Jazz chord charts/books

[seano]

I'm sure there is a thread for this already, but... I'm trying to learn some jazz standards, lots of funky chords. Is there a "jazz" chart/book for mando (in tab form) that anyone recommends?. How about an instructional CD for standards.

Please advise.

Thanks!

[swinginmandolins]

The best thing I did was wanting to learn standards, it made me learn to read music. The Real Books are a good resource for tunes. There is also Ralph Patt the vanilla book has stock chord changes. For CD's Jamey Aebersold has playalong cds. I'm sure others will chime in. Have fun!!

[John Rosett]

"Music Theory for Modern Mandolin" by Thomas Ohmsen has just about every chord inversion you could think of.
On the other hand, you could get a book on music theory from the library, learn what makes up altered chords, and make up your own. I have several friends that, like me, worked out chords for mando on their own, and it's interesting to see how their versions differ from mine.

[jefflester]

Try this:
http://www.grovelandsoftwarelabs.com/modeexp....ds.aspx

[Don Stiernberg]

Seano,

You may want to check out the thread from Jan 20 called "Beginning Jazz"--lots of good recommendations there.

For tunes, The NEW Real Book, Volumes 1,2,and 3 by Sher Publishing are great.
Also The Best Chord Changes for The World's Greatest Standards by Frank Mantooth, Hal Leonard Publishing. More than one volume there too.
And, Professional Chord Changes and Substitutions for 100 tunes Every Musician Should Know, by Dick Hyman, Ekay Music.

For chord voicings, I humbly submit that my column in Mandolin Magazine may be helpful, also Joe Carr's chord column. The Holy Grail here, however, is Jethro Burns, Mandolin Player, published by Mel Bay. Mike Marshall also has a chord book in his recently released four volume instructional set. It is excellent also--why wouldn't it be? Mike did it..

As old Jethro himself used to say at the end of each lesson: "Well, that oughta drive you crazy fer awhile!"

Good luck and have fun, remember to keep things easy.The tendency is to put extra tones in, cross fingers up, or play out of position in pursuit of a colorful sound, only to find on the bandstand that the hip voicing may be too hard to play at tempo or contain notes that the bass, guitar or piano already have covered. Feel free to leave roots out. NO BLUEGRASS CHOP VOICINGS!Think light, easy to play, address the chord function, plus a color tone or moving voice as taste allows...

sorry if i got carried away there, but I'm into this stuff...Happy Pickin' and good luck with the "new grips"..

Don Stiernberg

[Ted Eschliman]

...and best advice for those wired to think of filling all 4 strings (8) at all times, never underestimate the power of the 3-note chord. Simple, versatile, widely transposable, and tonally elegant all at the same time. Stealing from one of "The Don's" workshop, "voice a 3-note chord on your lower strings and keep the pinky open for the 'funny business' of chord extensions on your E string." (+9, -9, +11, 13, etc...)

Best advice I ever heard for a novice jazzer! Also, doesn't hurt to learn some good stock 'ii V7 I' chords.

[jmcgann]

It's good to understand what notes to leave out, as Don, Ted and others have written about. Thinking of "rootless" chords is funny at first, but one way to see some of them (especially the dom7's which are fast and frequent) is that if you play the 3rd and 7th (or vice versa) on the bottom two strings, the root is 2 frets above the b7 note.

Thinking about note functions this way will allow you to understand chords in all the keys- something that jazz requires!

[michaell]

Re:books-The Standards Real Book by Sher Music is great.

[Brad Weiss]

I like the Hal Leonard Ultimate Jazz Fakebook- huge repertoire, and it's got lyrics, too, which I find help give you a feel for a tune.

[gonzograss]

Perhaps I haven't looked far enough, but I remember seeing somewhere on cafe that The Real Book Volume I has some incorrect charts on some tunes. Whoever was giving out that info specified which edition of Vol. I to get. I already have Vols. II & III and the Ultimate Fakebook, and they're great, but before I shell out the $ for Vol. I I want to make sure I'm not buying the "wrong" edition. Any advice out there?

Joe Hannabach

[Don Stiernberg]

the difference is between The Real Book and The NEW Real Book.

The Real Book was originally an underground sort of thing, complete with the occasional wrong change or note.In more recent times it has been re-done, I think by Hal Leonard Publishing, with corrections, etc.So a newly found Real Book should be OK. I hope my friend Ted Eschliman wieghs in here. I bet he knows for sure what's up with the Real Book currently.

The NEW Real Book is actually a series published by Sher Music. They put out three volumes of real clean versions of standards, jazz tunes,contemporary jazz, even pop tunes. They come with suggested bass lines, drum patterns, alternate changes, and more. The Sher Music site shows their other offerings as well. Currently I'm working on The Seriuos Jazz Practice Book Vol II, The Harmonic Approach, By Barry Finnerty. Great stuff.

Another nice one is "Pocket Changes", a small-sized collection of great jazz and standards, but changes only. I'm not sure if it's still available. I think I got mine from Aebersold a hundred or so years ago. I've seen The Real Book in the smaller size too.

Jazz Improv magazine is a great resource as well. In every issue(quarterly) they have a lot of tools--analysis of tunes, chord voicings, transcribed solos, patterns applied to tunes, etc...all in addition to tons of the usual artist interviews, CD reviews, and the like..

Good luck finding what you want and have fun making those changes!

[Doug Hoople]

A bit of additional commentary on the Real Book, because it seems to have acquired a bad rap over the past few years.

