Let's Comp!!

Using just the basic fragment shapes from the previous page, we can easily comp thru a simple jazz blues form. Chord fragments are great for voice leading. They really shine at outlining chords thru "guide tone lines". Guide tones are the moving lines that occur naturally within a chord progression, as the progression changes from chord to chord. They are responsible for giving a chord progression it's basic harmonic movement, clearly outlining the resolution of chord to chord. It doesn't matter how complex the chord symbols get (Dmin7b5, G7b9, Cmaj7(9), etc.) as long as you play the basic quality of each chord (Dmin7, G7, Cmaj7) you will be delivering the basic harmonic motion and you will never clash with the melody or the soloist (harmonically at least).

If you play any the examples in this lesson without the groove track, you will still hear the harmonic movement of the chord changes (and if you loop them, they make cool jam tracks!):