Miles Davis for solo guitar

Modalguru · #1 02-16-2010, 09:25 AM

Hi,

a couple of months ago I worked throught my first chord-melody-songs (Every time we say good bye, Satin Doll) with my teacher. In the meantime we worked on building up a jazz vocabulary on songs, which are played regularly at the local jazzsession.

However, once infected I want to dig deeper into chord-melody. It's great to develop a good timing, learn voicings, substituions, arps, etc. So I have recently purchased the book "Miles Davis for Solo Guitar". It comes with all the songs on CD, the CD alone is worth the investment. Has anybody here worked with this book and how did/do you use it?

I think, I won't copy the improvised choruses of the songs, but take the first chorus of each song as a basis to build up my own versions and listen to the CD as often as possible.

Cheers,
Chris

fep · #2 02-16-2010, 09:37 AM

Have you heard this...

YouTube Video

Modalguru · #3 02-16-2010, 09:40 AM

Nice playing ;-)

Malcatraz · #4 02-16-2010, 01:25 PM

Hey yeah, I saw this vid just recently & was knocked out by Kenny's version here. Really great playing, isn't it? And, it just sounds great!

Malcatraz · #5 02-16-2010, 01:29 PM

Sorry Modalguru, I should have also said that I haven't seen the Miles for Solo Guitar book but from what you were saying, it sounds like its the goods. Can you tell me who the publisher is?

Modalguru · #6 02-16-2010, 02:37 PM

It's from Hal Leonard...

Cheers,
Chris

Malcatraz · #7 02-17-2010, 06:50 AM

Thanks Chris - I'll check it out. I'd be interested to hear how you get on. I like the ideas behind your approach (using the first chorus as a launch vehicle). All the best

Mal

peterk1 · #8 02-19-2010, 12:24 PM

This is one of my favorite chord melody books. I'm playing 4 of the tunes out of it so far. I'm basically memorizing the arrangement as is. Some of them evolve a little bit over time but I stick close to what's in there. Some of them I have to simplify at first because some of the artificial harmonic tricks he does are quite hairy. I try to come back though and add those back in eventually.

These tunes are pretty much all very challenging and require lots of work. It took me about 6 months to learn No Greater Love and play it from memory. The 4 tunes I play out of here are by far the best and most full sounding arrangements I have in my repertoire.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Modalguru

Hi,

However, once infected I want to dig deeper into chord-melody. It's great to develop a good timing, learn voicings, substituions, arps, etc. So I have recently purchased the book "Miles Davis for Solo Guitar". It comes with all the songs on CD, the CD alone is worth the investment. Has anybody here worked with this book and how did/do you use it?

gusgtr · #9 02-19-2010, 05:47 PM

I got this book awhile ago. It's definitely a challenge but I'm sure everyone could find little bits to work on. The author is Jamie Findlay and he's an amazing acoustic player. The cd alone makes great listening.

amusiathread · #10 03-22-2010, 05:32 PM

Don't have that particular book, but I know the author and have one of his other books. The player is Jamie Findlay, and he's legit. Awesome player, cool arrangements, I've been planning on picking up his Miles Davis book after I finish this one.

As far as how to go through it, not any one approach works for everyone. I find I personally get the most success when I learn the arrangements by ear, use the sheet music (or tabs) to check myself, and once I'm familiar with the arrangements I'll expand on them with my own ideas.

PS- In his other book, the arrangement of "My Favorite Things" is amazing.

gtrrobster · #11 10-13-2010, 12:08 AM

Just my vote of yes on JAmie's work. The CD is really great, and worth the purchase in and of itself. The tab arr. are not too easy.....but learnable if you put the time in. Very much worth having in the collection either way.