Jazz Guitar Comping helps players get a handle on the most important job a guitarist has when playing in a small group: comping. For most of the recorded history of Jazz, piano players have been the main, and usually the only, comping instrument. If there was a guitar player on the recording, a piano player was also present.

Until recently, the number of recordings with guitar as the only comping instrument was practically in the single digits (the Sonny Rollins recordings with Jim Hall in the early 60's, and Dave Liebman with John Scofield in the late 70's being some of the best examples).

I think it is safe to say that it has only been in the last 10-15 years that guitarists have really tackled the necessitites of comping in a modern style. Check out Ben Monder, Kurt Rosenwinkle, Steve Cardenas—among others. As the frequency of guitar-only groups has increased, the nature of the sound of Jazz groups has been changing. This is one of the ways that the music is evolving. For this reason, it's a great time to be a guitar player.

INTRODUCTION 6
How to Use this Book 7
Suggestions for Practice 8
Chord Symbols 9
Basic Voicings 10
VOICE LEADING 12
Moving Notes 13
Two-Note Voicings 15
Three-Note Voicings 16
The Upper Voice 17
Non-Functional Chord Progressions 22
MULTI-USE VOICINGS 24
13th Chord 25
Major Triad 30
Major 7th 36
Fourths 40
Diminished Scale Voicing 44
VOICING VARIATIONS 50
PASSING CHORDS 62
Blues Etude 65
HARMONIZED SCALES 66
Ballad Etude 71
INTERVALLIC COMPING 72
RHYTHM 76
Anticipation/Delay 78
Long/Short 84
Connecting Chords 88
Arpeggiation 90
Space 92
Rhythm Etudes 94
STUDIES AND ANALYSIS 100
Solos and comping transcribed and analyzed 100
CD CONTENTS 136