Moonriver and Nature Boy (WIP)

[kniren@gmail.com]

Hi, everyone!

I have an audition for my advanced jazz studies and I have to prepare some repertoire for solo guitar and a transcribed solo, I've chosen to learn chord melody for moonriver (Ted Green argm.) and Nature boy (My own argm.).

I've just learned both of them and only have two more days for perfect them until the audition. I need serious comments & critiques, and please, be kind, remember that this is a work in progress.

YouTube Video

YouTube Video

Looking foward to your reply!

[JohnW400]

Are you the same Kniren that posts all those jazz tutorials on guitarristas?

The main thing I noticed was....your nervous about these pieces and it shows in a couple of spots .

One piece of advice I would give is to not worry about getting's Ted's chord choice down. Pick a smaller voicing that you can more easily grab.

Also I might consider doing the whole thing finger style rather than hybrid picking. This way your thumb is free to deaden the lower notes more easily than with the pick.

Last comment would be timing. Tough to do when you play solo. There is always a tendency to speed up or not play in time. (Man , I am so guilty of speeding up when I play solo)

[kniren@gmail.com]

The problem is...I have few days until the audition and I can't even think of a major change in the pieces, actually I've learned ted's version in 1 day and make the other arrangement by ear in another and I haven't had time to practice them properly, but I hope 3 days are enough for the ride.

PS: Yes, I'm the same kniren as guitarristas.info, I'm pretty surprised you read those tutorials! As you can see, I'm not nearly as good as other folks but I do my best to help jazz beginners to find the light

[JohnW400]

I checked you're stuff out. It looks pretty good. It definately fills a void. I always look for things like your posts that I can recommend to Spanish speaking people that want to learn more about Jazz. There are not a lot of Jazz resources in Spanish. Keep up the good work there.


As far as 'pieces' , for the future (or a good goal to have) the best thing you can learn to do it to be able to play just about any tune in any style at the drop of a hat.

For example to be able to whip out an arrangement of Autumn Leaves and play it differently every time. First time with full chords, next with quartals next with triads over non chord bass notes, etc,etc.

The idea is to know the melody and chords and then do what you want with the chords. Some chord choices will stay the same between versions as the harmony or bass line makes it so.


Good luck

[kniren@gmail.com]

Thanks for the compliment and the advice, I definitely want to be able to do that and consequently have to work a lot on it hehe.

Cheers!