West Coast Blues – Wes Montgomery

It's basically a Bb blues. There's variation (even with the actual Wes versions)
but the most common solo changes are:

Bb7 | Bb7 | Ab7 | Ab7 |

Bb7 | Bb7 | Bmin7 | E7 |

Eb7 | Eb7 | Ebmin7 | Ab7 |

Dmin7 | G7 | Dbmin7 | Gb7 |

Cmin7 | Cmin7 | Cmin7 | F7 |

Bb7 | Db7 | Gbmaj7 | B7

The first section (Bb7 to Ab7) can be treated any number of ways. If you look at
the harmony you can think of both chords as coming from the Eb melodic minor
scale/harmony. But then again, if you listen to the solos/comping you'll probably
hear Bb13 to Ab13, which fights that melodic minor thing (natural vs b13th on
the Bb). Really a good way to approach it is Bb mixolydian over Bb7 and Bb
blues/minor pent over Ab7, or simply Bb blues over the entire thing. A mix of the
three will get you far. 

Then we got the tri-tone sub to Eb7. A couple different ways to look at this, lots
of internet knowledge on the subject, I'll just say that lines based off of an E7#9
or Bmin7/maj7 arpeggio work wonders here. Also Bb blues (especially if you
hang on the b5 (E natural). 

Eb7- should be self explanatory; the IV7 chord in a blues. After that, we get a
chromatic walk down (not all versions follow this; the melody doesn't, but many
do during the solos). Ebmin7 to Ab7- gives you a Bb natural minor tonality
(aeolian), as well as the standard Bb blues (which works the majority of the
tune). Then a half step down; Dmin7 to G7. Not much to say here, it really
depends where you're coming from. For me, with a jazz blues you're constantly
juggling the difference between a dom 7th or maj7th over the tonic (in this case
a Bb root chord/sound). To make it easier to follow, over Bb7 obviously we have
a dom 7th (the note Ab) and up to this point that note works over everything.
But at this point in the tune, we have Dmin7 which gives us an A natural, the
maj7th of Bb, a nice place to resolve and make things sound sweet. Makes it
*jazzy* if you will. At the same time, Bb is actually an *avoid* note (all relative)
at this point but we have a half step shift to Dbmin-Gb7, arguably the most
*out* chords in the tune, so resolving back to the root key/chord tone here (Bb)
is a nice way to keep it all grounded. 

Then we have a ii-V to Bb7, should be pretty straight forward. Keep it pretty,
make it bluesy, either will work. Then a version of the Tadd Dameron
turnaround, which I could write essays on; but simply Bb blues works great here
too. 

In summation; Bb blues scale except for the points where you want it to sound
"pretty", then it's going to be either Bbmajor or Cmajor. IMO it's better to think
of one home scale/key then to be trying to change scales with each chord
change. This tune doesn't really change keys at all, so look at each chordal move
and see what that does to your home scale/key. Think arpeggios rather than
scales (min9ths work especially well on the walk down part), and don't worry
about scales so much; use the force (your ears) to work through the rough
spots.

Do I have this right?

First 6 bars solo in a Bb Bebop or Mixo, then for bars 7 and 8 go to a B

Dorian. 9 and 10 back to Bb then 11 through 16 are ii - V's so I would
start on an Eb Dorian and go down half steps until I reach C Dorian.
Finally ending on a Bb Minor scale for the last four measures.

Bb Bebop
Bb7\Bb7\Ab7\Ab7\ Bb7\Bb7
B Dorian
\Bm\E7\
Bb Bebop
Eb7\Eb7\
Eb Dorian D Dorian C# Dorian
Ebm\Ab7\ Dm\G7\ C#7\F#7\
C Dorian Bb Minor Scale.
Cm\Cm\Cm\F7\ BbMaj7\Db7\GbMaj7\F7

The problem with this kind of approach is that your not going to highlight
the chord tones and hear the changes in your solo, this is essential to the
bebop sound. While there is no right or wrong in music I can only tell you
what I would do, but I do know that most of the advanced players will
agree with me on this one. I would be thinking more in terms of playing
the chord tones of each chord and embellishing them with passing tones
from the scale, a few chromatics here and there to make sure the chord
tones land on the strong beats, and hey presto, instant bebop. Of coarse
like all things in music it is much easier to say than it is to apply. I always
think its good to start of by just running the arpeggios over the chords to
get those chord tones burned in. One thing I am sure of is when Wes was
playing this tune he was not thinking modes. Embellished chord tones its
the only way to go for me. The only time I might start thinking more
modal would be on a tune like so what ,that stays on one chord for a
while, there you would probably be thinking D dorian, Eb dorian ,but I
would still be aware of those chord tones.

