Stompin’ At The Savoy, chord melody

[Mike Neer]

Stompin’ At The Savoy, chord melody arrangement
https://youtu.be/BiGySblRHo0

This is just a short reading of the head of Stompin’ At The Savoy, a tune made famous by Benny Goodman though he didn’t compose it.

The thing I want to mention here is that I used to use C13, with the low A string tuned up to Bb, because it was crucial for me to be able to get those sounds for playing jazz and whatever else I play. But I discovered that I really couldn’t live without the A, so I used a technique that I stumbled onto years ago that with a few years of practice I was able to master. It is almost indistinguishable when you hear it if you are not looking for it, and with all things lap steel the goal is to make difficult things seem easy to the listener. This is a significant part of my playing today and this clip shows how. My tuning is just straight vanilla C6: ECAGECAG from treble to bass

I know I have been posting a lot of chordal stuff but I have just been trying to master that element of my playing, so I usually pick out a few per week. Not everyone’s cup of tea, I get it. I still try to keep all my other chops alive though my focus has been revamping my picking technique to about 75% economy picking. Always some kind of work to do.

[Allan Revich]

Really nice Mike. I always enjoy your playing because of your knack for combining old-school chops with creative twists.

[Slim Heilpern]

Sounds great! Please forgive my ignorance, but I can hear that first chord (sounds like b7, 3, 13) but based on your tuning, my eyes seem to be lying to me (or I need a cup of coffee or something). Can you explain?

- Slim

[Mike Neer]

Sounds great! Please forgive my ignorance, but I can hear that first chord (sounds like b7, 3, 13) but based on your tuning, my eyes seem to be lying to me (or I need a cup of coffee or something). Can you explain?

- Slim

Slim, the fact that you can hear it and not see it let's me know it's a success! Your eyes are not deceiving you because the move is very subtle. I've developed this technique over the years of using downward pressure with the bar to push the string into pitch. I started off using it on treble strings to get diminished chords, but when I was looking for more versatility on my tuning, I started using it with the tail end of the bar. It's taken a while to master it and your comment lets me know I am at least close.

I still haven't come up with a name for this technique, but I think I can claim to be the originator.

[Allan Revich]

Possible name for your technique?

“Tone Bar Bend”, “bar bending”
.

[Slim Heilpern]

Sounds great! Please forgive my ignorance, but I can hear that first chord (sounds like b7, 3, 13) but based on your tuning, my eyes seem to be lying to me (or I need a cup of coffee or something). Can you explain?

- Slim

Slim, the fact that you can hear it and not see it let's me know it's a success! Your eyes are not deceiving you because the move is very subtle. I've developed this technique over the years of using downward pressure with the bar to push the string into pitch. I started off using it on treble strings to get diminished chords, but when I was looking for more versatility on my tuning, I started using it with the tail end of the bar. It's taken a while to master it and your comment lets me know I am at least close.

I still haven't come up with a name for this technique, but I think I can claim to be the originator.

Oh, that's fantastic! And I applaud your dedication and success. Thanks for explaining....

- Slim

[BJ Burbach]

This is great and might open up using that A instead of Bb. Need to work to get it smoother.
I remembered Alan Akaka using pressure to tweak a split bar move, which I guess is conventional, but this is a whole new tool, just getting the 7th when you need it and having the A instead of skipping.
I Don't think I can give up that low C though, so maybe it's (L>H) CACEGACE. We'll see.
Thanks much,
BJ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euUBJVlIIjc

[Pete Martin]

Great sounds as always Mike!

[Twayn Williams]

Very nice work! Your bass string pressing technique seems really transparent. I couldn't tell at all. Course, the proof of the pudding would be in an ensemble, especially with an upright bass and maybe a violin. Everyone fighting over intonation

Your reverse slants just slay!

[Dale Rottacker]

Really liked that Mike ... love all those slants, but I'd have a guitar covered in bar dings if I was trying them, tho that poly? bar you're using might help me not lose it.

[Mike Neer]

Thanks everyone for your comments. Every morning I sit and down and start playing something like this off the top of my head--music that I used to play a lot on gigs as a guitarist, mostly playing rhythm while the horn section played the melodies. Sometimes I forget the melody's intricacy and end up looking for the chart after the fact to find I was wrong about something, which I did here. But I digress....

The slants are something that I will admit that I spent a lot of time practicing and having anxiety about for no particular reason. Today, they come as naturally as anything, and in particular reverse slants, which I find to be easier and more fruitful for chordal playing than forward slants in general. I don't worry about dings on my guitars because mostly they are aluminum. Lol. But sometimes I worry about the bars. Dropping is not something that happens often at all. As long as my hands are still capable, I'm going to keep exploring.

The technique of applying downward pressure on the strings is something I started doing about 10-12 years ago. The first time I used it on a recording was on the intro to Reflections from Steelonious to get those b9 chords on the treble strings. I started using it on the bass strings not long after. Today i feel pretty confident about it but there are certain requirements that need to be met for it to work: most importantly, there has to be enough clearance between the strings and the fretboard. Not all guitars work.

By the way, I think from this point on I am going to refer to the technique as "press bends". Now I need a symbol to reflect it in tablature.

I have been deliberating over the next episode of A Different Slant for a while because some of the information is so difficult to present without doing a dive into harmony and theory--which I am cool with, but just haven't figured out the best way to present. I feel like I need to take a detour from that for a minute and look at something else, and I think doing an episode on Stompin' At The Savoy, including the press bend technique and another very cool approach that you haven't heard from me yet, is something that I am going to tackle this week.

If you haven't signed up for it, I implore you do so. I have a good number of subscribers but I am getting kind of bummed about the lack of interest in it. I am the kind of person who is going to keep doing what I do no matter what, but I feed off the energy of the "audience", and if there is none, then I tend to withdraw. I know this sounds like a therapy session, but in this strange world we live in, I just want to keep it real.

Thanks everyone.

[Tim Toberer]

Sometimes I forget the melody's intricacy and end up looking for the chart after the fact to find I was wrong about something, which I did here.

What part is wrong? Sounds right at least to my untrained ear Lol.

There is a great version of this on the early Mintons recordings with Charlie Christian and Dizzy Gillespie. Been listening on repeat for the last week.

[David Wren]

Listening to this recording was a sheer joy....

Reading the following posts, unbelievable.... what a master.
Thanks, oh thanks for the recording, so nicely done..... and I'm a pedal guy