Satin Doll - Robert Conti's Ticket to Improv

[MarkRhodes]

Members of the Conti study group working on the "Ticket To Improv" solos from Volume One, this is the thread for the first solo, "Satin Doll."

I think we'll be moving 8 bars at a clip. (If that's too fast for you, go at your own pace. No one will mind. The main thing is to learn something, to share it with your buds here, and live through the agony we all know from playing that perfect rehearsal take and then turning on the camera and playing, um, non-perfect...;o)

This post will be amended when the first deadline is settled on. Stay tuned!

[Doublea A]

Sounds great. Where do I get the transcriptions?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[losaltosjoe]

Re-posting my first pass at Satin Doll bars 1-8. Played it straight (i.e., eighth notes) as written in Conti's transcription that comes with the DVD.

[snailspace]

Sounds great. Where do I get the transcriptions?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hi!

Here's a brief introduction to Robert Conti and an overview of what we hope to accomplish as a study group. The link also includes ordering information for Conti's Ticket To Improv series, and a coupon code for a sweet discount on the DVDs. We're starting with Volume One in the series. Hope you can join us!

Robert Conti's Ticket To Improv

[snailspace]

Re-posting my first pass at Satin Doll bars 1-8. Played it straight (i.e., eighth notes) as written in Conti's transcription that comes with the DVD.

Sounds good, Joe!

[lickerz101]

Re-posting my first pass at Satin Doll bars 1-8. Played it straight (i.e., eighth notes) as written in Conti's transcription that comes with the DVD.

Well played joe.love the slides

Sent from my vivo 1601 using Tapatalk

[MarkRhodes]

Sounds great. Where do I get the transcriptions?

It comes with the DVD. (There's nowhere else to get it.)

[lawson-stone]

I'd like to suggest the title of this thread be adjusted to put "Satin Doll" at the start, so when the thread titles are chopped in browsers, all the Conti Group study threads don't look alike.

[MikeS]

I learned this solo a while back and when I heard about this study group, I wanted to participate. It still needs a little work, but I wanted to get something uploaded.

Thanks for starting this study group.

Mike

[MarkRhodes]

I'd like to suggest the title of this thread be adjusted to put "Satin Doll" at the start, so when the thread titles are chopped in browsers, all the Conti Group study threads don't look alike.

Done!

[lawson-stone]

Like Leo said in The Quick and the Dead: "That was fast!"

[Dennygomez]

Just speaks to how basic the material is, or the experience of this "snail" dude. Besides, how do we know that's really him? Can you say "ringer" kids?
Seriously, snails, I'm getting that this solo is designed to be used the second time through, since the melody is not there.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

[Dennygomez]

Oips, that was losaltosjoe's post.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

[Dennygomez]

Oops, that was losaltosjoe's post.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

[snailspace]

I learned this solo a while back and when I heard about this study group, I wanted to participate. It still needs a little work, but I wanted to get something uploaded.
Mike

Glad you're here, Mike -- nice work!

[snailspace]

Seriously, snails, I'm getting that this solo is designed to be used the second time through, since the melody is not there.

I don't think it's necessarily intended as a way to build on the melody. It's more of a set of lines that can be used over changes. As you learn the solos for each project, you see a similarity between some of the lines, with the idea that they can be used to cover a variety of situations. In Project 4, you'll use the lines you learned to create a solo (or solos) over a new tune that has no solo.

Probably the most well-known example of this approach to learning improv is the second half of the Mickey Baker book, where he writes out lines and runs to use over various cadences. Jody Fisher has you compose solos in his book Beginning Jazz Guitar, and Garrison Fewell recommended it in his books, too. Mark Stefani calls them "model solos," and encourages students to create their own in his course Swing Blues: the Doorway to Jazz.

[Dennygomez]

I get it. I was just thinking of what this thing is. I always see it like the part where the plane breaks through the clouds. You climb up there on the melody, enter the cloud layer, and then bust through.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

[MarkRhodes]

Probably the most well-known example of this approach to learning improv is the second half of the Mickey Baker book, where he writes out lines and runs to use over various cadences.

I still use some of those lines! Good, tasty stuff.

[snailspace]

I think this solo is fun to play, and it gets me doing a lot of things I would not think to do on my own: approach notes, enclosures, double-stops, and especially all of the chromatic stuff. I dig the big move up the neck to the 10th fret for the Gm7-C7 in the "B" section, then what I think of as a "chromatic ladder" back down again. I'm sure I'll figure out the "why" the more I play, but for now, the playing alone is rewarding enough.

[MikeS]

I think this solo is fun to play, and it gets me doing a lot of things I would not think to do on my own: approach notes, enclosures, double-stops, and especially all of the chromatic stuff. I dig the big move up the neck to the 10th fret for the Gm7-C7 in the "B" section, then what I think of as a "chromatic ladder" back down again. I'm sure I'll figure out the "why" the more I play, but for now, the playing alone is rewarding enough.

Good one!! This is what I like about the Conti approach. There is a little bit of everything in these solos.

Mike

[losaltosjoe]

I think this solo is fun to play, and it gets me doing a lot of things I would not think to do on my own: approach notes, enclosures, double-stops, and especially all of the chromatic stuff. I dig the big move up the neck to the 10th fret for the Gm7-C7 in the "B" section, then what I think of as a "chromatic ladder" back down again. I'm sure I'll figure out the "why" the more I play, but for now, the playing alone is rewarding enough.

Nice job Jeff! I agree with your comment that Conti's material "gets me doing a lot of things I would not think to do on my own."

[snailspace]

I agree with your comment that Conti's material "gets me doing a lot of things I would not think to do on my own."

Thanks, Joe! The way I view Conti's teaching style has a lot in common with what I read in Dave Ruggiero's essay. You've probably already seen it, but I thought I'd share it here so those who are new to Conti can read it, if they like:

The Turning Point by Dave Ruggiero | RobertConti.com

[MikeS]

Thanks, Joe! The way I view Conti's teaching style has a lot in common with what I read in Dave Ruggiero's essay. You've probably already seen it, but I thought I'd share it here so those who are new to Conti can read it, if they like:

The Turning Point by Dave Ruggiero | RobertConti.com

Thanks for sharing Dave's essay. I had not read it before. I know Conti always emphasizes that you learn by playing your instrument.

Mike

[MikeS]

I know Conti emphasizes over and over you learn by playing your instrument. In the Source Code Jazz Lines book he says students are always asking him about what is he thinking when improvising over a IIm7 - V7 - I. In the first portion of his response he said he treats the entire cadence as a "One."

I don't think we need to get into extensive theory here, but has anyone broken down what he teaches over the "Satin Doll" solo and how it relates to his response above?

Mike

[lawson-stone]

You guys are driving me crazy with the clips... I'm still waiting for my books to arrive so I'm chomping a little at the proverbial bit. Soon as they get here I will be starting in.

Maybe my first clip will be the unboxing...