I will give you some chord tones, but the fact that you have asked for
them would indicate to me that the next step in your musical
development would be to start learning your arpeggios. If you do not
know your basic seventh chord arpeggios just yet you should not be going
any where near modes. For Bb7 the chord tones would be Bb, D, F and
Ab. Do you know anything about chord construction, if not again I would
say look into it. If you need any help with theory I would be glad to help
you. I am currently working through my London college of music theory
exams ,so i am well into this stuff. It is very hard to play jazz without
knowing some music theory, unless you happen to be a natural musical
genius, I sadly am not a genius so the only way forward is through hard
work and a lot of study.

10 Things You Gotta Do to Play Like Wes Montgomery

 “Notice how Wes locks in with the rhythm section during his
solo, especially during the second half? How about those quick,
stuttering octaves? And that chord solo—yow! Beginning with
bluesy melodic phrases and voicings, the chordal ideas soon take
off into the stratosphere we affectionately call ‘Montgomeryland.’
Only Wes lived there—no one else could.”
Jesse Gress Jul 10, 2008

The words above were penned by late, great jazz-guitar guru Ted Greene
in the August ’98 GP. He was referencing the “Movin’ Wes Part I” solo
from Movin’ Wes, but he could just as easily have been talking about
Montgomery’s entire oeuvre. A jazz icon, Wes Montgomery (1923-1968)
left an indelible imprint on the language and pedagogy of contemporary
guitar.

All roads to the Pangaea of jazz guitar and beyond eventually pass
through Montgomeryland. Just listen and you’ll hear echoes of
Montgomery in the music of artists as diverse as George Benson, Jimi
Hendrix, Pat Martino, Tommy Bolin, Eric Johnson, and Mark Knopfler.
Essential Montgomery recordings include his entire Riverside catalog,
from the Montgomery Brothers’ Groove Yard through The Incredible
Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery to Boss Guitar, as well as his Verve
sides, including Movin’ Wes, James and Wes (with Jimmy
Smith), Smokin’ at the Half Note (with the Wynton Kelly Trio),
and, Goin’ Out of My Head, Califoria Dreaming, Tequila, and A Day in
the Life—in other words, all of them! If you’re unfamiliar with
Montgomery’s work (can that be possible?), collect and absorb all of the
Montgomery albums you can find (play ’em while you sleep), then go
online and search out the limited but amazing Montgomery video
floating around on the internet. But first, you’ve gotta ...

1 Bloom Late
Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, Wes Montgomery didn’t begin playing
seriously until he was 19. Eight months later, he had memorized all of
Charlie Christian’s solos from Benny Goodman’s landmark Solo
Flight record, and was playing them on the bandstand. Frustrated by his
early limitations, Montgomery spent the next several years working
ordinary day jobs to support his family while practicing incessantly at
night to develop his own unique voice. Montgomery’s hard work paid off
in 1948, when he landed a spot on stage alongside Fats Navarro and
Charles Mingus in Lionel Hampton’s big band. A devoted family man at
heart, Montgomery soon left the road to return to his previous work-by-
day practice-by-night agenda, and gain even further mastery of his
instrument. From 1957-1959, Montgomery became a full-time musician
once again, joining his brothers, pianist/vibraphonist Buddy and bassist
Monk, in the Mastersounds. In 1959, producer Orrin Keepnews brought
Montgomery to the Riverside label, where he became the talk of the
music world with a series of classic albums spanningThe Wes
Montgomery Trio through Boss Guitar. Montgomery jumped to the
Verve label in 1964, where he continued to make award-winning records
up until his death on June 15, 1968, when A Day in the Life was No. 1 on
the Billboard jazz chart for the 37th consecutive week.

2 Thumb It

Of course, everyone knows that Montgomery played exclusively with his

thumb, but do you know why? As an early GP once reported,
Montgomery’s famed thumb technique “evolved from his
experimentations after complaints from neighbors, his next-door aunt,
and his wife over the loud sound created by the pick. The more subdued
sound of his thumb quieted all objections and became, unintentionally,
a vital part of the Montgomery sound.” Over time, Montgomery
reportedly developed a hardened corn that could be used to put a
“point” on notes and catch the string on upstrokes. Montgomery’s
picking motion—both down and up—came from the large thumb joint,
and he loosely anchored his remaining splayed-out fingers against either
the bottom of the pickguard or the bottom edge of the guitar. And here’s
the kicker: Montgomery attacked notes with his thumb, but the rest of
his hand also went along for part of the ride. As Montgomery plucked
downstrokes with his thumb, his fingers reacted, brushing gently against
the face of the guitar in the opposite direction. Do a little video research,
then try playing the following examples using this technique, and you’ll
be shocked by how much “bounce” this subtle texture adds to the sound.

