highstandards

One of the leading figures in modern Jazz guitar, Mike Stem tells Mo Nazam about his methods of soloing, practicing and more, and offers TGM readers a special private lesson

The last 25 years have seen a profound evolutionary change in the world of the Jazz guitar. Since the release of Miles Davis seminal LP Bitches Brew (which featured John McLaughlins frenzied Rock inflected tones), it has been a requirement that the guitarist be able to both swing Bop - like through the changes of All Things You Are and wail ferociously over Purple Haze with equal ease. The ability to go from gentle, understated accompanying to all out eye-frying widdling is a vital element in the modem Jazz guitarists vocabulary. Mike Stem is one of the handful of players who rose to prominence in the mid 80s and, along with John Scofield, Bill Frissell, Allan Holdsworth and Scott Henderson, he is at the vanguard of contemporary Jazz improvisation. Stem studied at the renowned Berklee School of Music in Boston under the tutelage of Pat Metheny and Mick Goodrick, gaining his first significant exposure with Blood, Sweat and Tears. Miles Davis recruited Stem for the trumpeters comeback album The Man with the Horn and the subsequent Star People and We Want Miles albums, and further work with Steps Ahead, Steve Smith, David Sanborn and Jaco Pastorius ensured Stems reputation as a hot player to watch. But its on his solo albums that he really shines. Albums such as Time in Place, Odds or Evens, Jigsaw and Upside Downside showcase his screaming bends and complex, swinging lines as well as more reflective and Be-Bop tinged playing. Stem recently played a sold out date at Londons Festival Hall as part of an all star line up backing the Brecker Brothers and he plays on their recently released comeback LP The Return of the Brecker Brothers (GRP Records). He also has a new solo LP in the works entitled Standards. In the following private lesson, I quizzed Stem about his ideas on soloing, practising and more. I began by asking how hed approach the harmonic aspects of a well known Jazz standard like Stella By Starlight (ex 1). Its really important to learn the melody and the chord changes. What I try to do is to play a chord melody thing, nothing fancy, just something simple (ex 2), or maybe even just play the bass note and the melody (ex 3). One thing that I was taught by a number of people, it keeps coming up and I reiterate it to my students, is to get to know the chord tones; for playing standards and changes thats a strong key right away. Write down the arpeggios for these chords and be aware of them. So for Em7b5 you have E, G, Bb and D. For A7b9 I would just think of that as A7; A, C#, E and G. You can even just use triads, so for Em7b5 you could use the diminished triad E, G and Bb. The most important chord tones, the core of each 7th chord, are the 3rds and 7ths. In other words, for Em7b5 the sound of the chord is G and D. Of course, the bass notes important too, but usually the bassist is playing them. (Ex 4, note that in

each chord the 3rd and 7th intervals may be major or minor depending on the chord type itself. So a dominant chord will have a major 3rd and b7, whereas a m7 chord will have a b3 and b7.) Scales are another way of approaching this tiling, says Stem. The analogy I always use is that its basically like learning a vocabulary. You can say or approach the same ideas in a number of different ways, and youve got to give yourself time. It takes me forever to learn anything. It took me a long time to learn this stuff and Im still learning. Its like learning a new language. At first you can't speak, youre very awkward, but thats normal. People think that theyre somehow' going to avoid that but its normal and definitely normal in the language of music too. Then you learn more words and start to develop phrases and things come out unconsciously. It becomes more fluid and much more fun. Then you can start emoting, really putting some feeling into the words. Music is like that and its a nice language. The next step after becoming familiar with the chord tones is to start making up melodies and for that you use scales. For me, it takes a long time to learn anything. I try to write out all the scales from the root; for instance C7 altered is C, C#, Eb, E, Gb, Ab, Bb and C. Thats all the altered tensions; mot.U, #9, natural 3rd, b5 or #11, #5 or i>13,h7 and root again (ex 5). You can also see as Db melodic minor scale played from the 7th note. So you have two different ways of looking the same scale. It can get confusing so learn them all from the root of the chord. Don't say Okay, this is a C7#9, I can play a Db melodic minor starting on the 7th degree". Youll drive yourself crazy. If you see a root there, play the correct scale from the root of the chord. You hear it that way anyhow. Its good to be mw of Afferent ways of thinking abort 4he same thing but I say leam the scale from the root. Also I can really get into mode* Some people think I know the modes because theyre all the same notes as the major scale. Theyre not! D Dorian has characteristics of its own. Its a minor tonality so it has a b3, a natural 5th, a natural 6th (which separates it from the Aeolian) and a b7 which separates it from the Melodic and Harmonic minors (ex 6). You can get into just that one mode. I do that all the time, just force myself to play within a certain discipline. One way to practice these scales is on single strings. Sometimes your fingers can move so fast that your brain cant hear the stuff, so its important to back off and this is one way of putting the handcuffs on a little bit. Its great because when you take the handcuffs off its free and more centred. Theres not anybody 1 know whos developed some kind of facility who hasnt pulled back and said, less is more. Not that theres anything wrong in playing fast, but the guys that do it well are totally in tune with what theyre playing. So take an F major scale on the high E string (ex 7). Dont think about technique or fingering, just the notes. Then an F major 011 the B string (ex 8). Any scale will do. C7 altered even (ex 9). Its good to play up and down the neck. 'Wes Montgomery used to play this way; Mick Goodrick teaches this way. Im studying with a teacher now named Charlie Benacos who said Wes played along the strings. Its a very natural way to hear low and play low, or hear high and play high. One of the things that's confusing for guitarists sometimes is that if you play in one position yon don't have that same visualisation as you do with the piano. Its a hard instrument in that regard. Thats something that has evolved from listening and transcribing. I'll hear what someone else has done in a certain situation and then armed with that knowledge I can then go outside on one chord or on the tonal center. Or sometimes I may not even think like that! I may just play shapes. But most of the time I try to think harmonically so that it has some basis. I'm also conscious of resolving to chord tones. I try to do that Chord tones or the key centre. Its a kind of tension and release thing. If its all tension

you never get the release and youll never get the dynamic response that most people are looking for. If its all inside sometimes you need a little bit of the out, or someway of building up tension, otherwise it sounds a little too flat, unless you want that. Sometimes thats good too, its hypnotic. The other thing thats important and along the lines of the chord tone stuff is that you should know the melody, because thats the best solo you can play anyway. Then you can get away from it, free it up or take it not, but its important to have an anchor and then yon can kind of do anything. If youre dealing with a minor chord you should think of the relevant dominant chord, the corresponding V7 chord. Say its a Cm7; think of Cm7 over an F bass note. Thats the same as an F7sus. And while youre there you may as well call it F7. As soon as you get to F7 you have a lot of possibilities. You can play an altered scale over it (ex 10) or you can play the whole thing (ex 11). Dominant chords are the ones you can play the most stuff over. I would say that the real key is transcribing some tenor sax stuff. Learn it, but try not to memorise it or youll end up playing the same licks. Thats okay only if youve got enough of them! A lot of guys used to learn that way and still do. Thats how Miles learned how to play, he sat down with Louis Armstrong records and picked that stuff off. Listening is the most important thing. From there you can write it down and look at how theyre thinking and get your own ideas from this. Youll get your own direction and thats all you really need. Mo Nazam