Comping a Whole Tune

The last lesson is the job itself: accompanying, all the way through, without stopping.

This track is in B minor at 83 BPM and moves between Bm7, Em7, Gmaj7 and F#m7 — four chords, three qualities you have known since lesson one, at a tempo that gives you time to think.

Work it in four passes and do not skip ahead.

First pass, no guitar. Watch the changes and find the point where the cycle repeats. Everything is easier once you know how long the form is.

Second pass, plain voicings, one chord per bar, on the downbeat. Boring on purpose. You are checking you can get to every shape in time.

Third pass, add the extensions from lesson seven. Ninths on the minor sevenths, and keep the voicings compact and in the middle of the neck — four or five strings, nothing open.

Fourth pass, work on rhythm. Stop playing on the downbeat. Anticipate the chord by half a beat so it lands just before the bar, leave a whole bar empty now and then, and vary where the chords fall. This is the pass that separates comping from strumming, and it is worth several run-throughs on its own.

Gmaj7

Gmaj7, the major seventh in this cycle.

B minor at 83 BPM. Four passes, in order, no stopping inside a pass.

When the fourth pass feels comfortable, go back to lesson five and improvise over this one using guide tones. Then go back to lesson two and see whether you can now name the ii-V movements in it without help.

That loop — comp a tune, solo on it with guide tones, analyse what the changes were doing — is how jazz musicians actually learn repertoire, and it works on any track in the catalogue once you can do it here.