Ow!
Published: Fri, 04/21/23
Now, I've been posting FAQ videos all week, answering people's questions about the upcoming Freddie Green Chords workshop this weekend, and while my 22-year-old, Brooklyn bar-hopping self would clearly judge me for saying so, I think today's video could be the best of the lot. Ow! But before we get into that, let me explain a little more about how the workshop is structured.
There are really three things you need to know to play the swing changes on the blues. First, you need to know the right voicings, or chord shapes, plus the left- and right-hand techniques to give them that swing-era four-to-the-bar groove. Second, you need to understand the way swing musicians think about the twelve-bar blues – the additional chords they add to the blues, and why. Finally, you need a vocabulary of interchangeable moves – two- to four-chord sequences you can string together, almost like licks (or Lego blocks), to create whole twelve-bar comping routines that vary from chorus to chorus.
That's what I'll be teaching this Saturday, and I like to think it's a worthy pursuit in and of itself. But there's a whole other reason to learn this material: understanding how swing musicians think about the blues chord progression is an essential part of understanding how swing musicians think about soloing on the blues. (Which, full disclosure, is what I'll be covering in the next Reliable Source workshop, The Swing Scale.)
In other words, if you're interested in learning swing soloing, learning swing comping is an integral part of the process. In today's Youtube video I provide an example of how to use swing chord voicings as a soloing roadmap, a guide to going beyond the blues scale to "play the changes" on the blues. You can find it at the link below:
The Best Reason To Learn Swing Chord Changes On The Blues
If you'd like to register for the Freddie Green Chords workshop, you can do so at the link below. You can also sign up for all three Reliable Source workshops at once and save $40 on the total price:
Freddie Green Chords Workshop
More soon,
David