Module 13: Chord melody: solo jazz guitarLesson 5advanced⏱ 75 min + 15 min daily, ongoing

Fingerstyle and hybrid picking for solo jazz

Train the right hand to play bass, chords and melody as three independent parts: thumb independence, finger assignment, rest and free strokes for melody and accompaniment, hybrid picking with pick and fingers, and the dynamics and tone that make a solo arrangement sound like one instrument.

Why the right hand decides

Everything in the previous four lessons was about which notes to play. Whether it sounds like music is decided almost entirely by the right hand: whether the melody is louder than the chord beneath it, whether the bass note lands exactly on the beat while the chord stabs just after it, whether the chords ring or are damped on purpose. A chord-melody arrangement played with a flat pick and an even strum sounds like a chord chart; the same notes with a thumb carrying the bass and the ring finger leaning on the melody sound like a trio.

There are two schools, and both are legitimate. Fingerstyle (Martin Taylor, Lenny Breau, Ted Greene, Joe Pass on most of Virtuoso, Tuck Andress) uses thumb and three fingers, gives total independence between voices, and allows a chord to be sounded with every note at a different volume. Hybrid picking (Ed Bickert, Jim Hall in places, many contemporary players) holds the pick between thumb and index for bass and single lines and uses the middle and ring fingers for chords and upper voices; it keeps the pick's attack for lines and swing comping and adds the fingers for the chord-melody textures. This lesson teaches both, with the same exercises, and tells you where each one wins.

The notation marks right-hand fingering under the notes using the classical letters: p is the thumb, i the index, m the middle and a the ring finger. When you hybrid-pick, read p as "the pick".

Hand position and the default assignment

Rest the forearm on the upper bout so that the hand hangs over the strings between the end of the fretboard and the bridge pickup, the wrist slightly arched, knuckles roughly parallel to the strings. The thumb reaches forward and to the left of the fingers, so that thumb and index never collide on string 4; look at your hand from above and the thumb should be a good inch ahead of the index.

The default assignment, from which every exercise here departs only when it must:

• Thumb (p): strings 6, 5 and 4, the bass and the lowest chord note.
• Index (i): string 3.
• Middle (m): string 2.
• Ring (a): string 1, the melody.

When a chord sits on strings 5-4-3-2 the hand shifts down one string (p on 5, i on 4, m on 3, a on 2), and the melody is still on the ring finger. The assignment is what makes the voices independent: the melody is always played by the same finger, so you can give that finger a different stroke and a different weight from the others without thinking.

Nails or flesh is your choice. Flesh (the pad of the fingertip) gives the darker sound most jazz players want; a short nail on the thumb helps the bass speak. If you keep nails, keep them short and smooth, and be aware that they brighten the tone considerably on a jazz guitar with flatwound strings (lesson 1.1).

Thumb independence

The first and most important skill is a thumb that keeps time whatever the fingers do. The exercise is the oldest one there is: bass on beats 1 and 3 with the thumb, chord on beats 2 and 4 with the three fingers together. The bass alternates root and 5th; the chords are the three-note stabs from lesson 13.2.

\tempo 80
.
\ts 4 4
:4 5.5{rf 1 ch "Dm9"} (3.4{rf 2} 5.3{rf 3} 5.2{rf 4}).4 5.6{rf 1} (3.4{rf 2} 5.3{rf 3} 5.2{rf 4}).4 | 3.6{rf 1 ch "G13"} (3.4{rf 2} 4.3{rf 3} 5.2{rf 4}).4 5.5{rf 1} (3.4{rf 2} 4.3{rf 3} 5.2{rf 4}).4 | 3.5{rf 1 ch "Cmaj9"} (2.4{rf 2} 4.3{rf 3} 3.2{rf 4}).4 3.6{rf 1} (2.4{rf 2} 4.3{rf 3} 3.2{rf 4}).4 | 3.5{rf 1} (2.4{rf 2} 4.3{rf 3} 3.2{rf 4}).4 3.6{rf 1} (2.4{rf 2} 4.3{rf 3} 3.2{rf 4}).4 |

Practise it in three stages. First, the thumb alone, counting, with the fingers resting lightly on strings 3-2-1 (this is called planting: the fingers touch their strings before they play, which both damps the previous chord and prepares the next). Second, the chords alone on 2 and 4 with the thumb resting on string 6. Third, both, and the test is to take the metronome down to 50 bpm: if the bass drifts when the fingers strike, the thumb is not yet independent.

The thumb plays a rest stroke (apoyando) for bass notes: it pushes through the string and comes to rest on the next one. That gives the bass its weight and automatically damps the string below. The fingers play free strokes (tirando) for chords, lifting away from the strings after the attack, so that the chord does not disturb the bass.

