Joe Pass - Minor Blues

[SupairDup]

I love it man, we get caught up so much sometimes in playing things that are "soulful" or other intangibles that we use to abstractly define music and denigrate things that we don't understand or can't play (for example anything dealing with speed) we forget to pay attention to the basics as we attempt to blow by them. Everyone should strive to play that consistently on the beat while still being cognizant of the changing harmony for as long as you have, a great exercise thanks for inspiring

[TravellingMan79]

Hey man,

As a player who plays solely by ear (lacking reading skills), I have found this exercise hugely helpful when improvising. It is in my bookmarks and I regularly listen and play along. So far, I can play along to about the first half. Maybe time to garner some reading skills, but again, very beneficial in its own right. So thanks!!

[4the3dom]

where could i find sheet music for this? Please reply

[RSRop0]

You played the changes correctly, but this isn't really a great example of anything else. The lack of rhythmic or dynamic variation, angularity, double stops, anything to break the endless stream of consecutive scale notes made this difficult to really get into.

[bleakanddivine]

@RSRop0 It's an excercise, written by Joe Pass. Can you play it?

[stratcatavarious]

Love the axxe and the tone and playing are nice indeed

[maxmoves64]

sweet playing and very smooth over the changes. I`m playing over the Blue bossa at the moment and not so many changes as here so great work:) P.S. I should say i`m `trying` to play over the Bossa:)

[bendugard]

@mathsquadforlife & Guitarist2095

It depends on the progression. You don't necessarily switch keys with every chord. For example in C major, a harmonised scale gives you the chords C, Dmin, Emin, F, G, Amin, Bmin7b5. You can play C major scale (Ionian mode) over all those but you need to pay attention to the chord underneath your playing - try to hit notes in the chord on the beat and use the scale to link them. This is a simplified explanation but might help if you are just starting out.

[tommooremusicfl]

ooh, I want that book

[mathsquadforlife]

alright i have a question. let's say you are soloing over another guitar that is just playing a chord progression, let's say it's C D A, or something, if you are soloing over that, when the guitar is strumming C, let's say you are soloing in the pentatonic major of C, when the background guitar then moves to D, do you also have to switch to D? or can you stay in C even when the background guitar is in D or A? just a question

[Guitarist2095]

@mathsquadforlife technically you would switch keys with every chord. you could play in different modes of C to fit with the chord thats playing rythem. but i couldnt tell you how to do that since i only just started studying music

[israpitt82]

Hey my friend, where can I get those scores? and the back track of that piece, Greetings(:

[Pablito73X]

Sweet!! :)

[jot2b]

hey you keep it up there! do you have all those chords memorized now?

i've got a few guitar vids up on my own site, nothing like this though, check it out if you have time..

[niers]

wow,that swings

[morrovedder]

greetings! nice! hey man, this are permutations? (the notes of the chords playing with an diferent order, or something like that?) you say something like is an exercise, where i can get it please i´m just a student i love with music xD

[diz52nd]

man, that is great. nice tone, and nice choice of notes.

[vguitarman]

this is good but you are rushing. i have this problem as well. you should never be playing ahead of the beat. when you strike a string you should always be able to hear the click track or bass drum or what ever you are keeping time to, that forces you to play slightly (very slightly) behind the beat. the click/bass drum should feel like its pulling you with it slightly. a good way to do this is to turn the rhythm track down a little so you have to play behind the beat to hear it.

[CarlosGTR]

I like the improv, just a thought:

Don't you think that Rhythmically is more or less the same? kinda like eight notes? Share please...

[tjuo77]

If you take the time to read the description you will see this is not a live improvisation! It is a written exercise from a Joe pass book on using eighth notes to play though and describe harmonically the changes found in jazz blues.

[subcontrabassaxofoon]

it are eight notes

[123frizzlefry]

@CarlosGTR yeah, you could variate a little more, try some sixteenth notes and quarter notes. and little themes that repeat a few times in the solo

[bleakanddivine]

Yeah I could, but it wouldn't be the exercise as it was originally written then would it.

[tonynevada]

@bleakanddivine oh snap

[lawdropeplato]

@bleakanddivine hi my friend

very nice and very clean .and i suggest to people should study more jazz ( melodic minor and harmonic minor in funccioning chord ) to understand your improvisation about minor blues.

thanks and 5*

[Hermdo]

@lawdropeplato Hey could you explain what that means the melodic minor and harmonic minor in functioning chord? I know the scales as they are but not how they are applied to chords or improvising, thanks.