Speaking of sound, the Thumb preferred fat-bodied archtops strung

with hefty flatwound strings. The Gibson L-5 (fitted with either P-90’s or
P.A.F. humbuckers) was a favorite. He dug Fender amps, but was also
known to plug into the occasional Standel tube combo. Strange but true:
According to all video documentation I’ve seen, Montgomery didn’t use
his pinky to fret single-note lines, and reserved it exclusively for octaves
and chords. For complete authenticity, the examples in this lesson
reflect this three-fingered approach wherever applicable. Now, loosen
up that thumb and get ready to ...

3 Get the Blues

Though he certainly developed the ability to improvise sophisticated

melodic lines over any chord progression using single notes, octaves,
and chords, the heart and soul of the Montgomery sound is firmly
rooted in the blues. Analyze the characteristic one-bar Bb blues lick in
Ex. 1 and you’ll find that every note is derived from the Bb blues scale
(Bb, Db, Eb, E, F, Ab, Bb). Observe the swing-eighth feel and staccato
phrasing, and take it slowly at first, bumping the tempo up a few
notches at a time. The line was originally conceived over Bb9, the I
chord, but is also applicable to the IV (Eb9) and V (F9) chords, so be
sure to explore its behavior over all three chords in the context of a
standard 12-bar blues progression. When you’ve got it wired, transpose
the line to other common jazz-blues keys, such as F, Eb, and C, as well as
the more guitaristic keys of E, G, A, and D, and you’ll be well on your
way to Montgomeryland.

4 Swing Your Ass Off

All of the greats, from Christian to Hendrix, possessed that

intangible something that imparted a sense of swing into everything
they played, and Montgomery was certainly no exception. Sure,
everyone has access to the same rhythmic tools—offset eighth- or
sixteenth-notes, heavy syncopations, etc.—but Montgomery brought
these elements together like no other. Moving to the key of F, the V-IV-I
turnaround (C7#9-Bb9-F13) in Ex. 2a features a combination of blues
and bebop that begins with a highly syncopated ascending Bb9 arpeggio
—every note is played on an eighth-note upbeat—cleverly placed to
cover both the V and IV chords before segueing to an F blues line not
unlike Ex. 1. The IIm-V7alt-Imaj7 (Gm7-C7alt-Fmaj7) run in Ex. 2b
shows how Montgomery incorporated the blues into this common jazz
progression. Here, a simple F blues line produces a juicy #5 alteration
(enharmonically notated as Ab) that creates delicious augmented
tension over the V chord before resolving up a half-step to A, the 3 of
Fmaj7.

5 Develop Melodic Radar

Montgomery’s instinctive and boundless knack for melodic invention

was and remains unparalleled in the annals of jazz guitar. Let’s break
down a IIm-V7-I progression in the key of F to see and hear how he
might approach each chord melodically. Begin by treating each measure
as a separate entity. Ex. 3a offers three melodic possibilities for Gm7,
the IIm chord. The first one outlines a descending Gm9 arpeggio grafted
to a swinging rhythmic motif. The second utilizes an ascending Gm7
arpeggio, plus two non-chord tones. The third features a similar but
more scalar move affected with swept sax-like phrasing and a bluesy
wrap-up that could be either a D or an F blues lick. To create tension
over C7, the V-chord, the first bar in Ex. 3b blends chord tones with a
single alteration, G# (the #5). (Tip: The four altered V-chord tension
tones are b5, #5, b9, and #9.) The second measure features an
additional altered note (Db, the b9), while bar 3 outlines a slick first-
inversion C7b9 arpeggio, then offers proof that even B, the natural 7—a
tone most blues guitarists tend to avoid—wasn’t off limits for
Montgomery. Note how both lines take advantage of slippery horn-like
slurs to up the swing factor. (Tip: Try including bar 2 of Ex. 2b in this
group.)

Example 3c illustrates a trio of Fmaj7 I-chord resolutions, all three of

which portray Montgomery’s strong penchant for melody. Bar 1 pays
homage to Charlie Christian, but that half-step grace-note slur is pure
Montgomery. Bar 2 highlights a III-for-I diatonic substitution
Montgomery often used to access the original chord’s upper extensions.
In this case, his Am7 motif creates an Fmaj9 sound. Other diatonic subs
that show up during Montgomery’s improvisations include IV-for-II
(Fmaj7 for Dm7) and IV-for-V (Fmaj7 for G7). (Tip: For more sub
analyses and a slew of solo transcriptions, check out “The Godfather of
Cool: Wes Montgomery’s Baddest Solos Note for Note,” in the August
’98 GP.) Finally, bar 3 shows how good a simple Fmaj7 arpeggio plus an
added 6 (D) can sound with the right phrasing.

