Good Songs to Start With - now with Charts!

Earlier, I posted a list of good songs to use to learn to play swing.

I thought I should add charts of each of those songs, all using chord voicings from my 20 voicings chart.

Bb Blues (PDF)
Bb Rhythm Changes (PDF)
Minor Swing (PDF) / Dark Eyes (PDF) / Blues en Mineur (PDF)
Honeysuckle Rose (PDF)
Rose Room (PDF) / I Can’t Give You Anything but Love (PDF)
Rosetta (PDF)
Dinah (PDF) / Lady Be Good (PDF)
All of me (PDF)

Have fun working through these tunes.

The 20 Essential Rhythm Guitar Voicings

EDIT - I HAVE LONG SINCE LOST THE PDF OF THIS CHART, SO PLEASE DON’T EMAIL ME FOR IT.
It took a long, long time in FINALE, and I just don’t have that time right now, and likely won’t for a long time. The image is the best I can do .

Many of the better rhythm guitar books have a one page chart of the most used voicings. Frankly, if you threw out the rest of most books, and just used the chart, you'd be pretty much set for a career of rhythm guitar. 95% of rhythm guitar playing uses those most used voicings, and the other 5% can be done without.

Here is my version of that chart.

Click to enlarge image

A couple tips:

Major-chords: Always default to a maj6th voicing. It's the sound of swing.

Minor-chords: Always default to a min6th voicing, unless it's part of the ii-V, and then use the min7.

Diminished-chords: In a diminished chord, any note in the chord can be the root (Aº=A, C, Eb, Gb; Cº=C, Eb, Gb, A; etc.).

While we're at it, here's a couple of examples on a Bb Blues that use these voicings.

Simple Bb Blues (PDF)

Allan Reuss - The Unsung Hero of Swing Rhythm Guitar

Allan Reuss is easily the unsung of Swing Rhythm Guitar. Allan was a student of George Van Eps, who was playing with Benny Goodman band at the time. Van Eps did not want go out on the road with the Goodman band, so he offered his student to Goodman. Allan stayed with the Goodman band until 1938, and so was part of one of the most amazing bands and rhythm sections in swing - the Goodman band w/ Krupa, Harry James, Vido Musso, Ziggy Elman, Jess Stacy, etc. Later, Reuss played in the bands of Jimmy Dorsey, Harry James, Jack Teagarden and many others.

While Freddie Green is always heralded as the greatest of rhythm guitar players, I think Reuss should get far more credit than he does now. Not only did he contribute his own playing, but Allan was responsible for teaching at least two of the other great rhythm guitarists - Steve Jordan and Freddie Green himself!

From Steve Jordan's autobiography, "Rhythm Man: 50 Years in Jazz," (1991):

Freddie Green told me that Allan Reuss straightened out his rhythm work when he was first working with Count Basie, shortly before I went to Allan for help when I was twenty years old and playing with the Bradley-McKinley band. It may surprise some people to know that Green played only three or four strings most of the time. Like me, Freddie followed Allan's rule to avoid use of the first string, the top E, because it is too twangy. Freddie preferred the deep sounds and no one played those deep sounds as well as Freddie did.

I'm guessing that, based on other exerpts from Steve Jordan and others, Allan was probably taking some of the information from Van Eps and distilling it. Still, the voicings Allan taught Green and Jordan and others are the ultimate template for swing rhythm guitar.

I've been looking some video clips of Reuss playing, and it's pretty hard to see him clearly, but here's a couple clips.

Benny Goodman - "Bugle Call Rag" (1936)

Check out Allan's mid-30's Epiphone with a white pickguard. You can see him picking over the "neck pickup" area of the guitar.

Benny Goodman - "I've Got a Heartful of Music / Avalon / House Hop"

It might worthwhile to go listen to the studio takes of "House Hop", just so you can be fully aware of just how tight and jumping that video is. The rhythm section in the movie was the classic combo of Gene Krupa, Harry Goodman, Jess Stacy and Allan. Funny thing was that although Krupa was a star, neither he nor Harry Goodman were particularly good timekeepers. It was Reuss who was the glue and really got things pumping. When somebody told Benny that they had not realized how important Reuss had been until he was gone, Goodman's said simply, "Neither did we."

But talking only about Reuss's amazing rhythm guitar playing is only half the story. Reuss was also a chord melody soloist par excellence, but that will have to wait for another post.

Rhythm Guitar: I Can't Give You Anything But Love (advanced)

Since "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" has so many classic chord changes, it's a good showcase for many classic advanced rhythm guitar moves.