Arpeggios across a voicing

Now the fingers one at a time. The pattern p-i-m-a through a drop-2 voicing, then its reverse, over a ii–V–I. This is the right-hand drill behind every broken-chord texture in chord melody and every bossa nova accompaniment (lesson 5.4). Keep every note the same volume at first; then make the a-finger note louder than the others on every pass.

\tempo 80
.
\ts 4 4
:8 5.5{rf 1 ch "Dm7"} 7.4{rf 2} 5.3{rf 3} 6.2{rf 4} 5.5{rf 1} 7.4{rf 2} 5.3{rf 3} 6.2{rf 4} | 3.6{rf 1 ch "G7"} 3.4{rf 2} 4.3{rf 3} 3.2{rf 4} 3.6{rf 1} 3.2{rf 4} 4.3{rf 3} 3.4{rf 2} | 3.5{rf 1 ch "Cmaj7"} 5.4{rf 2} 4.3{rf 3} 5.2{rf 4} 3.5{rf 1} 5.2{rf 4} 4.3{rf 3} 5.4{rf 2} | (3.5{rf 1} 5.4{rf 2} 4.3{rf 3} 5.2{rf 4}).1 |

The G7 in bar 2 is on strings 6-4-3-2, so the thumb jumps from string 6 to the chord on 4-3-2 and the assignment shifts: p on 6, i on 4, m on 3, a on 2. This is normal. The thumb covers whichever bass string the voicing uses and the fingers take the three strings above it, wherever they are.

Add the following variants once the basic pattern is even: p-m-i-a; p-i-a-m; p together with a, then i, then m (the "pinch" that gives chord melody its characteristic bass-plus-melody attack); and the whole pattern with the thumb playing a rest stroke and the fingers free strokes.

Bringing out the melody

In a four-note chord every string is struck at nearly the same instant, so the only way to make the top note louder is to give the ring finger a stronger stroke than the other fingers, or to play the melody note with a rest stroke while the rest of the chord gets free strokes. The exercise is block chords with the melody moving on the top string, the a-finger accented every time. Listen for the melody as a line; the chords should sound like a halo around it, not like a wall it stands on.

\tempo 60
.
\ts 4 4
(5.5{rf 1} 7.4{rf 2} 5.3{rf 3} 5.1{rf 4 ac}).4{ch "Dm7"} (5.5{rf 1} 7.4{rf 2} 5.3{rf 3} 8.1{rf 4 ac}).4 (5.5{rf 1} 7.4{rf 2} 5.3{rf 3} 5.1{rf 4 ac}).2 | (3.6{rf 1} 3.4{rf 2} 4.3{rf 3} 3.2{rf 4 ac}).4{ch "G7"} (3.6{rf 1} 3.4{rf 2} 4.3{rf 3} 6.2{rf 4 ac}).4 (3.6{rf 1} 3.4{rf 2} 4.3{rf 3} 3.2{rf 4 ac}).2 | (3.5{rf 1} 2.4{rf 2} 4.3{rf 3} 5.2{rf 4 ac}).4{ch "Cmaj7"} (3.5{rf 1} 2.4{rf 2} 4.3{rf 3} 3.1{rf 4 ac}).4 (3.5{rf 1} 2.4{rf 2} 4.3{rf 3} 5.2{rf 4 ac}).2 | (3.5{rf 1} 2.4{rf 2} 4.3{rf 3} 5.2{rf 4 ac}).1 |

Two further ways to separate the melody, both used constantly by the players named above. The roll: strike the chord as a very fast arpeggio from the bass up, so that the melody note arrives last and on the beat; the lower notes become a grace figure before it. The delayed melody: strike the chord without the top note and add the melody a fraction later with the a-finger, which both separates it and lets you play it with a rest stroke. Practise the block-chord exercise with each of these and record it; the difference in how clearly the melody speaks is startling.

Hybrid picking

Hold the pick as usual between thumb and index, and use m and a for the strings above the one the pick is on. The pick plays bass notes and single-note lines with its full attack; the fingers add the chord. The classic hybrid texture is a bass note with the pick on the beat and a two-note guide-tone dyad (3rd and 7th) with m and a on the off-beat, which is enough to define a ii–V–I with nothing else.

