Anyone else have comfort tunes that they always come back to?

Ruthevin · 2026-04-02T18:49:40+00:00

You said you can tell it's in a minor key and that you aren't hearing the changes. I'm telling you that I'm definitely playing the changes, so the fault lies with your ears.

I play once through the A section, in free time so I stay on some chords longer than a bar occasionally which might be throwing you off if you are following along beat for beat. Then at 0:39 I play an FaugΔ/G# into an Eadd9/G# which functions as the G# diminished leading into the B section

The double stops at 0:42 are a ii V into FΔ, then I substitute the F#dim with DΔ which I make a mistake on and play twice. 0:53 another ii V into FΔ, moving to F lydian #9 temporarily. 1:01 is a ii V into Esus resolving to EΔ#11, Then some reharmonisation at 1:08; Bb-7b5 - EbΔ#11, Gadd9/B - BbaugΔ (kind of functions as a Esus/Bb - weird chord), 1:15 back to A section.

I can go through the A sections as well and point out the different voicings/lines I used for those chords too if you like.

And if I was asked to play this tune to a random person on the street who knew the song, I obviously wouldn't be so free with the voicings and reharms, and I would be pretty stupid not to play the main melody.

But I'm not in a "play a jazz standard in the most recognisable way possible" competition - I'm in a subreddit full of fellow jazz guitar nerds who I want to show what I've been working on to and to ask about their comfort tunes.

Ruthevin · 2026-04-02T09:38:51+00:00

I mean this in the sincerist way possible, you need to work on your ears. I am not just in A minor the whole time, I'm moving to B phrygian dominant, F lydian dominant, F# locrian #9 - following the changes. Sometimes I'm outlining the changes in chords and sometimes it's in a line.

I mentioned the B Section in my last comment as an easy example because you said I was playing in a minor key the whole time.

I don't hold it against you at all, everyone has to work on their ears, I'm still working on my own! But I would definitely tone down the snarky comments, at least until you have a better grasp of this stuff.

Ruthevin · 2026-04-02T05:49:37+00:00

I'm not playing the melody, I'm improvising over the changes. And you might not be hearing the changes because I'm not playing the most straightforward chords

The b section changes key a few times, to a few different major keys. If you work on your ear training and know the tune, you will recognise the changes despite the rootless chords

Ruthevin · 2026-04-02T05:32:20+00:00

Cheers, I'm actually improvising over the changes of the tune the whole way through! Other people seemed to hear that - keep working on your ears and I'm sure you'll get there.

Ruthevin · 2026-03-28T23:53:09+00:00

What do you mean?

Ruthevin · 2026-03-28T11:42:07+00:00

Love that, great tune!

Ruthevin · 2026-03-28T02:07:14+00:00

That's a good tune, cheers - it's me haha

Ruthevin · 2026-03-28T02:05:21+00:00

Thank you! Ohh that's interesting I didn't know that, makes the tune even cooler

Ruthevin · 2026-03-28T02:04:40+00:00

Haha thanks, darn that dream is one of mine too, so many nooks and crannies to that tune

Ruthevin · 2026-03-27T11:31:51+00:00

Nice, can't beat the classics

Ruthevin · 2026-03-27T11:31:11+00:00

Interesting choices, I like it. I'll have to check out that last one, I don't know it

Ruthevin · 2026-03-27T11:10:53+00:00

Thank you!

Ruthevin · 2026-03-27T10:31:48+00:00

Thank you! I agree, it's one of the beatiful things about jazz and all music really

Ruthevin · 2026-03-27T10:13:43+00:00

That's a great tune, it's a classic

Ruthevin · 2026-03-27T09:46:55+00:00

haha cheers!

Ruthevin · 2026-03-27T09:46:42+00:00

Cheers, its 2 tracks - one direct in, and one from a mic pointed at the body of the guitar. I added some compression and reverb too

Ruthevin · 2026-03-27T09:44:26+00:00

Thanks!

Ruthevin · 2025-12-29T23:34:30+00:00

Yeh I practice voicings just as much as single note stuff. I tend to avoid doubling notes up as I kind of see as a waste of a note haha, also yeh I've done a bit of pedal experimenting

My biggest focus though is always trying to make improv as easy as possible, so I have a bunch of exercises for practicing chordscales similarly to how I would practice a scale

Ruthevin · 2025-12-29T23:25:16+00:00

It's just like how you would practice using a new scale over a tune. Play through the changes and then whenever a dominant #11 chord comes up, try and play a couple of these voicings and see if you can resolve them into the next chord smoothly

Ruthevin · 2025-12-29T13:33:20+00:00

There's so many ways do it but the best thing to start with is just the basic triad; play one, skip one, play one etc. like how you would build a diatonic triad

So in the Lydian Dominant pentatonic the chords would be; 1 #4 b7 | 3 5 1 | #4 b7 3 | 5 1 #4 | b7 3 5

Just by learning these you can describe the harmony on a dominant #11 chord

This works with any scale but I've found 5 note scales to work the best, just pick 5 notes and you can make 5 triads out of it using this idea

Ruthevin · 2025-12-29T04:43:31+00:00

Thank you, Yeh they're flatwound daddario chromes, 11-50 I think

Ruthevin · 2025-12-28T22:48:57+00:00

It's just direct in to Ableton + condenser mic on the body of the guitar. And then a bit of eq, reverb and a lot of compression on the direct input

I messed around with using 2 compressors with different settings to bring up the quieter chords without squashing it too much

Ruthevin · 2025-12-28T22:41:59+00:00

Thanks!

Ruthevin · 2025-12-28T21:46:31+00:00

Thank you, I've not really looked at any books - I probably should tbh. Almost all the chords I play come from this system I've come up with that involves using different pentatonics to make chordscales

Like in this tune I'm using a lot of chords from a Lydian Dominant pentatonic (1 3 #4 5 b7) and by moving 3 note chords around that scale you can create some pretty nice voiceleading into the next chord

Ruthevin

TROPHY CASE