30+ Django solo's in 1 year (Maybe a couple Fapy solo's but we'll see) EDIT: Louis Armstrong solo's?

Feruza2134

Thanks, i agree with you. But for me its also really important to kind of figure out how Django thought, for example how he uses some shapes and how they come back in his solo's. And then i not only use those licks but also see how he uses arpeggio's and shapes for example so i can understand better and construct licks of my own using the same thinking he did.

Elí Saúl

Well it seems you miss the point of "licks", they're not something to repeat like a parrot.

Think of music as the language it is, it's just vocabulary, what makes it work is the way you use it. for example, you can hear Django quoting some cliches aswell but he usually modifies them according to the mood of the moment, like the articulation, the rythmic motif, and even the degrees to fit certain chords.

I'd suggest documenting your licks, sometimes you just forget them or stop using them and it's quite interesting to see what you were doing, i have this "licktionary" that has a purpose for me: developing musical ideas over new resources of improvisation. this started when i struggled to use Whole tone melodically, so it became a mix of my ideas to develop on study and some phrases i liked that i heard.

I attached a version of it, as example. I remember i had more pages but my transition from MuseScore 2 to MuseScore 3 made a mess of my files

Feruza2134

Maybe my English is getting in the way here. I don't want to keep repeating licks like a parrot at all! I have been getting better and better at just knowing my way around the fretboard. And now i can really play around with licks and they will always be/sound different. But also, i just want to have a good arsenal of licks, i was talking about how Django plays simple yet beautiful things and i think many of his lines/licks are really great building blocks. Regarding the vocabulary part for example in Django's solo on "All the things you are" at 1:46 he uses a shape, i forgot which one. He uses it to quote the melody and from that i learn i can do a build up with a shape like that going to a melody.

But back to the original kind of topic of this thread, tomorrow i will start my first solo, when im done with the solo, would you guys like me to put it on soundslice with my analysis?

Elí Saúl

That'd be nice, its always refreshing. Specially cause we all have this very diferente mindset of what we want to analyze. I have this unspoken deal with the pal i play manouche that we are always Transcribíng and analyzing diferente things and we always learn from each other, that is a plus to my studying always.

Thats why i share anything i can, maybe nobody cares but i bet some day someone will be grateful for what i decides to share on my spare time

Elí Saúl

Oh btw, have you heard what Duved Dunayevsky is doing? I thing he's one of the cats who did not only understand early django, but has managed to develop a vocabulary very close to him.

Apart from that he Recently reached his goal on kick starter for his pre-bop orchestra. Which is amazing, i have nothing but appreciation and respect for what he is doing.

Feruza2134

Yeah, i have his course on the 1930's Django sound. Its pretty cool! And i believe Dennis Chang is making a course with him as well now? not sure though.

Feruza2134

Solo 1/30:



I'm going to start with "All of me" because its kind of simple chord changes and the solo is not to hard with some nice lines.

b7ever

Feruza, let me ask a question. Will you consider a solo complete when you can play it at the original speed in Django’s recordings? Or are you just going to just learn the solos best you can in a week and then move on to the next?The only solo I really know all the way through is Minor Swing and can play at the 190 bpm or whatever the original speed is except for the triplet run in the last section of that solo is still unpolished and have been working to clean that up. Just curious How you are going about it.

b7ever

Also, my approach has been to spend a healthy amount of time each practice session on mastering Minor Swing, learning all arpps, scales, transcribing licks from multiple artists, all chord variations, free style and transcribe my own licks that I stumble across, etc... it takes months but once I’m comfortable with it, I should be able to transfer a lot of that knowledge into the next song, speeding up the learning process. What do you think of that Approach? I understand you are preparing for Samois so I would probably doing what you are doing if i weee in your situation. I still spend some time on learning other song and can loosly play melodies and find my way through the jams though.

Feruza2134

I think I consider a solo complete when I can play it at around 80%+ speed, but if it is complete it doesn't mean I won't stop playing it! So i basically keep playing it and messing around till i can just play the solo with ease at 100% speed. I think i am able to learn a entire solo in 1 day, so i think a week should work. I use Transcribe!" as a transcription program, you can add little bars of text on top of the audio. I use this to kind of divide the solo into parts so that i have a bit of structure of what i should do in one day if u understand what i mean by that. I am not going to move on if i don't know the solo correctly but i think that i will be able to do that.
Your approach on the arps etc sounds good, although for me i just can't spend months on one thing(I do use minor swing as a track to kind of test out licks etc) and i don't like to have strict practice like practicing arpeggios 1 hour just doesn't work for me. If i am not motivated and force myself to practice i just don't get things done and get easily distracted. But if it works for you that is great!
I stay away from scales. The reason i do this is because i think they can kind of trap you. My way of going about ''scales'' in a song is just try to improvise without really knowing anything(play random notes try to hear lines in your head and play them), knowing the melody while doing this can be EXTREMELY helpful, actually... you need the melody as Fapy says. Because you can see when the melody outlines the chords and you get a general idea of notes to play and you won't be as trapped as in a scale. I do use shapes though, for learning them i recommend Dennis Chang's course on "Must have skills as an improvising musician" something along the lines of that title haha. But back to the main question hahaha, when i am stuck in a rut for example i examine why is that, for example what you said about a triplet run. What is going wrong...is it my technique? is my right hand making unnecessary movements? Or is it the fingering? Once you got all that figured out i just start working on speed, i just go 10% faster every time. but when i get trouble at 70% i don't stop there.. first i go to 80% which is a little faster and harder and then i go back to 70% which for me now feels a little bit easier haha. Im sorry if im a bit vague i always get carried away in answering questions so if anything is not clear just ask!