Giant Steps 2026

[Question]

Ok, here is a version of Giant Steps using the Quartet app.

Before anyone comments, let me restate my motivation for playing Giant Steps, as I know that this tune sometimes elicits a (often negative) reaction in some people.

"It is just an exercise, my friend or (insert name or video here) can play it better/faster than you etc.".

I am really a melodic guy at heart and playing Giant Steps is for me primarily a challenge to improve playing melodically over constantly modulating harmony.

I am sometimes in playing situations where I am expected to be able to play fast tempos and/or complex harmony, that's why I practice it.

If you like this sort of challenge then it is worth your time to try to play these sorts of tunes to improve your harmony navigation.

One reason that I post on this forum is in order to hopefully help the less experienced players, so if there is something that I am doing that you don't understand, just ask.

[Mark Kleinhaut]

Ok, here is a version of Giant Steps using the Quartet app.

Before anyone comments, let me restate my motivation for playing Giant Steps, as I know that this tune usually elicits a (often negative) reaction in some people.

"It is just an exercise, my friend or (insert name or video here) can play it better/faster than you etc.".

I am really a melodic guy at heart and playing Giant Steps is for me primarily a challenge to improve playing melodically over constantly modulating harmony.

I am sometimes in playing situations where I am expected to be able to play fast tempos and/or complex harmony, that's why I practice it.

If you like this sort of challenge then it is worth your time to try to play these sorts of tunes to improve your harmony navigation.

One reason that I post on this forum is in order to hopefully help the less experienced players, so if there is something that I am doing that you don't understand, just ask.

Nothing negative about it- it’s a unique piece, a work of art and an extremely valuable exercise all rolled into one. I’ve been working on it for decades and it always pulls me deeper and deeper into itself and ALWAYS kicks my ass eventually. I love it. Good job and thanks for sharing your take!

[mikeSF]

nicely done and way better than what I can do with it. Always wanted to be able to play GS but just can't get it. You sound credible and comfortable for sure.

I did just get a 9-string guitar and with this new tuning, I am trying to tackle the 1-2-3-5 Coltrane Patterns using one finger...but all the other aspects of the tune will continue to defeat me.

[Question]

@Mark Yes, I am with you on this; it is sort of the Rubick's Cube of tunes. A unique and interesting structure and working on it always helps me to play other less complex tunes more easily.

@MikeSF Thanks. My whole purpose with this tune is to attempt to play it in a melodic way and actually avoiding all of the typical Coltrane sequence patterns. As far as I can tell I didn't use them at all in this version.
I will leave playing it with a 9 string guitar to you; 6 strings is more than enough to keep me busy for a lifetime!

[Mark Kleinhaut]

@Mark Yes, I am with you on this; it is sort of the Rubick's Cube of tunes. A unique and interesting structure and working on it always helps me to play other less complex tunes more easily.

@MikeSF Thanks. My whole purpose with this tune is to attempt to play it in a melodic way and actually avoiding all of the typical Coltrane sequence patterns. As far as I can tell I didn't use them at all in this version.
I will leave playing it with a 10 string guitar to you; 6 strings is more than enough to keep me busy for a lifetime!

Have you worked on it as a ballad or bossa? I love doing that.

[Question]

@Mark
Yes, if you recall we had this discussion last year when I posted my "Free" version of Giant Steps.

Here once more:

[Mark Kleinhaut]

@Mark
Yes, if you recall we had this discussion last year when I posted my "Free" version of Giant Steps.

Here once more:

ah yes! That’s awesome! Here’s me:

[Cunamara]

Nice!

I've never liked this song as a piece of music, it has always sounded more like a technical exercise to me than a musical expression- even with the Coltrane recording. However, some of that is probably a reaction to Coltrane's sax tone which I've also never cared for (blasphemy!). I have liked Methemy's slow bossa-ish take on it on his album with Christian McBride.

Your take on it is playful which makes it more appealing to me. I really liked the sort of pedal steel-ish guitar tone on the solo and the chord melody of the head is excellent.

[mr. beaumont]

Fun take. I love the tone and the fact you actually create phrases, rather than just running the changes.

I flat out like the tune. Yeah, if you try and play it too fast it can get exercisey, but it's a catchy little melody and the chord changes are super fun. I love playing it as a bossa

[kris]

I"m curious if there are people on this forum who practice Giant Steps every day?

[Mark Kleinhaut]

I"m curious if there are people on this forum who practice Giant Steps every day?

Hells no perhaps once a week if I can remember to do it. To be honest, what I on any given day “practice” is completely whimsical and random.

[deacon Mark]

I"m curious if there are people on this forum who practice Giant Steps every day?

I used to hate the tune due to what I thought was just a technical exercise. Needing that sometimes I decide to get the tune more on the list and yes lately I have been playing the tune almost every day. I would like to say that I am doing great things, but truth be known I have little patterns and things worked out I can use because if you want to hit the changes correct is takes much talent. Playing it has really helped my playing for many reasons. I am keeping at and I like the tune now.

