The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
  1. #1

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    Hello!
    My question is about Charlie Christian's solo "I Can't Give You Anything But Love"
    Would love to get advice from anyone who has ever played it. How to play the last phrase in 16th notes? I find this passage very difficult for both left and right hands and despite learning this solo about 2 years ago, I can still play this phrase at a maximum of 90% of the original tempo (to be honest, I did not do this every day ).
    An example of this phrase from YouTube (start at 0:28):

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  3. #2

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    Is there a transcription we can reference?

    You're picking every note, playing it legato will be faster (e.g., picking every other note).

  4. #3

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    Seeing this guy use three fingers almost exclusively makes me think he's playing this right as far as the left hand goes.

    Charlie would have used as many downstrokes as possible

    I found a transcription on youtube, which I've linked...my gut tells me this is pretty much right. I just tried playing it. I don't have it down nearly well enough to decide if my picking is right (or even kind of close)


  5. #4

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    Don't see a problem, Kmatuhin, you're playing the line as fast as Charlie does in the clip that Mr. B. shared, and it sounds like he too is picking every note.

    Speed limit is much lower when you pick every note. When legato is perfected, the difference in tone/dynamics between a picked and non-picked note (pull-off or hammer-on) is virtually indistinguishable.

  6. #5
    If anything, in the video above it’s not me. In this case, the guy really plays close to the original (in my opinion, great).
    And here is an example of how I play this piece (slowly, and as quickly as possible).


    Here is the transcription - I play with the same fingering, sometimes with three fingers in my left hand, sometimes with four.


    And I had a related question - when you transcribe a solo and practice it, do you always work it up to the original tempo? Or is it enough for you to just get some ideas from someone else's solo?

  7. #6

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    Not the easiest guitar there to play fast lines on....

    "when you transcribe a solo and practice it, do you always work it up to the original tempo? Or is it enough for you to just get some ideas from someone else's solo?"


    Both, but the phrase in question is built for speed, wouldn't sound so hot played at a slow tempo.