Post Bebop Comping: Contemporary Sound with Clusters and 4ths

Juampy Juarez teaches the comping vocabulary of post-bebop jazz: chords built in fourths and fifths, clusters, and the modern harmonic colors heard on landmark records like Miles Davis's Kind of Blue, John Coltrane's Giant Steps, George Russell's Jazz in the Space Age, and Ornette Coleman's This Is Our Music. These sounds were developed by players like Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Bill Evans, and McCoy Tyner, drawing on harmony that contemporary classical composers such as Bela Bartok explored at the dawn of the 20th century.

What's covered

• The quintal chord (sus2 voicing: root, fifth, ninth) and why its ambiguity lets it work over major 7, minor 7, and dominant chords
• Placing the same voicing on the root, third, fifth, and seventh of a chord for fresh colors over 2-5-1 progressions
• Applying these shapes to minor 7 chords, unaltered dominants, and altered dominants (flat 9, sharp 9, sharp 5)
• Chords stacked in fourths with the addition of open strings, and clusters formed by seconds
• Moving inner voices by half steps for smooth, modern chord movement
• Using the same structures for single-note phrases and improvisation, not just comping
• Applying it all to simple blues forms, jazz standards, and bossa novas
• Right-hand tips: pick-and-fingers technique for polyphonic playing

Juampy shares his own investigations into these areas, built from his experience playing with greats around the globe. This is essential material for any guitarist after a contemporary, modern comping sound.

• Running Time: Just under an hour
• 6 written pages in standard notation and TAB