The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
Reply to Thread Bookmark Thread
Posts 1 to 14 of 14
  1. #1

    User Info Menu

    So this "study group" likely has just one member, me! I spontaneously started playing through the "Hotel Grande" solo, which is based on the changes to "There's A Small Hotel" from the musical "On Your Toes." After a few days, I had the first chorus learned, though at a slow tempo. This solo has some change-of-pace ideas compared to the others that have been done under the "Raney/Aebersold Study Group" auspices. My biggest obstacle was not playing, automatically, lines from other solos that started the same, but in this solo, go to other places musically. If anyone would like to join me in learning this solo, I'm happy to hang out and have you catch up. For now, here is the first 32 bars, at about 85% of the set tempo, and with enough clams so that many will say "Hey, i could do better than that!" Please do! Post a reply that you're "in." I'm not proposing a schedule, this could just be work at our own pace.

  2.  

    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

    User Info Menu

    So I have gotten the first chorus of Raney's solo up to the listed tempo, 168 bpm. I have found that as the tempos pick up, it's harder to play the 8th notes with much swing. I was only able to get this right by straightening out the 8th notes, so that remains something to work on.

    I also have a reflection for the 2 or 3 who might read this. This is now the 9th Raney solo I've worked on. I can't say how deeply this process has affected me. I always respected Jimmy Raney as a great player, but working through these solos has taken that admiration to a whole new level. I feel I have had the privilege of wandering around in the personal library or study of a great scholar or fantastic mind. I can look back on his lines and explain them, but I cannot explain how he came up with them. There is a genius there that I find increasingly mysterious and out of reach. Still, being able to put my fingers on the notes he played is so enriching. I think my amplifier believes it has been sold to a real guitar player.

    So here is the first chorus. I will keep posting my progress on this solo as I go, simply to keep myself on track. Any of you, especially those who admire Raney and bebop, who want to comment on the solo or anything else related to Raney and bop, feel free.


  4. #3

    User Info Menu

    Continuing the "Study Group of One" I've worked out the next 16 measures, that is, the first half of the second chorus. As is typical of these Raney solos, the second chorus kind of goes a different direction from the first. The first is usually classic bebop, great licks, long lines. The second chorus will usually play with the time, insert large rests, big interval jumps, etc. This one is no exception. The big jumps right at measures 13-16 have been giving me fits. So here it is, at about 85% the listed tempo of 168 bpm. First I play it along with Raney's playing. Raney is on the right, I'm on the left. Then I play it just with the backing. I haven't got this swinging very nicely yet... just happy to be alive at the end.

    This continues to be for me the most rewarding learning journey with the guitar I've ever undertaken. I recommend these solos to anyone wanting to learn the bebop language for guitar.


  5. #4

    User Info Menu

    wow .you nailed it..you memorising or reading..

  6. #5

    User Info Menu

    Read then memorized


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  7. #6

    User Info Menu

    ok whats the secret...camera in the head..you have a page turner too

  8. #7

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by voxsss
    ok whats the secret...camera in the head..you have a page turner too
    When I first started learning these, I went very slowly, 4 measures per week. I would read the notation to get the notes, and play along with the recording to try and get the feel. A 64 bar solo took 16 weeks! Now I can do them in much larger chunks, but the approach is still the same. I read down the solo to work on my skills with reading notation, then slow down the recorded solo until I can match it. I gradually speed it up as I get more comfortable playing the solo. Also, while I'm learning one of these, the solo just plays in my head non-stop. I whistle it, hum it, it becomes an "ear worm," a welcome one. The goal is to memorize the solo, but not to have it be rote memory. I want to have internalized the ideas, the musical vocabulary, the phrasing, etc. so that they can become a part of my playing other tunes. Raney's solos are so advanced that it's hard to just lift licks, but his rhythmic phrasing is very contagious.

