Well it's Christmas time again and we're being bombarded with Christmas songs and carols. Yes, I gotta say that I can't help but feeling a little jealous if I think how much money Georgy makes just on the performance rights of 'Last Christmas' (but this is a different story).
Anyway, Christmas is also the time when families meet in a (hopefully) relaxed and friendly way. I dunno about you but it's happened to me so many times that I'm asked to play something ... 'Oh please, play something for us ... etc ... a Christmas song ...'. When I started out I thought 'Aaaah, I'm learning guitar to improvise for the greater benefit of my artistic soul - you don't understand!'... So I ended up saying 'Sorry, can't do ...'.
Later on I realised that I was wrong and that it is quite important to have some kind of solo repertoire, be it an improvised Blues, a chord melody solo, or just a simple song (where I really do know the lyrics!!!).
General thoughts about Chord Solos
My first real introduction to chord solos was when I began my studies at Berklee. I was really intrigued by the possibilities of this technique and all the different aspects involved in the style ...
- Chord solos are technically challenging. It's a great way to practice chords and different voicings in a practical and musical way. Furthermore, it helps improve synchronisation of left and right hands.
- Chord solos involve a lot of arranging techniques. As I got further into my studies at Berklee, the more I got interested in arranging. Although the studies were mainly intended for Big Bands and the like, writing chord solos for guitar follow the same rules. Needless to say, writing stuff down on paper is a lot of fun ...
- You don't need anybody else. This is probably what got me hooked the most. It's all in your hands. I don't need to deal with any other musician, which can sometimes be a challenge on it's own.
- and last but not least: Repertoire.
A few things up front ...
First of all this article is intended as a workshop - instead of me going through every bar of the solo explaining what is happening I encourage you to use the forums. I have created a forum thread just for this purpose and I really do hope that you have a lot of questions!!! The thread can be found here.
The piece originated from my first semester at Berklee - I honestly can't remember what the original source of this arrangement was - it could have been an arrangement by one of the teachers or maybe William Leavitt but I wasn't able to find any written proof ... either way, through the years I've been going over the solo in my head and have now finally notated it.
Accompanying Files
I created a few files that should help you get to grips with this solo.
- The bare notation, available on the next page (also in pdf)
- A PowerTab file for the fingering (in order to analyse the solo please use the notated version only as PowerTab has some issues with accidentals, etc ...) So use the powertab to look up the voicings and fingerings only. This file is also available as a pdf in case you haven't installed PowerTab.
- A 'barely acceptable' sound mp3 file of me playing the solo (I will buy a new soundcard next week!! Promise!)
- A midi file of the solo.
All right, on to ...
White Christmas
The Notation
Here's the PDF version of the above notation.
Guni's rocking interpretation of the above.
The Form
The notation makes use of verbal and graphical instructions to outline the form of the tune. D.C Al Coda (Da Capo = play again) at the end of bar 16 means to go back to the beginning of the tune until you reach the coda sign (that awkward little circle at the end of bar 10). Once reached, you 'jump' to the coda (bar 17) and play through to the end.
So, the tune goes from bar 1 through to 16 - then again from 1 through to 10 - jump to 17 till the end.
A brief Analysis
As mentioned before I won't go through it note by note, but let me just elaborate on a few parts which I think are worth mentioning.
In general, the solo mostly uses diatonic harmonisation of the melody notes with a few exceptions of chromatic approaches (like Bmaj7 and F#7 in the first 4 bars).
A nice use of counterpunctual motion in the bass can be seen in bars 9 to 11.
Bar 12 shows us how a m6 (Fm6) chord may be substituted with a m7b5 (Dm7b5) chord.
In bar 14 we see usage of a bIIIo (Ebo) as a passing chord from IIIm (Em) to IIm (Dm).
Bar 15 and 16 is a harmonized melody to fill in the gaps the melody leaves.
Quite interesting are the last 4 bars, which we could call an 'arrangers ending' if you like. First of all we're dealing with a time signature change from 4/4 to 3/4. This creates a nice feeling for setting up the end.
Then we see a common reharmonisation technique involving the chord progression Abmaj7, Dbmaj7 resolving to Cmaj7. The tune itself makes use of subdominant minor, which is where F (IV) is followed by Fm (IVm) resolving back to our I chord C. The Fm chord uses the note Ab (b6 in C major).
An extended version of subdominant minor is using major 7th chords that include this b6 note in any of its chord tones. The note Ab is the root of Abmaj7 and the 5th of Dbmaj7. Furthermore, this combination Abmaj7 to Dmaj7 to Cmaj7 nicely resolves the bass by going up a 4th first - then down a minor second.
Fingerings
PowerTab file
PDF version of PowerTab file
And last but not least a Midi file for your use.
Ok, that's it for now. Once again, the forum is open for all your queries in this thread. Don't hesitate to ask. I hope you enjoy this piece of music.
Merry Christmas to all iBreatheMusic users!
Guni