Progressive List of Solos that improved your 'vocab' ...

[jamiehenderson1993]

I just watched this video (

) which has given me lots of inspiration to dig into soloing.
With that in mind, I thought it would be really great if we could start a thread where you list the solos (roughly from easiest to hardest perhaps) that you found really developed your theory, feel, fretboard knowledge but most importantly your vocabulary in that style? This shouldn't be guitar specific necessarily.

Ideally if we can keep it restricted to Jazz, Blues and Jazz-Blues that would be ideal (but if Metallica changed the game for you, then please say so!!).

Hopefully this can be a bit of fun, but also really instructive.

My starter for 10 would be:

1. Chet Baker - I fall in love too easily
2. Miles Davis - So What
3. Kenny Burrell - Chitlins Con Carne
4. Charlie Christian - Grand Slam
5. Grant Green - Cool Blues
6. Wes Montgomery - Four On Six
7. George Benson - Borgia Stick
8. Sonny Rollins - St Thomas
9. Nat King Cole - Gee Baby
10. Pat Martino - Just Friends

(Possibly with Clifford Brown or Dexter Gordon to follow... or Robben Ford; Django; Joe Pass etc. )


For info - the list of solos in the above video is:

1. Pasquale Grasso - Dewey Square, YouTube video (Jazz guitar)
2. Steve Morse - All I Got Is You - Deep Purple, InFinite (Rock guitar)
3. Barry Harris - Passport - Breakin' It Up (Jazz piano)
4. Keith Emerson - From The Beginning - Emerson, Lake and Palmer (Prog keys)
5. Bud Powell - Una Noche Con Francis - Relaxin' At Home (Jazz piano)
6. Paul Gilbert - Just Take My Heart - Mr. Big (Rock guitar)
7. Pat Martino - Just Friends - El Hombre (Jazz guitar)
8. Wes Montgomery - Canadian Sunset - Boss Guitar (Jazz guitar)
9. Sonny Rollins - Strode Rode - Saxophone Colossus (Jazz saxophone)
10. Barney Kessel - On A Slow Boat To China - Kessel Plays Standards (Jazz guitar)
11. Kit Watkins - Upon The Rainbow (Befrost) - Happy The Man (Prog keys)
12. John Jorgenson - Hello Trouble - The Desert Rose Band (Country guitar)
13. Allan Holdsworth - Countdown - None Too Soon (Fusion guitar)
14. Robben Ford - Help The Poor - Talk To Your Daughter (Rock/blues guitar)
15. Johnny Smith - How About You - Walk, Don't Run (Jazz guitar)
16. Michel Petrucciani - Billie's Bounce - Michel Petrucciani & NHØP (Live) (Jazz piano)
17. Bill Evans - My Man's Gone Now - Intermodulation (Jazz piano)
18. Julian Lage - Oblivion - Dayna Stephens - Peace (Jazz guitar)
19. Eric Johnson - We Can Work It Out - Collage (Rock/pop guitar)
20. Frank Foster - Georgia On My Mind - Hope Meets Foster (Jazz saxophone)
21. David Hazeltine - Cedar's Blues - I Remember Cedar (Jazz piano)
22. Larry Carlton - Kid Charlemagne (Rock/Fusion guitar)
23. Charlie Christian - Breakfast Feud - The Genius Of The Electric Guitar (Jazz guitar)
24. Don Byas - I Can't Get Started - Turee Glenn & His Orchestra (Jazz saxophone)
25. Chet Baker - A Foggy Day - Chet Baker Big Band (Jazz trumpet)
26. Oscar Peterson - There's a Boat Dat's Leavin' Soon For New York - Porgy And Bess (Jazz Clavichord)
27. Charlie Parker - Yardbird Suite (Jazz saxophone)
28. Lage Lund - Little Willie Leaps - Zach Brock - Purple Sounds (Jazz guitar)
29. Joe Zawinul - The Governor - Soulmates (Jazz piano)
30. Louis Armstrong - Potato Head Blues (Jazz trumpet)
31. Peter Bernstein - Meltdown - Ralph Bowen - Soul Proprietor (Jazz guitar)
32. Bobby Jaspar - Bull Market - Barry Galbraith - Guitar And The Wind (Jazz flute)
33. Grant Green - Grenada - The Latin Bit (Jazz guitar)
34. Ronnie Cuber - A Foggy Day - George Benson - It's Uptwon (Jazz saxophone)
35. Jim Hall - On Green Dolphin Street - Gary Burton - Something's Coming (Jazz guitar)
36. Jimmy Raney - Have You Met Miss Jones - Visits Paris (Jazz Guitar)
37. Kenny Drew - Hot Sausage - Johnny Griffin - Way Out (Jazz Piano)
38. Brad Mehldau - Days of Wine And Roses - Mark Turner - In This World (Jazz Piano)
39. Chuck Wayne - How About You - String Fever (Jazz Guitar)
40. Keith Jarrett - Country - My Song (Jazz piano)
41. Hank Jones - Look To The Sky - Emily Remler - Firefly (Jazz piano)
42. Blue Mitchell - Sideman - George Benson - It's Uptown (Jazz trumpet)