[bliu7]

where did you ge tthe book from?

[nuke97]

Oh man !!! all those chord changes !!! and you handeld them like a champ!! thanks for posting what choords you were plaing through!! and when!!!

[thewallx1x]

is this BAND IN A BOX?

[jamestdawson]

Very nice! I love the sound of a 175 with p90's! Is it from the 1950's?

[axiluss]

i try to figure out the lines by ear, knowing the chords. i guess it's a good exercise, so really thank you for posting your efforts :) and it's a great tone you got, is the guitar es-175 with P-94s?

[benthemiester]

Sounds more like Joe Diorio. which is not an insult. He's bad ass too if he's still alive, not sure.

[SPGGuitar251]

Very nice. Thank you. Joe's playing was a truly beautiful thing.

[zinnington]

Know your keys I guess. All the chords he's playing are all Cm7 chords or altered dom7 resolving to the Cm or just coming out of the key of Bb

[lipos81]

Where you take the tracks?

Good job!

[jnsbstn]

Gracias por recordarme a Joe Pass.

I thought I was alone

Es un buen ejercicio para las cuerdas bajas.

De nuevo muchas gracias

Juanse

[racine09]

this seems do-able! thanks !

[kdkmo]

Back in the early 1970's I had the privilige of attending a seminar by Joe Pass here in St. Louis, Missouri at a Holiday Inn. He followed the seminar with a concert accompanied by local musicians. It was an inspiring experience which had a profound influence on me and I will always remember it.

[BensonBirdie]

I'm with RoseyM. Haha, if Joe Pass isn't jazz then what is?

Very nice-sounding lines in this exercise. I need to get this book. I'm transcribing a solo by Joe Pass right now and it's the hardest thing I've done up to this point in my guitar playing. Hopefully, it's well worth it in the end though.

Pass was always great, and particularly when he was younger his plectrum work is amazing. As he got older, it became more and more about solo chord/melody style, which is great too.

[guitardude247]

he never said it was jazz, no need to be a downer...

[RoseyM]

So joe pass isn't jazz? lol...

[tbcass]

Joe pass wouldn't play it this way. The feel and timing aren't right because notes are played strictly on the beat but the phrasing is about right. This is a very useful minor scale exercise.

[poromise]

You're flipping the viewer off while playing :D:D:D

[Dalsia]

Haha this made me laugh quite a bit. It's just the way he's holding his pick, though. So, whatever sounds best for him.

[MrWoloohojian]

You would laugh at that.

[wckoek]

Some people hold picks that way, most notably Van Halen and Steve Morse.

It leaves them the choice for using the index finger to tap.

But for a jazz player, I think maybe he learn to play that way.

[elvind222]

Hey, this a great chord study. Great for learning! Thanks for posting.

[billynosidam]

this is just a study video. If every note he plays is a swung 8th note and the chord names are brought to our attention, then it's most likely a tutorial.

[Yoruboy]

This is what i struggle with- outlining chords with arpeggios. You do a great job here man.

[axiluss]

the video quality is bad, i see best the chord headlines, but what you play is brilliant!

[unsavourycharacter]

Good

[fishqwer]

I don't think he's really going at it. It almost feels like he's trying to outline the chords using arpeggios

[jessethemachine]

I think this is very good, and much better than I can do, but your swing-feel is a little stiff is some sections.

[Enjoiosaur]

are these arpeggio's or scales?

[hjjaureguiber]

No entiendo porque van apareciendo los acordes, estas improvisando en la escala, tocando los arpegios o las dos cosas al mismo tiempo ?

[penaflorsonia]

Acuerdate que los acordes son la base de la improvisación sin importar si estás tocando la escala o modal....

[sam19851]

Really well done chap, i'm a blues player myself but this is obviously much more disciplined but kind to the ears nonetheless.

Two thumbs up for not being a generic wanker! :P

[swiebud]

you rock! fantastic

[largemoose]

Don't knock on him for the shuffle 8ths.

It's good for a beginner, and he does a good job with the harmony.

It's clearly not a video made trying to show off.

[largemoose]

"Fm7(+7)"

Been said already, but it's FmM7.

1 b3 5 7

[slapshot2940]

get some new rhythms bro

[ReverendNovember]

Yeah he's straight 8ths but that's a great place to start.

[BensonBirdie]

The point of the exercise is not to create rhythmic variety, but instead to weave a melody through the harmonies in a jazz style.

