Month 2 Guitar Plan: Vary
Anchor song: Blue Monk / Jazz-Blues Variation Laboratory
Guitar role this month: Vary acoustic roles without losing groove.
Month 2 chord additions:
- Begin using partial voicings (two- or three-note grip, omit unnecessary strings)
- Introduce the minor seventh chord as a color: Em7 (022000), Am7 (x02010)
- Practice the same chord in different registers: low-string grip vs. high-string grip
Blues Root bass notes on guitar (Month 2 addition):
Add bass note emphasis to the downbeat of key bars — specifically bar 1 (I chord), bar 5 (IV chord), and bar 9 (V chord). This reinforces the Blues Root foundation beneath the variation.
Month 2 guitar study versions:
| Version | What to play |
|---|---|
| A | Support-only comping — chord texture, no fills |
| B | Same comping cell anticipated by one eighth note |
| C | One motif repeated and varied rhythmically across a four-bar phrase |
| D | Two-chorus route: chorus 1 sparse and stable, chorus 2 varied |
Introducing SHAPE melodic gestures on guitar (Month 2):
The simplest SHAPE gesture on guitar is a two-note or three-note phrase that ends on a strong chord tone (the root, third, or fifth of the current chord). Example over E7: descend from the 9th (F#) to the 5th (B) to the root (E). The shape is a small arc — a question that resolves.
Keep fills short. Two to four notes. The silence after the fill is part of the fill.
Month 2 week-by-week guitar focus:
Week 5 — Guitar: Two complete choruses — one in pure support role, one in answer role. In support, no fills. In answer, leave a gap after each phrase and respond to it. The two versions should sound noticeably different.
Week 6 — Guitar: Practice placement: play your Charleston cell in three positions — on the beat, anticipated by an eighth note, and with a stop on beat 3. Stay in the 12-bar form through all three versions. Record each separately.
Week 7 — Guitar: Functional triad placement. Over the IV chord, use the IV major triad as support — feel how it differs from I chord support. Practice one four-bar motif in three rhythmic variations: as written, twice as slow, notes slightly reordered.
Week 8 — Guitar: Multi-chorus route. Map three choruses before playing: chorus 1 stable, chorus 2 varied, chorus 3 with a developed SHAPE motif landing. Record the full three-chorus arc. Listen back with the question: does the route feel purposeful?