a question sort of...

skei · #1 07-14-2009, 05:18 PM

I just wonder if by any chance there is some kind of lesson on 'Donna Lee', not chord-melody, I have no control when it comes to that, something on the head or so. I actually have the head, both in notation and tab, but if there are any wise words, about some approach to get on with it. I'm just now learning Anthropology, and that one is kind of easy to understand, while Donna Lee is so furiously fast I loose myself on the fretboard every time I try.
Perhaps it's just that I have to go on, eventually it will probably fall into place. I just really would appreciate any advice on how to tackle it. Maybe there is none to offer. I don't know.
Anyway, it's a swell tune, really.
Peace
Skei (the finding keys all the time one)

wizard3739 · #2 07-14-2009, 07:35 PM

Hiya Skei,

"Donna Lee" is based on the changes from "Indiana". I would slow the tempo until you can play the melody of "Donna Lee" with ease. Then gradually increase the tempo until you are able to play at the tempo you want. IMHO, there is no magic music that comes from playing at very fast tempos. I think it is a matter of personal taste and I have always preferred the cool sounds of the changing harmonies over the hi-speed stuff. I am certainly NOT dissing the hi-speed players, they have truly wonderful technique. My ear just seems to prefer the slower tempos (Ed Bickert, Jm Hall, Paul Desmond, etc...) Good luck with your "Donna Lee" study.

wiz

randalljazz · #3 07-15-2009, 01:53 AM

practice in control, with the metronome at a tempo that you can play without mistakes. work through tricky passages separately. be aware that fingerings that work at slower tempi may not work as well when you eventually get close to your goal tempo--plan accordingly.

skei · #4 07-15-2009, 03:09 AM

Thanks for the suggestions guys!
Ah, well, wizard, I too dig and to a degree prefer the slower tempos of cool changes, but I'm on this learning track and feel like I should do it. And there's so much - it's almost unbelievable - to be found and applied if trying to understand Charlie Parker's 'bag'. Even if some say Miles Davis wrote this one, but it might be like it often seem to be in jazz, a player makes his or her own arrangement, melody, and it's his tune. I don't know. Randalljazz, very sound advice, yeah, metronome, slow tempo, that is probably the only way with this piece.
I found a recording at slow tempo of the head, it says improv, but I think the head is the original, and this tempo might be something to start out with.
Peace
Skei (the early morning, soon off for a riverside bopwalk, sunny day, one)

YouTube Video

skei · #5 07-15-2009, 05:18 AM

And listening to this slow one, after a few miles by the river, I can't help thinking it sounds Miles Davis. The notes, the way they are linked to the chords. Well, I don't know, it feels like something Miles would have construed in that jazzy mind of his. Or perhaps not. Well a good tune it is, and practicing at slow tempo should be nice. Today was also the first time I played through the head of Anthropology without hesitating. Feels sooo good.
Peace
Skei (the riverside bopwalk in the sun one)

JohnW400 · #6 07-15-2009, 08:18 AM

This tune appears on the Concord Label release "The Great Guitars" or something like that. It has Jimmy Bruno, Howard Alden and Frank Vignola.

They don't play it all that fast. They play it in a latin style and it sounds quite manageable.

skei · #7 07-15-2009, 04:33 PM

And in it (donna lee), I think I hear a lot of bebop cliches, it feels like another good lecture on bebop. Circumscription. Periphrastic. Mmm.
Perhaps THE lecture.
Just because it starts on half three or so, I constantly get fooled into trying to add notes to the first phrase. Silly me.
Peace
Skei (the another semi tone, man, one)

Banksia · #8 07-17-2009, 01:17 AM

Amazing! Those links in the previous post go to a Russian site that's NOT a porn site! They must have forgotten to post all the porn.

skei · #9 07-17-2009, 01:28 AM

Yup,
they have lots to do our friends the russians. Creative.
Let us applaud freedom and the will to contribute to society.
In the meantime I've managed to learn the first three bars of Donna Lee, I could perhaps learn it faster, but as we're having a few days of sun here, ending sunday when the everlasting rains will return, I have to go out and do some walkabout stuff, take the daughter out to nature away from concrete and pollution.
She wants to buy a hamster, so we shall have to check cost of hamster food and cage and what have you.
And get some ice cream downtown.
Then Donna Lee will have me all to herself again.
Peace
Skei (the hamster buyer advice one)

skei · #10 07-18-2009, 05:32 AM

This morning I went back to 'Anthropology' again, after letting it zimmer for a few days. It now works flawlessly.
Nice (note my intentional quoting of Onslow from 'keeping up appearances' the lovely serial with Hyacinth Bucket, pronounced 'Bouquet'...)
And actually shifting between practicing Anthropology and Donna Lee makes it work better, thus Donna Lee no longer feels so far away from my grasp.
Peace
&
Nice
Skei (the 'Bucket woman' one)

skei · #11 07-24-2009, 07:07 AM

Now I have all except the last 6 bars in the head, I want my tune in the head, even if I could look at the lead sheet for guidance, I want to know it all first without having to look into it. This is probably usual, it's the way I prefer it, anyway.
Tricky bastard, but damn good, tons of bebop lines to learn in this one, that's for sure.
Peace
Skei (the learning by way of coffee one)

Jake Hanlon · #12 09-13-2009, 02:33 PM

Donna Lee, the tune everyone wants to work out the head for... and the tune no one ever calls on gigs.

skei · #13 09-14-2009, 04:16 AM

Maybe, but it's such an incredible tune, and like a drawn out lesson in bebop.
And I know every note of the head by now. In fact I'm going to a concert tonight at the jazz club, if possible I'll request Donna lee...
Peace
Skei (the requester one)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jake Hanlon

Donna Lee, the tune everyone wants to work out the head for... and the tune no one ever calls on gigs.

BigDaddyLoveHandles · #14 10-02-2009, 04:47 PM

My friend, if you can play Donna Lee at tempo, you'll never go bankrupt.

skei · #15 10-04-2009, 04:16 PM

At tempo I can't handle it yet, but I know the lines inside out in the middle of the night, hopefully tempo will come, it's increasing by tiny steps each day. And now that I have this wonderful les paul, which is friggin' awsome to play, hopefully it will get better a little faster than it would have otherwise. And I really love the fact that all these nice pieces of the melody are so very good and boppy, and they sneak into lots of stuff when improvising. Damn good tune it is.
Peace
Skei (the enjoying the ride one)