Freddie Green Chords

Swinging Strategies for Jazz Ensemble Guitarists Dave Ness, presenter Outline I. Freddie Green A. THE Big Band Swing Style B. Count Basie II. Equipment A. Guitar 1. Full Hollow-body Guitar 2. Amp III. Chords for Swing charts A. Freddie Green Style 1. 4 to the bar 2. Chord Shapes 3. 5th and 6th String 4. Theory 5. Tablature and chord charts B. Bb Blues examples C. Freddie Green listening Example “Hail to the Chief” IV. Reading Notes A. All the Notes in 1st position V. Other styles A. Bossa 1.Girl From Ipanema Dave Ness [email protected] [email protected] Chicago Jazz Magazine said of Dave Ness, “there is no denying his superlative skill on the guitar.” A sought-out educator and clinician for nearly 25 years, Dave has directed jazz ensembles for several colleges and high schools, including Northwestern University and Carthage College. Dave has been studying Freddie Green guitar style since 1990 and in 1999 his article on Freddie Green was published in the Jazz Educators Journal. Currently Dave teaches guitar and jazz ensemble as well as AP Music Theory and Music Production and Sound Engineering at Libertyville High School. Dave has released three albums (with all original compositions) with the Dave Ness Trio: “Sketches,” “Layers,” and his 2018 release “Grooveness.” His website can be found at www.daveness.net Freddie Green: Birth of a Style by David Ness Background Frederick William Greene, born 1911, anchored Count Basie’s rhythm section from 1937 until his death in 1987 with few interruptions. A self-taught guitarist, Green (as he preferred to spell it) was a devoted member of the band. Basie, in Good Morning Blues, tells: When we came back to New York, we became a septet. We didn’t include Freddie Green in that group that we took out to Chicago, but when we got back he just came in on his own. One night we were playing somewhere in midtown, and I came to work and there he was with his guitar and everything. “What...are you doing here?” I asked. And he just looked at me and looked at the wall or out in space or somewhere and shook his head. “What...do mean what am I doing here? You working tonight, aren’t you?” And that was it, and he’s been right there ever since.1 Freddie Green rarely soloed but instead favored playing rhythm guitar. Different stories purport to explain this: Harry Edison recounts in Jazz Anecdotes that the rhythm section would fall apart if Green left his timekeeping role to solo; so the band ripped the guts out of his amplifier to discourage him from soloing.2 Certainly Green heard more than just chords, as he wrote charts for the Basie Band: Down For Double, Right On, and Corner Pocket. And you can indeed hear an example of his playing more single-string ideas on the tune Boll Weevil (from a recording of Brother John Sellers listed in the discography of this article). No matter what the reason, the fact that Green rarely improvised single lines is not as important as his contribution to big band guitar playing, where Green helped define the sound of the Basie rhythm section. His role in that section was so important that we have a style of playing named after him: the “Freddie Green style” is characterized by small chords (or implied chords) strummed “four to the bar.” Hear the Difference Rhythm sections of every level can share common problems, and one of the most common is that many guitarists have never heard Freddie Green play. Frequently a big band guitarist is strumming “bar chords” (the first finger stretched across the whole neck). With the six notes thus played (often doubling notes) and the bottom interval usually a perfect fifth, the result is what the rock world calls a “power chord.” In a jazz context, these elements add up to a very muddy sound. ● The Freddie Green style actually makes it very easy for a beginning guitarist to play on big band swing charts: ● The guitarist doesn’t have to deal with all the notes in a chord. They only play the Root, 3rd and 7th. Bb9, Bb11, Bb13= Play Bb7 Bb7 alt(#11, b13, b5, #5, b9, #9), Bb+7= Play Bb7 Copyright Dave Ness 2018 1 BbMAJ7#11 or Bb△7= Play BbMAJ7 Bbmin7b5 or Bb-7b5 or Bbø7= PLAY Bbmin7 Bbo7, Bbdim7, or Bbmin6= PLAY Bbdim7 ● The lighter sound produced (because less notes are played) leads to a more swinging rhythm section. ● By playing “four to the bar” they help anchor the rhythm by grooving with the walking bass. This also allows the piano player to “comp” different rhythms without getting in the way of the guitar. ● This style assists the understanding of the important notes in a chord: the thirds and the sevenths. ● It is an excellent springboard to learning more complicated chords. Acoustic Sound Freddie