Sunny: Chordal Melody Statement

In a prior post (here), I laid out two basic root-position complex-comping chord forms, the G7-form on the E-string and the C7-form on the A- and the D-strings. I also gave you a II-V-I exercise to play these forms all over the guitar fingerboard. Once you've learned these two forms, you should be able to read a decent lead sheet (for example, any song in the Real Book) and play an accompaniment, that is, comp behind any instrument or singer (see Exercise 1 below). You could also play a simple vamp (repeating figure) such as the introduction to Sunny displayed above. But, could you go further and develop a chordal melody statement, that is, play the song solo?

I've developed a choral melody statement for Sunny using just the complex-comping chord forms and a fingerboard chart (download the pdf file here, the mscz file here for MuseScore, and the chord forms and fingerboard chart here). If you look at the original lead sheet (if you would like a MuseScore mscz file of the original lead sheet for personal study, please contact me), you will see that I have raised the melody a perfect octave for guitar (but otherwise made no changes to the notes), but I have changed the chord names. Some of the changes are based on functional harmonic analysis (figured bass using John Mehegan's terminology), which I will cover more fully in a future post. Other changes involve fitting the melody within the chords listed and just trying to give the song a little more jazz flavor.

As written,  the piece should be played as a slow ballad. You will get pretty bored if you play the melody as actually written. If you are a jazz musician, you will feel like you want to break out of the arrangement to make it more bluesy and to make it swing a little more. That's great! That's exactly the purpose of this exercise and of approaching every lead sheet with a lot of skepticism.

Let me go through the process of analyzing the lead sheet more slowly. The chords of the first four measures are written as:

Cm7 | Bbm7 Eb | Abmaj7 | Dm7 G |

but I have written the chordal melody statement out using

Cm7 | Bbm6 | Eb13 Bbm7 | Abmaj13 D7sus4 | G7 |

The Bbm6 chord was substituted for Bbm7 because the melody note, F, is the sixth degree of the Bbm chord. Some writers might have named this Bbm13 and, if you were following the complex chord form sheet (here), you might also choose Bbm13. To my ear, however, the chord sounds more like a Bbm6 when played against the following Eb13 and Bbm7 chords (see Exercise 6 below).

The Eb13 chord was chosen rather than Eb because the Eb major triad (Eb-G-Bb) doesn't sound right (to a jazz musician) and the melody line going from Eb to C suggests Eb13 (since C is the 13th degree above Eb). The same reasoning applies to the Abmaj7 chord which was changed to Abmaj13 since F is the 13th degree above Ab.

The Dm7 chord was changed to D7sus4 since G is the +4th degree of D. Finally, the G chord was changed to G7 since the G-major triad (G-B-D) doesn't make sense here. By "not making sense here" I mean that the G-major triad does not fit the functional harmonic analysis (the "abstract truth"):

|| (Eb/Cm) Im  (Ab) | II V | I (Eb/Cm) | II V ||

The song is in the key of Eb but based on the relative minor (VI or Im, that is, Cm7). The Abmaj7 chord is the IV of Eb but it is easier to see the II-V-I progression (from the last post, here) if we temporarily change the key to Ab. In the fourth measure, if we change the key back to Im (Eb/Cm) we can also clearly see the II-V-I turnaround. A standard jazz minor key II-V-I turnaround is typically written, for example, as D7sus4 - G7+ - Cm7. The Eb and G chords in the lead sheet were probably written this way because the writer was following the bass movement but not following the function of the chords within the song.

The next four measures just repeat the first four measures, so there is nothing new here.

The final eight measures function as the bridge. In the lead sheet, the chords are written:

|| Cm7 | Bbm7 Eb | Abmaj7 | Db | Dm7b5 | G7#9 | Cm7 | G7#9 ||

where I wrote the chord changes as

|| Cm7 | Bbm6 Eb13 | Abmaj 7 | Db9 | D7sus4 | G7 | G7+ | Cm7 | G7#9 ||

The same reasoning applies. The Eb major triad does not make sense here but Eb13 does. The Db major triad also does not make sense but Db9 does (given the second Eb melody note, the 9th degree of Db). The G7#9 chord in the lead sheet, although jazzy sounding, doesn't really sound right until the end of the bridge while the G7+ sounds better to my ear given the extended II-V-Im turnaround.

