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Originally Posted by Doublea A
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02-23-2017 03:04 PM
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Finally made it. Here's etude #1:
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After much time wasting I clicked the buy button - I'm in, book due 3rd march but I reckon I can screen grab the first few pages from the 'look inside' feature on amazon so wish me luck while I try & catch up...
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Originally Posted by dot75
Looking forward to your contributions!
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Forgot to check - does the book come with audio - ie backing tracks, some people seem to be playing to a metronome ?
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Originally Posted by dot75
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Originally Posted by dot75
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Checked again....it says online audio in too small lettering...
BiaB sits unused on my laptop
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Still don't have the sound figured out. Tried and tried. Failed and failed. The playing on the recording is spotty but I had to get this over with. ;o) Tomorrow is another day.
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Looks like you used an entirely different fingering for the B-section there, Mark...
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Originally Posted by TOMMO
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Originally Posted by MarkRhodes
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Originally Posted by TOMMO
More and more, I'm working from the Herb Ellis shapes and Jimmy Bruno's "five fingerings." I know them and they work fine. I like Frank's lines and most of his fingerings make immediate sense to be. But those for the bridge did not. As I've said before--and jasaco said the same thing, IIRC---sometimes Frank shifts up with a pinky for a note that I would rather play by shiting back with my index on the next (lower) string. I think that comes from shifting back to play the 6th in Charlie Christian lines, but that's another story.
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Originally Posted by MarkRhodes
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Originally Posted by TOMMO
I think each of us must find convenient, consistent fingerings and stick with them. Though I have not worked through William Leavitt's Modern Method for Guitar, a big part of that trilogy is devoted to learn how to read music ON GUITAR. The guitar is a hard instrument to read on because the same pitch may be sounded in two or three places.
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FWIW I don't read tab and find it distracting. I know lot's of people do, but I wish that it was just notation. If there is a particular fingering Frank wanted he could call it out on the notation. OTOH, I did the first few exercises an octave higher than intended. I wouldn't have made that mistake on the first one if I had been looking at the tab.
Still, I avoid the tab if I can.
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I'm still working on Etude #3. It takes me hours to work one of these out, and I'm finding I'm reaching a bit of a saturation point. But I also see how useful it is. I am learning a lot about phrasing from these exercises. Coming from a typical blues/rock background (as least for improvising) I am finding these long runs of swung eighths to be very new for my ears and fingers. I know it will stretch both by working though it, so I'm still plugging away.
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Originally Posted by rlrhett
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Okay. I will give my synopsis of Frank's Basic Rhythm Changes 1 through 5 as a Junior College Professor would.
1. Frank approaches these exercises one of two ways. Both ways resemble a bassists approach. Either he approaches the chords like an arpeggio ( see the first 8 bars of Basics 1 ) or he takes a minimal movement approach ( see the first 8 bars of Basics 2 ) where the notes move as subtly as possible.
2. He has clear and distinct 8 bar phrases. Each 8 bar phrase has a distinct characteristic. It could be melodic ( see the last 8 bars of Basics 3. His line moves subtly but constantly upwards ) or rhythmic ( see the last 8 bars of Basics 4 ).
3. He has 3 ways of approaching the bridge. Either he appegiates the chords ( Basics 2 ) or there is minimal movement ( Basics 3 ) or it is directional ( Basics 1 ).
4. Chords. Once again he has divided his phrases into 8 bars. Look at Basics 1. First 8 bars the chords are straight ahead. Bars 8 through 16 he introduces C#dim, G7b9 and F#dim which opens the door for an Ab in the melody and an Eb in the melody ( He could have used a C# but he didn't). In Basics 2 he kept the chords the same for each A section.
Comparing The first 8 bars of Basics 3 and 4, you can see 2 very different approaches to the same chord progression.
Basics 3 : Bb Bdim Cm7 F7 Bb Bdim Cm7 F7 Bb Bb7 Eb Ebm Bb F7
Basics 4 : Bb G7b9 Cm7 F7b9 Bb G7b9 Cm7 F7b9 Bb Bb7#5 Eb Edim Bb F7
Each progression opens up different possibilities melodically.
The bridges of Basics 3 and Basics 4 are also interesting. Basics 3 has the standard cycle 5 bridge, but in Basics 4, Frank adds a IIm chord to approach each dominant chord. Once again, this opens up melodic possibilities.
5. Basics 5 is finally starting to sound like music. The first 8 bars have a 2 bar phrase, followed by a 3 bar phrase and then another 3 bar phrase. Bars 8 through 16 feature a more common 4 bar phrase followed by another 4 bar phrase and ends with a cute arpeggiated ending. That cute arpeggiated ending forshadows the arpeggios in the bridge. The last 8 bars feature a 2 bar phrase followed by a 2 bar phrase followed by a 4 bar phrase. He ends it with same cute ending he used in bars 15 and 16. Like putting a bow on a present.
Those are my thoughts on Frank's Basics. I am interested to see how all of this applies to the solos.
Please feel free to to comment on my comments.
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Thanks for your analysis - very interesting.
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Nice one - This'll keep me occupied while I wait for the book to arrive....I can grab screen shots for Basics 1,3.4 & 5 & Etude # 1 so I'll try & get those down before I get too far behind....
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Originally Posted by Doublea A
What jumped out at me here was "8 bar phrases." I think that is right and something for budding improvisers to keep in mind. In Herb Ellis' book on rhythm changes ("Rhythm Shapes") he has a few dozen 8 bar phrases for the A section and about a third as many for the B section. It helps to think of these as 8 bar sections. (Thinking 'chord to chord' is maddening.) Frank's etudes have nice contours. They hang together.
(By the way, he has a book out on bass lines for standard chord progressions. I haven't seen it but it is clear he is aware of bass-line movements. Barney Kessel used to stress learning the bass line first. It helps you keep your place and makes you want to play lines that fit the root movement.)
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K...
My attempt at Etude # 1, gotta say I enjoyed playing it, he writes nice lines that don't sound like exercises so I'm looking forward to the book...
Frank Vignola Rhythm Changes Etude #1 - Video Dailymotion
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Originally Posted by dot75
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What do y'all say if we focus on Etudes #1 and/or #2 for the month of March ?
I was thinking that we structure our learning like this :
March - Etudes #1 and 2
April - Etudes #3 and 4
May - Etudes #5 and 6
June - Etudes # 7and 8
July - Etudes #9 and 10
August - Etudes #11and 12
September - Etudes #13 and 14
October - Etudes #15 and 16
I am planning on studying some other books by Frank Vignola books after that, namely, his "Jazz solos" series.
Your thoughts ?
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That's two per month - not too much of a task I think but I can't speak for others who may not have enough practice time put aside for this (maybe working on other stuff at the same time).
I'm still working on #2 - I can play it but still making too many mistakes, part of that are the (to me) awkward finger stretches in the first couple of frets. It's a good exercise for the pinky but I haven't succeeded to produce a clam-free clip yet...
Meanwhile I have transposed #2 to the key of Bb, mostly for the reason that I'm more familiar with RCs in that key and that way I can relate those phrases much better to what I have already learned until now so it makes more sense to me and I may be able to use parts of it at random or modify them in "improvisation" later on.
But it also was a great exercise in transcribing and notation because I didn't just copy the etude in the book and lower each note a whole step but I wrote it down from the top of my head - I have the phrases memorized pretty good and used standard notation before I filled in the tab part. The fingerings that I chose are much easier to play also.
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