A NOTE FROM DICK GROVE

This month’s articles cover some areas I hope you will find interesting and informative. In our April issue we will be talking about ‘counting
off a band or group, and I will be explaining my concept of ‘Chord Families’ Next month we will be giving details on an extensive Latin American tour of clinics and concerts by Dana Rasch. Very exciting!

We would also appreciate your comments on our MUSIC NOTES articles and suggested topics you would like us to write about. In the meantime,

enjoy!

Musically -
Dick Grove

COUNTING OFF A BAND

by Dick Grove

When you play with other musicians you play in ‘tempo’, to a prescribed pulse. Someone in the band sets that tempo. This article is to give you some information and assistance in how to think about communicating a tempo so that each member of the band can get the pulse and begin playing together.

You may already have had occasion to do the very thing I am discussing. However, there are many aspects to the subject, and perhaps we can shed some light on some of the less obvious aspects of this technique.
First of all, how do you know the right tempo? You could figure out the perfect tempo, find that tempo with a metronome, and then everytime you are ready to play, refer to that metronome to give yourself the tempo so that you can in turn, communicate that tempo to the players. This approach might work in a recording situation (with no audience), but as it takes you time to do it and is not practical on the bandstand in front of an audience.

Instead, most musicians do an ‘ear’ tempo. This means you sing a portion of the music in  your head, and from hearing it in your head, you determine the pulse for the countoff.
The object of counting off the tempo is to give the players enough of an indication of the tempo that they in turn, can hear the tempo in their heads. First, lets get a sense of what this is all about.

The common denominator of all rhythmic meter is a two measure unit of time. We will refer to that increment of beats as a strong measure and a weak measure. A ‘strong’ measure means that there is a stronger, natural emphasis on that portion of time. A ‘weak’ measure means that that bar has s lesser emphasis. This is how a musician ‘feels’ time with their ear and in their body. Music therefore is a succession of these strong/weak measures throughout the length of the music.

Within the strong/weak measure, depending on the time signature (4/4, 3/4, etc.) certain beats are more important than others, as receiving a stronger emphasis. These are called Primary Beats. In the more common 4/4 meter, there are 8 beats contained in the strong/weak unit. Beats 1 and 3 of each measure are called Primary Beats, while the 2nd and 4th beats are called Secondary Beats or weak beats. These have less rhythmic emphasis. They are also referred to as the ‘back beat’.
Every meter has this Primary and Secondary relationship. The following is a breakdown of the more commonly found meters as well as some of the less used ‘odd-time’ meters and their Primary Beats.
As an example, using 4/4 meter, we can also make a more specific label for the Primary and Secondary beats contained in each strong/weak unit by labeling the beats 1 to 8. with 1 to 4 implying the strong measure and 5 to 8 the weak measure”

METER Primary Beats in Strong/Weak Bars

4/4 1 - 3 - 5 - 8

C (cut time) 1 - 3 - 5 - 8

3/4 1 - 4

6/4 1 - 4 - 7 - 10

6/8 1 - 4 - 7 - 10

9/8 1 - 4 - 7 - 10 - 13 - 16

12/8 1 - 4 - 7 - 10 - 13 - 16 - 19 - 22

5/4 1 - 4 - 6 - 9  or 1 - 3 - 6 - 8

7/4 1 - 4 - 8 - 11  or 1 - 5 - 8 - 12

When giving a tempo to musicians, they need to hear the strong/weak unit of time to enable them to feel the tempo correctly and accurately. Remember, they are hearing the tempo indication only once, and from that one hearing are expected to ‘nail’ the tempo and play for as long as needed.

Tempos also qualify the countoff from the perspective that the slower the tempo, they may only require one measure of countoff (the weak measure), and in very fast tempos they may require four bars countoff (strong/weak/strong/weak). It is a good idea to tell the band ‘two measures for nothing’ or ‘one measure for nothing’. This means the countoff relates to time before the music starts, or the first strong measure.

