CHUCK WAYNE - THEORY & TECHNIQUE - PART 1 Chuck Wayne invented a system of playing jazz guitar that emulated the style of Charlie Parker. His system included: consecutive-alternate picking, chords, scales, and arpeggios. The following summary reflects material in Waynes method books. Consecutive-alternate picking The heart of the Chuck Wayne style for playing jazz bop guitar requires most of the movement of the pick to come from the joints of the first finger and thumb and not from the wrist, hand, or arm. The pick is not held rigidly; its angle changes slightly as it passes over the string. The tip of the pick drags slightly during each stroke, so that the tip points up during a downstroke, and down during an upstroke. (The effect is reminiscent of the appoyando or rest stroke used by classical guitarists – particularly if the movement is exaggerated with slow deliberate strokes, allowing the pick to stop on the adjacent string.) In addition, when moving between adjacent strings, Waynes system has the guitarist continue a single up or down stroke to play consecutive notes on two strings. Thus, when moving to a higher string (higher in pitch), the downstroke continues over two strings; when moving to a lower string, the upstroke continues. When more than two notes are played on a single string, the guitarist alternates strokes (or uses a slur, depending on the phrasing). This technique eliminates the plinka-plinka effect of traditional alternate picking, and allows smooth, rapid playing. Although the concept sounds difficult, it is easily grasped when practicing scales, and quickly becomes instinctive through finger memory. In rapid passages, the right hand is typically anchored, lightly, by touching the pinky fingernail to the pick guard – which itself should be placed close to and slightly below the first string. (A narrow pick guard for this use, usually of ebony, became known among luthiers as a Chuck Wayne style pickguard.) Some guitarists have referred to consecutive/alternative picking as spray picking, although Wayne disliked this term. Wayne was also an exponent of the use of the right-hand fingers, in combination with the pick. This technique has regained much popularity today, but for decades only Wayne and a few other jazz players used it effectively. Waynes approach synthesized plectrum and classical guitar technique – the pick is held in the normal way, but the remaining three fingers are used to play chords and counterpoint. Wayne often surprised audiences by using this method to play difficult Bach fugues and other pieces from the classical repertoire. His use of the technique for contrapuntal improvisation was the real innovation, however. Chords Wayne developed an idiosyncratic theory of guitar playing, one that puzzled many other guitarists in its scope and goals. This is particularly true of his highly analytic approach to chords. Waynes chord system is based on generic chord forms, i.e. forms that have the same sonority in all keys, and that do not rely on open strings or unusual guitaristic peculiarities. Wayne observed that most guitar chords in common use do not have these properties – that the way most guitarists play a G7 chord, for example, sounds very different from the way they play a C7 or an E7, due to the different arrangements of notes being used. The common (cowboy) chords are popular because they simplify fingering; but they constrict musical options. Wayne constructed an entirely new approach that would avoid this problem. (Wayne did also use specific chord forms, when appropriate for a given situation; but his system focuses on chords with universal applications.) To grasp the importance of Waynes chord system, it is important to recognize that it truly is a system – a systematic approach to playing every named chord. His goal stands in marked contrast to the traditional way of describing and teaching guitar chords. Pick up nearly any chord book, and you will find a series of chord diagrams, organized either by chord name (A13, Gm7b5) or by type (thirteenth, minor seven-flat-five). Under each heading is found a series of fingerings that show the chord in alternative inversions and voicings – generally having little in common other than a shared set of notes. The guitarist simply memories the forms, learning a few different ways to play each chord. Over time, through practical experience, the guitarist learns or decides when to use each form. When playing in Bb, such a guitarist will inevitably play with a very different set of voicings from what would be used in F or Eb, simply because the normal guitar chords in these keys have very different sonorities. Wayne saw the pitfalls of this approach; he instead set out to describe the complete scope of harmonic possibilities available on the fretboard, in all voicings, given conventional guitar tuning and a human left hand. This had not been done before. It is still a remarkable achievement. Even today, few guitarists learn harmony or the fretboard this way – partly because Waynes work remains somewhat obscure, but also because it requires levels of harmonic theory, practice discipline, and musical maturity that are rare in a novice young guitarist. (Instead, accomplished guitarists may come to this understanding of the fretboard from the other side – after mastering scales, harmony, and arpeggios, from which Waynes system of chords will gradually reveal itself.) Concepts A generic chord (in Waynes system) has four different notes. This includes chords like dominant sevenths, major sixths, and minor ninths – but not major or minor triads, or other specific triadic forms, which Wayne concluded were rarely useful for jazz. For chords containing five or more notes, such as thirteenths and ninths, Wayne removed the root, and other notes if necessary, to preserve the generic four-note form. Waynes focus on four-note generic chords reflects the realities of left hand fingering on a six-string guitar. Four-note chords can be comfortably played in many different voicings and fingerings; but five- or six-note chords only work in specific situations, and defeat the purpose of a generic approach. In effect, Wayne was trying to give the guitarist the harmonic vocabulary and flexibility available to pianists. Since there are four different notes in each of Waynes chords, there are four possible starting notes or inversions. (When such a chord contains the root, it is an inversion in the traditional sense; otherwise, it is a revoicing. For convenience, Wayne calls all such transformations inversions.) The remaining notes are then arranged above it.
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 04:39:57 +0000
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