your approach

[slowpoke]

I was curious how does everyone approach the changes?

Do you use a lot of substitutions? Colors? How often do you change ranges? What about using chord shells (like, use often, etc)?

I know this one is especially related to the style of the tune but (in 4/4) do you prefer to play every beat, or just 1 and 3 or 2 and 4.

Comping is the area that perplexes me most right now, although I have a decent chord vocabulary I don't have what I'd consider a very good flow. I do my best to use voice leading and the like, but it's still fairly difficult for me.

Another thing I sort of get caught up in is using pick vs fingers. I often like to comp with fingers but it's much harder for me at up tempos. But then sometimes when using a pick I lose clarity.

Also I get caught up in memorizing the way a song moves, well not necessarily the way the song moves just that I'll always start on a certain chord and then the next chorus I'll move to the same change of chords. I don't feel I have enough variety, but I suppose time and feel is more important than variety at this point. I just think my time and feel would be better if I didn't have to concentrate so much.

Some of the things I know will just make more sense with time but any advice or insight would be appreciated.

[Professor]

I pretty much play what's on the chart, with only minor substitutions to make it easier for me. I usually don't worry about odd chord extensions, because the horns are playing them.

I will play all 4 beats if that's the style of the arrangement. I'll play 2 and 4 also, depending on the song, but especially if the tempo says "Moocho Fasto". I reserve the 1 and 3 pattern for slower ballads where I'm playing half notes. It can be really effective, especially if the trombones tune their chords to match - but that's never a guarantee. Some tunes I play all the upbeats. I try to make it fit the tune if I can.

[slowpoke]

hmm. what are the substitutions that you do use? also, say in a piece where you're on D-7 or Bb7 for four measure or more, how do you keep that interesting for yourself?

[Professor]

Well, I haven't found more than a few charts that stay on the same chord for more than one measure, much less four. As a part of the rhythm section, I would see it as a break rather than boring.

Substitutions -- Well, I pretty much play what's written, but I have a helluva time fingering some of the 6 chord shapes...so, for F6, I'll play Dm7 at the 5th fret=same chord. C6 ends up being Am7 at the 5th fret on the top 4 strings, a 7b9 chord will often end up without a root, making it a dim7 chord, which is alot easier for me on the fly. The dance band I play in has 300 or so charts in the folder. I end up sight-reading alot of them on stage for the very first time. I put that in the "never a dull moment" catagory.

[slowpoke]

yeah, well when it's uptempo and everything i see it's not much of a concern. but when i'm practicing and analyzing, i suppose i overanalyze.

the shapes i like to play for 6th chords are
x3223x
8x7x8x
oh and
xx10 9 10 10