I Can't Give You Anything But Love - advanced (PDF)

Again, lets go through the changes:

1. Here, were using a very typical inversion more to set up the diminished passing chord. Jumping from a root position shape to the 1st inversion (meaning the 3rd in the bass) is a very common move. Also, the 1st inversion chord doesn't have a 7th, so it can be used with any major-type chord. Of course, the best part is how it moves into the diminshed passing chord.

2. In mm.8-9, I use a "tritone substitution" in passing from Eb7 to Ab7, stopping in between at an A7. If you look at the fingering shape, the only change is in the bass is Bb->A. Now, that could just be passing movement in the bass without calling it a new chord. But, sometimes that passing chord (which is a tritone away from the original chord - Eb->A is a flatted 5th) is drawn out for a longer duration. However, functionally, the A7 is just acting as a funky sounding Eb7.

3. In mm.9-11, this is what I call a "walk up." This a very common move over any dominant 7 chord. I learned this from John Reynolds at my first and only "lesson" with him (that story will be it's own post). Basically the middle two chords, E7->Bº, are just diminished passing chord. Although it says E7, I think the function is better described as a Bbº, which would be fingered exactly the same way, anyway. Finally, instead of playing the Db6 at the 4th fret, we play it at the 9th fret to finish the upward movement.

4. In mm.12-13, this is what I call a "walk down." This is done over a distance of a minor 3rd, such as a I->VI7 move (see mm.27-28), or in this case a IV->II7.

5. M.14, another 1st inversion chord, just to break up the static chord. You could walk this chord up, like we did in mm. 9-11, but we'd end up with an Eb7 chord at the 11th fret, which I find a bit too high.

6. Mm.17-23, same moves as last time.

7. MM. 25-26, these are the same chord as the simple version, just shifted up the neck following the "walk up."

8. MM. 27-28, here is the second "walk down", and this time with the roots on the A string.

9. MM. 31-32, this is a simple I-vi-ii-V vamp as a turn around. Notice that the vi7 (Fm7) voicing is the same as the I in 1st inversion (Ab/C). That can be very handy. In fact, even the full chords of a I6 and a vi7 have exactly the same notes (i.e. Ab6=Ab, C, Eb, F - Fm7=F, Ab, C, Eb). You will see some modernized changes where they call for a vi7 chord, where in reality you could just as easily play a I6.\

Gives these moves a run through and see what happens. Your comments are always welcome.

Rhythm Guitar: I Can't Give You Anything But Love

A great tune to start learning both swing rhythm guitar and swing harmony is "I Can't Give You Anything But Love." The tune's chords don't move too fast, and every one of the chordal movements are classic swing moves.

I Can't Give You Anything But Love (PDF)

First, take a look at the chord extensions used for proper swing harmony.

1. Note that the I and IV chords (Ab and Db) are both voiced as 6th chords. This definite of Swing harmony - Bebop harmony would always go with a maj7 instead.

2. Notice that all minor chords are minor 6 chords, unless they are part of a vi7-ii7 move or a ii7-V7 move. Minor7 chords imply a Dorian sound (which is very bebop - think Miles Davis' "So What"), and were only used in during the swing era for backcycling, like in a I6-vi7-ii7-V7 sequence.

Second, let's take the changes transition-by-transition.

1. The first 4 bars is a classic I-biiiº-ii7-V7 sequence. When moving from I to ii7, a diminished passing chord is very common, and you can approach the ii7 from half step in either direction (in Ab, either a Aº or Bº, going to the Bbm7). In this song, the melody happens to fit better over the Bº, so we'll stick with that. (but the melody will be another post).

2. After repeating the first 4 bars, the next eight are a classic I7-IV6-II7-V7 sequence. This sequence is found in all sorts of songs, not the least of which is the bridge to "Honeysuckle Rose." Now, bear with me on the numbers for a second - the I7 (which functions as V chord) goes to the IV6 (which is now the I, at least temporarily) - this basically just V-I move in disguise. The II7-V7 move is just another classic backcycle. Stopping in between at ii7, is just a way to smooth out the movement.

3. After repeating the first 4 bars again, the next sequence is again classic. Again there's a I7-IV6 move, but this time it's followed by a IV6-iv6-I6 sequence. As with the diminished passing chord above, the movement suggested by the IV-iv move, could also go the other direction, and instead be IV-#ivº (which would be Db6-Dº). You can find this move in many turnarounds, and especially in any song based on "Rhythm Change" (i.e. the chords to "I Got Rhythm").

4. Finally, the last move is more classic backcycling. I-VI7-ii7-V7 can be found in countless songs. The I-VI7 move contains one important voice leading movement, which is the root raising a half step (the Ab from the Ab6 chord becomes an A natural in the F7 chord). Once you get to the F7 chord, it's all just backcycling from there.

We'll come back to this tune and work through some more complex rhythm guitar voice leading.