Concepts for Comping: Lesson 18
- Jay EuDaly
- Jul 8
- 3 min read
JULY 2025 NEWSLETTER
CONCEPTS FOR COMPING: LESSON 18
SONG: STELLA BY STARLIGHT
I've picked Stella By Starlight at this stage because it has what I call “twisty-turnys.” There are II-V progressions that don't resolve in the usual way. There are minor 3rd jumps between keys and disjunct intervals between chords. And yet, there are II-V's and II-V-I's all over this song:
The button below will lead to the video lesson of how to drill this tune:
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VIDEO LESSON: 7TH CHORDS
This is the first lesson out of 11 from Unit 4: 7th Chords. In this lesson you will learn 5 types of 7th Chords; Major, Dominant, Minor, Half-Diminished, and Full-Diminished. You will learn what the differences are between the types and you will learn how to play them in 3 positions; that's 15 chord shapes for 5 chord types.
BLOGS PUBLISHED SINCE LAST NEWSLETTER
The Resurrection of My God-Given Guitar:What’s left of the destroyed PRS McCarty remained in the case like an entombed corpse after organ donations; things were not looking good for my God-Given Guitar.
Concepts for Comping: Lesson 17: June Newsletter: Concepts for Comping, Video lesson on Major Triads, Lesson on how Jimi Hendrix used triads, blog links and more…
TUNE OF THE MONTH
Body and Soul
This was recorded in 1991 in my home studio, The Music Room. Myself on guitar, Bob Blount on fretless bass and Phil Brenner on sax.
This was during the time when the three of us were playing with Kevin Mahogany.
Although this recording was a vehicle to feature Phil, it's a great example of what I love about harmony (chords and chord progressions - voicings, inversions, voice leading etc), and the art and craft of accompanying on the guitar. Which is:
Stay out of the bass players way, play chord voicings and counterpoint that supports the soloist, yet delivers surprises, without being obtrusive.
One of my all-time favorite guitarists along this line was a lesser-known jazz guy out of Toronto, Ed Bickert. He specialized in, as Paul Desmond said, “...the impossible chord that occurs quietly in the background.”
I love that.
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HOW ABOUT 5 LESSONS?
The 5-Lesson Foundational Series teaches the Circle of Keys as an organizational mechanism by which you ensure that whatever you learn is drilled in every key in all possible positions. It also gives you a method to find any note, anywhere, without memorizing note names on every string. That is a beautiful thing!
Almost every lesson I teach presupposes these 5 lessons.
You can download the 5-Lesson Foundational Series right here with no further obligation or commitment:
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