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This thread is installment 3 for a group working through Robert Conti's "Ticket to Improv" instructional video set. We are learning his solo based on the changes to "Autumn Leaves" in G Major/E Minor, at a pace of 8 measures per week.
Every Tuesday we try to post clips of our progress for the week. Naturally, some weeks, any one of us might be delayed or have to post a little later, which is totally fine. We also are focusing on accountability to work through the solo, and encouragement, to keep ourselves moving, as opposed to a lot of critique and coaching. We assume that a post is not asking for critique unless the person posting has a particular problem they ask for help on. Some will re-post a better version of the week's clip, sometimes we play around with tempos, it's really open to whatever is helping you learn and keep on pace without getting bogged down.
Some people like also to learn the chords and melody to the tune, which is fine, but not required. It's okay to post those clips, but this is not the "Practical Standards" group. We're focused on learning Conti's solo. Also, we talk a little about how the lines and language he's using apply and might be oriented to the changes, but we aren't doing a lot of theory here. Focus on theory is CONTI-rary to Conti's method!
This is a group for people who want to play these solos and want to talk about the process of playing them and learning from them, and to have encouragement and accountability.
Here's our schedule of Tuesday post goals:
May 2: Measures 1-8
May 9: Measures 1-16
May 16: Measures 1-24
May 23: Measures 1-32
May 30: Catch-Up and time for anyone to make a final, more polished post if they wish.
So, all you Conti-rarians, or Contians (which is not to be confused with the famous German philosopher who could not play crap though he wrote lots of books!), have at it!
Maybe we should have a series of replies here indicating who is "in" on this stage of the journey?
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04-25-2017 10:10 AM
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I am all in !!
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I'm in!
Mike
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Originally Posted by lawson-stone
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IN
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Autumn Leaves Improvisation
Bars 1-8
Mike
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Originally Posted by MikeS
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All Right! Mike's got us going! He inspired me to go ahead and jump in. This video has a little audio clipping, I don't know why.
I play the portion through twice.
Back to work...
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Great playing guys, you are off to an early start.
I am finding the Conti backing a bit tricky to play along, does anyone else have this problem?
I will probably use IReal for this one, any idea of tempo?
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Originally Posted by andyb
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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I'm using iReal Pro as well. I might give Band-in-a-Box a try too.
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Originally Posted by andyb
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Originally Posted by andyb
I don't have iReal Pro on my iPhone or iPad. I might have to take a look at it.
Mike
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Originally Posted by lawson-stone
Mike
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Originally Posted by MikeS
So start off playing this:
Then when you're comfortable with it, just "think" the first note and play the second.
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Originally Posted by lawson-stone
Oh and look there's the tempo 104Last edited by andyb; 04-28-2017 at 11:23 AM.
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Originally Posted by lawson-stone
Mike
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Hey folks!
A couple years ago the "Practical Standards" group did "Autumn Leaves" and I found the backing track they'd made. It's pretty nice: just bass and drums, but it really works!
Here's the link:
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Here's yet another nice backing track from the learnjazzstandards.com site. Not bad at all.
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Originally Posted by lawson-stone
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Originally Posted by lawson-stone
Mike
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Originally Posted by andyb
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But you got it! I've been sticking to iReal Pro for now, but might branch out and try other tracks. I find I get dependent on peculiarities of one track and start using this or that piano voicing as my cue instead of just going with the tempo and time.
I am also finding, oddly enough, that this solo is just a tad easier if it's played just a tad faster. At 100 bpm I kept messing up, but at 120 it smoothed out somehow.
Go figure, you know?
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Am I the only person doing this who is having trouble avoiding a corny, "bouncy" style on these first 8 measures? When Conti plays it, the feeling is hip and bop-ish, but I'm having trouble with it just sounding bouncy and not really swinging. "DOO-pa-DOO-pa..."
Here's a clip where I try to contrast the two approaches, though it's a little exaggerated.
Last edited by lawson-stone; 04-29-2017 at 01:50 PM.
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Originally Posted by andyb
Hi Andy -- I generally use Band In A Box with the changes from the Conti PDF (rather than the changes from the Real Book).
Charlie Garnett - Franken Tele
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