It's a helpful exercise. Not the end-all and be-all.

[raleighwhisp]

Hey guys a few questions...

Are there really no major 7th chords in this progression? Do you mean that they're all dominant 7th chords?

And also, what's that chord around 1:51? Fm7(+7)? I'm confused, what does that mean?

Thanks in advance, and great work on that video.

[ampoetx]

the blues is usually all dominant chords. Im not sure about that chord. The + usually means a sharp5 but im not sure about the +7

[bleakanddivine]

It's a Minor Blues, so the basic chords are

all minors or dominants. You're rarely going to get Maj7th chords in the blues, except in the Modern (Parker) changes. The Fm7(+7) is a minor triad (F Ab C) with a Major 7th (E)which here is just an approach note to the F root. It's how it's written in the book, but you wouldn't normally bother to specify it in comping chords. It's sometimes notated as FmM7.

[ReverendNovember]

It's actually improper to use a "+" for anything but a raised fifth or fourth. That symbol technically means 'augmented'. Typically only the perfect fifth is raised one half step to an augmented fifth. Rarely is this symbol used with a minor 3rd. Usually it;s like this: F+ = F A C#. A chord is always major unless otherwise specified. The proper way for a minor/major 7th is Fm(ma7) or some variation thereof. Don't use Fm7(+7). That's just ignorant. That almost means F Ab C# Eb E

[bleakanddivine]

Well I wouldn't go as far as calling Joe Pass ignorant! Let's just say the book dates from a time when chord notation was a bit less standardised than it is today. In the book it's actually shown as Fmin(+7) and you can find Fm7+ also in other books from that era, along with things like F9+ used for what is now shown as F7#9.

[ReverendNovember]

I didn't call Joe ignorant. Ok. I stand moderately corrected. I don't have that book. Nice improv tho. Anything newer?

[MusiqueFrenetique]

@bleakanddivine You're both right! It's a good thing that it gets standardised because there could be lots of misunderstanding with diff notation... I see there's a G7+ in the video too. What does it mean in this case? Gmaj7 or G7 with an augmented 5th? for me it's an augmented fifth. I wouldn't even use the + for a raised fourth (Lyd or #11). Anyway, the notation depends on where you learned it..

[ThatAudioChocolate]

@bleakanddivine "FmM7" what a contridiction XP

[bleakanddivine]

@ThatAudioChocolate Why is it a contradiction? Th m(inor) describes the 3rd, the M(ajor) describes the 7th.

[ThatAudioChocolate]

@bleakanddivine I got a responce from you. Thanks bro, but i was just makin joke :) . I play music and it is techniqually a contridiction, like an oxy-moron of sorts. But it was only joke, relax. You play smoothly, keep up the persistence.

[gretscher]

Great guitar. Finally someone on You Tube playing Jazz on a guitar with single coils instead of Gibson humbuckers. Great tone you have. Do you have flat or roundwounds?

[carpatheknight]

Great.

[largemoose]

nice playing

[reateguitare]

Thanks for adding the chords....!

[theriffer]

good job! What guitar is that?

[bleakanddivine]

1954 Gibson ES175

[imthesun07]

i love joe`s music and this is one of the greatest musicans of the jazz guitar

[gadzooks63]

another joe p will be a long time coming

[Nailgun51]

smooooooooth.

[DaniMoneter]

Joe Pass...the greatest guitarist jazz world ever have....

[founitte]

Very nice, beautiful melody and variations.

[DrLeroyGreen]

Good stuff, bot! Post tutorials/lessons?

plz?

[jAmguitar84]

ja yo estudie el mismo ejercicio esta muy bueno no?

[bdario70]

very good player, great tone!

[Gustaleal]

great músic. play good

[Jazzhardmusic]

gendel i think the purpose in the right hand is to have 8th jazz notes only,, good groove,i liked very much, that i played with my guitar but sometimes the chords that you show are not the ones that correspond, for example the firts chord is not a Cm7 is a CmMaj7, you are playing a B not a Bb. Keep it up i like it very much!!!!!

[gendel]

hi there! nicely done, but on the other hand, your playing seems a bit mechanical.

[Bertiklein]

Thank You!!!!

[G7flat5]

Nice teaching/instructional piece!

[lewood1204]

Well done, thanks for showing the chords.

[davidr9503]

Wonderful tone!! nice one. Great playing.

[chrismatthewman]

Nice work mate! keep it up!

[Jusky1970]

Good tone good play.