Recommended lessons for improving

Phil

Any online courses you'd recommend for a player, now in their 60s, not yet retired(!), who's been trying to play this style for years, whilst holding down a full-time day job?

I've got a great pair of ears! Have my own picking pattern. Have not mastered Gypsy picking and have a hybrid picking technique which serves me well, whilst acknowledging it's not "correct ".

What online instruction course would be helpful for me to take it up a notch and help me break outside my comfort zone "lick box"?

Thanks for suggestions?

Cheers Phil

lorenzop

I'd start by watching this TED talk on how to learn anything: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MgBikgcWnY

Then you could listen and watch a few instructors videos - pick one who's sound you'd like to 'imitate', and who's instructions make sense. For learning something like right hand technique, or getting a good La Pompe, I don't think one needs a course.

Phil

Thanks for the reply. To clarify, at my tender young age I'm not looking for learning right hand technique or La Pompe, ( I've got a pretty decent La Pompe). Simply looking for something to help take my playing/improv up a notch.

flaco

I’ve been wanting to post about this, so this is a good opportunity and may help you out. This Summer I was in Andrew Brown’s (Djangophonique) classes at Django in June, and we really hit it off. I appreciate his thought process and the way he explains everything. I started doing Skype lessons with him and they have been incredible. I have taken other Skype lessons as well as trying out many of the other online resources for this style, and Andrew’s lessons have helped me the most. Previously I had learned some solos note-for-note that I could play in jams, and I could improvise slowly at home so I understood the concepts, but I had trouble improvising at jam tempos. Andrew has taught me a lot of vocabulary in the form of working out etudes for different tunes, and he’s also helped explain things about how to understand and simplify chord progressions. If you are satisfied with your technique and looking to get better at improvising in the style you might give him a try

djangophonique@gmail.com

wim

This is not an online course recommendation, but I think a great way for improving is to transcribe and memorize Django solos. Pick ones that you love and that speak to you, not necessarily the most famous ones.

It's a lot of work, but it gets the kind of phrasing and note choices which are authentic to the style inside your head and into your hands. Django's choices often aren't the ones which would come most naturally or obviously.

Even though you may eventually forget how to execute the solo note-for-note, somehow the ideas and core principles remain. They tend to manifest in your own playing and your improvisations end up with a more convincing sound.

voutoreenie

This is not an online course recommendation, but I think a great way for improving is to transcribe and memorize Django solos. Pick ones that you love and that speak to you, not necessarily the most famous ones.

Yeah, this really helps with the vocab (even tho I've been bad about learning more of them myself lol); as an anecdote, when I was taking a lesson with Antoine Boyer, he said that learning Django's solo in "All Of Me" is what gave him most of the repertoire he uses to this day.

As for me, I try to pick the phrases that catch my ear and learn them by ear as best I'm able to...and to that end, even just learning a small part of a solo or phrase is helpful because you can connect them with other licks/phrases you already know to kinda "Frankenstein" your own vocabulary.

Also, I'm kinda getting over the whole "incorrect" vs. "correct" way of picking; imo, the picking attack and wrist angle are both far more important than perfectly maintaining down strokes - Joscho's a great example of a player who mixes in more upstrokes than you'd otherwise think and when you really start scrutinizing what players are doing, you start to notice how everyone adapts the style to fit their own unique skillsets, occasional use of upstrokes included.

Phil

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/123439#Comment_123439

Great suggestion which I've stolen a few ideas from. Any thoughts on Duved's course thru DC music school?

paulmcevoy75

For me doing work with Christiaan Van Hemert has been the most effective way of getting better I've ever tried in 40 or so years of trying to play music. It's self-directed study with his input and review. It's massively economical (you buy the book and then you have months and months of work to do and you get his review as you do it). It's very well thought out.

His critique is very pointed, like a scalpel. Just super direct and exceedingly helpful. He's not going to let anything slide that you can do better but also does it in a sort of way that shows you exactly how to get better.

Can't recommend it enough. Pick whichever book title other than Book I that interests you and get to work.

Buco

To me it comes down to; fix what doesn't work. You identify what doesn't work and you set about to fix it. To identify what needs fixing, be aware and mindful while you practice and listen to your playing with a critical ear. But sometimes things slip by even when you do that so then you record and listen back. Have an idea what do you want it to sound like.

Also, I went back to practicing improv very slowly. About half tempo of what I might expect it to be. That gives me the space to let my ear decide on a direction so I don't have to rely on a cookie cutter stringing licks. In my theory the same basic training happens whether you practice slow or fast, you're building new neural pathways either way. I'm making sure not to overplay. Actually, I find that I play more sparsely and leave more space like this than when improvising at tempo.

voutoreenie

@Phil one thing, you mentioned that your ears are decent -- do you ever "sing" your solos or play them via internal ear, as in what you're hearing dictates the direction your improv takes vs. the melody or chords? If not, I think it's a great exercise to try playing around with as an improvisation builder, especially once you know a song pretty well by heart.

Phil

Thanks for all the helpful responses. I've worked through lessons from Romane, Wrembel and Gonzalo. Any feedback on any of the DC Music school "In the style of..." lessons, of which there are numerous choices?