All The Things You Are Lead Sheet?

[ColinO]

Lawson, that sounds very good and Dan certainly has the 'right' to play it where he wants. Trouble is, he might not know what he's letting himself in for.

Sounds like he wants to play some kind of quintessential jazz tune, which ATTYA is, really simply in C, possibly the easiest key. Problem is, it's not a simple tune. It goes from C into four separate keys after that - E, G, B, and Ab - so it's not easy at all. How's he going to do that?

He might want to keep the tune in the low position but that's not going to help with the chords unless they're simplified to the point where they're no longer familiar chords or the chords they're supposed to be. Personally I'd never even start doing this because I can see the pitfalls.

Far better to save the guy a lot of time and struggle. He'd be better off playing something a LOT simpler... and I'm not sure what that might be. These jazz tunes are tricky. My Romance isn't easy even in C, there's two chords per bar nearly every bar!

Sorry, but I like to be straight about these things. You can pick me up on it if you want :-)

I respect people who are straight about things. That's cool. But in this case you are wrong. Dan has not asked for your opinion as to whether he should play this tune our how you think he should be playing it. He said he wanted to play it in a "simpler" key and mostly in first position. So people have answered his questions in an effort to be helpful. It is not helpful to suggest to him that it's not going to sound good if you do it that way or that maybe jazz is to hard for him to play. Maybe he will find a way to play this lovely tune in a way that is pleasing to him and to his audience even if that is not pleasing to you. I bet you anything that no-one in his audience is going to complain that he didn't play it in Ab.
Just being straight.

[lawson-stone]

Lawson -

Just seen your video and good on you. It's pretty well done but there are a lot of quite hard stretches and bars in there. I'd say even like that it's not easy.

I think it's all Dan's fault myself (joke)

I have interacted with Dan a lot on these tunes and the way he likes to handle them. Dan is not obsessed with more and more advanced playing. His passion is to be able to play a ton of tunes. And he does, and he plays for audiences quite often. I'm more than happy to aid and abet him in this. For me, it's also a technical challenge to see how close I can get to a good performance of the tunes within Dan's expectations. It stretches me.

I'm a Bible translator, and often I get asked to provide a translation that adheres to certain standards of basic English. I gripe and grumble, but the fact is, sometimes we hide behind more complex things when we'd learn a lot by trying to simplify.

[jazzdan]

A few weeks ago I defeated the current US Open Table Tennis champion in the 65 and over category.....I am 68 and he is 69. I coach tennis, table tennis and basketball. I have coached sports for over 40 years. Not everyone who wants to play these sports aspire to win or have the ability to win a championship at any level but that doesn't mean they shouldn't try to play to the best of their ability. Ping pong can be a blast just playing around in the garage.

In college, my friends told me they were never going to tune the guitar for me again....give it up!!!!....you will never be able to play.......I went on to play in a restaurant in Vail for six years. I even played a private party gig for President Ford. You don't have to be Joe Pass to play background dinner music in a restaurant or on the ferry to Alaska which I do every summer or entertain folks at a party. I'm now on a kick to learn love songs and ballads and have over 50 of them that I play for people.

The guys like Lawson and Matt and Colin and others have been a great help as I stumble around trying to arrange these tunes and I greatly appreciate their efforts and patience in putting up with me.


By the way, I have over 200 songs on YouTube 2142543 is one of the channels.

Thanks for your input.....and I will keep on trying.....Dan

[ragman1]

Dan -

Thanks for your message, you seem like a nice enough guy and a real pusher. Congratulations on your win at Table Tennis.

However, I haven't shifted my position on this tune. Not because I'm mean but because it's pretty difficult no matter what key it's played in. It uses five different keys, which is a lot - it's often jokingly called 'All The Chords You Know'. Wherever you start you're going to end up using extensive bar chords. That'll be made even more difficult when you're also trying to play the melody as well.

It seems Lawson has worked up something in C for you, so there it is if you want to try it. I doubt if I can do any better. I can only wish you luck with it. Keep up the good work!

[lawson-stone]

Dan you have actually gigged more in a couple years than i have in my entire life! You give me a lot of hope that true, we don't need to be Joe Pass to be able to delight listeners while also playing these wonderful tunes in a style we love.

[KirkP]

This thread prompted me to work on a rough arrangement in the key of C, attempting to stay as close to first position as possible.
When the melody goes low, to keep the melody note on top I often had to drop all but one or two voices in the chord. That can sound good - it opens things up - but it takes some effort to find good voicing.
When the melody goes high I'm forced back to movable chord shapes. It's easier for me to play the whole tune with movable chord shapes than trying to play near first position, but that it can be made to sound good either way.

[deselby]

I take heart that so many of you play heed to the OP's desire. But I still abide by my observation that he should still learn the tune in Ab. The reason in part, as I stated, is because he will be able to play the tune with others. The other is that in a lot of respects, guitar-wise the tune is more suited to that key. What I mean is that Ab is more in the middle of the fingerboard which allows for more movement to accommodate the changes.

@lawson-stone I defer to your defense of your friend. There are many ways to skin a cat and respect your defense.

[jazzdan]

Trying to read in the key of ab would for me be like trying to read Chinese. In this lifetime it's not going to happen and that's my final answer! As, I've explained before, I want the tunes in a key that I can sight read. I don't have a great ear and my memory is not so hot either. I've solved both of those problems with arrangements in keys that I can read.

I have a beautiful arrangement of Misty that goes up to the 12th fret and one that can be played in the first position. One of these I play all the time and one I never play.

I love playing my arrangements and lots of people seem to enjoy hearing me do so......thanks....Dan

[jazzdan]

[ragman1]

Bravo!

Well done, Dan. All things are possible

[jazzdan]

Thanks!!...needs more practice but it's coming along. I just wanted to put it up and show what I've done so far.....Dan

[lawson-stone]

You just have a few rough spots and a couple places where the time on the melody needs attention, but you likely already know that.

Great effort and you remind us that the greatness of the great tunes is not just in their complexity or sophistication. A great melody sings in almost any context.

[jazzdan]

Yeah.....I know it's not ready for my performance book of tunes but I'll keep practicing it. Overall, I am pleased because this is not an easy piece to figure out and then play.

I greatly appreciate your help and the other guys that chimed in. This forum has certainly been a learning experience for me and I think a few others.....Dan

[OldGuitarPlayer]

Yeah.....I know it's not ready for my performance book of tunes but I'll keep practicing it. Overall, I am pleased because this is not an easy piece to figure out and then play.

I greatly appreciate your help and the other guys that chimed in. This forum has certainly been a learning experience for me and I think a few others.....Dan

I thought it was very good! I learned it in Ab but I like your arrangement.Thanks for posting it!

[jazzdan]

Thanks for your kind words....I'm still working on it....Dan