Coltrane's 26-2 with Video

[Question]

I posted this video on my Countdown thread and thought I would also post it here.

This is in response to Graham who sort of challenged me to record this tune.

I had never heard this tune before, so I learned it yesterday and recorded it today.

It has a cool melody with a few tricky fingerings.

I am playing it at Coltrane's original tempo (196bpm), which for him is reasonable.

[grahambop]

I’ll have to think of a tougher challenge next time!

Seriously, that sounds great. I must have a go at these ‘coltrane changes’ tunes sometime, I’ve only really tackled Giant Steps so far.

Apparently this tune is loosely based on Confirmation, I can sort of hear that. The recording was only released long after Trane’s death, so one theory about the name is that it was just an engineer’s recording number title (it was recorded on the 26th of the month so that would make sense).

[CliffR]

Apparently this tune is loosely based on Confirmation, I can sort of hear that.

Greta playing! Glad you mentioned that, Graham. I thought I heard it as a sort of left-field Confirmation melody.

[Question]

Hi Graham,

thanks.

I would encourage you to learn a few of these Coltrane tunes.

I personally found that my harmony navigation in general improved, and especially when going back playing simpler tunes.
Something about learning to melodically connect chords, which have very few common tones between them, seems to be beneficial.

[grahambop]

Something about learning to melodically connect chords, which have very few common tones between them, seems to be beneficial.

That’s a very good point, I was watching an old video by Scofield where he demonstrates a similar thing he calls ‘scale connection’ exercises, i.e. playing intervallic ideas on scales and connecting them on the nearest available note, on a descending chromatic chord sequence.

Also I think Jaco Pastorius recommends this approach on a lesson video he made.

I’ve been doing something like this on the last 8 bars of Inner Urge, that’s another tricky one!

[Question]

@Graham

I posted a video about a year ago of Inner Urge after a long discussion about several "hacks" to get through the bridge changes.

I found all of these hacks more confusing than just learning to play on the original changes, as you are adding another layer of thinking on top of already complex harmony.

If ones' goal is just to survive playing any particular tune, than maybe a hack is useful; otherwise one will probably benefit much more by trying to outline the original harmony.

The way that you describe your method makes more long term sense to me.

[grahambop]

Yes I think I’d rather just keep bashing away at the tricky changes, trying to create lines that flow and connect them. At first it’s difficult, but gradually it starts to come together. I find that when I can ‘hear’ those changes properly, it gets easier.

In fact I’ve recently made it a sort of warm-up routine to play some continuous lines through Giant Steps and Inner Urge each time I pick up the guitar, that has helped.

[Question]

Hi Graham,

yes it is an endless process and I agree that "hearing" the changes is essential.
I think ear (and time) are pretty much what I focus on.

I am not overly methodical or analytical and have instead just used different tunes as a way to discover new paths through various types of changes, which I then notate in my practice book.

I usually don't really remember my exact line, but I seem to remember how to connect and resolve the chords, which to me makes the lines much more flexible.

Your method seems to be similar to mine.