Guitarist John Stowell Performs an Original Composition, ‘Pretty Boy Floyd’

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Guitarist and JGT contributor, John Stowell provides the transcribed music and video performance for this original composition.

John Stowell: “I would be flattered if anyone likes my tunes enough to learn and play them, but my goal in sharing them is to help guitarists expand their chord vocabulary in the context of a composition. My songs begin as a short phrase that might involve a few new inversions of a single chord quality or a simple cadence. As my tunes unfold, I’m generally hearing the melody as the top voice of each chord. I tend to favor pianistic voicings that employ some close intervals, open strings, and some inner voice movement. “Pretty Boy Floyd” uses some melodic minor chords employed as altered dominant chords in the opening bars, some chromatic movement, and several II-V-I cadences that happen in quick succession. Hopefully, my chords will suggest some voicings to explore and apply in broader applications such as a standard or for comping ideas.”

“Pretty Boy Floyd” by John Stowell

John Stowell has two new Truefire Courses (Jazz Harmony Playbook and In the Jams) and three new CD releases on the Origin label (Trio Linguae/“Signals”, in  Scenes/“Trapeze”, “Rain Painting”w/bassist and vocalist Dan Dean). You can find info on all of John’s recordings and instructional material on his website (www.johnstowell.com).