Roots of Jazz Rhythm Guitar, Part 1: Freddie Green–Style Chord Voicings

from: Roots of Jazz Guitar with Matt Munisteri

This lesson is part of the course Roots of Jazz Guitar with Matt Munisteri.

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Learn to play the 1920s and ’30s chord melody and rhythm guitar styles of Eddie Lang, Nick Lucas, Freddie Green, Carl Kress, and other early jazz greats. With chord melody solos to popular swing melodies, advanced rhythm guitar techniques, and acoustic jazz picking techniques.

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Chord Melody Basics, Part 1: Triad Inversions

In this lesson, you’ll learn some of the essential chord voicings you’ll need to know to start playing 1920s-style chord melody. Matt starts by showing you the three major triad voicings on the top three strings, explaining the difference between root position, first inversion, and third inversion. He also shows you how to turn major triads into minor triads and gives you some ideas about fingering the shapes so that you can move through the voicings with the least amount of finger movement, changing your fingerings so you have a guide finger between chords depending on where you’re going and where you’re coming from.

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The Roots of Jazz Guitar Subscription Includes:

67 extensive early jazz guitar video lessons
In-depth rhythm guitar lessons based on the styles of Eddie Lang, Freddie Green, Carl Kress, and more
45 complete songs and/or solos, including classic jazz guitar showpieces from Nick Lucas and Eddie Lang
Detailed notation and tablature for every lesson
Extensive chord melody lessons, with examples from the playing of Eddie Lang, Dick McDonough, Bucky Pizzarelli, and more
High-quality video with multiple camera angles so you can see closeups of both hands in action
New lessons added every month

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Roots of Jazz Rhythm Guitar, Part 1: Freddie Green–Style Chord Voicings

Matt talks about how the style of swing rhythm guitar evolved from Eddie Lang’s style, which alternated bass notes and treble strums, to what is commonly known as Freddie Green style, using three note voicings and a steady stroke. He explains how the Freddie Green voicings came from the chords played on tenor banjo, which preceded the guitar in jazz bands, showing you how the wider voicings written for tenor banjo were moved down to the lower register of the guitar, onto the bass strings, where they had more power and could cut through a band. You’ll learn basic Freddie Green voicings in this lesson.

Freddie Green-Style Voicings (Available to subscribers)

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← Chord Melody Basics, Part 2: Harmonized Major Scales

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Roots of Jazz Rhythm Guitar, Part 2: Blues Progressions and Picking-Hand Technique →

Previous Lesson

← Chord Melody Basics, Part 2: Harmonized Major Scales

Next Lesson

Roots of Jazz Rhythm Guitar, Part 2: Blues Progressions and Picking-Hand Technique →

Previous Lesson

← Chord Melody Basics, Part 2: Harmonized Major Scales

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