Gypsy Jazz Chords

          Django, because of his injury, used chords that use just two or
          three fingers and he often muted strings with his left hand.
          Standard major and minor chords are not usually played and
          many major 7^th chords, major 6^th chords, and 6/9 chords are
          used. Gypsy jazz has a minor feel even if a song is in a major key
          by adding the 6^th note.
                         
          Gypsy jazz often uses what is considered closed-position chords
          in which there are no strings that are not touched by your fingers
          this allows you to pulse and stop the sustain as we mentioned earlier
          in the rhythm post. Gypsy jazz chords are also in most cases
          moveable so once you learn the position you can play all over the
          fretboard. By going through the chords, and progressions within the
          songs and charts listed below you should gain a good understanding
          of gypsy jazz chords.
                                    

    http://gypsyjazzworkshop.com/GJW/images/fbfiles/files/GJWchords.pdf -
    a good chart for chords, this particular pdf shows “G” but they are all moveable
    so by moving up and down the neck you can just use the positions as a key.

    http://anouman.net/blog/files/gypsyjazz.zip - has a file for 43 django pieces,
    this has the chords and notes, no tabs with these ones but you will get a good
    idea of the chord s. 
   
    http://www.visi.com/~mpv/charts/ - has the gypsy jazz chords to a lot of
    songs as well as chords for ii-v-I patterns and arpeggios.

Song To Hear - “Minor Swing” great version with Andy Leftwich and Cody Kilby
Song To Learn - “Minor Swing” Django Reinhardt 

Gypsy Jazz Rythm

          The strumming pattern used in Gypsy jazz is often called
          “la pompe”. The strum is a quick up-down strum followed
          by a down strum. This results in a very percussive sound and
          compensates for the lack of those percussion instruments.
          There are some variations and differences that I will try to
          describe.

          There are two ways to play this strum; wet and dry.  These
          terms refer to how long the chord rings after the strum.  A wet
          chord would allow the ringing while with a dry chord it is
          shortened by taking the left hand off to stop the sustain.
                            
          Strum with the picking hand and pulse with the fretting hand
          to set up a groove that propels the rhythm,  strum (wet) on the
          one and three beat and mute (dry) on the two and four after they
          are played.  The sound of cha-chuk, cha-chuk,  or try 1 and 2 and
          3 and 4 and = Boom Chick, Boom Chick, Boom Chick, Boom Chick.
  

                                       

John Jorgenson                                         

          Sometimes the boom is played on the bass notes and the chick is
          played on the remaining notes of the chord. Sometimes it is played
          with a up, down, down pattern having the first up down happen
          very quickly.  The particulars of this style of rhythm has many other
          elements than the ones listed above and I encourage you to listen to
          some music and try to copy the rhythm you hear.  I will link to some
          resources below.

                         Chord Changes and Tabulature for "Coquette".

                         "I’ll See You in My Dreams" chords and tab in pdf.

                         Great rhythm tracks to practice solos with and hear rhythm.

          Song to Hear - "It don't mean a thing" Django Reinhardt 

          Song to Listen to - "It don’t mean a thing” Django Reinhardt

Gypsy Jazz

          Gypsy Jazz guitar has influenced bluegrass, rock, blues, country, 

          and jazz guitar greats and is being seen more and more both in 

          new recordings from Nashville and around the acoustic guitar 

          community.   I hope to describe many of the elements of gypsy 

          jazz guitar in future posts but thought I would start by giving some 

          background on the founder of this guitar technique. 

                         

          Django Reinhardt was born in Belgium and was raised within a 

          gypsy tribe and caravan just outside Paris.  Django first began 

          playing violin and banjo but switched to guitar and was playing 

          around Paris by the age of 13.  When Django was 18 his right leg 

          was paralyzed and his third and fourth fingers of his left hand were 

          severely damaged by a fire in his trailer home.   He persevered and 

          now played with only two fingers on his left hand (above). 

                         

           Django became heavily influenced by American jazz musicians like 

           Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Eddie Lang, which led him to 

           move from playing just gypsy guitar to a new gypsy jazz guitar style.  

           After teeming with swing violin player Stephan Grappelli they formed 

           the “Quintette du Hot Club de France”, which quickly became a huge 

           hit.  Django survived World War II despite being in France and the 

           Nazi hatred for both gypsies and jazz.   In 1948 he came to the US to 

           tour with Duke Ellington but returned to France never to return to 

           the US again.  Django died in 1953. 

           Except for that brief tour with Ellington (where he played an electric 

           guitar) Django played an acoustic Selmer guitar.  I will post a great 

           Django song to hear and a tab for the song below.  I hope to expand 

           your knowledge and interest in this style and add a new flavor to your 

           playing no matter the style.

