Also notice that a couple of chords have an alternate name (indicated in brackets), which is what that chord would be called if a bassist were to play a tritone-substitution root note beneath it, something jazz musicians love to do when walking. As you play through both figures, listen to and study the voice-leading from chord to chord, meaning the way in which each individual note, or voice, moves up or down, or remains stationary, as a common tone, in relation to the voices on the other strings. Sustained notes and chords provide a welcome contrast to short rhythms.įIGURE 2 offers another example of the same comping approach applied to a slightly different set of changes (there are quite a few variations on the jazz-blues progression), with a few substitutions employed and featuring some new, interesting voicings and rhythmic motifs.
Many of the chords are separated by rests, or “holes of silence,” of varying lengths while other chords are tied over and held into the following beat. These anticipations create a strong sense of forward motion, which helps propel the groove.
Notice that many of the chord jabs fall on an eighth-note upbeat-on one of the “and” counts between beats-and half a beat “early,” relative to when the chord change “officially” occurs. One of the creative challenges with this comping style is to try and vary your rhythms enough so that they sound fresh, as it’s all too easy to fall into a repetitive, predictable phrasing pattern. You could strum each chord with a pick, but you’ll achieve a more precise, non-staggered articulation by employing hybrid picking or straight fingerpicking, using either the pick or your bare thumb to play the notes on the D string and your middle finger, ring finger and pinkie to pluck the top three strings.
Again, the concept is to emulate a group of synchronized horns. FIGURE 1 has us comping on a 12-bar jazz-blues progression in the key of G, using four-note voicings on the top four strings exclusively, except for the final chord.