Now that you’ve got these discrete elements under you fingers, the fun
really begins. You can mix and match any combination of the previous
six lines to form a multitude of Montgomery-style II-V-I ideas. When
you’re done with that, trasnfer the lines to different positions and
octaves, then transpose them to all keys. Use their rhythms as templates
for lines of your own design. See you in six months!

6 Double Your Pleasure

Montgomery’s mastery of parallel octaves was, well, unparalleled.

Though he claimed to have discovered octaves by “coincidence,” and
that they caused him severe headaches early on, Montgomery’s doubled
frequencies essentially became his signature sound. Montgomery always
fretted octaves with his 1st and 4th fingers, muting the string between
octave notes by lightly resting the index finger across it. Let’s try a two-
octave F blues scale played entirely in octaves. Ex. 4a shows one
potential fingering based on the common first-position F blues box, then
extended along the third and first strings. Get to know it. The trick with
octaves is to focus on either the lower (my personal preference) or upper
notes only and let the higher octaves “shadow” the lower notes, or vice
versa. (Trying to keep track of both at the same time will mess with your
mind!) Ex. 4b presents an “Eleanor Rigby”-esque blues line, Ex. 4c
recasts bar 2 of Ex. 2b in octaves, and Ex. 4d introduces wider intervallic
motion—ascending fourths, to be exact—in tandem with Montgomery’s
trademark octave “gallops.” (Hmm … Wes Montgomery: Grandfather of
Thrash?) Get the idea? Any line can be revoiced in octaves.
7 Grow a Compact Chord Garden

Wes Montgomery may not have known as many chords as a guitar

scholar like Ted Greene, “but he said more with them than anyone else
I’ve ever heard,” said Greene. Whether it was lushly arranged melodies
or on-the-fly chord solos, Montgomery was a master of the art of chord
melody. Rather than placing chords on strong beats and embellishing
them with single notes à la, say, Joe Pass, Montgomery’s general
approach was to harmonize every note with three- or four-note block-
chord voicings. The grids in Ex. 5a will get you started with a simple F
major scale sequence that starts on the 7 (E) and descends alternating
diatonic third intervals (E-C, D-Bb, C-A, Bb-G) on the first string. Here,
the first note and then every other note is harmonized as diatonic I, II,
and III chords (Fmaj7, Gm7, and Am7), while identical diminished-
seventh shapes functioning as D7b9 and C7b9 (the VI and V chords)
cover the in-between notes. Add tasty half-step grace-note slurs to taste
and savor their smoothness.

Adam Levy’s “Instant Wes” session in the May ’99 GP offered a crafty
way to create Montgomery-style chord melodies over static harmonies.
In this vein, Ex. 5b harmonizes Am chord tones (A, C, and E) with
appropriate Am7 and Am6/9 voicings, while the non-chord tones (G#,
B, and D) are harmonized as parallel diminished seventh chords. You
can also apply this methodology to the blues scale, as shown in the G-
blues-based chord-melody run in Ex. 5c. This technique works just as
well with major and dominant seventh chords, but, of course, you’ll
need to explore and combine voicings on other string groups.

8 Orchestrate on Your Ax

Though Montgomery’s typical m.o. was to play a song’s melody and

opening solo choruses in single notes before morphing to octaves and,
ultimately chords, it wasn’t unusual for him to blast out of the gate with
a full-on chordal assault, and you won’t find a better example than
Montgomery’s take on the Ellington-Tizol-Mills exotica classic,
“Caravan” [Ex. 6, from Movin’ Wes]. Phrasing over six bars of
underlying C7b9 harmonic tension, Montgomery begins with a half-step
grace slur into C9 followed by a sixteenth-note slur up to Db9. He covers
the remainder of bar 2 with staccato C9, Gdim7, Bbdim7, and Edim7
shapes, all voiced on the top four strings. After resting on Bbdim7 for
two beats in bar 3, he jumps to the inside strings to punctuate beat three
with a trio of octave Cs. Coolness! Bars 4 and 5 feature a slight variation
of the previous two bars in accordance with the melody, but with full
C7#9 voicings replacing the octave Cs. Montgomery wraps up the
melody by traveling from the eighth to the third position via a string of
chromatically descending diminished seventh chords that (finally!)
resolve to the tonic Fm.

9 Cross Over

Beginning in 1965, Montgomery’s Verve sides— beginning with Goin’

Out of My Head, which garnered the guitarist a Grammy award, and
running through his last album, A Day in the Life—enjoyed a surge in
popularity. During this period, Montgomery covered numerous pop hits
of the day, including “Goin’ Out of My Head” [Ex. 7a], “Tequila,” [Ex.
7b], “California Dreaming,” “Sunny,” and “Eleanor Rigby,” many with
big-band and string arrangements courtesy of such heavyweights as
Oliver Nelson, Don Sebesky, and Claus Ogerman. These smooth moves
may sound toned down to some critical ears, but they’re beautifully
recorded and still undeniably Wes.

