http://www.jazzguitar.be/charlie_byrd_guitar_tabs.html
CHARLIE BYRD: BAMBA SAMBA
Here's the sheet music with guitar tabs for 'Bamba Samba', a song written by Sherman Feller. This version is played by Charlie Byrd on the album Herman Meets Puente (click and scroll down to listen to samples), collaboration between Woody Herman's big band and Tito Puente.
Charlie Byrd is known for applying classical guitar sound and techniques to jazz. The mix between classical guitar and the traditional sound of Woody Herman's band is quite interesting.
http://www.jazzguitar.be/jazz_guitar_sheet_music_charlie_parker.html
CHARLIE PARKER: BILLIE'S BOUNCE
This is the transcription of the head of Charlie Parker's composition 'Billie's Bounce', as heard on the album 'Boss Bird'. The transcription is in guitar tablature as well as note script. The guitar tab shows you the way I play the theme.
http://www.jazzguitar.be/two_for_the_road_lead_sheet.html
PAT METHENY: TWO FOR THE ROAD
This is the transcription of the head of Henry Mancini's composition 'Two for the Road', as played by Pat Metheny and as heard on the album 'Beyond the Missouri Sky'.
http://www.jazzguitar.be/scott_henderson_sheet_music.html
Here's the sheet music with guitar tabs for the theme of 'Dolemite', written by Scott Henderson and recorded on the album Tore Down House.
http://www.jazzguitar.be/autumn_leaves.html
AUTUMN LEAVES IN 5/4
Every jazz musician knows and plays Autumn Leaves once in a while, whether he likes it or not. Autumn Leaves is one of these standards that have been played to dead.
One way to bring some new life into songs like Autumn Leaves is to play them with another time signature. The following sheet music is Autumn Leaves arranged for 5/4.
One bar of 5/4 contains 2 parts: a 2 beat part and a 3 beat part. Sometimes the 2 beat parts comes first, sometimes the 3 beat parts. In this arrangement of Autumn Leaves the 3 beat parts comes first:
TAKE FIVE
TOOTS THIELEMANS: BLUESETTE
FINGERSTYLE WALKING BASS
Walking bass is a technique used by bass players in jazz music.Most notes of a walking bass line have the duration of 1 quarter note.
The function of a walking bass is to outline the harmony and keep the time together.
While walking bass in a combo is usually played by the bass player it also comes in handy for guitarists in a solo or duo situation. The difficulty lies in the combination of 2 things: chord accompaniment and keeping the bass going. This kind of walking bass guitar lines have to be played fingerstyle (guitar tablature below).
The first example is a walking bass line with chords for a II V I VI progression.
I used shell chords because they are easier to fret in combination with the walking bass line. Play the bass notes with your thumb and the chords with the first and second finger.
First learn to play the pattern error free, then try to add some variations and gradually speed up. Try to add some ghost notes as well.
Here's the fingerstyle guitar tablature:
This second example uses the same bass line, but with tensions added to the chords for a bit more color. Experiment with other top notes to get a different voice leading.
In the last example I show you this finger style guitar technique applied on a standard 12 bar
blues progression.
http://www.jazzguitar.be/fingerstyle_guitar_nardis.html
FINGERSTYLE GUITAR: NARDIS
The guitar tablature below is a fingerstyle guitar arrangement of the first 8 bars of Nardis, written by Miles Davis and arranged by yours truly. Check out some jazz guitar players and their version of Nardis: Mike Stern, Mick Goodrick and Philip Catherine.
Bar 1: the two notes on the 12th fret (with the 'h' on top) are harmonics
Bar 1: I like to put second intervals in my chord voicings, like in this Em9 voicing. The b2 between f# and g creates a nice tension in this chord. Other examples are the Fmaj7#11 voicing in the 6th bar and again the Em9 chord at the end of the arrangement.
Bar 4: the chord in bar 4 in the original composition is Cmaj7
Bar 5: the melody here is harmonized in thirds. This technique works well in fingerstyle guitar arrangements because it makes the sound fuller on places where there are no bass notes played. Bar 6: the second voicing is an F6
Bar 7: the E major chord opens up the sound before going back to E minor. The 3 in combination with the b2 creates a kind of oriental mood.
http://www.jazzguitar.be/fingerstyle_guitar_the_shadow_of_your_smile.html
SOLO GUITAR: THE SHADOW OF YOUR SMILE
The guitar tablature below is the first 8 bars of 'The Shadow of Your Smile', composed by Johnny Mandel/Paul Francis Webster and arranged by yours truly for solo guitar.
• I arranged this standard with very basic chord voicings. Basic works well in fingerstyle guitar.
• Bar 6: Ab7 is the tritone substitute of D7.
http://www.jazzguitar.be/sonny_rollins.html
SONNY ROLLINS: PENT UP HOUSE
Sonny Rollins, born in 1930 in NY, is a tenor saxophonist who played and recorded with Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Art Blakey and Max Roach, amongst many, many others.
Sonny Rollins' best known album Saxophone Colossus was recorded in 1956 with Tommy Flanagan on piano, Doug Watkins on bass and Max Roach on drums. That day he recorded the famous song called 'St Thomas', based on Caribbean Calypso music.
Sonny Rollins is still recording and touring today. On 9/11/2001 he had to evacuate his apartment with only his saxophone in hand, when he heard the World Trade Center collapse.
A few days later he recorded a concert at Berklee college: 'Without a Song: The 9/11 Concert'. Here's the way I play Sonny Rollins' Pent Up House. I added a second voice in thirds to the kicks.
Pent Up House is a lot of fun to play (uptempo).
Here's the chord progression used for the improvisations (AABA): |Am7 |D7 | Gmaj7 |%|
|Am7 |D7 | Gmaj7 |%| |Dm7 |G7 | Cmaj7 F7| |Am7 |D7 | Gmaj7 |%|
http://www.jazzguitar.be/jaco_pastorius_the_chicken.html