Now it is time to communicate the tempo you hear in your head to the players. There are three accepted approaches to this  problem:

The normal words spoken are: (using 4/4 as an example)

1 - 3 = 1 2 3 4
Strong bar Weak bar

In 3/4 time:

1 - 1 2 3
Strong bar Weak bar

In a fast Jazz Waltz:

1 - 1 - 1 - 1 2 3
Strong bar Weak bar    Strong bar Weak bar

Many song start with what are called ‘pickups’. These are melody notes that start before 1X of the strong measure. There can be 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or even 8 pickup notes before the first measure of the song or introduction. When this is the case, it affects how you count off the tempo. Most pickups will be contained in the measure before the song.
Pickups can start:

1. after 7X of the measure before bar 1 or the first strong measure
2. on 7X of the measure before bar 1 or the first strong measure
3. after 5X of the measure before bar 1 or the first strong measure
4. on 5X of the measure before bar 1 or the first strong measure

When this situation arises, the countoff is handled as follows:

1. 1 - 3 = 1 2 3 -
Strong bar Weak bar

2. 1 - 3 = 1 2 - -
Strong bar Weak bar

3. 1 2 3 4 1 - - -
Strong bar Weak bar

4. 1 2 3 4 = = - -
Strong bar Weak bar

If you are a player that starts the tempo, you can give the tempo to the band by playing in tempo. Once they hear you, they will know the tempo. For ballads, you can simply play a series of pickup notes in tempo, and set the pulse in that manner. Most will nod their head on 1X.

In moderately slow to fast tempos, you can play two bars as a vamp or groove feel, and then the band enters after hearing your two bars one time.

It is also common and musical to conduct with your hands to communicate the pulse, or combine speaking and conducting (instead of snapping fingers or clapping). The art of conducting is a special discipline which takes training and practice over a long period of time. The suggestions in this article are focused more on those of you who may have to count off the band or group but do not have any conducting experience. We have talked about non-conducting ways of getting the job done in more of a live- performance or rehearsal situation.

It is a good idea to practice counting off a tempo in front of a mirror and to practice singing a portion of the song in your head to get the correct pulse, then see if you can count off the tempo at the pulse you think it should be.

This particular responsibility is very important in live performance, as the a band or group has to be playing in the right pulse, and must start together.  The more confident you are in counting the tempo off, the less chance there is for an incorrect tempo or the band members misinterpreting your message!

I hope that if one day you are required to do this ‘leading the band’ responsibility, that these tips will help you be successful!

Dick Grove

USING TRIADS FOR
IMPROVISATION

by Dana Rasch

Triads are just another approach that can be very helpful to your single line playing,this is one reason that I suggest to all students to nail down their ability to systematically invert all 4 triads in all keys all over the neck.As you will see, having that ability will bring a new dimension not only to your comping (as discussed in previous articles) but to your improvising as well.

The reason I bring up the idea of restrictions is that they have a tendency to force us to develop our rhythmic phrasing. This is an extremely important aspect of improvisation that can sometimes be missed by students of guitar who, can find themselves in a nasty cycle of soloing with their favorite scale source using 16th notes at 5,000,000 = a quarter note.

You can hear a triadic approach with many great guitarists in all styles of music.An obvious technique that uses triads and has been around in Rock and Fusion styles for quite a while now is "sweep picking". Though sweep picking is effective it is in no way necessary in order to create great melodic ideas using triads.

Many guitarists use what are called "alternating triads". Alternating triads are 2 major triads usually a whole step apart, for example: The alternating triads for C major 13 #1 1 would be C and D major. The alternating triads for Gminl1 would be Bb and C major.Again,you can find alternating triads for every chord type including all the altered chord types (they are most effective on altered chords). The alternating triads for A+7(b9 b5) would be Eb and F major. This is certainly one aspect of triads you should be aware of for all chord families.

Another idea is using "Assumed Roots".As discussed previously triads not only work as chords unto themselves but can be thought of as upper extensions of larger chord forms.Each interior triad of a larger chord form is called an Assumed Root.

Example 1

In example #1, Emi would be the Assumed Root 3 of Cmajor7, it being the resulting triad built from the 3rd degree of the chord. We 'assume' that the 3rd of the Cma7 chord is now the root of an Emi triad. The Assumed Root 5 of that same chord would be a Gma triad. The A.R.7 is Bmi, the A.R.9 is a Dma triad, and the A.R. 13 or 6 would be Ami. This concept is from the Chord Family concept discussed in another article in this months MUSIC NOTES by Dick Grove.

Try laying these chord progressions down on tape, then improvise over them using the triads given. As you become more comfortable, expand to other inversions of the same triads, then try different Assumed roots. Start listening to these triad shapes against each chord type and recognize the impression each chord type creates

THE CHORD FAMILY CONCEPT

by Dick Grove

One of the measures of a good teacher and a good teaching program is that the subject of music, with all of its aspects,  will deal with the basic premises from which the music is created.