10 Learn a Must-Know Chorus

If there’s one Montgomery tune you’ve gotta learn, it’s “West Coast
Blues” in the key of Bb. Why? It’s a classic Montgomery 6/8 blues-with-
a-twist that sounds just as great played solo, with a small rhythm section
as on The Incredible Guitar of Wes Montgomery (See GP 8/98 for a
transcription of Montgomery ’s first solo chorus), or with a big band, as
heard on Movin’ Wes, the version referenced here. (Tip: You’ll also find
a cool big-band version on the YouTube.) Let’s construct the 12-bar
head. Ex. 8a begins with a pair of half-step grace-note slurs into a partial
Bb shape—Montgomery originally played this move as a grace-
hammered b3-3 (C#/Db-D) below a static 5 (F)—followed by swinging
root-5 (Bb-F) sixteenths and b7-root(Ab-Bb) eighths. Drop two frets to
play the pickup into the non-standard bVII change (Ab13) in bar 2, then
follow bar 1’s melodic and rhythmic scheme a whole-step lower. The last
triplet sets up the repeat of the I-chord figure, so follow the repeat back
to bar 1, then take the second ending. Here, Montgomery’s sophisticated
substitutions “II-V” their way into the IV chord (Eb9), and replace
standard Fm7-Bb9 movement with b5 subs (Bm7 and E). Yes, the
melody reflects these changes.

Segue directly to the IV-chord figure in bar 4, which simply lowers the 3
to Db in the I-chord figure and alters one note to transform the pickup
into an Eb arpeggio. Next, repeat bar 1 twice, then jump to the V-I
turnaround in Ex. 8b, where each chord is covered by an identically-
shaped one-bar line—just learn the first measure and drop it a whole-
step. Tack on two more repeats of the I-chord figure from bar 1 of Ex.
8a, repeat the entire 12-bar D.I.Y. form as played thus far, then give
yourself a good pat on the back and enjoy a cold one. Mission
accomplished

Where’s the Sheet Music?!

Lesson examples 6, 7a, 7b & 8b are omitted due to copyright. Much of
the sheet music that Guitar Player publishes is copyrighted material,
licensed from the artists to run only in the printed version of the
magazine. Guitar Player continues to offer the explanatory text of these
lessons online, but in order to get the complete song transcriptions and
other bits of licensed sheet music, you need to have a copy of the
magazine.
Monday, April 27, 2015

So You Want To Play Like Wes Montgomery, Part 1

This post originally started out recapping my history trying to learn jazz guitar (starting with early
Wes Montgomery recordings), only because I think I made some mistakes that I would encourage
students not to make as they learn the guitar. But things have changed as explained in my last
post (here). There is now a Wes Montgomery International Jazz Guitar Competition. This is only
the first year for the competition. How long it will last I do not know but my hope is that it lasts for
a very long time. In any event, if you enter the competition, you have to confront the Wes
Montgomery jazz guitar legacy (certainly, this is one of the purposes of the competition). So,
whether or not you want to play like Wes Montgomery, you will have to decide before the
competition how much like Wes Montgomery (if at all) you intend to play for the submission. To
do that, you have to learn something about how Wes Montgomery played. If you are an instructor
teaching jazz guitar, you might have to deal with more student interest in Wes Montgomery.

Suppose a guitar student shows up (as I did forty years ago) and says "I want to play like Wes
Montgomery" or "I want to enter the Wes Montgomery International Jazz Guitar Competition".
What do you say to them? Is there a book you can give them? Is there an educational program
you can put them on that they can complete? Is there someone you could point to who has
actually done this?

First off, it might be a poorly stated goal. Did I mean I wanted to follow the steps Wes
Montgomery did to learn Jazz Guitar? If so, don't read this blog, don't look for a teacher or for an
instructional book, since Wes did none of these things. He started with a four string tenor guitar
given to him by his older brother Monk Montgomery. He switched to a six string when he heard
his first Charlie Christian record. He worked out and memorized all the Charlie Christian solos he
found on records. He went out in Indianapolis clubs and played these solos note for note. He
played so well he got a job with the Lionel Hampton band (Hampton worked with Christian in
the Benny Goodman band and was looking for the Christian sound in his band). Wes never had a
formal teacher (the best teacher in Indianapolis was all booked with students). He evidently never
read instructional books (this is a little hard to believe but what the books of that era contained
was pretty poor in any event). He worked everything out by brute-force saying that every guitarist
has "the same six strings I do". He stumbled onto octave playing and playing with his thumb by
chance. He never used his fourth finger when playing single-note lines. He played sophisticated
chord voicings but struggled with the names for the chords and could not read music.

