question about this book

~Ja Mahavishnu~

Are the transcriptions of the django tunes(the solos especially) as he played them, or as played by Pearl Django?

I'm looking for a book which has chords and solos to some django tunes really. Kinda been stuck on just playing the unaccompanied stuff for a while, and need to work on some band stuff.

Ta.

MichaelHorowitz

This is not a book of solos...it's a "fake book" which has the chords and melodies for popular Django tunes. There are no solo transcriptions. Most of the arrangements are close to how Django played them.

'm

~Ja Mahavishnu~

Michael Horowitz wrote:

This is not a book of solos...it's a "fake book" which has the chords and melodies for popular Django tunes. There are no solo transcriptions. Most of the arrangements are close to how Django played them.

'm

Ahh, are their any books with transcriptions of some solos? I'd like to work some out myself, but I have so little free time to play that it's a pain in the arse, and i'd rather spend that time playing.

MichaelHorowitz

Look here:










Transcription
Books

~Ja Mahavishnu~

haha, i'm an idiot. I thought you only sold those few books under the books section. Groovy.

Jack

You should also take advantage of Dennis' fine transcriptions:
http://www.fleche-dor.com/en/transcriptions.php

Best,
Jack.

~Ja Mahavishnu~

Jack wrote:

You should also take advantage of Dennis' fine transcriptions:
http://www.fleche-dor.com/en/transcriptions.php

Best,
Jack.

ahh, thankyou sooo much. I remember finding those a while back, but I couldn't remember where the hell I saw them.

coopervery

Actually one of the best books I have seen showing some of Django's actual solos as well as chords and accompaniment is the book available on this site called "Django Rehinhard: Know the Man, Play the Music" This music section of this book, transcribed by Rod Fogg, has been especially helpful to me because it has a chord section after each tune that let's you understand the structure of the song and learn to play the changes before tackling djangos licks and solos for the tune. The actual solos for each instrument are also laid out note for note. Rod then plays the tunes on the CD so you don't even have to go out and find Djangos recordings of the exact pieces he has transcribed. Then you can practice against the CD. This book/CD has been a great learning tool for me and for my money is more useful than books that just show solos out of the context of the chord changes.

Jack

coopervery wrote:

This music section of this book, transcribed by Rod Fogg, has been especially helpful to me because it has a chord section after each tune that let's you understand the structure of the song and learn to play the changes before tackling djangos licks and solos for the tune. The actual solos for each instrument are also laid out note for note. Rod then plays the tunes on the CD so you don't even have to go out and find Djangos recordings of the exact pieces he has transcribed. Then you can practice against the CD. This book/CD has been a great learning tool for me and for my money is more useful than books that just show solos out of the context of the chord changes.

While I agree that a book like this one's a lot more useful than just a collection of solos, I have to say anyone working from it should still seek out the original recordings...a student of mine brought this by recently, and it's definitely a different sound, and to my ears Django's versions offer much more to learn from...that said, I seem to remember that Fogg's chords were at least better than what you find in the usual Django transcriptions.

On a related if slightly cranky note, I think it's always a good idea to hunt down various versions of any particular tune-both audio and transcriptions. Someone recently mentioned the 'Robin Nolan' phenomenon, where you find players locked into playing tunes the Right Way, because that's what it says in the books. I was certainly among that group for a time, but it's so limiting, and growing beyond it opens everything up...learn the original, yes, but then figure out every other way to play it-that's what makes it interesting!

(No offense to Robin, by the way!)

All best,
Jack.

czecko

Jack wrote:

While I agree that a book like this one's a lot more useful than just a collection of solos, I have to say anyone working from it should still seek out the original recordings...a student of mine brought this by recently, and it's definitely a different sound, and to my ears Django's versions offer much more to learn from...that said, I seem to remember that Fogg's chords were at least better than what you find in the usual Django transcriptions.

A friend got me this as a birthday present (I really cleaned up on the Django stuff this year yay!). As a learning tool it's interesting, but it doesn't sound like stuff I've gotten from DB.com or what I hear, as you point out, on Django's recordings.

Glad to know that I can tell the difference. I must be improving (learning) somewhat. No offense to the author(s), he's obviously a good player and he lays the music theory illustrations out really well.

dburdick

An excellent and legal digital source of Django original recordings (and many others) is the Yahoo Music service ($5/month). I've used it for about a year, and am impressed at the amount of old jazz on there. Only works on Windows unfortunately. I hear Rhapsody has a web interface that works with mac.