Please recommend a gypsy technique course

Paulius Volkovas

Hi all,

I would like to get deeper into gypsy jazz lead technique. Maybe some of you could recommend some online course ( could be paid or free) that helped you the most regarding lead technique.
I am pretty confident playing bebop on a semi hollow, been doing it over 12 years now, but i struggle with gypsy technique. I was always a legato guy so my right hand sucks
There are no confident gypsy teachers where i live so i will have to study online somehow.
Thanks
Paulius

Paulius Volkovas

I don't have much trouble with la pompe, i 've been playing gypsy jazz for about 3 years now. I would like to focus on lead.
I will check rosenberg academy.

Lango-Django

Paulius, I'd strongly recommend that you start out with "Gypsy Picking", by Michael Horowitz, available here at this website.

The "rest stroke" RH technique is the basis of the entire GJ style, and I've never heard of anybody yet who wasn't happy that they'd started with this book, because it really gets you to focus totally on your RH.

"Gypsy Picking" will probably keep you busy for a few months, and after that there are LOTS of options for developing your LH technique.

Keep watching the postings here and you can decide for yourself what's best for you… I imagine that lots of people have done what I did and bought numerous technique books in search of that one that's perfect for you.

While I'm personally a partisan of the Daniel Givone method, I admit that that is a minority taste around here…

Some guys swear by Gonzalo Bergara's books, but I didn't have much luck with them. I haven't tried any of Dennis Chang's stuff but a lot of guys around here love that, too…

While I highly recommend the Rosenberg Academy for learning transcriptions of Django solos, you may find these a bit too difficult until you've got that RH thing really nailed.

My $.02---

Will

pickitjohn

@pauliusmm

Reinier Voet’s 50 Gypsy Jazz Licks You MUST Know

On sale today LAST DAY $11.40

http://truefire.com/jazz-guitar-lessons/50-gypsy-jazz-licks/

previous thread here…
http://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/69412/#Comment_69412

THIS IS A VERY WELL DONE COURSE would certainly help your lead playing. For the price and what you get that's where I would start. Once you download it it's yours, unlike R.A, you need to be online and continue you membership to access. R.A. is a great course if you want transcription note for note if your looking to develop your own expression I believe Denis Chang 5 DVD set Jazz Manouche: Technique & Improvisation 4 Volume Set and The Art of Accompaniment would definitely if used bring you success.
http://www.djangobooks.com/Item/denis-chang-jazz-manouche-5-disc-set.

Good Luck Hope you find what helps you best.

pick on

pickitjohn :peace:

Jazzaferri

However you learn best, books or DVD or online, I second @Lango-Django on getting gypsy picking. I had been playing GJ for several years before I decided to switch to rest stroke picking.


It's more than a few monthsf you put in an hour or two a day. To really get good at it its more like two years. IMO one is better off getting the book, and spending the time with some basics in rest stroke picking as it completely changes the rhythmic approach to playing if done right. If you go with rest stroke principles on stuff you already know and can play well, then if you are a copy from others type of learner, then go with that later.

It may seem slower at first but in a few years You will be a lot further down the road. So much more of this music is actually in the right hand than many give credit to. Note choice is to my mind much less important than the rhythmic inflection that arises from rest stroke style. Of course down the road people branch out but by then they have the "accent" down.

My $.02 anyway.

Jim Kaznosky

Gypsy picking will give you the right hand fundamentals. Denis's videos will help you learn the neck. Stick here for a while until you have the material in volumes 1 and 2 down pat.

Once you have that set, you want to be able to string it all together and learn to play over changes. RA is the way to go if you want to play in the Dutch style. Clement Reboul has been focusing on some more modern soloing. For me, I'd suggest going to the source, which is Django. If there were a tuition based site that taught Django solos note for note by video, breaking down the choruses like RA, that would be my suggestion. Once you get a few of these down, you then would try to transcribe solos by yourself.

There are plenty of other books out there, too. Givone and Gonzalo's books are generally cut from the same cloth. I'd give the edge to Gonzalo's books.

Jazzaferri

Personally, I don't believe learning a solo note for note is the way to go.

You didn't learn to speak by quoting whole poems at a time.

Jim Kaznosky

Sure. I wouldn't suggest learning solos without a grounding of technique and a sense of the "language." I offered Michael's book and Denis's video series as a good way to do this.

After one has gotten through the basics, I think learning solos note for note is fantastic. It's not like you need to mine a solo for licks, but it can give you a sense of "sentences" and story. Also, it is great for technique.

Just my take.

Jazzaferri

Everyone has their thoughts on this....and everyone learns a little differently

I don't quite follow how learning a solo is good for technique. Can you expand on this. @Jim Kaznosky

One step worth considering to build phrasing concepts in the idiom, is to master a number of Gypsy waltz tunes.

Jim Kaznosky

@Jazzaferri - It worked for many of these players I look up to, including my teacher. I don't have a solid answer as to why I think it is good for technique. I feel less bad (hehe) about my playing since I've started to use a learned solo as a way to get my practice in. I can't see it being bad for technique.

Michael Bauer

Wrembel has always considered it essential to memorize Django's solos as perfectly as possible by ear, and even talks about how to do it and translate it into playing. It has a lot to do with developing the touch in an idiom. If I were going to play R&B, I'd be studying every nuance of Steve Cropper's playing. For blues, any and all of the Three Kings. Another person I respect down to my core is Denis Chang, and he has said pretty much the same thing as Wrembel. Young gypsy players memorize important Django solos note-for-note, and it seems to have worked out well for them.

I think it does several things. It develops the ear in a way reading music won't. It develops ideas for phrasing that can be adapted and modified, in other words, made your own. It teaches nuance, improves timing, and develops vocabulary. I'm a poor excuse for a solo player, and there is always a section in every Django (or other GJ) solo that I fall apart on. The great players bull their way through that and force themselves to rise to the challenge. My case in point? How about Adrian Holovaty, who developed a superlative ear, and has the dedication to push himself into and through things that are difficult. I've watched him go from a new student at Django in June, to a fine player and teacher, who has been asked to play with some of the best talent around.

I see where you are coming from, Jay, and I understand. You aren't likely going to play Django solos in whole cloth at a gig, but taking the time to learn them, and learn his incredible sense of melody and timing, can only make us better players.