43. Pat Metheny - Soul Dance - Joshua Redman - Wish (Jazz guitar)
44. Joe Pass - In A Sentimental Mood - The Ellington Album (Jazz guitar)
45. Clifford Brown - Sandu - Study In Brown (Jazz trumpet)
46. Jimmy Page - Stairway To Heaven (Rock guitar)46.5. Stairway To Heaven on fretless guitar
47. Frank Gambale - She Knows Me Well - The Great Explorers (Rock/fusion guitar)
48. Steve Lukather - Rosanna (Rock/pop guitar)48.5. Rosanna on fretless
49. Branford Marsalis - I'll Dream of You Again - Harry Connick Jr. - We Are In Love (Jazz saxophone)
50. Nat King Cole - I Never Knew - The Piano Style of Nat King Cole (Jazz piano)
51. George Benson - At The Mambo Inn - Tenderly (Jazz guitar)
52. Michael Brecker - If Ever I Should Leave You - Don Grolnick - Medianoche (Jazz saxophone)
53. Tommy Flanagan - Close Your Eyes - Gene Ammons - Boss Tenor (Jazz Piano)
54. Lester Young - Tickle Toe (Jazz saxophone)
55. Cannonball Adderley - Au Privave - Cannonball Adderley and the Poll Winners (Jazz saxophone)
56. Jimmy Heath - Eternal Triangle - Mark Elf - Eternal Triangle (Jazz saxophone)
57. Gene Ammons - Stompin' At The Savoy - Boss Tenor (Jazz saxophone)
58. Bireli Lagrene - Witchcraft - Blue Eyes (Jazz guitar)
59. Randy Rhoads - Crazy Train (Rock guitar)
60. Harold Land - Lands End - Clifford Brown - More Study In Brown (Jazz saxophone)
61. Peter Wolf - Peaches III - Frank Zappa - Tinseltown Rebellion (Rock/fusion/prog keys)
62. Milt Jackson - Thinking Of You - Bags Opus (Jazz vibes)
63. George Harrison - Cheer Down (Rock/pop slide guitar)
64. Joey DeFrancesco - Twisted Blues - Baddest B-3 Burner In The Business (Jazz organ)
65. Mark Turner - Lazy Bird - Misterioso (Jazz saxophone)
66. Art Farmer - Thinking Of You - Milt Jackson - Bags Opus (Jazz trumpet)
67. Jeff Berlin - James - Low Standards (Jazz/Fusion electric bass)
68. Bobby Timmons - Lover Man - Lee Morgan - The Cooker (Jazz Piano)
69. Steve Winwood - Valeria (Pop keys solo)
70. Rene Thomas - Guitaristic (Jazz guitar)
71. Sonny Clark - Cheesecake - Dexter Gordon - Go (Jazz Piano)
72. Paul Desmond - Take Five (Jazz saxophone)
73. Eddie Costa - Along With Me - Chuck Wayne - String Fever (Jazz Piano)
74. Brad Paisley - Camouflage (Country guitar)
75. Andrea Motis - You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To - Emotional Dance (Jazz trumpet)
76. Melvin Rhyne - Lady Bird - Stick To The Kick (Jazz Organ)
77. Cedar Walton - Thinking Of You - Jimmy Heath - The Quota (Jazz piano)
78. Herbie Hancock - This Is The Life - Lee Morgan - Standards (Jazz Piano)
79. Red Garland - It Could Happen To You - Relaxin' With The Miles Davis Quintet (Jazz piano)
80. Brian May - Bohemian Rhapsody (Rock guitar)80.5. Bohemian Rhapsody on fretless
81. Richie Powell - Jacqui - Clifford Brown - Study In Brown (Jazz piano)
82. Joey Calderazzo - Gypsies - Rick Margitza - This Is New (Jazz piano)
83. Lou Donaldson - Callin' All Cats - Blues Walk (Jazz saxophone)
84. Howard Leese - Alone - Heart (Rock/pop guitar)
85. Clifford Jordan - Minor Run Down - Paul Chambers Quintet (Jazz saxophone)
86. Zakk Wylde - No More Tears - Ozzy Osbourne (Rock guitar)
87. Stan Getz - Royal Garden Blues - Herb Ellis - Nothing But The Blues (Jazz saxophone)
88. Berni Marsden - Fool For Your Lovin' - Whitesnake (Rock guitar)
89. Phineas Newborn Jr. - Sneakin' Around - Roy Haynes - We Three (Jazz piano)
90. Kevin MacMichael - (I Just) Died In Your Arms Tonight - Cutting Crew (Rock/pop guitar)
91. Lee Morgan - Ceora - Cornbread (Jazz trumpet)
92. Jay Graydon - Nothin' You Can Do About It - Airplay (Rock/pop guitar)
93. Ole Børud - Make a Change (Rock/pop guitar)
94. Barry Miles - Senor Mouse - Al Di Meola - Casino (Fusion keys)
95. Jason Becker - Lil' Ain't Enough - David Lee Roth (Rock guitar)
96. Nat Adderley - Work Song - Work Song (Jazz cornet)
97. Jan Hammer - Ritmo De La Noche - Al Di Meola - Electric Rendezvous (Fusion keys)
98. Jonah Nilsson - Circus - Dirty Loops (Fusion keys)
99. Albert Lee - Tiger Rag - Gagged But Not Bound (Country guitar)
100. Chick Corea - Vulcan Worlds - Return To Forever - Where Have I Known You Before (Fusion keys)

