Hello dolly

scotty577

Hello gypsy jazzers!

I am hoping someone can shed some light on this topic for me: I am in a trio playing originals and covers and we are going to cover Louis Armstrongs Hello Dolly. I am starting to get some gypsy influences in my playing but am not understanding how to create a gypsy vibe or gypsy solo from scratch. I want to play Hello Dolly in a solo but rather than playing just the melody or chord melody style I want some gypsy flourish.

How does one create a gypsy like solo from a melody like Hello dolly and bring in some gypsy elements?? How do I think about it?

Much appreciated

Scotty

Buco

It isn't so much about the choice of notes as it is about the right hand attack. You can always transcribe or learn an existing solo with a similar chord progression and you'll get the notes but it's really in the right hand.

billyshakes

@Buco is not wrong about the right hand technique. It is a signature of the style and helps give the sound you are looking for. Also, I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to try using a dim chord over a dominant 7th or trade a C6 for the CM7. Add some licks that feature 9s and 6s. Duved has a nice course on Soundslice that talks about Django's 30s sound. It speaks of the colors and various techniques that his playing from that time incorporated. Listening to what he has to say and adopting some of those colors/techniques could help you find what you are looking for.

https://www.soundslice.com/users/Duved/courses/

scotty577

does anyone know a similar Django tune progression as hello dolly?

thanks for the tip on Duveds course billyshakes

Lango-Django

I must protest in the strongest possible terms!

Sorry mister but “Hello Dolly” is definitely a banjo tune.

Ever notice how you never hear us banjo players playing “Nuages”?

Well, same deal…

Will

PS However, if you want to play “What a wonderful world” then that’s okay, and in fact I think even Louis A. would approve.

Buco

I don't know of any song with the same progression but you can look at the chord relationships between each cluster. So it starts with 1 to min6 then you have 1 to 2/5 (skipping over that diminished). Just about every swing/jazz song has the same or similar movement somewhere in it. Then in the 3rd line, Ain't misbehavin' has that movement in the B section so that could one place to draw inspiration from. Then follows more 2/5 movements then there's that minor section of Gm to Dm, which I'm not familiar with the song but it looks like temporary key change going to a relative minor from Bb.

Of course this isn't a turn-key solution, takes time and practice. Duved's course is excellent, I haven't heard anybody else explain soloing concepts is such practical terms.

Another route you could take is to play over it the way you'd normally play and pick a few of these bars where it would be relatively easy to transcribe and learn from something existing. Or just look for instructional videos with licks and phrases over major chord and 2/5s. One or two nice phrases would go a long way to give it a special flavor.