Comment for Sake of Conversation

GerBear

Man, I used to think that I could play pretty fast, until I bought Gypsy Fire! :shock: It's much more difficult to play melody-based musical passages as opposed to the generic scale patterns that I'm used to. Tempos that are pretty easy for me to play 16th note "scale-lines" over are not so easy when it comes to the patterns found in Gypsy Jazz. It looks like I'll be stuck on solo number 2 for a while, try try trying to get up to speed! (I am still loving the book though!)
Also, I'm having some "trouble" integrating the lines and ideas into my own playing, because I'm not always sure what to use for each chord change. It seems like that's one of the more important skills to master... knowing what to play and where to play it.

AndreasOberg

Hi GerBear
Thanks for your comments and feedback.

I agree with you that it's much more difficult to play fast melodic lines than just shredding scales or scale/arpeggio patterns. A pattern-based line is just about the ability to move your fingers in certain ways while playing a fast melody is more demanding for your brain (and soul).

From my experience I know that for some people a 16th note runs just sounds like a bunch of notes played really fast...BUT if you have the ability to hear the single notes, the difference is huge between different players.

I've always liked fast players but not the ones that only uses patterns.
When you hear Benson, Lagrene or Joe Pass play fast, they play melodic lines that would sound just as nice played at a slow pace and not just a scale or a pentatonic.

The idea with Gypsy Fire is to learn a few useful devices that can be adapted into your playing and your own style. When you have learned a new phrase over a Am chord, try the phrase over other chords and see if it works there as well. Then you can try to transpose the phrase and learn it all over the guitar neck.

The Gypsy Fire solos, hopefully gives you an idea where to use the phrases and devices in a musical context.

Best Regards
Andreas

GerBear

Andreas,
So true, that seems to be the difference between a real guitar master and a mere "guitar masturbater"! I saw a few clips of Bereli the other day and was blown away... he's a monster! I wish I could just download his skills into my fingers.
By the way, your book IS helping me tremendously, I guess it's just part of the process to realize that I don't know shit! :x

Thanks again,
Garrett