Countdown – Any way to simplify it?

[Mick-7]

Thing is, I don't think it's even possible to respond to what you're hearing at such a tempo, which means you're relying purely on rote memory and your playing is by definition mechanical. So my previous comment - 'if the goal is to be able to hear and respond to the chord changes" - is no longer relevant.

[rpjazzguitar]

Step 1 is getting the changes in your ears.

Step 2 is applying some judicious substitutions to facilitate making the changes at high tempo. It does that by focusing on triads which move in small, predictable intervals.

This addresses the OP's request for a way to simply things. Seems to me it's a good deal easier than trying to apply the tonal center approach at full Countdown tempo.

Once you've got the triads down, you add notes by ear. At this tempo, you don't need many. Eventually, you put in a different set of triads or apply larger chords, or whatever.

Of course, you could slow it way down and start practicing the tonal center approach. That might be best, but I wouldn't call it simplification.

[ragman1]

I've simplified Countdown but maybe not in an acceptable way to some people. The nice thing about jazz is that you can interpret a tune any way you want. Purists might object but that's too bad, the tune is not their possession.

To me, this thing is no tune at all, it's an exercise, seeing how fast you can go over disparate changes. That's okay for those who like that kind of thing. Personally, I don't because I'm not interested in competition, it's not music as far as I'm concerned.

So I slowed it down, obviously, and improvised basically using one chord per bar. It works as long as you know how to arrange your subs properly. Personally, I quite like it. It could have been a real mess but thankfully it wasn't.