As a bonus, I've provided a two-measure vamp at the end. The reason for the bonus vamp is that, in the next post, I will start writing out the transcription for Wes Montgomery's chordal melody statement for the "alternate take" of Sunny from the California Dreaming album (here). I will try to demonstrate that the complex comping chord forms are enough to play a typical melody statement of the from Wes Montgomery liked to use. However, I'll repeat the musician Jimmy Stewart's warning that when approaching "…Wes' stylistic solos … it is advisable to first play the lead sheet form before you attempt the stylistic solo" (p. 18 in the Wes Montgomery Jazz Guitar Method).

In the next post I'll start explaining why Jimmy Stewart was dead on with this warning.

FINGERINGS

The fingerings are annotated with numbers 1-4 corresponding to the fingers of the left hand starting from the first finger opposite the thumb. The thumb is never used for "grabbing" a bass note on the E-string, although Wes Montgomery (and a lot of other guitarists) can be seen doing this on videos. The left thumb should stay firmly on the back of the guitar neck!

Barre chords are annotated by repeating the first (and sometimes the second, third and fourth) finger.

When a chord is not annotated, the fingering is the same as written earlier in the song. Single notes have  not been annotated but, at least in the song above, can be found around the chord shape and would use fingering based on the fret position of the chord (see the discussion for arpeggio fingerings here).

EXERCISES

1. Pick any lead sheet in the Real Book and practice a chordal accompaniment (comping) using the chord forms laid out in the prior post (here).
2. Write out a chordal melody statement for Autumn Leaves (see the prior post here).
3. Write out a chordal melody statement for Giant Steps (see the prior post here).
4. Pick any song in the Real Book and try to write out a chordal melody statement.
5. Listen to Wes Montgomery's chordal melody statement for Sunny (it's the 7th cut, "alternate take" on the California Dreaming album here). Print out (download the pdf file here) and annotate areas in the chordal melody statement that differ from Wes' approach.
6. Take a careful look at the | Bbm6 - Eb13 - Bbm7 | Abmaj 7 | II-V-I turnaround. From the perspective of a jazz improvisation, are Bbm6 - Eb13 - Bbm7 basically elements of the altered Bbm scale, especially when you go back and look at the G7 chord form shifted up to 6E? Can you find all of these chords within that chord form at the sixth fret?
7. Start improvising: (1) combine the chordal melody statement with single note arpeggios (from work on the earlier post here) for a single-note solo, (2) combine the chordal melody statement with an octave solo (from the earlier post here), and (3) EXTRA CREDIT use the complex-chord forms to develop of chordal improvisation!

Jazz Guitar Chord Studies: Comping and Complex Chords

The four legs, if you will, of jazz guitar playing are: (1) single-note melody lines based roughly on closed-form, arpeggio chords (covered in a prior post here), (2) single-note "blowing" lines based on modal playing (to be covered in a future post), (3) chordal accompaniment or "comping," that is playing chords behind another instrument, such as a sax, a singer or sprinkling chords within a melody line (covered in this post) and (4) fully harmonized block chord solos (to be covered in a future post). Comping chord forms do not allow for complete voice leading but you can get very close, as I will show in future posts. And, the comping chord forms can be used as a visual aid to running Charlie Christian-style single-note lines (see Jerry Hansen's excellent e-book Charlie Christian: Legends of Jazz Guitar). Since Wes Montgomery started out listening to and learning Charlie Christian solos, it may be that Wes learned the guitar fingerboard this way. In any event, you can get a long way playing jazz guitar with a three-legged stool, that is, modal playing (to be covered in a future post), comping chords and single note lines.