It's safe to say that today (1) no one knows exactly how Wes Montgomery learned to play jazz
guitar since he did it by himself and never wrote an instructional book and (2) no one would or
could ever duplicate exactly the steps Wes went though learning the instrument. However, in the
words of drummer Jimmy Cobb, "He left a whole lot of stuff there for you to work on, if you're a
guitar player" (Fitzgerald, 2009: 1). Unencumbered by instruction and surrounded by great
musicians (Monk Montgomery, Buddy Montgomery, Mel Rhyne, the Lionel Hampton Band and
more) and great music, Wes discovered new territory for the jazz guitar. In the post-Montgomery
era, this new territory has been well studied (see references below).

The bigger challenge for jazz guitarists today is to understand what was discovered by Wes
Montgomery and build on it. The person that succeeds at this will stand a good chance of winning
the Wes Montgomery International Jazz Guitar Competition and will, at least, be a very
competent jazz guitarist.

A place to start would be to see what has been written about playing in the style of Wes
Montgomery. Here's a summary of topics, some of which I have already covered or will cover in
future posts (references and interesting quotes below):
1. Play With Your Thumb (tornado in classical guitar technique). If you don't think
you can play fast enough or are just coping Wes Montgomery lines, listen to Jim
Mullen or Emily Remler. 
2. Play Octaves using jazz guitar technique or classical guitar technique (parallel
octaves). See my prior post here. Also, learn to play double octaves (for
example, Bumpin' on Sunset transcribed in Sokolow, 1988: 28-33).
3. Use a fat body arch-top jazz guitar (Wes used a Gibson L-5 CES, way too
expensive now--there are many other excellent reasonably priced jazz guitars, for
example the Epiphone Joe Pass, the Aria Pro guitars and others).
4. Play along with recordings. Wes memorized Charlie Christian solos from records
but he also slowed down the turntable to study Giant Steps and communicated with
Creed Taylor using tape recorded songs. In Wes' era, turntable or tape speeds could be
slowed down to learn songs. Since we can no longer do that with digital media, consider
using a free audio-editor and recorder such as Audacity and use the "Change Speed
Effect" which does not change pitch while slowing the recording down. 
5. Watch Wes Montgomery play the guitar in every video you can find (for
example, Wes Montgomery Live in '65 Full Concert). Notice that Wes never gets locked
into a box, he is always moving fluidly up and down the neck in response to the flow of
his improvisation. Most of the improvisation is done on the top four strings, especially in
the higher registers (possibly a holdover from Wes' start on the four-string tenor guitar).
Compare these visuals to, for example, Pat Martino (particularly the Pat Martino Trio --
Lotus Jazz Festival 2014) who seems to work mainly on the middle four strings all over
the neck.
6. Learn the Blues (for example, Blues in F, Blue Monk, Twisted Blues, and many
others). Be sure to read the excellent discussions of Missile Blues (Marhsall, 2001: 9-
10), West Coast Blues (Marshall, 2001: 24), Naptown Blues (Sokolow, 1988: 70), Movin'
Wes Part I(Sokolow, 1988: 55) and Movin' Wes Part II (Sokolow, 1988: 92).
7. Learn to swing (it's hard to teach but there is a good discussion by Emily
Remler here).
8. Play Ballads (required by Wes Montgomery International Jazz Guitar
Competition for example Misty, Ghost of a Chance, Polka Dots and Moonbeams, Serene,
Angel Eyes and more).
9. Play Pop Music and Smooth Jazz (The origins of Smooth Jazz have been traced
to the albums by Creed Taylor and Wes Montgomery, for example the Bumpin' album).
10. Play Bossa Nova and Latin Jazz (for example, How Insensitive, Here's That
Rainy Day, Watch What Happens, Besame Mucho, Nica's Dream, and more)
11. Play Rock (for example, Green Peppers, Goin on to Detroit, Winds of
Barcelona, Wind Song, Goin Out of My Head, Windy, Eleanor Rigby, and more).
12. Learn to "first play the lead sheet form before you attempt the stylistic solo"
(Garson et. al, 1968: 18). Make sure to add bluesy touches to the lead sheet; don't play it
straight. Most lead sheet melodies can be played easily within two-octave
boxes choosing the position based on the key signature. The boxes extend nicely on the
top four strings, showing how Wes Montgomery certainly visualized the fingerboard. If
you don't have a lead sheet, play the melody along with a recording and memorize it
(how Wes did it) or write out the melody and make your own lead sheet (for the chords,
play the bass line and use Figured Bass--I'll talk more about this in future posts but also
see Mehegan, 1959: Chapter 76). 
13. When improvising "retain enough of the notes of the original melody to maintain
the feeling of the tune"(Garson et. al, 1968: 18). Either explicitly or implicitly target the
melody notes (Garson et. al, 1968: 18).
14. Play Vamps and Ostinatos (for example, Movin' Wes Part II, Scarborough Fair,
and Sunny).
15. Use three-part structure improvisations (single-note, octaves, and chords, for
example Full House). Wes did deviate from the pattern leaving out a single-note or a
chordal improvisation but my guess is that he experimented with each form before
deciding what worked best for the song, for example compare Sunny and Sunny
(Alternate Take). In the more commercial records, the decisions were often made for him
to just play octaves (Ingram, 2008: 47). 
16. When playing single-note solos, visualize the Comping and Complex Chord
shapes  of the underlying harmony as Charlie Christian did (Hansen, 2001) and Wes
surely picked up through transcription.
17. When playing scales use  sweep-picking, especially effective with the thumb (see
useful closed-form arpeggio fingerings and exercises here).
18. Learn to play chords (triads, chords built in thirds, chords built in fourths, and
spread chords) and chord scales. A useful place to start is with Comping and Complex
Chord shapes which are root-position chord forms widely used in jazz (you can pick
up inversionslater or see Fowler, 1977:5).
19. Learn voice-leading, harmonization of non-chordal tones, treatment
of appoggiatura, treatment of chordal anticipations, and  reharmonization of lead
sheets (see Garson, 1968).
 20. Play every Wes Montgomery transcription (here) and Charlie
Christian transcription you can get your hands on (Hansen, 2001).
21. Listen to John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Tony
Bennett, Barney Kessel, Jimmy Raney and Tal Farlow (Ingram, 2008: 50) musicians  who
Wes liked and studied.
22. Listen to and use Big Band horn section ideas and arrangements, particularly call
and response (for example,  Twisted Blues, Naptown Blues,  Movin' Wes Part II, and
others). 
23. Write your own songs (possibly as a jazz contrafact). In Adrian Ingram's (2008)
discography, Wes Montgomery is credited with writing forty-five songs. Start with Blues
Structure, add II-V-I progressions, add Cycle of Fifths, use some unexpected chords.
This would be a lot to have to study in preparation for a guitar competition! For the current Wes
Montgomery International Jazz Guitar Competition, you are going to have to be selective. One
idea would be to chose the cover song you want to play, identify all the Wes Montgomery stylistic
elements and bring them in to your other selections. You might also want to listen to the current
submissions (here) to evaluate your competition on the Wes Montgomery stylistic elements listed
above.