                        

          Song to Hear –  "Nuages" by Django Reinhardt

          Song to Learn – “Nuages” slower jazz song with his gypsy 

                                        influence coming out

DADGAD

            This is a great, and easy tuning for your guitar.  This tuning 
            change can be made quickly and will allow you to add a great 
            Scottish, Irish, or Breton pipe music sound to your repertoire.    
            This style has become very popular with fingerstyle and even 
            flatpicking guitarist some of the most well known for this style 
            are: Al Petteway, Tony McManus, Steve Baughman, and Robin 
            Bullock.

                   

            This tuning takes a “D” chord and adds to it a suspended fourth 
            note ( the “G”).  This tuning can also help emulate a banjo sound 
            by having the same two notes ringing out after playing the melody 
            note.   Play a simple melody in “A” then follow each note by playing 
            the “A” and “D” string. 


            I will put a link at the bottom to both hear and learn  a great celtic 

            tune by Al Petteway that will really showcase this tuning.  Here is a 

            written out list for the common chords in DADGAD.

                                   Major Chords: (majors are barred)

              A:  7,7,7,9,7,7      B: 9,9,9,11,9,9      C:  10,10,10,12,10,10

              D:  0,0,0,2,0,0   E:  2,2,2,4,2,2       F:  3,3,3,5,3,3    G:  5,5,5,7,5,5

                                    Other Chords:

              Amin:x,0,2,2,3,2      A:x,0,2,2,0,2     Gmin:0,1,0,0,1,0

              Bmin:x,0,4,4,5,4      A7:x,0,2,0,0,2   E7:0,2,2,1,2,0

              Dmin:0,0,0,2,0,3    D7:0,0,0,2,3,0   C:x,3,2,0,3,x

              Emin:x,x,2,0,2,2      G:0,2,0,0,2,0    

pantheonguitars.com

            For a great file with some chords, scales, and picking patterns 

            in DADGAD go to http://www.boegershausen.com and then 

            downloads.  

            Song to Hear - "West Wind" by Al Petteway, played by Sungha Jung

            Song to Learn - "West Wind" by Al Petteway

Guitar Shapes

               Guitar makers are always making changes and adjustments to 
               guitar shapes and dimensions but here is a quick guide to the four 
               most common shapes, and a little bit about each to help narrow 
               down your next guitar choice.


               The Grand Concert is a good choice for fingerstyle guitarists.  It is 
               good for medium strumming and also because of its smaller size a 
               good choice for smaller men or women.  The tone on these guitars 
               are usually very good.

Taylor Grand Concert

                The Dreadnought is the shape of choice for flatpickers.  This is a large 
                guitar and has a lot of volume.  This shape is good for accompanying 
                loud instruments in a band.  This is probably the most popular size and 
                shape in guitars and is good for those who strum from light to heavy.

Martin Dreadnought

                 The Super Jumbo has a deep resonance and a lot of volume because of 

                 the very large sound chamber.   This guitar is good for those who strum 

                 very heavy.  With the Jumbo there is a little extra base and is good for 

                 rhythm guitar playing in a group.

Gibson Super Jumbo

                 The Auditorium is also a good choice for fingerstyle guitarists.  This size 

                 and shape is good for medium strumming and usually has a little extra 

                 treble.  These guitars are usually very good in all around tone and works 

                 will when mic’d.   This is also a smaller size guitar. 

Taylor Auditorium

                 Each guitar will have different sounds and benefits but hopefully this will 

                 help you start to decide which shape of guitar will be your next.  


                        Song to Hear - "Billie Jean" played by Sungha Jun and Trace Bundy
                                                          (love this and this kid is amazing)

                        Song to Learn - "In Your Arms" Laurence Juber

 

IBMA Recap

                          I just wanted to mention some of the winners from the IBMA Awards 

                          that I mentioned a few posts earlier.  Josh Williams again won the IBMA

                          guitarist of the year for the third year in a row.  Josh Williams is a great  

                          musician with a number of instruments but can most often be found playing 

                          rhythm and lead guitar and singing.  

                           In 2008 Josh announced his new band "The Josh Williams Band".  Josh
                           has dates scheduled on his web site and currently has three solo albums.
                           Josh also plays several dates with "The Tony Rice Unit" "and the
                           Traveling McCoury's".  I am going to put Josh in the Player of the week
                           to the right and I will place a link to his CD in the Amazon box. 

                          Another winner of Entertainer of the year, Album of the year,  and
                          Vocal Group of the year were "Dailey and Vincent" who have a great
                          sound with some great gospel tunes.  I encourage you to take a listen,
                          the vocals on some of their songs is pretty amazing, I will put a link at
                          the bottom to hear one of their songs.


                          Song to Hear - "Winter's come and gone" Dailey and Vincent

                          Song to Learn - "Cherokee Shuffle" a song on Josh Williams CD
                                                   (this is not the tab for his version)