The two chord forms presented above (download the pdf file for reference here) are the G7-form with the root on the low E string and the C7-form with the root on the A or D string. Why can you get so far with these two simple forms? In John Mehegan's words: (1) "Chords of less than a seventh are insufficient for jazz" (p. 11), (2) "Jazz is basically a 'root position' music" (p. 41) and (3) the "sensitive tones" (9, 11, and 13) "… can bring a tonal interest lacking in the root, third, fifth and seventh" (p. 133). John Mehegan was writing about Jazz piano where the left-hand plays the root-position chords and the right-hand plays the improvised arpeggios or modal blowing lines. This isn't possible on guitar (the right hand is busy strumming and the left hand has only four fingers to work with), but the jazz guitarist can get very close to this ideal form of playing as I'll describe in future posts.

The first step in simulating the piano players left hand is to understand how to "grab" any root position chord for accompaniment (either for another instrument of for your own single-note lines). The chord forms pictured above were roughly taken from Chapter II of William Fowler's "Guitar Patterns for Improvisation" (here and here). From the two basic seventh chord forms (G7 and C7) you can derive a large number of jazz chords and provide chordal accompaniment to any jazz chart that has the correct chord symbols for the song.

The problem at this point will be to learn the basic root position chords all over the fingerboard. There are a number of great jazz exercises you will run into on the Internet. The one I like best also helps understand Giant Steps. The exercise starts in some key (I'll pick C), plays a II-V-I progression, changes the I to Im and starts the progression all over again in a key one full step lower (Bb in this case). The first set of changes would be || Dm7 G7 | Cmaj7 (Bb) | Cm7 F7 | Bbmaj7 (Ab)| etc. The entire sequence is:

||: (C) II V | I (Bb) | II V | I (Ab) | II V | I (Gb) | II V | I (E) | II V | I (D) | II V | I (C) :||

And, in twelve measures were back to the key of C again. Coltrane uses I-Im change as a transition into the Giant Steps solo (form Eb to Ebm7 and the key of Db).

In the II-V-I Exercise above (download the pdf file here and the MuseScore mscz file here), I work this set of progressions all over the fretboard using only the root position chords. I've given the fingerings and fingerboard locations. The II-V-I Exercise is based on moving the following form (derived from the graphic above, download the pdf file here) around on the fingerboard starting with the C-maj scale.

To play a four-note open voicing, skip the red dot (which just repeats the 5th). For a five-note, open voicing, just add the fifth. For the broken voicings in the chord table above, skip (x out) the lower 5th and add the upper 5th (red dot). The fingering will be different, but it will be annotated in the I-V-I Exercise when needed.

In the next few posts, I'll take the II-V-I exercise to the tunes Sunny, Autumn Leaves and Giant Steps.  These chord forms will also help to understand Charlie Christian-style single note lines, chord substitutions, enclosures and playing out, so we gain a lot from learning and playing a few chord shapes. You can get a long way in jazz guitar playing with a three-legged stool, that is, single-note lines, modal playing and comping chords. In fact, you could play pretty much like Pat Martino, if you had the facility (a big "if")! On a more modest level, with the chord forms pictured above and arpeggios, you could play a jazz version of Sunny with single note improvising and octaves. You could not play a fully harmonized, block chord, Wes Montgomery style solo sitting on this three legged stool, but then neither did Wes on Sunny.

MORE DETAIL:

The basic G7 chord is played R, 5, 7, 3 whether you start on the E-string, the A-string or the D-string. Right now, let's concentrate on the locations of the root, third, fifth and seventh on the E-string, the fingering would be 1,3,1,2, for the A-string the fingering would be 1,3,1,4 and for the D-string, the fingering would be 1,3,2,4). To play Gm7 or Cm7, you would flat the third. To play either Gmaj7 or Cmaj7, you would raise the 7th.

