One Chord Vamps

Thanks to @Coda for creating this challenge and sharing a first response.

If you enjoyed his track and are inspired to try something similar then make a recording and share here in a reply. Please tag me if you do and I’ll update the first post with a link to your recording and tag you in the topic.

You can adopt any approach you like to set up the single chord backing eg a live loop exercise as Tomasz did, download a suitable backing, or create it in your DAW.

And above all else, have fun!!

  1. Cm7 by @Coda

The idea isn’t exactly mine; I’ve watched a couple of YT videos based on the same principle. Here I link my own ‘composition’ :wink: and performance, the ‘one chord’ being Cm7 with the lead line fully improvised. The rhythm you hear is me tapping lightly on my guitar strings somewhere down the neck.
As it’s just one chord, nothing complicated, I thought it would be great to hear the proposals of others in any instrumental arrangement.

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Great idea, and your composition is sounding great. Not quite sure though where the BT ends and where your guitar starts, sorry.
One chord vamps are essential learning I reckon. Promotes creativity with both note/interval selection and phrasing, while removing the complexity of chord changes. Do it often.

Cheers, Shane

Excuse my ignorance on this but is this a BT of Cm7 played repeatedly with you improvising the notes from that chord over it?

It’s a really good idea, thanks for sharing :wink: it made me think about getting familiar with my looper pedal and recording myself for once, so I might give it a shot sometime.

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@Stuartw I first recorded several bars of the ‘tapping’ rhythm, then played it in a loop for as long as I wanted and overdubbed the rhythm guitar playing the Cm7 chord; thus the BT was created. Then I again played it and overdubbed the improvised solo.
@sclay I don’t quite understand your doubts; do you mean the solo doesn’t stand out over the BT?

No it doesn’t I’m afraid.

OK thanks. Is the solo just using the notes from Cm7 or any notes?

The notes played come from the Cm natural scale, Cm pentatonic and C Dorian mode.

@sclay : OK, thanks I’ll bear that in mind.

The first one I’m OK with but the other two are above my knowledge/skill level.

@Stuartw: OK, let me show you the basic pattern of the C minor pentatonic (after all, we’re all here to learn, right?):
Start from the E (6th) string, find the root (C, in this case), it’s on the 8th fret. The pentatonic goes like this (string - frets): E 8 - 11; A 8 - 10; D 8 - 10; G 8 - 10; B 8 - 11; E 8 - 11. The pattern is fully movable, i.e. you can use it to play any minor pentatonic starting from the root you need on the 6th string.
I hope this helps and that you’ll find it useful in your playing.

Thanks. So just like the A minor pentatonic but a few frets up!

@Coda That was great, Tomasz. Love the tones, rhythm and lead which combined into such a cool vibe.

I took the liberty of creating a parent topic for the challenge. You never know, others may be inspired to create and share.

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@DavidP: Thank you! After all that’s the general idea of this subsection: to invite others to participate.

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Interesting work, I like what you’ve done, but as Shane said to me there wasn’t enough contrast between the BT and the solo, maybe too much layering or Fx.

Well, David, it sounds great! Nice one! Very effective and as long as it puts you in the zone then that’s what music is all about whether it’s one chord or ten (in my book).

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Great idea David. I’ve found that one chord vamps are pretty much my central tool for learning anything once I have the basics down; from scales, scale ‘highways’, triads, arpeggios, licks, and all the cool little lines and moves etc that you come across from teachers, other players etc. Pretty much a daily thing for me. Its just so beneficial.

I think it really helps to nail alot of connections too, that are simply too hard to see and grasp if you jump straight into a multi chord progression. Plus, its superb for developing rhythm and creativity.

Hopefully this topic will grow alot over time; can only be of benefit to everyone.
Kudos to Tomasz - @Coda - for putting it in the spotlight.

Cheers, Shane

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