"Bill/Claire Fairchild" <wicfair@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:<R8Psc.60848$gr.5816021@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>...
> I was a little surprised to learn it was Phil DeGreg's book you are
having a
> problem with, since I've worked with this book for several years and
> consider it the clearest explanation and practice method for jazz
voicings
> I've seen yet.
Thanks to all the wonderful responses to my earlier posts - I think I
can see the light at the end of the tunnel now. The definitive answer
I am seeking is embedded in the following paragraphs taken from
various posts:
<"It's true the book does not deal with melodies per se, but if you
have the floppy disk with the midi exercises where Phil solos on vibes
over the various voicings it should be clear how the voicings and
improvisation fit together."
I do have the floppy disk and I use it a lot with PG Music's
Powertracks 8.0. If you cross out the word "vibes" and replace it with
"piano", that would capture the essence of my question. Phil solos on
vibes assisted by full rhythm section, i.e., a pianist, a bass player,
and a drummer. In my case, I'm a one man band on the keyboard. So what
I'm trying to do is weave (or harmonize) a solo piano melody (or, as
you call it, improvisation) into the chord voicings, and his book does
not do that. But I like the automatic chord voicing exercises so much
that I've held on to Phil's book in the hope that I can somehow
harmonize the melody on my own by converting his chord voicing
practice methods to include the melody, resulting in something similar
to what guitarists call "chord melody playing".
<"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."
This is precisely the point. Phil's book is primarily a comping book
designed to show how you can comp behind a saxophone or vibes player.
He does have a section called "Right Hand Melodic Phrases" but
according to Phil, they only apply to 3 groups of voicings, namely:
(1) Chapter I - Shell Voicings - e.g., play E - D in LH; melody in RH
(2) Chapter IV - 3-Note Rootless Voicings - e.g., play E in LH; D-G-B
& melody in RH
(3) Chapter VI - 4-Note Rootless Voicings - e.g., play E in LH;
D-F#-G-B & melody RH
As you can see, adding a melody to the right hand causes the right
hand to be overloaded with as much as 5 notes (Chapter VI) while the
left hand plays only the roots. Which is ironic for me because I am
left-handed and I can handle a lot more notes with my left than with
my right hand. And I'm not ready yet to tackle rootless voicings - I
need to see the root to get my bearings.
So what I was trying to do was use the 4-voice shell extensions in
Chapter III, primarily designed for 2-handed comping, and adding a
melody to it, to convert it to a chord-melody style voicing. And this
is quite hard to do, when the chords are flowing at a fairly fast
tempo through all keys in half or full steps up and down the Circle of
Fifths.
So in the end, I may just have to settle for Chapter I shell voicings
- left hand plays the root and either the 3rd or 7th, and just
dedicate the right hand exclusively to the melody. Honestly, I find
this voicing too sparse, and it does not seem to be harmonically
complete, especially when you are playing thick and lush slow ballads
like "Misty" or "All The Things You Are".
Thanks all for your patience and understanding.
|
