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Comments
Honestly, as a beginner I won't pretend I know what should be the default that's the hard part, and exactly why the tool leaves the choice open.
The chart itself never lies: it still reads "Am". The only thing I set is the default voicing shown: I put the m6 first because it's the sound I hear most and i started learning this way, but you flip to plain min / m7 / m△7 in a tap. So it's not claiming Am = m6, just "here's the usual grip, and here are the others."
Funny thing: even guitarejazzmanouche doesn't list a bare "minor"... not helping me a lot ahah. The m6 shapes were the first thing that clicked for me too, then I could reuse them on Blues Mineur and co.
So yeah — I'd genuinely love Tcha's (or your) take on what to default to. That's the feedback that helps me most 🙏
You aren't doing anything wrong. You're absolutely correct that the m6 is a widely heard sound. @BillDaCostaWilliams shared a video interview of Tcha a few months back. I'll post below. Towards the end, he talks about chords and gets out a guitar (I've put the cue point to there). I tried to find the specific comment, but at one point, he says when he likes just the sound of the triad and perhaps when he writes a chart with just Am, that's because he wants that sound. Might be earlier in the video than this time stamp. To be honest, if you haven't watched the whole video, it is worth your time. So my comment was just a reference back to this video and the discussion we had on it.
Was not meant as a critique to you or anything you are doing and that's why I tried to soften it with the "wink" emoji. If you took it that way, my apologies for not being clearer. 👍️✌️
Thanks man, and no apology needed at all, I didn't read it as a critique 🙏 (and even if it had been, that's the feedback I want).
I guess i'm just a bit under-confident musically for now 😂
I'll watch the whole interview, sounds worth it, thanks for the cue point. First time i'll have a look at Tcha, and generally excited to educate myself more !
Took me the time to jump on it, but thanks a lot for the video, also the time your shared is right on the spot. I replayed this part quite some time haha. Glad you made me discover Tcha too !
I heard Tcha say in the class that he avoids adding 6th in chords, since it's such a strong color, unless it's a part of the melody.
Make sense considering what he says in the above video, he wants to hear the chord and some notes just seem to add too much to his hears
Small update, and a genuine question from a beginner 🙏
Since the first post I've shipped a "real pompe" play-along: instead of only the synth backing, you can now practice over an actual recorded rhythm-guitar loop, synced to the chart (it locks to the scrolling chord ribbon, and you can loop a section of it). First one's on Minor Swing:
👉 https://www.haute-gitanerie.com/tune/minor-swing?pompe=1
Full honesty: it's me playing it, and I'm still early in my journey.... so the recording quality will fluctuate and follow my own progression. I'll re-record tracks as I get better, and add more over time. It grows my ethousiasm to learn both music & recording it.
Two real questions:
1. Is the pompe decent enough to be useful right now, or should I hold off until I've grown? Brutal honesty helps, it tells me what to re-record first.
2. Would you want your standards with a real recorded rhythm track to solo over? (Fixed tempo/key per recording for now: full transpose/tempo would mean pitch/time-stretching the audio, doable but only worth it if people want it.)
Still free, still no signup.
On money: some features may be paid down the line, but never the backing tracks, the chords, or the core tool. Maybe an extended learning path, some teacher tools… and one bigger idea I'm keeping under wraps for now 😄.
PS: a few other things added since the first post:
- The app's been submitted to Google Play and the App Store: soon a real app on your phone 💃
- Curated videos per tune, the original recording, a chords breakdown, lessons & covers, each credited with a link back to the creator. Suggestions welcome!
- A "learning path", mark tunes you know / are learning, sorted by difficulty, and build practice-session playlists. Very early. I'm still figuring out the progression I like.
- Metronome now cycles off → downbeat only → every beat.
- Shareable links that open a tune with the backing + a loop already set.
- A handful of new tunes (incl. Montagne Sainte-Geneviève) and more players in the community directory.
Still just me building this in the open, feedback on any of it is gold. 🙏
Your playing is good enough, I wouldn't worry about it too much. The pocket can be improved. Your playing is in time of course but occasionally there's a millisecond here and there that affects the pocket.
The upstroke ornament is a touch to prominent for me. My approach is that the ornament is a consequence of a very relaxed right hand, and as such it's more of a unconscious side effect.
There is a big emphasis on practice with the metronome set to 2&4 (maybe that's what you meant when you said downbeat?). I'm myself divided over the real value of it but you'll probably want that to be an option if it's not already.
You've put in a lot of work here and that's really wonderful. If there's something I can help you with, send me a message.
Thanks @Buco for your great feedback !
- I'll try to tighten my pocket on the next tune. Since I started practicing with a metronome I now realise most of my guitar playing (20 years of "having fun") wasn't that tight at all… Crazy how useful this little tool can be. Sometimes I can play a solo "fast", and when I slow down to catch a phrase I realise I don't know where the beats are at all and feel completely lost.
- Also very interesting about the upstroke ornament. I actually think about it consciously: when it's missing I try to add it back. But reading your words, I think I should focus on relaxing more and see how it sounds, whether it shows up on its own or not. Clearly my hand isn't relaxed enough.
- And I just shipped the 2 & 4 metronome option you suggested, it's live now. Tried it out… humbling 😅... I could swear I made a mistake implementing it, but I think it's accurate. Very useful!
I'd love to take you up on the offer, I'll send you a message.
Really grateful you took the time 🤩
I hear you on the metronome. But if you can't keep up with it at performance tempo, then just slow down until you can. My first real progress, the way I feel, happened when I started regularly practicing at 50% of my target performance tempo.
Even today, the real value of the metronome for me isn't in time keeping. It's more, as improviser, the question of can I play through the tune and then hear the harmonic progression of the song based on what I play. Because if I'm using the backing track and play some improv, and then if I strip away the backing track, my playing may not outline the harmony of the song that well. I have more fun playing along with backing tracks, but if I can't sound good just with the metronome, then... And by the way, it was Fanou Torrancita asked this question and got me started.