Without the understanding of these basic axioms and principles, all that is left is an endless stream of details to somehow be memorized, absorbed and applied to contemporary music.

Most teachers do not understand these basic ideas themselves, much less teach from them! You can talk about music forever and still not have the ability to work from the standpoint of these basic, essential principles.

This is why our teaching programs get the results we say they will! They explain and teach from this way of thinking. In the process, the student saves literally, years of frustrating work.

We are talking in this article, about one of the concepts I have developed over the years that deal with many important areas of creating music, either as a performer or as a composer/arranger/writer. It is called CHORD FAMILIES.

I would like to explain the essence of this concept, how it can help you, and how it organizes the harmonic vocabulary of contemporary music.

The smallest chord form is the triad, and the largest tonal chord form will have 8 different notes. In between there are chords with 4, 5, 6 and 7 different tones. It is a staggering array of combinations of notes that are possible in 15 different keys and enharmonic spellings!

In total, there are around 120 different chord forms (3-part to 8-part) that make up our chord symbol vocabulary within each key center. That adds up to 1800 different chord symbols when you have them in 15 keys!!!
It is important to understand that knowing chord symbols is only the gateway to learning how to make music with them. To further underscore the ‘impossible dream’ we are discussing is the fact that a good musician actually knows what all of these forms sound like - yes - his or her ear is developed to the point that they can look at the chord symbol and hear the sound of the particular combination of tones. A remarkable ability to say the least.

On the other side of the coin is the point that knowing this information and having the ability to hear them is a subjective goal - some forms are rarely used, and certain of our contemporary styles favor many of the simpler, less complicated and involved forms.  So the point is that this is not a ‘test’ that you have to pass to be a functioning musician. What we all strive for is to be comfortable with the chord symbols we need to know to play or write the kind of music we desire to create.

Having said of all this, it is also obvious that to know even half of the different chord forms, in all keys and to be able to hear them is still a imposing challenge.

Lets talk a minute about how most of us learn our chords. Many learn via their instrument, gaining an understanding from the visual ‘look’ on their keyboard or fretboard. Some buy the book and start memorizing, playing and gradually learning more and more, with the book as a backup if they get stuck. This amounts to eventually playing long enough that the majority of chords are in a comfort zone of accessibility.

There are many who can’t tell you how they learned all of this - they did it over a period of time anyway they could!  The end of this conversation comes down to one final conclusion. There needs to be an approach that not only covers the gamut of possible chord forms, but trains your ear to hear them, and most important, shows you how the forms are actually used in making real music (not exercises and drills). When this can be accomplished in an organized, straightforward way, you can save yourself years and start operating with confidence and authority.

This concept was first conceived in 1970 as I was in the process of writing a book called “Arranging Concepts” This was designed as a text to train musicians to become arrangers and orchestrators for big bands and groups.

I needed some organized way to codify all possible chord forms and to present them as an efficient method of reference to the writing process. When I started my college in Los Angeles in 1973, I then used this approach in Modern Harmony classes, and applied to performance in the areas of improvisation, chord melody, comping and understanding different contemporary musical styles.

Many of the thousands who have studied this approach tell me that they feel it provided one of the most significant learning advances for them. What it accomplished was to make the goal accessible and possible in a relatively short amount of time.

Here is the concept - in a nutshell:

All Chord Families are presented so that you learn:

This approach makes up much of our musicianship course called ‘See It - Hear It / Hear It = Play It’ Parts 1 and 2. Starting with Chapter Ten of Part 1, and continuing through Chapter 19 of Part 2, each lesson covers a Chord Family or variation, resulting in a total understanding and ability to utilize the entire vocabulary in the music of your choice.

It helps not only from a performance standpoint, but for writing down the proper symbols, for harmonizing melodies, etc. Each Video Lesson of a chapter includes explanations, musical demonstrations and an added understanding of how all of this works, over and above what is contained in the text and workbooks.

One thing I know is that it is really possible to learn this important aspect of music, and in a real way - meaning to be able to hear the sounds. Just mechanically being able to spell the chords is only one step in the process.

I hope this explanation is interesting to you, and I would ask you to try to objectively appraise your own understanding and abilities in these areas.

If you feel not too sure of yourself, or know your chords but do not have the eartraining to hear them, or feel limited in your ability to use them, then you might wish to seriously consider these unique courses. Give me a call at (800)994-7683 and we can talk more about chords and you!

Dick Grove