So far, I have posted about octaves, arpeggios, melody statements and complex comping chords.
I'll try to pick up the rest of the topics over time, but I have one word of caution. We do not know
definitively how Wes Montgomery approached jazz guitar playing. We know that Wes did not
have a formal teacher "Wes did remember though that he once tried to get some guitar lessons
for Indianapolis guitarist Alex Stevens (without success) " (Ingram, 2008: 16). We know from
video recordings that his approach was somewhat idiosyncratic (he evidently did not use his
fourth left-hand finger for single note playing although he did use the fourth finger for octaves on
the top two strings). We know that Wes understood more musical theory than he would openly
admit (he said he did not know the names of the chords he was playing but proceeded to give
Pim Jacobs, here,  a sophisticated discussion of chord changes and substitutions in End of a
Love Affair in the BBC sessions). Utlimately, Wes' comment that other guitarists were playing with
the "same six strings I have" saves us here. We are all playing with the same six strings Wes did.

The title of this post implies that there will be future posts where I add my own insights to this list.
It is also a play on the title on two great Wes Montgomery tunes Movin' Wes, Part 1 and Movin'
Wes Part 2.

QUOTES

"...by the time he had reached his twentieth birthday he was playing Charlie Christian solos
regularly at the 440 Club" in Columbus, Ohio" (Ingram, 2008: 12).

"I...[Wes]...even took his album 'Giant Steps' and played it at 16 rpm to study what he...
[Coltrane]...was doing and every note was correct." (Ingram, 2008: 53)

"I...[Creed Taylor]...worked with the arranger, he would put a piano sketch on tape and send it to
Wes  wherever he happened to be on the road.  He'd rehearse between jobs and then come into
the studio to record. He didn't read at all..." (Ingram, 2008: 34).

"These few minutes in discussion with pianist Jacobs lay to rest one of the mythologies
surrounding Wes and the nature of his musicianship. How often in liner notes and articles have
we been dutifully reminded of Wes's supposed inability to read music, the fact that he was 'self-
taught' and all of the other points of lore trotted out to somehow mystify the genius that is utterly
self-evident in the legacy that is his music?"