The chord table above presents the most used forms (you can download the pdf file for reference here). For the songs we've covered so far (Sunny, Autumn Leaves and Giant Steps), you should be able to find all the chords you need and, as we proceed further along, I'll layout the exact fingerings.

EXERCISES

1. Start in the key of B-maj and write out the II-V-I Exercise, copying the C-maj II-V-I Exercise above.
2. Experiment with the "sensitive tones". Try, for example, Bm7 - Eb13 - Abmaj7, the second and third measures of Sunny (here).
3. Try a minor progression starting with D7sus4 - G7+ - Cm7 (measures 8 and 9 in Sunny).
4. Identify all the II-V-I progressions in Autumn Leaves and develop exercises from these progressions.
5. Create your own version of Giant Steps (here) using the following progression ||: (B) II V I (G) II V I (Eb) II V I  (B) II V I (G) II V I (Eb) II V I :|| and fit it into 16 measures.
6. Find your favorite II-V-I Coltrane lines in his Giant Steps solo (here). Try playing the lines and accompanying yourself with quick II-V-I chord changes after the single-note lines.

John Coltrane: Giant Steps Arpeggios

John Coltrane was a great jazz musician, musical innovator, teacher and student (interestingly, in Philadelphia he studied with jazz guitarist Dennis Sandole). Giant Steps is one of his best known compositions and solos. It encapsulated everything he had learned up to that point in his career and included many of his enduring jazz innovations. It has been recorded by many great jazz musicians (particularly guitarists, for example, Mike Stern's solo and Pat Metheny's solo). It has been studied intensely (see a few references below) and the entire piece has been transcribed and is available (in the video above by Dan Cohen) as "animated sheet music" where the solo is linked directly to the sheet music. Finally, Coltrane's solo makes extensive use of arpeggios, the topic of my last few posts (here, here and here).

Studying Giant Steps is typically not a topic for introductory students. To even scratch the surface of Coltrane's composition, we would need to first cover the cycle of fifths, the major thirds cycle, the Coltrane Changes, modulation, block chords, Be-bop scales, modal jazz scales, chord substitutions, figured bass, II-V-I progressions and lots of jazz theory. All these topics will be covered in future posts, but that's too long to wait to introduce Giant Steps.

There are a number of approaches to soloing over the changes (see the references below), but Coltrane favored arpeggios. I will look at the John Coltrane solo on Giant Steps where the arpeggios and rhythmic variations are particularly easy to recognize and for which we have his basic solo written out for study (contact me if you would like the solo for personal study--many transcriptions on the Internet do not use the correct chord changes, see below).

What would be useful at this point is to listen carefully for the use of arpeggios in the video above and follow the animated sheet music, reading the notes as you go. I would argue that Coltrane uses arpeggios for a specific purpose in the solo, that is, to add dynamic interest (more on that in future posts). While you are reading the music, you will probably be distracted by the weird chord progressions. The sheet music is written in the key of C yet there are actually very few chords native to that key. Also, the lead sheet is written in one set of chord changes and Coltrane solos over a different set of changes. What's going on? If you find this distracting or interesting or both, read the technical note below. Otherwise, concentrate on what you are hearing and listen for the arpeggios.

What I would particularly like you to listen for are (1) the different patterns being used, for example 1-3-5-7, 5-3-1-7 etc., (2) what they sound like to your ear and (3) where do the arpeggios seem to start galloping along, propelling the solo forward. In the pdf file below I have written out the first eight measures of the solo (mouse over the image to see the floating palette and download the file--you can also find the pdf file and the MuseScore msc file here--opening the msc file in MuseScore will allow you to hear the Coltrane solo at reduced speed or listening now to the solo) and annotated the arpeggio and scale patterns being used to get you started (here).

Next, I would like you to play (or listen to here or if you download the msc file and play it in MuseScore here) the Mehegan-style (from John Mehegan's Jazz Improvisation book) arpeggio exercises written over the Giant Step solo changes (here).

