A question about "rhythm changes"

[Jim Nazium]

Hi Todd,

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on this:

Suppose you're at a gig, and the band leader calls a tune you've never heard of. "No sweat," he says, "it's B-flat rhythm changes." He counts it off, and you and the rest of the cats start playing.

Here's my question: which (if any) of the many possible chord substitutions do you listen for, to make sure you are playing the same thing as everyone else?

For example, the first two measures of the bridge could be
| D7 | D7 |
or
| Am7 | D7 |
or
| Am7 D7| Am7 D7 |

Do you think of those as different enough that everyone in the band needs to play them the same way, or are they interchangeable? How about the rest of the tune? Does the answer depend on the melody?

Please don't feel like you have to write an essay, but I'm interested to hear what you think.

Thanks in advance,
JN

[HaVIC5]

Rhythm changes are one of those things that everybody has a million ways to play the chord changes, and some of them don't coincide that well. Sometimes you just have to "feel it out", listen to what changes the other guys are playing and make sure that you make adjustments so that by the second chorus you guys are all on the same page. For example, bars 6-7 of the A section can be played a whole hell of a bunch of ways, so pay attention to what the piano player is doing. It can be F-7 Bb7 | Ebmaj7 Ab7, Bb6 Bb7 | Ebmaj7 Eb-6, Bb7 Bb7/D | Ebmaj7 Eo7, etc, etc, and they aren't all that compatible. The bridge, fortunately has a little bit more leeway. For example, if you are playing D7 while the other guys are playing A-7, its just going to sound like a D7sus chord. If its the other way around, if you're playing A-7 over they're D7, its still going to sound like A-7 to D7.

When you get in trouble, though, is if they're is a different bridge than the standard one (Eternal Triangle bridge, for example) Then, you have to use your ears, and hang on for dear life!

[Todd Johnson]

Originally Posted by Jim Nazium

Hi Todd,

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on this:

Suppose you're at a gig, and the band leader calls a tune you've never heard of. "No sweat," he says, "it's B-flat rhythm changes." He counts it off, and you and the rest of the cats start playing.

Here's my question: which (if any) of the many possible chord substitutions do you listen for, to make sure you are playing the same thing as everyone else?

For example, the first two measures of the bridge could be
| D7 | D7 |
or
| Am7 | D7 |
or
| Am7 D7| Am7 D7 |

Do you think of those as different enough that everyone in the band needs to play them the same way, or are they interchangeable? How about the rest of the tune? Does the answer depend on the melody?

Please don't feel like you have to write an essay, but I'm interested to hear what you think.

Thanks in advance,
JN

Jim,

The short answer is that I shoot for a D7 on the bridge then listen for what the piano/guitar/sax/vocalist/soloist is doing then adjust accordingly. They're "semi" interchangeable....but you also have to be ready for some of the "alternate" type of things too.

The rest of the tune is basically the same.....Play....listen....react....try to anticipate as best you can.

Fair enough??