# "Joe Pass Guitar Chords"



## Drew (Nov 20, 2007)

So, I just picked this up - a simple, 24-page folio most famous in rock circles because Joe Satriani picked it up when he was just learning how to play and said it seriously expanded his chord voocabulary. He didn't know what any of the chords were, exactly, but started busting them out at jams and turned some heads, the story goes. 

I can barely play right now because I have no calluses after my 7 week break, so it hurts like hell, but I've been forcing myself to play through it the last two days. And I gotta say, it's this tiny, simple book, but it's pretty cool. The chords are arranged by function - there's about 30 or so "major" chords, various altered Cmaj7ths, then about the same number of "7th" chords, altered G7's (the V7 of C major for you not theory types), and so on. He doesn't name the chords, exactly, but rather just gives you a chord chart with the notes listed below. the implication is that it doesn't matter what the chord is called, but rather how it functions and what it sounds like. It's a pretty cool (and very logical) approach - rather than learning seven different G7add#11's and then wondering what the fuck to do with them, you learn a whole slew of chords that if you care you can work out the actual names, but you're sort of encouraged to not worry about it too much because the most important part is that it functions as a dominant chord in a set of changes - in short, practicality over pedagogory. 

Also important - a lot of the voicings are quite cool sounding, so it's fun to play through them.

To steal one from Nick's book, this one gets five out of five David Foster Wallaces for it's simple, intuitive layout and kickass-sounding collection of chord voicings.


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## distressed_romeo (Nov 20, 2007)

Might have to investigate this...


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## Drew (Nov 20, 2007)

The thing that makes it so cool is that it's emphasis is NOT about theory or chord construction, but rather application. It's sort of a practical guide, "These chord voicings will work in this situation" as opposed to "the dim7 6/9 is formed by..." 

The best part is because it's a 24-page paperback, it's like $7.


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## eleven59 (Nov 20, 2007)

Hmm...I may have to track this one down. I've had enough theory lessons to know what I'm talking about when I want to put the effort into thinking about it, but would love a crash course in applying it to guitar without having to wade through a bunch of speedpicking/sweeping/whatever exercises.


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## Drew (Nov 20, 2007)

Well, it's not a theory text, at all. It's just a collection of chord voicings, grouped by useage. 

Still, for $7, it's foolish NOT to grab.


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## eleven59 (Nov 20, 2007)

Drew said:


> Well, it's not a theory text, at all. It's just a collection of chord voicings, grouped by useage.
> 
> Still, for $7, it's foolish NOT to grab.



Yeah, that's what I meant  I don't need more theory about chord building, I just need some fresh chord ideas and ways to use them in songs.


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## guitarplayerone (Nov 20, 2007)

I know all of the theory involved with building these chords, and it is still so much of a pain in the ass to sit down and figure out where the dissonance will work (and will not) that I hardly ever use em

this book will be added to my 'Complete Chords and Progressions for All Instruments by 'Bugs' Bower', which I picked up for $4


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## poisonelvis (Nov 20, 2007)

i am on it,i heard bout' it,now i must find it,thanks man.


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## Jongpil Yun (Nov 21, 2007)

I watched a Joe Pass video once and IIRC, he considers there to be only 3 different chord families. I think it was major/minor, 7th, and diminished or something.

I'll have to look into it since my esoteric chord wizardry is rather lacking.


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## Drew (Nov 21, 2007)

IIRC, it's major, minor, and dominant, as those at the three "functions" possible for a chord. 

That said, he groups the chords here into major, dominant, minor, diminished, and augmented in this book.


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## Beowulf (Nov 25, 2007)

You took the leap of faith and bought it! Good on you, Joe Pass played like a demon god of Jazz  

Pick up 'Joe Pass on Guitar' for more beautiful methods of chords and chord melody - it brings a whole new dimension to the way you perceive chords and the roles they play in differing contexts. 

Genius.


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## Drew (Nov 28, 2007)

Is it as cheap as this one? For $7, how can you go wrong? 

I grabbed that composition/improvisation book you'd recommended too, but I haven't really gone through it yet.


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## distressed_romeo (Nov 28, 2007)

Has anyone got his Hot Licks DVDs? I've got part of one on a compilation DVD and it was really helpful. Would it be worth investing in the whole thing?


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## Beowulf (Nov 28, 2007)

It's not as cheap, but it does come with a CD and has a lot of explanations. It's mainly taken from a clinic he did for Berklee (I think it was Berklee) and has more expansion on the central ideas presented in the 'An Evening With Joe Pass' DVD. It also has three complete transcriptions of his live playing, expounding further on the central ideas presented in the harmonic families earlier in the book. It ties in everything - real eye opening moments of how simple it all is when we're not over thinking! 

Anything by Joe Pass is worth learning something from I've found. You know he invented the CAGED system?  

The Jon Damien book.... now, any book with a musical scratch and sniff test in it is worth the money, lol!


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## Drew (Nov 28, 2007)

I've never really bought into the CAGED system. Maybe I've just never heard it explained right, but it seems to me that ANY even tuning would be bound to produce similar chord forms...


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## Beowulf (Nov 28, 2007)

I play Flamenco, so CAGED is rarely even a consideration for me, but it's great for knowing exactly what's under your fingers at any given moment and it's very visual, which helps learning. It's a springboard - Joe Pass refers to them as 'Folk Chords', but the system is there to help visualization, and it can also help modulation without having to jump to far along the fretboard when there's an option right under your fingers most of the time. Great stuff. I found it to late to really derive any use for it, but I wish it had been one of the first things I'd learned, I think it would have taken a considerable amount of time off of my fretboard visualization learning!


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## distressed_romeo (Nov 28, 2007)

Drew said:


> I've never really bought into the CAGED system. Maybe I've just never heard it explained right, but it seems to me that ANY even tuning would be bound to produce similar chord forms...



That's kinda the point of it; it's just an easy way of looking at the anatomy of the fretboard. Then again, I got shown it pretty early on, so I'm probably just used to it...


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## Drew (Dec 11, 2007)

I think a lot of the reason I resent it is that by the time I saw someone explain the "CAGED System" it seemed so stupidly self-obvious that I thought it was idiocy on the scale of, oh, the "Knife-fork-spoon System" for eating dinner. I mean, of course all of these chord shapes are transposable up and down the fretboard - it's like saying you can use your knife to cut turkey AND cut chicken, too.  

Anyway, a bump for this Joe Pass chord book - it's a hell of a fingering workout. I was playing through them the other night and noticed that my finger dexterity has gone up loads since I first bought this, from some of the partial bars you have to do with fingers I'm not used to barring.


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