Hey Rob, how goes bro. Here is my take on your piece (Please note that I am a novice jazz guitarist). Your arppegiation is great and mixes well with the chromatic lines but what is missing is personality and feeling. It sounded more as an exercise in making certain that the proper scale and arp are being played over each chord change. You may want to add a few licks (hate that word) or repeated phrasing but overall a great attempt. Try to focus on the target tones which are the 3rd and 7th (then 5 and 1) of each chord to land on at a focus point. Avoid one as much as you can as the comp and/or bass player will usually play that unless you have a great bass player who will avoid one and really give everyone trouble unless you know your arpeggios from hell.

Randy,

Do you want those 3 and 7 ( and 5 & 1) tones to fall on beats 1 and 3 in a tune that is in 4/4 time?

As each chord changes you need to hit the target tones for
chord. What you are doing is emphisizing the changes
through the 2-5-1 progressions. If you were just vamping or
playing modally such as Coltrane's Impressions, you can play
scalular.

The only other way to avoid the targets would be if you are
playing a theme or passage that is being repeated.

I forgot to answer the other part of your question Ken. Unlike
role Jazz has an emphasis on beats 2 & 4. Also remember to
try to swing the 8ths and as you improve, try to build more
complex rhythms to help emphasize the feel. Jazz also has a
considerable amount of waltz (3/4) and 6/8 feels. Plus the
odd meter "Take Five" which IIRC is in 5/4.

I love Take Five - great tune

I sort of assumed that the chord would change at the beginning of the bar - which is not always the case - not good to assume too much, huh!

I think I see your point on changing tones with the chord change

I think Randy was saying that the rhythmic emphasis is on 2 and
4...the chords do usually change on the 1st or 3rd beats of the
measure. Its very common in jazz to play a line that resolves to a
strong chord tone on 1 or 3....right when the chord change
happens.

The suggestion that Randy gave to play the 3rd and 7th of each
chord is a very good one...those are called "guide tones", and
they define the characteristic sound of a chord. If you
experiment with connecting the closest guide tones of each
chord together in a progression, you will have the basic
harmonic framework of the harmony, which is a great jumping
off point for comping and constructing lines:

Dm7

G7

C

Dm7/G7/C line

Try that line over Dm7 / G7 / Cmaj7, where each chord gets two
beats.

keep pickin,

Rob

Nice explaination. Thanks Robert.

Chord changes can occur on all four beats within a measure
in 4/4 time. Most of it just backcycling through the circle of
fifths. If there are only two chords, the majority has been 2-5
progs. Also during a backcycle you may see decending bass
lines due to chord substitution or the intermediate voices
changing while the chord root remains the same.

I wasn't necessarily trying to require all chord changes to occur at the beginning of a measure, just putting it out there as an example since we were discussing the use of certain tones on certain beats.

I think I will look at some II V I progressions and play around with them a bit.

How are you bro . Your opinion is valueable to me and when you talk i listen man ! Thanks for your commments Randy .






Rob !

Thanks for the kind words brother Rob. Play on dude!!!