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Wes Montgomery's Block Chord Method: Transform Your Playing

Nathan Borton

76,517 views

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In this video, I'm showing you Wes Montgomery's Block Chord Method, an essential technique for any guitarist. This lesson will teach you how to play Block chords using Wes Montgomery's famous technique. This tutorial is designed for anyone who wants to improve their playing skills, and it's a great way to learn new chords and techniques. So whether you're a beginner or an experienced player, make sure to watch this video and learn Wes Montgomery's Block Chord Method!

Intro and outro backing tracks provided by Phil Wilkinson: www.playjazztracks.com

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Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
00:32 - Passing Diminished Chords
04:37 - Wes's Concept on Minor 7 Chords
05:13 - Wes's Concept on Dominant 7 Chords
06:17 - Combining It All Together
09:21 - Demonstration of Concepts

Transcription to Gone With the Wind: Gone With Wind: Wes Montgomery Transcripti...

More Wes Content: Wes Montgomery Secrets That Will Transform...

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20 Comments

@NathanBorton Creator 2 years ago (edited) Pinned

Here is the link for all the extra lesson materials! https://www.patreon.com/NathanBortonMusicPatreon?utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator ERROR CORRECTION: at 4:50 the chord should be 6767 on TAB not 7878! Also at 6:16 the melody should be F and harmonized 12-13-12-13. These changes will be fixed on PDF's. Thanks for your understanding.

Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
00:32 - Passing Diminished Chords
04:37 - Wes's Concept on Minor 7 Chords
05:13 - Wes's Concept on Dominant 7 Chords
06:17 - Combining It All Together
09:21 - Demonstration of Concepts

@danieleviale69 2 years ago

Trust me mate, i m graduate here in Italy in jazz at college and this video Is the best lesson i have ever seen

@JBGWAlain 2 years ago

This is really the key to Wes’ harmonic sound and while it is a simple concept, it takes years (lifetime) to master. The other very important part of the equation that not many people talk about is Wes’ incredible sense of rhythm and time. Anyone who has transcribed a Wes solo notices right away that his timing is hard to copy. By far my favorite player of all time. Nathan, you are a great player and an awesome teacher. It’s nice to see someone carrying the torch. Keep it up. You deserve way more subscribers.

@kayakkootenaybc 2 years ago

2 years in Music school and this is the best lesson on block chords I've seen. Awesome job.

@kudshirt6061 2 years ago (edited)

If you struggle with the C6 chords you can think of them as Am7 chords :)

@texaspete7897 2 years ago

Now I see a link/practical application of those Barry Harris repeating 6th/diminished chords from the harmonized 6th diminished scale. You just opened a huge door in my musical progress. I've been stuck trying to figure out how to practically apply the Barry Harris basics. This lesson finally gave me the big AHA! moment. This is a gigantic rut-buster. Thanks Nathan!!!

@AlexVonCrank 2 years ago

Barry strikes again. I know it's not his system but he made a meal out of the 6th/diminished approach to wonderful effect. I didn't realise Wes was using this approach too.

@yoachelinnocent7963 2 years ago

Block chords this is the best lesson more of block chords please 🙏

@TheEpochCompanion 2 years ago

Great lesson! I think I noticed a couple minor errors, correct me if I'm wrong though: at 4:48 (and again at 5:00) the chord symbol shows a B° which is what you play, but the tablature shows a C°. Also the tab shows a D° which is what you play but the chord symbol is D-7.

@onceuponascale 4 days ago

Great stuff! thattnks

@sega62s 2 years ago (edited)

0:42

@jz4901 2 years ago

Great video! Good information density, no fluff or exposition, no unnecessary camera tricks, nice lighting sound and angles. and great playing and tone! Thank you very much, super work.

@MatrixFreeThinker74 2 years ago

This is deep. Probably the reason I never gravitated towards jazz guitar playing is that it's too "heady" for my lazy arse. I know my theory but not at this level. This is an outstanding lesson. Thank you.

@yekri2398 2 years ago

Great video ! First part is an incredible application of 6th diminished scale by Barry Harris. Thanks, you play great !

@micr0ps2 2 years ago

Hey Nathan, this Michael from Michigan. Still getting better every day. Glad to see your videos popping up.

@ashwutrodriguez210 2 years ago

Maaan.. Thanks for this. I've been studying my drop two chords With the diminished passing tones for a long time now. Including side stepping has really helped me turn a corner on this style. Thank you so much again. I've been working at this for years.And this one concept really helped me out quite a bit.

@crislobomusic9452 4 weeks ago

Excelent video!

@GypsyJazz-FM 1 month ago

Качественная информация. Спасибо.

@BlueFritzie 2 years ago

Nathan I’ve always loved Wes since I was a kid, he was a genius. Your analysis of his playing opened my eyes to a few things I can incorporate into my playing thank you very much.