Swing 42 question

Lango-Django

In the attached clip from Swing 42, I find this easiest to play staying in one position, basically using frets 7 to 12 and playing "inside the box", ie using the scale notes found in and around the C chord found at frets 8 (G) 9 (E) and 10 (C)...

Question: am I using my own "path of least resistance" way of fingering instead of finding Django's? Does he, like me, basically stay in one place and find all those notes without moving from position to position?

Or is he moving up and down the fingerboard to get the same notes?

Opinions from my personal gurus Bluesbop Harry and Jazzaferri would be gratefully appreciated!

Will Wilson
Niagara-On-The-Lake, ON
Canada

Jazzaferri

Will I'm stretching a bit here as I don't have the plug in to play the clip so if I am off base forgive me

Are you are playing patterns or music? Boxes are geometric forms not music. The guitar is just a tool for you to get YOUR music out.

Assuming your guitar is fairly balanced in tone playing the notes you want in the easiest way possible using rest stroke picking if you play that style and want to get a more authentic phrasing is IMO common sense. If your heart tells you to explore different parts of the follow it. Record yourself and think about what you are trying to express.

I used all four fingers of my left hand and use the training of scales and arps that I have to get the notes the best I can. I have learned a few of his songs note for note as I think it is excellent discipline and I have gained a better insight to how he thought musically.

When playing I try not to think at all and let Lady Music tell me what to play as best i can. My biggest challenge is listening to what she says and my biggest struggle is to not try and use technique or lack thereof as an excuse to not be musical. AS a wonderfully musical person once said to me let the song lead the way.

BluesBop Harry

Sorry buddy I don't know that solo yet.
One thing you can try is to play it with two fingers, ala Django, so it's very obvious if the fingering is not the one he could use. I believe he wouldn't switch positions if he didn't need to.

You can play it any way you'd like but playing with two fingers often reveals the most efficient way to finger a line and makes gypsy picking it easier as well. It also provides better insight into the way Django visualized the notes on the fretboard which is pretty cool.
I'd say try to find out the way he would have done it and then re-arrange it (if needed) so it's comfortable and makes sense to you.

I'll try to find some time over the weekend to learn that passage and give you my take on the fingerings.

Lango-Django

Thanks for the insightful answers, fellas.

Yes, I find that I can play in the frets 7-12 position using just two fingers... it feels a little odd at some points, but at other points it make some of Django's licks real easy to play, and you see why he just naturally phrased them the way he did.

Hmm... this may seem like splitting hairs, but my intention in learning to play Django's music is not because I think I could ever play or think like Django--- I know I never will. I know that when I improvise in GJ style, it will be sorta like when I speak French... it sounds like French, and it even IS correct French (at least, most of the time! I still make the odd grammatical error), but it will never sound anything like the French of a native French speaker.

But what I want to do, if possible, is avoid getting in the habit of making the kind of idiotic mistakes that would make French speakers say, "Mon dieu!" instead of, "Pas mal!"... and in language, as well as in music, mistakes made often enough can get "fossilized", that is, you make the mistake so often that its cemented into your way of speaking and hard to get it out even when you realize it's bogus!

So that's what I'm trying to manage in my guitar playing ET mon niveau de Francais!