Do you disregard the ii in a ii V7 (I) ?

[brwnhornet59]

Yes Sir, very cool stuff indeed!

[princeplanet]

Yep, it seems that many of the greats will tell you they are not really thinking while improvising the way we might. Must be nice to have the chops down to the point they just pour out of you and land in the right places, differently every time.....

[Double 07]

Originally Posted by princeplanet

Yep, it seems that many of the greats will tell you they are not really thinking while improvising the way we might. Must be nice to have the chops down to the point they just pour out of you and land in the right places, differently every time.....

Well guys like that certainly invested a huge amount of time (before the gig) studying music, practicing, and listening to what they're playing. Invested the time learning, listening, and playing before the gig, so when the gig comes they can just let go and let it fly. Hopefully with a whole lot of soulful feeling in it. They're never just "mindlessly throwing their fingers around" just showing the fruits of all their thousands of hours of labor. That's what you're hearing at the gig.

I guess that's their reward for the countless hours they invested honing their craft, perfecting their passion, when they could have been spending their time on a million other less rewarding activities.

[a22]

When I'm really playing I don't think about it much, more of a let the ears and fingers go by intuition type of thing, but definitely the V chord and the resolve back to I is something my ears recognize as important when I play. The whole relationship between practice and 'playing for real' so to speak is a bit of a mystery to me, but I've noticed how the sound of ii-V-I has become so familiar and my fingers sort of know where to go because I've practiced it for so long. It's a bit like the fretboard illuminates certain notes and patterns that I know that will sound right(ish). I'm by no means a master improviser and I've only played jazz for 5 years (blues for 10 though).

[Diederikeggenkamp]

Originally Posted by Drumbler

Interesting to contrast this discussion with a recent thread about how Barney Kessel thinks when he plays.

What the greats were thinking?
http://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/playe...tml#post192943

That's pretty interesting indeed. BUT! Obviously the difference in what Barney said and what we're doing here is that you have to internalize stuff before you play them. No-one things about these thing when he's playing!.. Well, with the exception of practice-playing, perhaps. It reminds me of a fun myth: A friend of mine once got told by his teacher that Chet Baker never practiced scales in the way Coltrane for instance did. His current teacher says that's bullshit and that Chet has had a military-like education in scales and arrpegios. Obviously we can't be sure about these kind of things. But I truly believe that it's no more than positive too practice scales and arrpegios excessively. Only to forget them on the bandstand. So no, I don't think I agree with Barney completely!

[Diederikeggenkamp]

Sorry for pretty much saying the same as the above guys by the way. Didn't realise there was a page 2, haha!