Comments on: Creative Guitar Comping http://www.learnjazzguitar.com/2008/07/16/creative-guitar-comping/ Master the Art of Jazz Guitar Fri, 30 Mar 2012 10:05:27 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: ducky http://www.learnjazzguitar.com/2008/07/16/creative-guitar-comping/comment-page-1/#comment-29963 ducky Fri, 30 Mar 2012 10:05:27 +0000 http://www.learnjazzguitar.com/?p=149#comment-29963 as a guitarist i see exactly what you are trying to convey with the article. i sense that this is not merely about the orchestration of the music itself but a bit of a power struggle between the members of the band. in most garage bands where pianists are either uninvolved or taking over another instrument, the guitar player is generally thought of as the lead player. in your ensemble you stated you are the lead player, ergo the band should be the accompaniment and not showboat. the trouble you may run into with this configuration of musicians is that immature guitarists will consider themselves the lead player no matter what their appointed role is. you usually see this most often with rhythm players trying to lead. all bands will experience this power struggle to some degree however and it will generally manifest itself as a very loud band in which the singer cannot be heard. the problem is that all the members become so self involved that instead of lowering the volume of their own instruments so that the quieter musicians may be heard they raise their volume in an attempt to play over each other. these people may be easy to get along with but they are either not team players or very poor team players. my philosophy is that if i am playing music with someone whos main concern is only to out do me then perhaps i need to find someone who is more objective and will focus on the end result even if they arent easy to get along with. ultimately, the thing about comping is that comping requires humility. someone who lacks humility will not comp very well no matter how developed their musical skill happens to be. if you want to comp well, leave your ego at the door and it will happen. as a guitarist i see exactly what you are trying to convey with the article. i sense that this is not merely about the orchestration of the music itself but a bit of a power struggle between the members of the band. in most garage bands where pianists are either uninvolved or taking over another instrument, the guitar player is generally thought of as the lead player. in your ensemble you stated you are the lead player, ergo the band should be the accompaniment and not showboat. the trouble you may run into with this configuration of musicians is that immature guitarists will consider themselves the lead player no matter what their appointed role is. you usually see this most often with rhythm players trying to lead. all bands will experience this power struggle to some degree however and it will generally manifest itself as a very loud band in which the singer cannot be heard. the problem is that all the members become so self involved that instead of lowering the volume of their own instruments so that the quieter musicians may be heard they raise their volume in an attempt to play over each other. these people may be easy to get along with but they are either not team players or very poor team players. my philosophy is that if i am playing music with someone whos main concern is only to out do me then perhaps i need to find someone who is more objective and will focus on the end result even if they arent easy to get along with. ultimately, the thing about comping is that comping requires humility. someone who lacks humility will not comp very well no matter how developed their musical skill happens to be. if you want to comp well, leave your ego at the door and it will happen.

]]> By: ga http://www.learnjazzguitar.com/2008/07/16/creative-guitar-comping/comment-page-1/#comment-1366 ga Thu, 02 Apr 2009 17:27:08 +0000 http://www.learnjazzguitar.com/?p=149#comment-1366 How about notes in an octave pattern. Maybe not heavily punctuated like the standard way. It's still one note but with extra flavor. How about notes in an octave pattern. Maybe not heavily punctuated like the standard way.

It’s still one note but with extra flavor.

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