In the age of the Internet and easy access to cheap and authoritative versions of our favorite music, we forget how hard it used to be to find sources of lead sheets that came even close to how we heard these tunes on our favorite jazz recordings. Most fake books featured chords that were either very dumbed-down or just outright wrong.

The Real Book was, for a very long time, THE source of lead sheets that came close, and the few people that had a copy held onto it for dear life.

The chords were (mostly) the right chords, and often the best chords from the coolest jazz version a particular tune.

A lot of the tunes were included in violation of copyrights, and so it stayed underground. You could only get a copy by buying it out of the back of a friend's car.

There are a lot of people who criticize the Real Book for having wrong chords. While the chords may not all be perfect, and while some are downright wrong, the Real Book, when it first came out, was a godsend for what it got right.

Nothing else came even close.

[groveland]

I had an original REAL BOOK that I bought in the back room of a local music store, but that was long since lost. #There's an old NY Times article on the thing here. #The article notes that some suspect the original authors were Berklee students in the mid 70's.

For those who don't already own these monumental works, here are a few thoughts.

I have the Real Book sixth edition Vol. 1 (Hal Leonard). #It doesn't have exactly the same tunes as the original Real Book (but neither did the original Real Book, from version to version, I think!). It absolutely retains that original hand-written calligraphy look, like you bought it out of the back room of a small local music store with the added benefit of corrections. I haven't looked at Vol. 2 or 3. (If the NEW Real Book is any indication, Vol 2 and 3 of the Real Book might be progressively less jazz-focused.)

I also have The New Real Rook Vol. 1, 2, and 3 (Sher Music). #The charts as far as I can tell are impressive and detailed, but hey, I am only familiar with a fraction of these ~600 tunes, so I can't attest to the accuracy. #The forewards indicate that accuracy is a prime concern. The calligraphy is a mix of typeset and software-generated-calligraphy-and-staves, depending on the volume, but the charts #look great. #The first Volume is copied entirely by hand with typeset titles. #Vol's 2 and 3 are not by hand - They're done typeset or with software. The musical editor credit on Vol. 1 and Vol 2 of the Sher New Real Book is Bob Bauer. #No credit on Volume 3. The original Real Book charts were not directly consulted for any material in the New Real Books. They started from scratch. (That should be considered a good thing.)

My observation is that for the New Real Book, Vol 1 has the most 'traditional' tune set, inspired by the original Real Book, Vol. 2 less so, and Vol 3 is heavy on Motown, Pop, Latin and Contemporary jazz. #However, all volumes have a healthy helping of jazz standards. #

From what I've seen, if I could only own one of the six various volumes, I'd get the Sher New Real Book Volume 1. #YMMVARL.* It also has a great listing of about 80 chord types with spelling, using a naming convention that I happen to enthusiastically embrace.

<span style='font-size:7pt;line-height:100%'>*Your Mileage May Vary A Real Lot.</span>

[Lauren Donahue]

Can someone help out a theory deficient person here? I was looking at volume 1 of the new real book and saw that it comes in 3 different keys. Can someone explain this to me?

[SternART]

I suspect you want the one in C, those Bflat and Eflat ones are for our string impaired brethren playing horns. Pretty cool group of swingin' cats chiming in on this thread.

[Don Stiernberg]

Lauren,

The mandolin is not a transposing instrument, the notes it reads ands plays are the same, and at concert pitch. And as Arthur said, that is the situation addressed by the "C" book.
Bb and Eb instruments do transpose. Bb instruments include trumpet and clarinet, soprano and tenor saxophones. Let's see if I can get this right...if a C pitch is to sound, their music asks for a D, and since they are pitched a whole step lower than "concert" pitch, out comes the sound of a C note that blends with our C notes as played on the non-transposing instruments.
Eb instruments include the alto and baritone saxophones.
Trombone is a nontransposing instrument, but pitched in the bass clef. There is most likely a bass clef Real Book too somewhere.Guitar is also nontransposing, also pitched low, with a good deal of it's range in the bass clef, but it reads in the treble clef anyway, usually...Johnny Smith's guitar book wrote things as they sound--in both clefs, like a piano!
Thanks for bringing up this notational dilemma. It serves as YET ANOTHER reason why the mandolin is the greatest instrument--no transposing, no special music, a great deal of range(like the violin, but without that annoying bow..) or a great deal of range(like the clarinet or saxophone, but without the mathematical recalculations of transposition). Also polyphonic(chordal)capability, but all in one clef. If you play mandolin from a "C" book or chart, what you see is what you get.

[Lauren Donahue]

Thanks, SternArt and Don. And more thanks, Don, for helping to popularize the mandolin not only as the greatest instrument, but as a JAZZ instrument!

[pgfoto]

Here is another free web based "Real Book" with midi files that you can loop and change keys.
I use it all the time.
The first chart that comes up is the roman numeral chart with a suggested common key. The site then allows you to chose a key and a midi player appears at the bottom of the chart. Pick a key and you can change tempo, add a midi bass piano and drums. Loop it, and you have a great tool for working on blowing....
It doesn't have a huge selection of tunes but still impressive and useful.
I hope this helps..
phil

http://www.realbook.us/default.aspx

[Jim Yates]

Boy, some good suggestions here.
Two books I used back in the sixties and still pull out regularly are John Mehegan's Rhythmic And Tonal Principles, meant for keyboard players, but great chord charts if you take the time to learn figured bass and Mickey Baker's Jazz Guitar book (the black and yellow one) If you read music, this is useful for mandolin as well.
Anyone familiar with these two? Are they still in print?