\tempo 90
.
\ts 4 4
:8 5.5{rf 1 ch "Dm7"} r (5.3{rf 3} 6.2{rf 4}).8 r 5.6{rf 1} r (5.3{rf 3} 6.2{rf 4}).8 r | 3.6{rf 1 ch "G7"} r (4.3{rf 3} 6.2{rf 4}).8 r 5.5{rf 1} r (4.3{rf 3} 6.2{rf 4}).8 r | 3.5{rf 1 ch "Cmaj7"} r (4.3{rf 3} 5.2{rf 4}).8 r 3.6{rf 1} r (4.3{rf 3} 5.2{rf 4}).8 r | 3.5{rf 1} r (4.3{rf 3} 5.2{rf 4}).8 r 3.6{rf 1} r (4.3{rf 3} 5.2{rf 4}).8 r |

Where hybrid picking wins: anything with single-note lines between the chords (a solo chorus with chord punctuation), fast comping, and walking bass at tempo, where the pick's attack keeps the line clear. Where fingerstyle wins: ballads, anything with three truly independent voices, and any chord where you want the notes at different volumes. Many players switch within a tune: pick in the pocket (or palmed) for the ballad head, out for the solo. Palming the pick, holding it against the palm with the little finger while playing fingerstyle, takes a week to learn and is worth it.

Walking bass with the right hand marked

Finally the texture from lesson 13.2 with the fingering shown: thumb (or pick) on every bass note, rest strokes, legato; i, m and a on the stabs, free strokes, short. The hardest right-hand coordination in this module is the bass note on beats 2 and 4 that sounds at the same instant as the stab; practise those beats in isolation, thumb and fingers together as a pinch, before you play the whole bar.

\tempo 100
.
\ts 4 4
\voice :4 r.4 (3.4{rf 2} 5.3{rf 3} 5.2{rf 4}).8{ch "Dm9"} r.8 r.4 (3.4{rf 2} 5.3{rf 3} 5.2{rf 4}).8 r.8 | r.4 (3.4{rf 2} 4.3{rf 3} 5.2{rf 4}).8{ch "G13"} r.8 r.4 (3.4{rf 2} 4.3{rf 3} 5.2{rf 4}).8 r.8 | r.4 (2.4{rf 2} 4.3{rf 3} 3.2{rf 4}).8{ch "Cmaj9"} r.8 r.4 (2.4{rf 2} 4.3{rf 3} 3.2{rf 4}).8 r.8 | r.4 (2.4{rf 2} 4.3{rf 3} 3.2{rf 4}).8 r.8 r.4 (2.4{rf 2} 4.3{rf 3} 3.2{rf 4}).8 r.8 |
\voice :4 5.5{rf 1} 8.5{rf 1} 5.6{rf 1} 4.6{rf 1} | 3.6{rf 1} 7.6{rf 1} 5.5{rf 1} 4.5{rf 1} | 3.5{rf 1} 7.5{rf 1} 3.6{rf 1} 7.6{rf 1} | 3.5{rf 1} 2.5{rf 1} 3.6{rf 1} 4.5{rf 1} |

Dynamics and tone

• Three levels: bass mezzo-forte and long; chords piano and short; melody forte, or whatever is needed for it to be the loudest thing in the room. Practise every exercise above at those three levels before you practise it fast.
• Where you pluck changes the tone more than any amplifier setting: over the end of the fretboard is dark and round, near the bridge is bright and thin. Move the hand towards the bridge for a stab and back towards the neck for a ballad melody.
• Damping is a right-hand skill as much as a left-hand one. The planted fingers stop the previous chord; the thumb's rest stroke stops the string below; the side of the palm can stop everything for a dry Freddie Green-style beat (lesson 4.3).
• Amp settings for fingerstyle: a little more volume than for pick playing, because fingers are quieter, and a little less treble, because flesh is already dark and the a-finger rest stroke is already bright. With hybrid picking, set the amp for the pick and let the fingers be softer; the contrast is part of the sound.
• Articulation of the melody follows lesson 5.5: slurs, slides and vibrato on the top voice are what tell the listener it is a melody.

Exercises

1. Thumb independence: the first exercise at 50, 80 and 110 bpm, in C, F and Bb; then with the bass in quarter notes (root, 5th, root, 5th) under chords on 2 and 4.
2. Arpeggio patterns: p-i-m-a, p-a-m-i, p-m-i-a and the pinch (p+a, i, m) through the ii–V–I in three keys, 80 bpm straight, 100 swung.
3. Melody on top: the block-chord exercise with (a) accent, (b) roll, (c) delayed melody. Record each and compare.
4. Hybrid: the dyad exercise, then the same with three-note chords (i on the lowest chord string, m and a above, pick on the bass).
5. Apply it: the ballad from lesson 13.4, fingerstyle, melody with the a-finger rest stroke throughout; then the F blues from lesson 13.2 hybrid-picked.

Quiz