
> how or where I'm supposed to stab my ever-curious melody finger at the
> keyboard (though I know when - on the 1st and 3rd beat).
If the examples they are giving are designed to be used to harmonize a
melody also played on the piano then yes they should be showing how to
do that. but they are probably just demonstrating various ways that you
can comp behind someone else who is stating the melody like a singer or
a horn player.
> In the foregoing examples, I know that they are the same progression
> with different extensions (5-9-5 in one and 9-13-9 in the other). But
> this is just pure theory - I'm looking for him to tell me where to
> stick my melody finger while I'm doing the I-V-I exercises outlined
> above.
>
> This seems to be a problem with with all the jazz instruction books I
> have - books by Levine, Amadie, Beale, Edly, Dobbins - all full of
> theory signifying nothing, i.e., no clearly described step-by-step
> real-time fingering exercises a la Martha Stewart. I hired a teacher
> once who promised everything but delivered nothing - a classical
> pianist jazz artist wannabe.
>
> Thanks for letting me vent,
>
> Frustrated
If all those books, that happen to be recommended by a great many people
experienced in these matters, are not getting through to you then maybe
there is something wrong with the way *you* are approaching them.
The first teacher you tried didn't work out. Try again. This time look
for a guy who speacializes in jazz and knows how to play it.
--
Joey Goldstein
http://www.joeygoldstein.com
joegold AT sympatico DOT ca
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