BONUS:

1. Bud Powell - Honeysuckle Rose - Cootie Williams (Jazz piano)
2. Brad Mehldau - Real Life - Louis Cole (Jazz/Fusion piano)
3. Bud Powell - Blue Garden Blues - Cootie Williams (Jazz piano)

[jameslovestal]

These two tunes:

Mean to Me (Barney Kessell \ Poll Winners).

Watch What Happens (Jimmy Raney Live in Toyko).

[enalnitram]

These two tunes:

Mean to Me (Barney Kessell \ Poll Winners).

Watch What Happens (Jimmy Raney Live in Toyko).

Preach!

[starjasmine]

The big reveal is at 2:23 "I didn't worry too much about learning the whole solo, I just learned up until a point where he started playing something really fast and difficult."

Until he said that, I was thinking that this list of 100 tunes was a lifetime of practice, and then some.

So stealing ideas from great players & great solos? Absolutely a great idea. A ranked list? Seems a bit ambitious, but I will toss out a couple of ideas.

If you are just starting out, a practical goal would be to focus on vocabulary that is within your reach technically. Although the ability of today's tools to slow audio and video by virtually any amount without changing pitch certainly expands the landscape of what's practical, you probably don't want to start with "Vulcan Worlds". Pick something easy and achievable instead of something difficult and frustrating.

Decades ago, when I got the music college assignment to transcribe a solo in standard notation, I wasn't very familiar with Charlie Christian, other than having heard from many people that he was one of the greats. So I listened to a ton of Charlie Christian till I found a solo that was within my reach technically and had some vocabulary that I wanted to learn. My first transcription was the first chorus of his solo in I Found A New Baby:

I really loved Steely Dan and Larry Carlton, so for my next transcription assignment, I chose Larry Carlton's solo from Kid Charlemagne:

I wrote out the whole thing; some years later, I got the chance to meet Larry backstage at a concert and he signed my transcription :-)
I've copped a ton of Larry's licks, transcribed entire solos, and learned many of his own tunes as well as many of his signature Dan pieces over the years.

