PlayJazzGuitar.com Forum

[Jazzy]

Hey

I thought this could be an interesting topic. How do you approach playing solo intros?

I never plan an intro, I just find a voicing/chord and see how it goes I guess. But I always have the tune in mind of course.

One thing I`ve been doing a lot is working with triads and voiceleading. And going through different cycles and substitutions. My main inspiration here has been Bach, especially when it comes to voicelead open triads. So I really recommend everyone to get a book of his solo violin/cello works. Lots and lots of great ideas to work with!!

Anyway, here`s an example of an intro I played to one my tunes this weekend: http://www.myspace.com/maadal , it`s the first tune on the player. The only thing I planned was to land on a cmaj7, hehe

[Jake Hanlon]

I almost always start with a note... a random note.

I know where I want to end up... almost always the outlining of the time and or some sort of cadence so that the band can tell where I am.

The rest... well it's wide open.

At least for me.

I live Jim Hall's intros, Rosenwinkel's style on Intro's is really happening imo and I like how he does them, I guess I try to combine those two influences.

I did a gig the other night where I did two of these, I'll maybe post them eventually.
_________________
Guitarist, Composer, Professor of Music St Francis Xavier University

www.jakehanlon.com


Debut Album Follow @ Itunes http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/follow/id406062013

[mr. beaumont]

doing mostly solo playing like i do, i get a lot of freedom in my intros.

sometimes i'll just improvise over the whole form of the tune if it's a short one, or the last 4 or 8 bars on slower, or longer tunes.

i'll often take intros a little more freely as far as time goes, using the last few bars to set tempo and "groove."

an interesting source if playing standards is to seek out the verse--it's often not played. The standards real book (sher) has the verses to a lot of common tunes that work nicely as an intro (keeps folks on edge too, cuz most people don't know 'em!)

when in doubt, the only thing you need to do is land on the 1 (and maybe set it up with a V)--backcycling is your friend, for sure!
_________________
“For the guitar is the most unpredictable and least reliable musical instrument in existence...and also the sweetest, the warmest, the most delicate, whose melancholic voice awakes in our soul exquisite reveries.”

Andres Segovia

[Generic Sobriquet]

[JakeJew]

[randalljazz]

right. typical song form (tin pan alley, broadway, etc) has a 'verse' of rather random length, often at tempo rubato, before the 'chorus' of (usually) 32 measure, in steady tempo.

vocalists typically do them, setting the mood.

jazzers seldom play the verse (mucks up the 32 bar feel), with a few exceptions--stardust, lush life...probably a few more. chet baker played the verse on 'but not for me' on at least one recording, in tempo at that--very effective.

[GambaleSweep]

[Jens]

@Jake:
Almost all standards have verses and what we play is only the chorus, hence the term 2nd or 3rd chorus of a solo.
The thing with verses is that they are much more about lyrics and often does not make too much sense instrumentally. Night and day is a good example of that.
Lush Life is a song where mostly you'd play verse and chorus, even if it is strictly speaking not a standard.

One intro I often employ is making a percussive sound with my left hand while counting first to 2 and then 4 in the tempo of the song.

Jens
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http://www.jenslarsen.nl

[planetguy]

the "Giant Steps" chord cycle (or part of it) works great as an intro to just about anything.....i wouldn't recommend using it more than once or twice per gig though.
_________________
just groove baby!

[Jazzy]

Jake, yeah, Rosenwinkel is playing some really great intros. I really like his contrapuntal ideas, with all the inner line movements.
I`ve been practicing stuff like that a lot lately.

( For those interested in this kinda stuff, I can recommend checking out the Van Eps books. Especially the chapters on inner line movements. )

I tried to incorporate some of these concepts in the intro I posted on my myspace page. Feedback on this would be very much appreciated! I never get tired of practicing this, mainly because I end up with a kinda different result (almost) each time. Not all the results are that good though, hehe...

Btw, post the clips Jake, looking forward to hear them

And as Mr. B. said, backcycling is your friend, for sure! So true!! This way you can avoid repeating yourself each time you have a solo spot.

[Jake Hanlon]

Hey

www.myspace.com/jakehanlonjazz

you can listen to Crackerjack Prize, it's one of my tunes and it has a Solo intro on it that I improvised. Some parts of it I am fond of, others need work (fudging technique grr)

Yeah. If it's not up when you check just keep coming back and it'll eventually register with myspace.
_________________
Guitarist, Composer, Professor of Music St Francis Xavier University

www.jakehanlon.com


Debut Album Follow @ Itunes http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/follow/id406062013

[voodobop]

[Jazzy]

Hey Jake, nice man! You`ve got some great things going on there.

One thing though, sometimes I find a bit hard to hear clearly your discant strings, when you add chords under them. Have you rolled off the tone control a lot? Or are you playng with a lot of bass on the amp?

(I`ve carefully adjusted the pole pieces on the pickups so they are well balanced. But I guess you`ve done that?)

But this is only my opinion,

anyway great playing man

later,

[Jake Hanlon]

my tone knob tends to rest around 4 and 5. I used a Fender tube amp, they tend to be bass heavy and finding a balance is not easy.

That could be it, also the recording device was in a non-ideal position that could have effected the quality of the recording for sure.
_________________
Guitarist, Composer, Professor of Music St Francis Xavier University

www.jakehanlon.com


Debut Album Follow @ Itunes http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/follow/id406062013

[andy_rothstein]