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More Guitar Workshop
Jim Kelly
A Little Wes
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Audio CD Tracks
Band I
Play-along 16 (no guitar solo)
Intro: 8 bars
In Head: twice
Written Solo: I chorus
Guitar Solo: 3 choruses
Out Head: once
Tiiis is a drdiration to Wes .VInntpniery-
without question, one of the greatest
jazz guitarists the world will ever
, .
know. I lie fccl and the Immioiiy of
this IIIIK" iiiv siniiliir to some of tiit"
tliings I t c wrote iind played. Ifs a 16-
liar fonn that's basically in the key of
C minor. In fact, you can get throu$i
most of the piece by ear. stayingin the
C minor blues sound.
One of tlie more (liffioih aspects of
this piecc is knowingltow and wlien in
take a~lvantagc of alpeggins and scales
not directly in the key. Illis is one
tliinyliat \Ves conlrl do incredibly
veil. For example., in tlie 4th liar of
tlir tune. wlien tile C minor shifts to
tlic C7 somid. He could set up the
rrsoliition into the dl17 from tlic C7
with souw hip-soni~lingscale or
arpogio line. The blues sound would
still work here, but a little research
gives more options that can lend tliese
sorts of jam connections to your solos.
A real drawback to playing only by
ear is tliat yo11 can miss a lot of stuff i f
yoii're just guessingwhat chord scales
or notes will (it. Take tlir 6th bar, for
example. where the chords are Him?
to IN. The blues scale ism the best
choice because some notes just don't
fit. Tliis section can seem trciiclierons
;uicl foreign. 'IF playingaroiind the
notes in the chord (the chord tones).
Since both chords are related to Hi
Dorian (Ab major scale), listen to ho\v
these oilier notes sound when added
to the chord tones.
It takes a longtime to understand and
feel mnifortalilc with chords that are
shiftingkeys. Many tunes are like this:
you ciiii group most cliorrls into the
same key. but there arc places where
l i e chords arc from another key (non-
rliatonic). By snidyingdiese places.
you can improve the way your lines
conned.
On tlie rccordin"; we played an 8-l ~ar
intro vamp. Often tlicsc kinds of inlros
arc open (1101 set in lengtli). dtlioi~gli
the phrases would typically lie 4 bars
long The inelocly is played twice at
the beginning- then 1 played a one-
cliotiis written solo that is intended to
sonnrl like ideas \Iies might have
playcrl. This solo is all iironiitl tlic
lower positions aiid i n a rrgister that
\Yes favored. To gn for that Wes-like
tow. I used iny tlnii~ih instead of a
pick.
I don't think anyone else will ever lie
as flitcnt with tliis style as lie was, Inn
it's a "reat sound and lends itself to
r
expcniiientin"; T y slides and such
since "tl~uinbing' each note doesn't
work as well with this approach.
After the solos, the melody can lie
played once or hvice. Tlic enclingis a
vamp on the intro chord cliangcs.
When playingliive. tn, to fade out the
ending.