Mike's Music Musings

In the midst of a heat wave affecting two thirds of the country this week, and in the midst of my guitar-hammond organ obsession, I decided to transcribe this cool line by Wes Montgomery.  This entire month I've been heavily rotating his album with Jimmy Smith, "The Dynamic Duo," and this is the second to last track on the album.  The line features descending 5th intervals over a minor ii-V progression.  Though the net movement is downwards, you can also hear ascending 4th intervals to set up the following descending 5th- I think the 4th interval is what really makes this line sound cool.

Here's a badass, "outside" lick from Organ Freeman.  Use anywhere you want to add cool tension and a fusion sound.

One of the vinyl LPs hanging framed on my wall is called "Soul Survivors" by Hank Crawford and Jimmy McGriff.  I've recently been on a guitar/hammond organ kick, and this is one of my favorite examples.  Though the album features George Benson on guitar, this particular track is played by Jim Ponder. One of the devices Ponder uses several times in his solo is a guitaristic feature called "sweeping," done by dragging or 'sweeping' the pick across several strings in one fluid hand movement.  This creates a cool type of phrasing which highlights the note at the top of the sweep with a flurry of notes leading into it.  Over this blues form, sweeps are played over upper extensions of the dominant chord, starting from the 5th scale degree.  For example, over F7, a Cm7 or Cm9 arpeggio is played.  Given the mechanics of the guitar, sweeps are more easily played in some positions than others.  Ponder uses two different positions in this solo.

Here's a transcription of a guitar solo over the song  "Verve"  by Organ Freeman.  The transcription includes analysis of the harmonic devices used by guitarist Erik Carlson.  It starts off bluesy but quickly gets into the realm of jazz fusion, utilizing a melodic minor sound over a static minor 7th chord.  Tension and excitement is built with heavy chromaticism, followed a jarring tritone run.  Check it out!