Green’s style is defined by an acoustic guitar quality: he was more felt than heard. An acoustic guitar or a hollow-body electric will get the closest sound. A student using an electric guitar should keep the volume fairly low, with the tone control on a more bass setting. Have the neck pickup selected (usually chosen by setting the pickup selector up). The percussive quality of the pick hitting the strings is a very important aspect of this style. Freddie Green’s playing was light, understated, and rhythmically precise with a driving pulse. Think like any other member of the ensemble: blend with the band; don’t stick out. Equipment Freddie Green used a Gretsch Eldorado and a Stromberg Master, which are archtop acoustic guitars. For today’s jazz ensembles, where a student will also have to play non-swing styles,the ideal guitar for the swing style is a full hollow body jazz guitar. This is basically an archtop acoustic guitar with pickups. A semi-hollow body guitar can work, such as a Gibson ES335. More expensive models are made by Gibson and other luthiers. Cheaper full hollow body guitars are made by Godin, Epiphone, Ibanez, Gretsch, and more companies. At Libertyville High School, where I teach guitar and direct one of the jazz bands, we have one Gibson ES175 and one Godin 5th Ave. guitar. For amplifiers, I would recommend a small amp with enough wattage. I would also recommend getting an amp that sounds good “clean.” You don’t need an amp with effects already in the amp. You could always add those later with effect pedals, if needed, for a rock chart. I personally recommend the Henriksen’s Jazz Amps. https://www.henriksenamplifiers.com/ At LHS we have “The Bud” amplifier. “The Bud” is 9X9X9, 120 watts, and 17 pounds and comes with a carry case with shoulder straps. It also has two inputs with separate controls for each input. It sounds great and I don’t have tell any directors the benefits of a small, lightweight Copyright Dave Ness 2018 2 amp that sounds great. In 2018, Henriksen introduced “The Blu,” a one channel, 12 pound version of “The Bud.” There are also great clean sounding amps by AER, Roland, Fishman and others. Swing Feel For swing feel, hold the pick between your first finger and thumb of your picking hand. The thumb alone can be used for more mellow sounds; but the percussive, acoustic quality of the pick hitting the strings is an integral part of the Freddie Green style. Start with a three-chord blues to become familiar with your voicings: practicing three chords in this repetitive form will speed the learning process. Play chords on all four beats of the measure, accenting two and four. Think of snapping your strumming wrist on beats two and four, and practice with a metronome clicking on those accents, Use only down strokes (toward the floor): strumming the chords both up and down is contrary to swing feel. Move on to jazz blues with more chords, playing in as many different keys as possible so as to get really comfortable moving chords around. But most importantly, listen to the Basie band with Freddie Green. Freddie Green Chord Voicings One way guitarists blend with a jazz ensemble is by using the correct voicings. Seventh chords are the most common chords in jazz: a student who has mastered seventh-chord voicings will be able to cover most chords in a big band chart. As in improvising, the thirds and the sevenths of a chord are the most important. Play the third and seventh of the chord with the root in the bass; you can find sample seventh-chord voicings for the sixth and fifth strings in Example 1: Copyright Dave Ness 2018 3 EXAMPLE 1: 6th String Shapes -Root on the 6th string -7th of the chord on the 4th string -3rd of the chord on the 3rd string. Mute 5th string with the finger playing the note on the 6th string. Copyright Dave Ness 2018 4 5th String Shapes - -Root on the 5th string -3rd on the 4th string -7th on the 3rd string Chord simplification In a big band swing chart, the guitarist can simply the chords. They can ignore all extensions (9,11,13) and play the 7th chord. They can ignore all alterations (b5,#5,b9,#9, b13, #11) and play the 7th chord. Bb9, Bb11, Bb13= Play Bb7 Bb7/F= means Bb7 with an F in the bass. Ignore alternate bass notes and PLAY Bb7 Bb7 alt(#11, b13, b5, #5, b9, #9), Bb+7= Play Bb7 BbMAJ7#11 or Bb△7= Play BbMAJ7 Bbmin7b5 or Bb-7b5 or Bbø7= PLAY Bbmin7 Bbo7, Bbdim7, or Bbmin6= PLAY Bbdim7 Copyright Dave Ness 2018 5 Roots on the 5th and 6th string Students should memorize all the notes on the 5th (A) and 6th (low E) string because all the roots of the chords are here; every fret on the guitar is a ½ step.

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