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Lesson 1 of 3

Étude 1: Lamplight Walk

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Lamplight Walk is your first complete jazz piece: a 16-bar étude in C major that puts the last two chapters to work. It uses only the shell voicings from Jazz Chords and simple chord-tone lines, so you can focus on swing and form.

Form

  • Intro (bars 1-2): Dm7 | G7, Charleston comping.
  • Head (bars 3-10): Cmaj7 | Am7 | Dm7 | G7, played twice.
  • Solo (bars 11-14): Dm7 | G7 | Cmaj7 | Cmaj7.
  • Outro (bars 15-16): Dm7 G7 | Cmaj7, ending on a ringing chord.

That's 2 + 8 + 4 + 2 = 16 bars, and every section ends with a ii-V or lands on the I.

Playing it

Swing the eighths and keep the feel relaxed, like an easy evening walk. The head is quarter and half notes in fifth position: index on fret 5, pinky on fret 8. Let each half note ring for its full length. The solo is a Dm7 and G7 arpeggio line; the D# at the end of the G7 bar is a chromatic approach note, played with your index stretched to fret 4, and it resolves up to E on the next downbeat.

In the comping, keep chords short and light: relax your fretting hand just after each hit so the chord stops.

The common mistake is rushing the rests and the long notes. Count "1 2 3 4" out loud through the head's half notes and the gaps in the intro.

Practice

Learn each section slowly on its own. Then chain them: intro straight into the head, the head twice, the solo, then the outro, without stopping at the joins. If a join trips you up, loop the last bar of one section and the first bar of the next until it flows.

Exercises

Intro (bars 1-2): Dm7, G7 comping

60 → 110 bpm
  1. Bar 1
    1. A string, fret 5 + D string, fret 3 + G string, fret 5
    2. rest
    3. rest
    4. A string, fret 5 + D string, fret 3 + G string, fret 5
    5. rest
    6. rest
    7. rest
    8. rest
  2. Bar 2
    1. low E string, fret 3 + D string, fret 3 + G string, fret 4
    2. rest
    3. rest
    4. low E string, fret 3 + D string, fret 3 + G string, fret 4
    5. rest
    6. rest
    7. rest
    8. rest

Clean 3 times in a row? Raise the tempo by 5 bpm.

Solo (bars 11-14): arpeggios and an approach note

60 → 110 bpm
  1. Bar 1
    1. A string, fret 5
    2. A string, fret 8
    3. D string, fret 7
    4. G string, fret 5
    5. B string, fret 6, hold
    6. G string, fret 5
    7. D string, fret 7
  2. Bar 2
    1. D string, fret 5
    2. G string, fret 4
    3. G string, fret 7
    4. B string, fret 6
    5. B string, fret 8
    6. B string, fret 6
    7. G string, fret 7
    8. B string, fret 4
  3. Bar 3
    1. B string, fret 5, hold, hold, hold
    2. B string, fret 8
    3. B string, fret 5
    4. G string, fret 5
    5. G string, fret 4
  4. Bar 4
    1. G string, fret 5, hold, hold, hold
    2. rest
    3. rest
    4. rest
    5. rest

Clean 3 times in a row? Raise the tempo by 5 bpm.

Outro (bars 15-16): resolve to Cmaj7

60 → 110 bpm
  1. Bar 1
    1. A string, fret 5 + D string, fret 3 + G string, fret 5
    2. rest
    3. rest
    4. rest
    5. low E string, fret 3 + D string, fret 3 + G string, fret 4
    6. rest
    7. rest
    8. rest
  2. Bar 2
    1. A string, fret 3 + D string, fret 2 + G string, fret 4, hold, hold, hold, hold, hold, hold, hold

Clean 3 times in a row? Raise the tempo by 5 bpm.

Checkpoint

Move on when you can do all of these.

  • Each section clean at 110 bpm, swung
  • The whole piece, all 16 bars, start to finish without stopping
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