It's really hard for me to imagine starting with the Mehegan-style exercise and ending up with the Coltrane solo. If you keep listening to both the Coltrane solo and the arpeggio exercise, you can start to imagine Coltrane playing this over-and-over-again until it becomes a hallucinatory or religious experience (maybe the same as repeated listening to a Bach Chorale). John Mehegan would probably argue that the point of the arpeggio exercise is to come up with "your" Giant Steps solo, not Coltrane's. But, this still begs the question of whether arpeggio exercises are the way to get there.

In future posts, I will take apart the Coltrane solo and fill in different sections with different ideas based on block chords, Be-bop scales, modal jazz scales, and chord substitutions. In the next post, I'll start by introducing a simplified approach to root-position block chords from William Fowler's Guitar Patterns for Improvisation. Then, I'll return to Giant Steps and move the solo closer to the way I would play it.


TECHNICAL NOTE
Giant Steps is essentially a collection of V-I and II-V-I progressions modulating through three key changes (B-G-Eb). The solo can be looked at in two ways. First, the key of Eb is changed to Eb-minor and the cycle repeats or, second,  the modulation is dropped a whole step and the cycle repeats (A-F-Db)--the reasons are discussed more fully in the references.

In figured bass notation with key signatures in parentheses, the cycle is:

(B) ||: I (G) V |  I (Eb) V | I |
(G) II V | I
(Eb) V | I (B) V | I |

(Eb) II V | I | (G) II V | I | (B) II V | I | (Eb) II V | I | (B) II V :||

I have divided the notation in parts (after the third Eb) because at this point, the II-V-I progression is very clear. Matt Warnock teaches the second part of Giant Steps first because the progression is clearer (see his references below).

To understand the first seven measures, we have to understand the Coltrane Changes. John Coltrane's early career was spent with the blues-bassed Eddie Vinson Band. In figured bass, the standard twelve-bar blues progression is

||: I | IV | I | I | IV | IV| I | I |
  II | V | I | I :||

Going back to an earlier theme of mine, Coltrane became bored with the last four measures and began innovating and experimenting.

II               | II           | V        | I ||
II (bVI) V | I (III) V | I (I) V | I ||
I  (bVI) V | I (III) V | I (I) V | I ||
      m3     P4   m3  P4  m3  p4

The innovation in the third line (the Coltrane Changes) forms the first part of Giant Steps.

For the solo, the key changes are simply replaced with (A-F-Db)--this isn't always correctly annotated in Giant Step transcriptions but is correct in the video above and in the Wikifonia transcription  (here).

Coltrane studied the cycle of fifths, the major thirds cycle, modulation and II-V-I progressions intensely.  Giant Steps, in my view, is what he learned and passed on to us as the product of that intense study. In doing this, he also pushed arpeggios and chord changes to the limit of their usefulness, after which he moved on into modal jazz scales, enclosures, outside playing (playing out of the arpeggio or scale notes) and avant-garde jazz. Through studying Giant Steps and other Coltrane pieces we benefit from his intense study.

REFERENCES

Matt Warnock
Giant Steps Subs
6 Essential Giant Steps Licks For Jazz Guitar
11 Essential Coltrane Licks
Simplifying the Coltrane Matrix: Part I
Simplifying the Coltrane Matrix: Part 2 Comping and Chord Melody
3 - 9 arpeggios
Soloing over Major II-V-I chord progressions
Jazz Guitar Chords - Coltrane II-V-I Substitutions

Dr. Ronald S. Lemos Shredding Coltrane Changes with the Basic Pentatonic Scale
Jeff Brent's Lessons Giant Steps Analysis
Giant Steps Composition (Wikipedia Page)
Dan Adler The 'Giant Steps' Progression and Cycle Diagrams
Jeff Bair Cyclic Patterns in John Coltrane's Melodic Vocabulary


