I'm just working on learning my first solos from Django, and it got me curious as to what was the first Django solo that everyone learned or worked on. First or first few???
I dont know any, but at the beginning I've spent some time with:
Minor Swing 1937, Nuages, J'attendrai, Minor Blues, Douce Ambiance, Sweet Georgia Brown, I'll see you in my dreams
The first ones I tried to learn were Nuages, Minor Swing, In a Sentimental Mood and Georgia On My Mind – they were all in a book of transcriptions I had. The first one I picked out by ear from a record (or rather a cassette tape) was Douce Ambiance.
Well, there are no "easy" django solos, but my first was minor swing, and my second was Djangos tiger. Django's tiger is significantly more difficult than minor swing, and it took me a year to get it up to speed with real gypsy style picking.
Another question you may want to consider is HOW to learn it. By ear, or by using someone's premade tab. I found that by ear, using the slow downer, was actually quicker and easier than tab, although it helps to have a good knowledge of arpeggios and gypsy picking styles so you know where to play the phrases and keep them intuitive to pick.
It's so funny that I have been playing and gigging for over 25 years now, and never really had any desire to learn anything note-4-note while growing up (my biggest influences were BB King, Eric Clapton and The Beatles). I was just happy to play more "in-the-spirit-of" any of those artist and come up with my own thing, but now Django has got me wanting to learn note-4-note
So I'm working on a few of his now, using my looper to play, record and loop sections of the rhythm or chord progressions, and then just playing either his solos or licks over and over until they feel and sound right and just become part of who I am and my new vocabulary
I'm also really working on my rhythm playing and then run arpeggios, licks and note-4-note solos over those. But as this post suggest I had been real curious as to what Django solos others had been drawn to first.
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Minor Swing 1937, Nuages, J'attendrai, Minor Blues, Douce Ambiance, Sweet Georgia Brown, I'll see you in my dreams
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Another question you may want to consider is HOW to learn it. By ear, or by using someone's premade tab. I found that by ear, using the slow downer, was actually quicker and easier than tab, although it helps to have a good knowledge of arpeggios and gypsy picking styles so you know where to play the phrases and keep them intuitive to pick.
Anthony
So I'm working on a few of his now, using my looper to play, record and loop sections of the rhythm or chord progressions, and then just playing either his solos or licks over and over until they feel and sound right and just become part of who I am and my new vocabulary
I'm also really working on my rhythm playing and then run arpeggios, licks and note-4-note solos over those. But as this post suggest I had been real curious as to what Django solos others had been drawn to first.