Giant Steps

[Mark Kleinhaut]

Sometimes you just have to roll up on some Giant Steps and work the form and intervals of this little masterpiece. Leave it to Trane to change the world in just 16 bars

[tpandela]

Masterful

[Mark Kleinhaut]

Masterful

Thanks! I’ve been working on this tune for over 40 years, slow learner that I am

[ccroft]

refreshing!

[guitarvegas]

Mark, nobody sounds like you.

[Mark Kleinhaut]

Mark, nobody sounds like you.

I first encountered this tune in 1977- I remember almost quitting; there and then. If I’m lucky I will have another 25 years or so to keep on after this.

[kris]

I am very curious how this brilliant child will play GS in 40 years....

[wintermoon]

I am very curious how this brilliant child will play GS in 40 years....

You'll only have to wait 30, he was 11 when that video was shot....10 yrs ago.

[Mark Kleinhaut]

I am very curious how this brilliant child will play GS in 40 years....

Child prodigies present such an interesting phenomenon. As a late bloomer myself, I’ve always been awestruck and mystified by such talent. What should be expected of their development arc? Do they fizzle out or flatline or do they evolve the way “normal” people do? Beats me- I suppose anything can happen.

[kris]

My good friend and excellent pianist recorded one version by whistling.
This seems like a very big challenge to me.

[Mark Kleinhaut]

My good friend and excellent pianist recorded one version by whistling.
This seems like a very big challenge to me.

He’s good but that backing track is downright criminal. Since we’re going off on tangents, check out Brad Terry whistling a free piece. Best damn whistler ever when he’s not playing clarinet.

[kris]

He’s good but that backing track is downright criminal. Since we’re going off on tangents, check out Brad Terry whistling a free piece. Best damn whistler ever when he’s not playing clarinet.

He whistles brilliantly.It's a pity he didn't whistle the improvisations in GS.
GS-requires different whistling skills.

[Mark Kleinhaut]

He whistles brilliantly.It's a pity he didn't whistle the improvisations in GS.
GS-requires different whistling skills.

I know. Brad knows thousands of tunes by ear, but not the trane stuff. By the way, I was sneakily seeing if you’d notice or recognize Joachim Mencel at the piano on that one.

[Rob MacKillop]

Best solo-guitar version I've heard, Mark! Really, you are up there with the greats. No question.

[kris]

I know. Brad knows thousands of tunes by ear, but not the trane stuff. By the way, I was sneakily seeing if you’d notice or recognize Joachim Mencel at the piano on that one.

Of course, I know Joachim Mencel - a Polish pianist from Krakow.

[Mark Kleinhaut]

Best solo-guitar version I've heard, Mark! Really, you are up there with the greats. No question.

Hi Rob, that’s the nicest thing to say. I really appreciate the supportive and open mindedness you’ve always shown in all conversations here in the forum. Thanks very much!

[Rob MacKillop]

Thanks, Mark.

[northernbreed]

Sometimes you just have to roll up on some Giant Steps and work the form and intervals of this little masterpiece. Leave it to Trane to change the world in just 16 bars

Stunning.

[Mark Kleinhaut]

Stunning.

Thanks very much!!

[Sam Sherry]

Sometimes you just have to roll up on some Giant Steps and work the form and intervals of this little masterpiece. Leave it to Trane to change the world in just 16 bars

Yeah, but it takes true mastery to bring musicality in the moment to that exercise.
Thank you for lighting up that path, Mark!

+ + +

I have never been able to get past memorizing Giant Steps. I just don't have it integrated -- I have to brute-force it. Every time, every chorus, I'm thinking and that sucks. "B! Eb! G! Ayee!"

[Mark Kleinhaut]

Yeah, but it takes true mastery to bring musicality in the moment to that exercise.
Thank you for lighting up that path, Mark!

+ + +

I have never been able to get past memorizing Giant Steps. I just don't have it integrated -- I have to brute-force it. Every time, every chorus, I'm thinking and that sucks. "B! Eb! G! Ayee!"

Hi Sam, I’ve been there done that too (brute force) to get this and some other tunes into my head. I still sometimes think of giant steps in two parts- the first 8 as the tension and the second as the release (it the hard half and the easy half).

[kris]

I think that the biggest difficulty is the appropriate tempo of the GS - rather fast.
I am also a supporter of playing GS in time...I mean playing with a standard rhythm section.
I practice GS at home/with backing tracks/ but I have never had the courage to play it in front of an audience.
I hope there will come a day when I will be ready.

[Christian Miller]

Yeah, but it takes true mastery to bring musicality in the moment to that exercise.
Thank you for lighting up that path, Mark!

+ + +

I have never been able to get past memorizing Giant Steps. I just don't have it integrated -- I have to brute-force it. Every time, every chorus, I'm thinking and that sucks. "B! Eb! G! Ayee!"

Sorry to post one of my videos but I did do a vid on this subject, which might be helpful.

Also my latest one is on giant steps.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Jimmy blue note]

One of the biggest unasked and unanswered questions to improvisors is: Why bother?

There is a preponderance of players who treat this tune as an obstacle course, and the answer sounds like "Because it's there".
More rarely does it sound like "Because there's something locked in there that I want to hear."

You've found it. Thanks!

[Christian Miller]

One of the biggest unasked and unanswered questions to improvisors is: Why bother?

There is a preponderance of players who treat this tune as an obstacle course, and the answer sounds like "Because it's there".
More rarely does it sound like "Because there's something locked in there that I want to hear."

You've found it. Thanks!

Because jazz answers most of these questions. I need it on a mug.

“Why play Satellite in 13/8?”

“Because jazz!”

But in seriousness a very good jazz guitarist friend of mine described an ‘e-sports attitude to jazz.’

As long as I’ve been playing, there’s always been a strain of the jock mentality among some musicians, but I wonder if this isn’t becoming more prevalent. The grumpy old dude in me feels video games have rewritten a lot of people’s perceptions of things like art to become very limited.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk