Playing Melodically

andy

Ok, impossible question here:

How can I begin to make my solos sound more melodic and less scalar or robotically arpeggiated?

Can anyone recommend a book on developing melodic playing? Something from the world of straight-ahead jazz perhaps?

Cheers,
Andy

Jack

andy wrote:

Ok, impossible question here:

How can I begin to make my solos sound more melodic and less scalar or robotically arpeggiated?

Can anyone recommend a book on developing melodic playing? Something from the world of straight-ahead jazz perhaps?

Cheers,
Andy

Partly, I think the answer's in the question: learning to use the melody itself within your solo can be a big help-not simply quoting it, but playing around it, moving it rhythmically, etc. On the other hand, my solos stink, so maybe I'm not the most qualified to give advice.

Best,
Jack.

Cuimean

I'm a crap soloist, but if I ever play anything worth hearing, it's usually the result of my doing one of these:

1. Know the tune inside and out. Learn it with several different chord voicings. Make up bass lines. Do anything that will give you insight into why the chord progression works. Once you really understand what's happening chordally, you'll probably start to hear alternate melodies.

2. If you know the language of gypsy jazz already - the sound of a good soloist, the arpeggios, the embellishments, the pet licks, etc. - try coming up with solos without your guitar in your hands. Make a rhythm track and sing over it. You'll start thinking of the tune in a more (okay, this is going to sound stupid) Platonic way. You'll stop thinking of the chord shapes on the fretboard and start getting at the heart of the tune.

- Rod

thrip

I've always thought that if you do the work- practise scales and arps etc., sooner or later the melodicism will come of it's own accord - as you internalize the sound of the stuff you've been practising.

Having said that, learning Django solos can be very rewarding, and as Cuimean says, learn the tune inside out.

This is something from another jazz guitar site that I thought was a good idea:

" One thing that I always
have students practice which seems really useful is to play through a
chart with predetermined resolution points.  The idea is to construct
a single phrase which approaches that point and resolves neatly to
whatever chord is at that point, then rest for at least one full bar
before beginning the next phrase. "

andy

Thanks guys,

Your suggestions are extremely helpful, and I'll work on them. I suspected I would be soliciting mainly "use the force Luke"-style replies, but thinking about subs, chord tones and resolution notes is practical and gives me something solid. I'm also thinking that I'm just playing too many notes and need to become more tasteful (both on guitar and in life in general). I'm going to ask this once again, though, as I'm not very musically intuitive and am a bookish kind of fellow overall -- has anyone come across any good texts that deal with this and offer examples and etudes?

Cheers,
Andy

campfire

andy wrote:

Ok, impossible question here:

How can I begin to make my solos sound more melodic and less scalar or robotically arpeggiated?

Cheers,
Andy

Andy,

Not to sound like a smart-ass, but a short, simple, and effective answer would be the obvious: "LEARN LOTS OF MELODIES!"
I once asked Joe Pass that same question, and that was his response.

Larry Camp

andy

Joe Pass? What would he know about anything?








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Chad

campfire wrote:

Not to sound like a smart-ass, but a short, simple, and effective answer would be the obvious: "LEARN LOTS OF MELODIES!"
I once asked Joe Pass that same question, and that was his response.

Larry Camp

That seems to be working for me. I figure you cant learn the language till you get the phrasing down. Otherwise it is just words. I have been using my Band In a Box a lot lately and it is having a most wonderful effect on my playing. I have been moving phrases from one song to another and it is really cool when it sounds good. I think scales and arpeggios give you a more technical aspect of whats going on, but the melodies are key.

Chad

Ando

A few thoughts passed down to me by way of *much* better players:

1. Good solos have good opening and closing phrases. Even if you botch the middle, listeners will remember if you opened and closed well. So have a stable of phrases for opening and closing, just in case.

2. Gypsy jazz solo's tend to be ornate, span many octaves quickly, and are therefore very difficult to sing. But that's just one way of soloing. You can also generate tremendous "gypsy vibe" by emphasizing and ornamenting color notes (minor sixths and ninths, anyone?) and playing them rubato. Those you *can* sing. Get strategic and pick your notes in advance.

3. Think of your solo as part of an ongoing conversation. Take advantage of the context: for ex, in the middle of a lot of snorting and pawing from other soloists, you can suddenly change the mood with something moody, rubato, and romantic. When your chops are better, you can play the role of kicking it all up a notch with the flash.

Always remember that most listeners don't really care about the details. They listen for evidence of emotion, feeling, groove, communication. Most don't have a clue that you're quoting Django, so doing that leaves them unimpressed, but they *love* it when you quote one another.

Cheers,
Ando

andy

Thanks Ando, lots to mull over there. But before I get out my guitar and get into it, when you refer to "minor 6ths and 9ths", you mean the sixth and nine of the relevant minor scale or arpeggio, rather than flatted 6ths/9ths. Yes?

djangology

i try to spend a little time very week just going through the melodies and re-memorizing things from the Robin Nolan books... i still cant remember some things and the melody for Rose Room is still a tough one but every week i work on them is one week that they are even better ingrained into my mind...