Starting Gypsy jazz soloing , where to begin ?

W.B

hi guys ,

im 28 years old and grew up with rock n roll / rockabilly music and my dad always had a jukebox full of 45" singles playing in the living room.
started playing guitar when i was 25 and now i know all the basics chords and i know allot of jazz chords and im playing jazz rhythm for 1 year now and playing along with allot of django tracks.
really getting to feel comfortable with gypsy jazz rhythm playing and i think its time to buy my first petit bouche guitar and getting into some soloing.
now my question is where to begin to learn soloing gypsy jazz ??
my guitar teacher told me to remember where the basic chord inversion were and try to break those chords apart and link them together to make a solo out of it.
but its like a big puzzle and im clueless about what to do first and where to begin learning to solo.
allot of people say that i need to play songs i like over and over again and try to copy the solo's but doing it that way i only remember positions on the neck and make allot of mistakes cause i dont know where in what key i am on the fretboard.
im missing something that barricades my progress need that missing link to getting to that AHAA point. do i need to learn scales or do i need to follow my teachers toughts and just remember all chords i know break them apart and start making solos ?? hope you guys can help me and know what i mean its hard to explain it in words but maybe some of you had / have this same problem.

thanks.

kevingcox

Play arpeggios over the chord progressions until they are second nature. Add enclosure notes. Learn a few licks. Learn entire solos. Pick those solos apart and understand how they work within the arpeggios you now know so well.

That's my best, simplest advice.

klaatu

If you really want to do it right, get Michael Horowitz's Gypsy Picking to get your right hand technique down. It will take a lot of work to retrain your hand, but it will pay off in the long run.

They're not cheap, but the Denis Chang instructional DVD series are worth their weight in gold. The four-disc Technique & Improvisation series (also available separately) covers soloing very thoroughly. Both employ Denis' gypsy-inspired watch-listen-learn method.

You say you are comfortable with playing gypsy rhythm, but chances are that you may not be playing in an authentic GJ style. It's difficult to pick up the fine points without some instruction by qualified individuals. Michael's Gypsy Rhythm book is like an encyclopedia, and Denis' The Art of Accompaniment DVD covers rhythm technique. The DVD price may seem a bit high, but compare it to taking dozens of lessons, which is what you are getting (plus you can repeat them to your heart's content and even slow them down with the right software).

There are also a lot of short instructional videos on YouTube, but be careful about those. Anything featuring Denis Chang, Gonzalo Bergara, Hono Winterstein (for rhythm), Max Garces (to name a few) are very high quality. But there are also some people purporting to teach gypsy jazz technique who have no idea what they are talking about.

Other than that, what Kevin said. Get some slowdown software (worth every penny) and break down solos that you like. Figure them out by ear, and don't rely on transcriptions, except to get the correct fingering.

You don't say where you live, but if you are in a large metropolitan area, there may be someone who can teach you or at least help you along. There are also a few festivals, such as Django in June, that emphasize instruction, plus you get to rub elbows with a lot of GJ fanatics.

W.B

Thanks guys !

im so close to amsterdam that you can say that im from amsterdam, saw another guy asking for gypsy lessons in amsterdam on this forum in another topic , robin nolan awnsered that with that he gave lessons in amsterdam.
i knew robin noland but tought he was english didnt know he lived here in amsterdam.
already mailed him about it and well see
think i cant get a better mentor than someone from the gypsy jazz scene like robin nolan.

klaatu

No, you can't do any better than that. Lucky you! Here in the gypsy jazz desert of Nova Scotia, we have to rely on the kind of things that I mentioned. Not to slight them at all, because they're all fantastic resources, and we're lucky to have them, but to be able to learn directly from a master - priceless! Kevin at least had the good fortune to live in Montreal for a number of years before moving back here, and Montreal has a lively GJ scene, including the illustrious Denis Chang, Cookie Monster and Eater of Chickens.