"In a particularly illuminating exchange, we see Wes discussing the harmony with pianist Jacobs.
In requesting one of his favorite variations on the tune's ...[The End of a Love Affair]... descending
harmonies we hear a musician not only fluent in the traditional nomenclature of harmony, but one
who is thoroughly enlightened, eloquent and direct. (Instead of Bbm7/Eb7/Abmaj7 direct to the
following Abm7/db7/Gbmaj7, Wes requests that an additional II-V anticipating the next change a
half step higher be added to set up the next sequence, resulting in Bbm7/Eb7/Abmaj7/Am7/D7/
the onto Abm7/Db7/Gbmaj7 etc.)" (Metheny, 2007: 7-9).
REFERENCES

(If you are aware of further references, let me know and I'll add them to the list.)

Amazon Wes Montgomery.

Pete Billlmann and Paul Pappas (nd). Wes Montgomery Guitar Anthology. Milwaukee,
Wisconsin:Hall Leonard.

Dan Bowden (1995) Wes Montgomery: The Early Years. Pacific, MO: Mel Bay Publications.

Corey Christiansen (2001) Essential Jazz Lines in the style of Wes Montgomery. Pacific, MO: Mel
Bay Publications.

Tim Fitzgerald (2009) 625 Alive: The Wes Montgomery BBC Performance Transcribed. Tim
Fitzgerald Music.

William L Fowler (1977) Guitar Patterns for Improvisation. Chicago, IL: Maher Publications.

Lee Garson, Jimmy Stewart and Charles Stewart (1968) Wes Montgomery Jazz Guitar Method.
New York: Robbins Music.

Ralph Gleason (1961) Wes Montgomery.

Dave Gould (2013) Wes Montgomery Interviews: Interview by Ralph J Gleason first published in
Guitar Player Magazine in 1973

Dave Gould (2013) Wes Montgomery Obituaries

Jesse Gress (1998) The Godfather of Cool: Wes Montgomery's Baddest Solos Note for
Note. Guitar Player Magazine.

Jess Gress (2008) 10 Things You Gotta Do to Play like Wes Montgomery. Guitar Player
Magazine.

Garry Hansen (2001) (ebook) Charlie Christian - Legend of the Jazz Guitar Scrib

Jamie Holroyd (2013) Play Like Wes Montgomery Today.

Adrian Ingram (2008) Wes Montgomery. Ashley Mark Publishing.

Henry Johnson (2006) Mel Bay Presents: Wes Montgomery Best of Boss Guitar. Pacific, MO: Mel
Bay Publications.

Steve Kahn (1995) The Wes Montgomery Guitar Folio. Ft. Lauderdale, FL: Gopam Enterprises.

Wolf Marshall (2001) Best of Wes Montgomery. Milwaukee, Wisconsin:Hall Leonard.

John Mehegan (1959) Jazz Improvisation. New York: Watson-Guptill.

Pat Metheny (2007) Wes Montgomery Jazz Icons DVD Liner Notes.

Matt Mullenweg (2013) Wes Montgomery | Jazz Quotes

George Pasdirtz (2013) Wes Montgomery Transcriptions.

John Purse (1995) Mel Bay Presents: Wes Montgomery. Pacific, MO: Mel Bay Publications.

Emily Remler (2014) Bebop and Swing Guitar. Video and Instructional booklet.

Sheet Music Plus Wes Montgomery.

Fred Sokolow (1976) Wes Montgomery Jazz Guitar Solos. Hialeah, FL: ALMO Publications.
Fred Sokolow (1988) Wes Montgomery Artist Transcriptions for Guitar. Milwaukee,
Wisconsin:Hall Leonard.

Leo Valdes (2013) Transcriptions: The Guitar Solos of Charlie Christian

Matt Wampler (2013) Wes Montgomery

Matt Warnock (2011-2014) Wes Montgomery

Matt Warnock (2011) Jazz Guitar Chords: Wes Montgomery Chord Scales

Matt Warnock (2012) Wes Montgomery Chords for Jazz Guitar -- V-I Concept

Matt Warnock (2013) 3 II-V-I Wes Octave Licks for Jazz Guitar

Matt Warnock (2013) Learn About Wes Montgomery (1925-1968).

Matt Warnock (2013) Learn About Charlie Christian (1916-1942).

Matt Warnock (2015) How to Play Jazz Guitar in the Style of Wes Montgomery. e-Book 

Josh Workman (2006) The Top Five Wes Montgomery Riffs of All Time. Guitar Player Magazine.

Josh Workman (2005) "Motgomeryland Funk": As Performed by Wes Montgomery. Guitar Player

Magazine