BACKING TRACKS
Eric Watson plays Giant Steps with a backing track (uses octaves for the melody statement)
Chris Bieniek plays Giant Steps with a Backing Track (uses chords to build excitement in the solo)
Giant Steps (Medium Bossa)
Giant Steps Funk Backing Track
Giant Steps (In Small Steps) B. T.'s by Randy Martin Guitar (uses modal jazz scales)
Giant Steps Guitar Solo (over Absersold) by Ben Rick
Giant Steps (Coltrane) Julio Chumbinho HERRLEIN GUITAR

Mike Stern Master Class: Improvising on Autumn Leaves

In a few previous posts (here and here) I've claimed that jazz musicians actually use the kinds of arpeggio exercises that I have never had much use for. In this post, I will start providing the proof.

In the video above from a master class, jazz guitarist Mike Stern starts out by first arpeggiating the chords for Autumn Leaves and then takes off with a great example of jazz improvisation. Mike calls the arpeggios "chord turns" and explains how classical composers would outline chord changes in a "particularly beautiful way," for example in the Bach Corales. Jazz musicians can use chord turns for parts of solos as long as they make sure it doesn't sound like an exercise! Mike then goes on to demonstrate with the changes for Autumn Leaves.

In the pdf file (here) and the MuseScore msc file (here) I have written out an arpeggio exercise using the changes Mike was outlining. I've given the fingering for the the first note of each arpeggio in the first eight measures. In the second eight measures, Mike switches to a higher register. I've written these arpeggios out as octaves so you can either player the higher note or play the octave. In the sixth and seventh measures on the second page, Mike plays block chords (Em7, Eb7, Dm7, Db7). These are pretty standard root-position chords that many readers will be able to play. In a future post, I'll describe a very straight-forward way to play root-position chords on guitar, especially now that you are familiar with octaves and arpeggios.

Also, in a future post I'll go on to analyze Mike's solo in more detail. If you're interested, you can find a transcription of a Mike Stern Autumn Leaves solo from the Bob Berg In The Shadows CD here. Comparing the two solos is an interesting exercise in understanding the process of improvisation. One point I want to make here is that Mike knows and can arpeggiate the chord changes to Autumn Leaves by heart. So our first step is memorization! Then we go on to play arpeggios (and maybe throw in some block chords) until we are bored, at which point we move on to try different things that might interest us. In the Bob Berg transcription, Mike uses be-bop scales, side-slipping (outside playing) and guide tones (targeting)--all topics to be explored in future posts on jazz improvising.

In the next post, I will look at John Coltrane's use of arpeggios in his well known solo on Giant Steps. Hopefully, studying the Coltrane solo will provide enough proof that the greatest jazz musicians have made extensive use of arpeggios.

Improvising with Eighth-note Arpeggios

In Lesson 35 (page 57) of John Mehgan's Jazz Improvisation and Rhythmic Principles it is suggested that "as a starting point for improvisation, abandon the melody and play the arpeggios of the chords in eighth notes." In prior lessons in Section V (p. 53) Mehegan describes arpeggios and introduces the concept of arpeggios in rhythm. In a prior post, here, I worked out similar material for jazz guitar. In this post, I'll apply the ideas to the song Sunny by Bobby Hebb.

The pdf file (here, the first few measures are displayed above) provides an example using the changes from Sunny and using Mehegan's approach starting on page 58 of  Jazz Improvisation. I have just indicated the starting string and finger to use for each arpeggio. The fingering patterns are similar to what has already been presented here with some small differences:

• In the first measure, second line, the descending Abmaj7 arpeggio starts with the +4 fingering notation at 9B. This means that the fourth finger is raised one half step to play the root of the arpeggio, Ab. The same notation is used for the descending Abmaj7 arpeggio in the second measure, third line. The way to think about this is that all the notes of an arpeggio (to include higher order 9ths, 11ths and 13ths) are found in or around the octave. This is the reason I introduced octaves before arpeggios and block chords. It's not the only way to play a descending Abmaj7 arpeggio in two octaves (one could also start with the second finger on Ab on the high E string, that is 2 at 4e) but it retains the octave structure.
• In the third measure of the third line, note that even though there is a jump between C of the Dm7 chord and G of the G7 chord, the two chordal arpeggios are played in the same position on the guitar. Finally, in the third measure of the first line and the first measure of the third line, the Eb13 chord, the 13th is played as a 6th (C); it could also be played as a seventh (Db) with the 13th (C) played an octave higher than the 6th.

