Jazzové standardy I. + CD – Veselý Jan Kuře (2012)

This Czech-language material is designed to supplement instruction in playing both harmonic and melodic musical instruments. For harmonic instruments, the jazz standards include chord symbols and guitar chord shapes. It explains how to create a good guitar accompaniment while taking account of the other melodic and harmonic instruments playing alongside the guitarist. The bass, for example, may occupy the lower guitar tones, while melodic instruments can be hindered by frequent changes of position and by chord inversions played across the fingerboard. The accompaniment should therefore be like a calm river beside which the melody moves along a dramatically varied bank, together with the firm bank of the bass line. The publication recommends changing positions as little as possible and making maximum use of chord inversions, using three notes for triads and four notes for seventh chords and higher chords, with preference given to the intervals most important to the sound of the chord. The root may sometimes be omitted when it is played by the bass, as may the perfect fifth, unless it is altered, in which case it must be played. The book also includes a CD with accompaniment tracks for all the standards. Each backing track has a short introduction followed by the main theme, usually repeated two or three times, and a separate jam-session track for practising melody and improvisation. The first theme is played by various instruments, while the second and third are intended for the student. More advanced players can add their own improvisation to the harmonic theme; in this publication, that applies to C instruments such as the flute, as well as to singing. The collection is intended as a supplement to instruction on all the instruments mentioned.