KVR Audio

memyselfandus · Post by **memyselfandus** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 4:33 am

What in your opinion.. are some Great "Guitar Chord Workouts"
in songs?

Songs with hard Chord Changes (on guitar)

an obvious choice is Giant Steps

What are some other ones?

Beardedone · Post by **Beardedone** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 1:17 pm

I like Pat Metheny's "James" and still find "All the Things You Are" fertile ground. Also try Brubeck's "The Duke" which manages to travel through all 12 keys. There's a great version on Harvey Swartz' "Urban Earth".

Cheers,
Gordon

Download SOphist · Post by **Download SOphist** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 1:34 pm

All the things you are, for sure. I can't get started could be another one.

BERFAB · Post by **BERFAB** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 1:48 pm

memyselfandus wrote:
an obvious choice is Giant Steps

On KVR? Really? I'd be willing to bet that the bulk of the gentry here never even heard of it. I'd think that the bulk of this thread gets Meshuggah titles.

-B

duncanparsons · Post by **duncanparsons** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 1:49 pm

hmmm.. not sure, but I'll offer up my favourite strunming warm up - it's from Tubular Bells, about halfway through pt1:
dots to represent semiquavers/16ths

|A...D...G..C..A.|
|A...D...G..C..A.|
|A...E...B..D..A.|
|..E...B..D..A...|
|G...DG..E.D.A...|
|G...DG.F..Bb.A...|
|G...DG..E.D.A...|
|G...DA..|

I like to play it as barred chords as starting slow then getting as fast as I can. The strange timing in the middle means you have to concentrate and not just hammer through. It's also very playable open, and presents a different and useful challenge.

For a picking warm up, I often use the opening of the same piece of music. It's mucking about with Am, but the pulloffs, hammerons and shifting time signatures present sufficient interest to make it a good exercise. Once that's done, you then use a barre and take it up the neck - which everso exciting

DSP

jjkinva · Post by **jjkinva** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 2:04 pm

I vote for Classical Gas...version by Tommy Emmanuel. This video has some great close-ups of the chord changes:

pandashake · Post by **pandashake** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 2:16 pm

Stairway, man.

tboulette · Post by **tboulette** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 2:20 pm

Beardedone wrote:I like Pat Metheny's "James" and still find "All the Things You Are" fertile ground. Also try Brubeck's "The Duke" which manages to travel through all 12 keys. There's a great version on Harvey Swartz' "Urban Earth".

Cheers,
Gordon

Metheny's "Better Days Ahead" has got some interesting changes. Seems like a key change every bar or two, and yet the melody stays pretty much diatonic -- awesome tune; tough to play over.

Sascha Franck · Post by **Sascha Franck** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 1:49 pm

To me, relatively fast "rhythm changes" (basically I-VI-II-V in various incarnations plus some B-part which usually is easier) are still quite tough to master as soon as things speed up. And you find them in about each and every standard, as an ending turnaround or whatever.

Other jazz standards that feature more or less logical progressions but aren't that easy to master:
- There Will Never Be Another You
- Days Of Wine And Roses
- Stella By Starlight
- Four Brothers
- Donna Lee
- Beautiful Love
and countless others...

Personally, I think "Giant Steps" is more like a "scale hero show off" and I haven't ever listened to a version I even remotely liked.

pattonfreak1 · Post by **pattonfreak1** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 2:03 pm

Anything by Allan Holdsworth

tboulette · Post by **tboulette** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 2:40 pm

Sascha Franck wrote:Personally, I think "Giant Steps" is more like a "scale hero show off" and I haven't ever listened to a version I even remotely liked.

To each their own, obviously, but I find the original version exhilarating.

pattonfreak1 · Post by **pattonfreak1** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 3:14 pm

The Black Page

Download SOphist · Post by **Download SOphist** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 4:29 pm

tboulette wrote:
Sascha Franck wrote:Personally, I think "Giant Steps" is more like a "scale hero show off" and I haven't ever listened to a version I even remotely liked.
To each their own, obviously, but I find the original version exhilarating.

yes, i'm with you there (actually, the full album is masterful and a great insight into a turnaround and turbulent period for the great man), but i think we can both understand what Sascha is aiming at. It's a difficult tune to reinterpret and make it your own, IMVVVHO it even led Coltrane to a no-turning point... from that moment on, only rebirth or silence.

even more Off Topic:

Sascha Franck wrote:Donna Lee

really like that one, as "Back home in indiana". It's always a lesson for me to ear the music change from Lester Young's 30's records into the first Parker and then into a memorable (but obscure, i'm afraid) concert at the Pershing, where he absolutely tears the tune into pieces

whait a minute, this is KVR? how did we ended talkin'this stuff here?

cheers!

asbfly · Post by **asbfly** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 4:51 pm

The Clap by Steve Howe can be challenging.

xtp · Post by **xtp** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 8:48 pm

memyselfandus wrote:What in your opinion.. are some Great "Guitar Chord Workouts"
in songs?

Songs with hard Chord Changes (on guitar)

an obvious choice is Giant Steps

What are some other ones?

youve probably seen this but its kinda cool

Best "Guitar Chord Workouts" in a song