THE JAZZ BOX
The Generic Word “Go”
JANE MILLER
Fig. 1 Fig. 1
3fr
3fr
3fr
3fr
8fr
8fr
3fr
231 32 1
32 14
2134 1 234
21 3
21341
1324
12234
2 341
3241
134
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
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My fifth-grade English teacher, Mrs. Jackson,
went to the board one day and wrote the
word GO for all of us to see. She then said,
“This is the generic word ‘go.’ I would like
you all to write as many specific words to
replace the word ‘go’ as you can think of.”
We came up with quite a list: Walk, run, fly,
skip, drive, amble, stroll, hurry, split, boogie,
and on it went. Each specific word carried
with it an image that showed us details
about the act of going. Each word showed
us the mood and the spirit of the going. The
going now had some intention.
Guitarists are often provided with a generic
chord chart to follow, a harmonic map that
gives us creative freedom to turn the basic
chords into something more specific to fit
the musical context.
A great exercise to break away from generic
chords in our playing is to start with a chord
you know well, and then dress it up. This
accessorizing involves adding or subtracting
notes to create tensions. If, after fretting a
chord, you have a finger left over, drop it
down somewhere and see if you like how it
sounds. Remember, if you don’t like what
you hear the first time, you might love it in
a new context, so don’t immediately rule
anything out.
72 PREMIER GUITAR NOVEMBER 2010
Let’s use a C triad—the generic chord C,
if you will—as an example to work with.
Fig. 3 Fig. 3
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2
2
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Since it’s a major triad, we need to keep it
in the major family of chords. Fig. 1 shows
some ii-V-I progressions that each resolve
to a different form of C major. Going from
left to right, the sounds and fingerings
become more interesting. We’ve just found
eight ways to express C more specifically,
not to mention the variety of Dm7 and G7
chords we’ve used.
Fig. 2 shows some tricks with a D major
triad on the first three strings—you know,
the D that looks like a triangle. Normally,
you’ll have one finger left over to try out
new things. But let’s make a half-barre
instead, so that you play the first three
strings with your first finger and the note
D on the 2nd string with your second finger. Now you have two fingers left over
to find interesting sounds. You’ll find the
G on the 3rd fret of the 1st string a fairly
comfortable sound here, making the triad
a sus4. But what happens if we raise that
extra note to the 4th fret on the E string,
or G#? Sounds funny at first, for sure. But
now play an A chord and then go back to
that D chord with the G# on top. Sounds
beautiful, right? Check out the short
example in Fig. 3. Because we give it a
context, the chord takes on a new sonic
identity that makes it work. In the key of
A major, G# is the seventh degree, and it
gives us a wonderful #4 sound on the IV
chord, D.
Fig. 4 Fig. 4
3 42
3 41
2
When it comes to dominant chords, we have
many options for adding tension. The “rule”
to follow is to keep natural tensions natural
and altered tensions altered. That means if
you want a substitution for G9, try G13, or if
you want to play G7#9 some other way, try
G7% 13. There are a number of voicings we
can find using fretted notes exclusively, thus
making the chord movable (you’ll see a few
in Fig. 1), but I’d like you to be even more
adventurous and find as many as you can
with open strings too.
Fig. 4 will get you started with a G9 that
uses an open string followed by a G7% 9 in
the same open position. Listen to each as
you play them and think about what chord
you want to come next. Then draw from
your specific chord collection to resolve (or
not resolve) the dominant.
www.premierguitar.com
Jane Miller
Guitarist, composer, and arranger Jane Miller is has roots
in both jazz and folk. In addition to leading her own jazz
instrumental quartet, she is in a working chamber jazz
trio with saxophonist Cercie Miller and bassist David
Clark. The Jane Miller Group has released three CDs on
Jane’s label, Pink Bubble Records. Jane joined the Guitar
Department faculty at Berklee College of Music in 1994.
You can reach her at janemillergroup.com.