I also did a TON of transcribing as part of cover band work. Learning to play the recorded solos on a zillion pop, rock, funk, soul and country tunes taught me a lot; even when I didn't like the song, there was something to learn. In some cases, I wrote charts and in others I committed straight to (muscle) memory.

I also learned a bunch of GASB tunes accompanying singers and playing in wedding bands.

My most ambitious transcription would probably be Pat Martino's solo on Close Your Eyes; I posted it on this forum some time ago. I wanted to learn to think like Pat; although I wouldn't dream of saying that I play "like" him, I certainly learned a lot about his approach by copying these lines, analyzing them, and learning to play them.

This took MONTHS of effort... just doing a little bit every day. Well worth it.

My stylistic appetite is pretty varied; these days I'm chipping away at Joe B's version of Let the Good Times Roll. It's a whole different set of harmonic/stylistic ideas and a whole different approach mechanically than what I'm used to. Not writing this one out, just learning the licks and the style.

[pamosmusic]

I'm beating a dead horse at this point, but all of Jim Hall's Jazz Guitar album.

Also I transcribed a ton of Charlie Christian stuff. That stuff is pure vocabulary, and can be surprisingly modern if you keep all the shapes and devices and just trade, say, a root structure C major triad on a C7 for ... I don't know, a D augmented or whatever your flavor is.

[AllanAllen]

I did the whole Chet Baker, But Not For Me intro. I don't do many solo transcriptions, none all the way through.

[jamiehenderson1993]

I'm beating a dead horse at this point, but all of Jim Hall's Jazz Guitar album.

Also I transcribed a ton of Charlie Christian stuff. That stuff is pure vocabulary, and can be surprisingly modern if you keep all the shapes and devices and just trade, say, a root structure C major triad on a C7 for ... I don't know, a D augmented or whatever your flavor is.

Thanks for this - other than Jim Hall, Charlie Christian (and Clifford Brown!) who would you say are some other players who are "Pure Vocabulary" would you say?

Thanks

[pamosmusic]

Thanks for this - other than Jim Hall, Charlie Christian (and Clifford Brown!) who would you say are some other players who are "Pure Vocabulary" would you say?

Thanks

Chet is really great. Wes is all great lines.

Honestly for transcribing, I like transcribing stuff that isn’t really vocab heavy.

Miles, for example. Grant Green has a lot of great licks but also just so really awesome rhythmic stuff.

I don’t think there’s any way to internalize that phrasing and breath and stuff without transcribing, so I like doing that stuff a lot.

[AllanAllen]

Thanks for this - other than Jim Hall, Charlie Christian (and Clifford Brown!) who would you say are some other players who are "Pure Vocabulary" would you say?

Thanks

Charlie Parker is pure vocabulary. You could almost pick any 4 bars he played and have a nice lick.

[pamosmusic]

Charlie Parker is pure vocabulary. You could almost pick any 4 bars he played and have a nice lick.

Paul Desmond?

[AllanAllen]

Paul Desmond?

Lester Young?

[MMT]

Hello! Thanks for sharing my video! I'm glad you got something out of it!

I would also be interested to hear what solos were really helpful to other people in their development, so I might check out the suggestions here!

[MMT]

The big reveal is at 2:23 "I didn't worry too much about learning the whole solo, I just learned up until a point where he started playing something really fast and difficult."

Until he said that, I was thinking that this list of 100 tunes was a lifetime of practice, and then some.

It's been a while, but as far as I remember the ones I only played parts of and not the entire solo were number 1,3,5,7,8,9,16,21. I may be forgetting one or two. So it was just in the beginning that I played some of them partially, but after a while I decided to do the full solos every time. Although most of the solos I picked were around 1 minute or shorter.
Thanks for watching!

[Question]

MMT, that is a very ambitious project! Very inspiring.

After hearing the great Charlie Christian solo in the video posted on this thread by Starjasmine, I decided to transcribe it today.

I know that the point of this thread is about doing the transcribing yourself, but maybe this little cheat-chart will get someone motivated to get started and do it themselves.

[jamiehenderson1993]

Hello! Thanks for sharing my video! I'm glad you got something out of it!

I would also be interested to hear what solos were really helpful to other people in their development, so I might check out the suggestions here!

Ah! Great! Thanks for making this video!

[GuyBoden]

I spent a long time in the early 1980's listening to Miles Davis' Live Evil album and copying Miles' trumpet licks on guitar. (All forgotten now.)