    This last post is a milestone along the way. I've got 16 measures under my fingers, but I still haven't got the phrasing just right, and I don't have it up to tempo. IN the study group threads in the past, we'd all post a clip while we were still working out the fingering, testing the notation against the recording (sometimes there are transcription errors), and we'd usually discuss the portion in terms of what Raney was doing. Then we would post a "final" clip of that section when we had it pretty much to tempo,

    Obviously, I'm doing this alone, but I found that sequence helpful so I'm basically operating like the group did, except by myself.

    Side note: I hear that things like learning languages, doing crosswords, memory work, etc. can stave off dementia. I think learning these solos is great mental exercise.

  9. #8

    User Info Menu

    Continuing my solo study group on the Jimmy Raney/Jamey Aebersold Vol. 20 solo "Hotel Grande" (aka "There's a Small Hotel) here is measures 1-57 at about 90% of the set tempo. There are—and this is typical of these solos—a couple of spots where fingers get tied in knots, but I decided to allow those clams to stand as I go ahead and move on to the last A section of the second chorus, and thus the end of this solo. I'm hopeful the hard spots will get better, they always do.

    Recorded on my L5ces through the Fender Tone Master Twin Reverb direct-out, using the SM57 IR profile. This is turning out to be a great way to record, so easy and it just works.


  10. #9

    User Info Menu

    So I have this whole solo learned at about 150-155 bpm, which is about 90% of the recorded tempo. I hope to spend the week getting it up to the "regulation" 168. Raney has this habit of putting about 3 phrases in a solo that are just hard to nail. For this one, it's a big string/interval jumping phrase at about 1:15 or so. I just close my eyes and jump on this one.

    This solo has lots of interesting bop ideas in it, some phrases for which there were no obviously good fingerings, which is why I wanted to do these solos: to learn the bop language and to get out of my usual "grips" for licks and phrases. Lots of rhythmic ideas in these solos too.


  11. #10

    User Info Menu

    I was playing with this solo today, trying to get the tempo up a little faster, and decided to run it simultaneously to a 90's Pre-Sonic-Circuit Polytone Minibrute II and a DVMark Micro50 driving a 10" 4 Ohm speaker. Nice thing is that I could alternate the audio but the video stays smooth. It's fun to me to see how well the recording captures the differences between the two amps.

    Really, just looking for more ways to practice this (to me) challenging solo without getting in a rut.

    Maybe you can guess which is which, but that wouldn't be the point so much as simply thinking about how to describe the tone quality of each on its own merits.


  12. #11

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by lawson-stone
    I was playing with this solo today, trying to get the tempo up a little faster, and decided to run it simultaneously to a 90's Pre-Sonic-Circuit Polytone Minibrute II and a DVMark Micro50 driving a 10" 4 Ohm speaker. Nice thing is that I could alternate the audio but the video stays smooth. It's fun to me to see how well the recording captures the differences between the two amps.

    Really, just looking for more ways to practice this (to me) challenging solo without getting in a rut.

    Maybe you can guess which is which, but that wouldn't be the point so much as simply thinking about how to describe the tone quality of each on its own merits.

    Really good playing and sound, lawson-stone!

  13. #12

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by Bbmaj7#5#9
    Really good playing and sound, lawson-stone!
    Thank you sir. I really enjoy experimenting with the things I learn to put some information out that might be useful.

    Normally recordings of side-by-side tend, to me, to merge the two sounds. But this time I heard more contrasts between the two amps than I expected when I listened to the recording.

  14. #13

    User Info Menu

    For some reason I always struggle getting from 90% to 100% of the set tempo for these solos. But here it is. I still don't feel like I'm swinging with it very well. I hope that will come as I internalize the solo more. For now I'm just striving to get the notes right. It has some very tricky passages but has been a fun solo to learn.

    My next goal here is to finish learning the tune itself and combine the tune and solo. For me that makes these exercises "real."

    Insights, observations, suggestions are welcome.

    Thanks for watching!


  15. #14

    User Info Menu

    Really cool thread. Great practice ethic. Nice guitars and bookcase!