Once you can play all the chordal arpeggios of a song in root position, Mehegan encourages you to be more exploratory: "Do not 'set' the improvised figures. Use the arpeggios both ascending and descending as well as from various inversion points (third, fifth and seventh)" (page 57). The exploration of inversions and higher order tones (9ths, 11ths and 13ths) are exercises you can develop on your own. I would suggest first learning to arpeggiate the chords in root position from memory and then going on to explore inversions and higher order tones, converting the exercise into a real improvisation. Also, explore different rhythmic combinations: half-notes, quarter notes, eight notes, sixteenth notes and 32nd notes (Matt Warnock suggests using triplets involving 3-5-7 in different orders--think in terms of the octave for the root position chord and play the 3-5-7 inversions on the appropriate string). Write out your best ideas in a notebook and use the notebook to developing your own style (John Coltrane kept such a notebook). As before, play everything in different keys.

Now that you have "heard" Mehegan's approach to developing improvisational ideas, you should remain skeptical.  The arpeggios have a particular "sound" and use within an improvisation but must be supplemented with scales, modes, block chords that can be played on guitar and non-chordal tones. All of these topics will be taken up in future posts.

In case you are still resistant to doing exercises (as I was), in the next post I will show that arpeggios are routinely used by jazz musicians. The first example I will use is the song Autumn Leaves from jazz guitarist Mike Stern's master class where Mike explains how he uses "chord turns". In a following post, I will look at the John Coltrane solo in Giant Steps where the arpeggios and rhythmic variations are particularly easy to recognize and for which we have his basic solo written out for study (please contact me if you would like a MuseScore msc file for personal study).

NOTE: If you find any errors in the pdf file, let me know.

Can't Get The Music Out of My Head

Here are a number of things guitarist Brad Carter is not doing in the video clip above:

• Trying to get the music out of his head
• Taking a break during brain surgery
• Warming up for a Lady Gaga Concert
• Trying to reduce his health care costs by bartering a free concert with the OR staff

To get the incredible answer, you'll have to watch the video.

How to Warm Up For a Practice Session

Jazz Guitarist Matt Warnock recently posted this picture on his Facebook page (here and, no, I really don't look like the guy in the picture, yet). Matt was asking his followers if they had "Any big practice plans for the weekend." A few of them responded asking for suggestions. I can only pass on what my guitar teacher, Roy Plumb, suggested as a warm up exercise other than 2112 By Rush.

Warm Up Exercises by George Pasdirtz

The idea here is to play the ascending 1-3-2-4 pattern on each string and the descending 4-2-3-1 backwards on the same strings after which you move up a fret and repeat the entire pattern until you've reached the 12th fret (hit the "play" button above the score to here the exercise). As your finger strength, dexterity and technique improve you can, when reaching the 12th fret, do everything in reverse back down to the 1st fret. Another option is to make the shift up a fret when your fourth finger reaches the E-string (on the high E-string, 1-3-2-4 shift 4-2-3-1, etc.).

After this, you should be warmed up and ready to play. And, weirdly enough, I find myself using some of these patterns as scales (for short periods) in a solo. I have also heard jazz guitarist Jim Hall mention that he soaks his hands in warm water before playing. I have tried to play in the morning right after showering and it just rips off my calluses, so I'm not sure how he does this, but I'm not sure how Jim Hall does a lot of things (more on that in future posts).

NOTE: If you find any errors in the pdf file, let me know. You can also find the .pdf file and the .msc file (for MuseScore, if you have it loaded on your machine) here.