[rpjazzguitar]

I don't recommend my approach, but here's what I've actually done.

I have never transcribed a solo, even though I can read and write music. I'm so slow at it that it's not much fun.

I've occasionally figured out fragments of solos that caught my ear. I don't write them down. I try to understand what's going on, which usually turns out to be X arp (or scale) over Y chord.

I only use a handful of licks. I got most of them by seeing/hearing another guitarist play the lick right in front of me.

I focus on trying to make melody that respects the harmony. Often, scat singing in my mind and trying to play that. I generally know the chord tones and the tonal center at any given moment. When that fails, I tend to fall back on scales, which isn't great.

So, no list of solos that I have learned. Of course, I've listened to a lot of jazz.

Anybody else done it this way or similar?

[supersoul]

Anybody else done it this way or similar?

Pretty much the same as you. Sometimes I play along with a record and if something catches my ear I'll go back and try to figure it out. It can be any instrument, even something the drummer did. But I rarely remember any of it.

[pamosmusic]

I would be interested to hear what the OP means when they say "for vocab."

What are you doing with these solos, out of curiosity? What's the difference in how you'd work on a solo for vocab, versus a solo that's no so much for vocab?

[charlieparker]

It's been a while, but as far as I remember the ones I only played parts of and not the entire solo were number 1,3,5,7,8,9,16,21. I may be forgetting one or two. So it was just in the beginning that I played some of them partially, but after a while I decided to do the full solos every time. Although most of the solos I picked were around 1 minute or shorter.
Thanks for watching!

I watched the video and those looked like some insanely difficult solos to play on guitar.

[JazzPadd]

Great thread, good examples!

Although I don’t have the time nor patience to transcribe solos or study them systematically, I appreciate what can be learned from the solos of players I like.

FWIW, if a solo catches my ear, especially for a tune I’m playing at jam sessions, I’ll have a look at what others have transcribed.

Off the top of my head, I found that these three were useful:

Jimmy Raney, Out of Nowhere (for how he ends it logically).

Emily Remler, Strollin’ (for how she begins it so melodically).

Chet Baker, Beatrice (for his note choices and hesitancy).

And listening, not transcriptions, I still marvel at Grant Green’s solo on No. 1 Green Street, esp. for phrasing. Even the Mrs., who is basically musically illiterate, likes that one. To her, “it sounds like he’s talking on the guitar.”

[MMT]

I watched the video and those looked like some insanely difficult solos to play on guitar.

There were a few that made my pull my hair out for sure! Haha! Thanks for watching!

[Christian Miller]

There’s solo transcriptions I’ve done that I’ve learned relatively little from. There’s small bits of music that I’ve learned a tremendous amount from.

Ultimately, it’s really about training the ear. Alwyas be learning l something by ear…

Do we rip licks to play? Some do, some don’t. The main time I’ve done the former is when I’m pastiching something - 30s swing, or baroque counterpoint, bop (early on). Trying to get a few words to say in the style. Later I do more my own thing and I have more a feel for the idiom.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[grahambop]

I think the first complete solo I learned was Summertime by Wes Montgomery (the Live at Jorgies one, not the studio one he did). It’s really long and it took me weeks to learn it (I memorised it, I didn’t write it down). Obviously I couldn’t play it at the proper tempo, but I learned loads of stuff from it. Also learned to play octaves and some chord solo stuff (after much initial pain!)

I think the first solo I transcribed (i.e. wrote out) was Just Friends by Joe Pass (the ‘Catch Me’ quartet recording). Got loads of bebop vocab from that one.

I did transcribe some other solos but I didn’t really learn them. I think the main benefit was that it trained my ear well (I was using a reel-to-reel tape deck to do it, sometimes I would run it at half-speed. None of your fancy transcribe software back then!).

Apart from that, I learned a lot just by listening to players like Dexter Gordon and Chet Baker. Because they didn’t play really fast stuff that much, I found I could hear and recall lines from their playing quite easily.

[kris]

I played solos by Ch. Parker at the beginning of my studies and then a few solos by M. Davis and J.Raney..
Later I transcribed John Scofield's and Pat Martino solos.I memorized fragments of them.
I listen to thousands of jazz recordings.