To the OP, I liked your playing on the tune it was fine. The chords and solo is very nice. My only comment is on the sound and that is I believe entirely because of the guitar and set up. I could be wrong but given and 335 and seems to be light strings I found the sound to be less dense or commanding. It is not a criticism in anyway because all the is person. For my ear the word thinner sound, not at all wrong just different.

So, I have to ask what gauge of strings do have on the guitar?

[James W]

I'd be curious to know what exactly makes Giant Steps more exercise-like than any other up-tempo tune? What is it about its harmonies that apparently warrants this description rather than say, Cherokee?

Disclaimer - I love Giant Steps.

Oh yeah, and great job, Question. I admire your rendition.

[Question]

Thanks for the comments.

Since there were some specific questions I will try to answer those.

@Mr. Beaumont. I think I am so used to playing melodically that I couldn't play it with mathematical patterns if I wanted to! I almost always sing (badly) when I improvise or practice, either out loud or in my head so I always need to breath (literally or metaphorically). This habit helps me avoid playing run-on sentences.

@Deacon Mark: Probably what you are hearing is the purposely added tube distortion on the guitar before the amp.
I am also playing primarily on the bridge pickup. I wouldn't really consider myself a "pure" jazz player.
It is not a 335, rather a Collings I-35 and is setup is with a .11 set on the bottom with a .12 set on the top (E-.12 B-.16) The action is not very low (I am a bass player so I like some resistance). If you don't like the tone on this one listen to my Giant Steps version from 2025 where I am playing with more of a traditional Jazz sound. (It is called "Giant Steps 2025") I think that version is a bit better melodically as the tempo is a bit slower, which allowed me to play in a slightly more lyrical way. This is about 278 bpm, which makes forming coherent phrases more difficult for me.

@James: I think this tune is often considered more "exercise-like" due to the very mathematically repeated harmonic structure.


What I have found is that playing these sort of Coltrane tunes, where there are so few common chord tones between adjacent chords, has really made navigating less complex tunes easier. There is no way to cheat, and I am not using any of the "hacks" that I have read about. I don't really "think" of the changes much, I hear them in my head.
Since I seldom practice exercises outside of the context of a song, I much prefer to practice on a real chord structure rather than just a cycle of fourths etc..

Hope that helps!

[deacon Mark]

I think due to the whole Coltrane concept of practicing and working on tunes. Coltrane would go through many types of exercises and patterns to get his chops up and I believe it carried over. I have to say the structure of the tune and melody fit the exercise mode in a way the melody of the tune "I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart" does not. For me the tune has helped my ears hear changes better and the odd cycling of them does that.

[James W]

@James: I think this tune is often considered more "exercise-like" due to the very mathematically repeated harmonic structure.

Indeed it outlines an augmented triad. Which repeats. I'm missing the 'very mathematically' bit though - but I suspect any further request for clarification on my behalf is unlikely to elicit any satisfactory response... could be mistaken though... So what is about it that's particularly mathematical?

[Question]

Hi James,

As you know I am not an overly analytical player. Maybe "Mathematical" is not the best word.

I mean that there are two main distinct chord movements: (in the "A" section and the "Bridge")
The "A" section: Major-up to a Dominant a minor 3rd higher-resolving to a major up a 4th-then up to a dominant a minor 3rd higher etc. (The bridge is different of course but also has a pattern)
Also within these harmonic patterns the melody almost always has the same relationship to the chords. But not, for example, on the turn-around at the end where the chord-melody relationship changes.

I don't get very hung up on thinking about these things, especially when I am playing. I just try to "hear" the harmonic colors and find a way to play a melody on top of them.

I hope this doesn't devolve into a semantic discussion.

Ask me something that will actually help you learn to play on Giant Steps better and I will do my best to answer you!

[James W]

Hi James,

As you know I am not an overly analytical player. Maybe "Mathematical" is not the best word.

I mean that there are two main distinct chord movements: (in the "A" section and the "Bridge")
The "A" section: Major-up to a Dominant a minor 3rd higher-resolving to a major up a 4th-then up to a dominant a minor 3rd higher etc. (The bridge is different of course but also has a pattern)
Also within these harmonic patterns the melody almost always has the same relationship to the chords. But not, for example, on the turn-around at the end where the chord-melody relationship changes.

I don't get very hung up on thinking about these things, especially when I am playing. I just try to "hear" the harmonic colors and find a way to play a melody on top of them.

I hope this doesn't devolve into a semantic discussion.

Ask me something that will actually help you learn to play on Giant Steps better and I will do my best to answer you!

Thanks for replying. Sure - I didn't mean to pick holes in what people were saying.

I guess I hear it as being colourful with a 'floating' quality owing in part to the fact it outlines an augmented triad rather than the typical fourths movement of a lot of solidly tonal music. Coltrane's interest in symmetrical scales and chords was shared by forward-thinking 19th century classical composers like Liszt (not to mention many others into the 20th century) and I hear a similar colourfulness and interest in the transcendental in that music as well as Coltrane's of course.

[Mick-7]

What I have found is that playing these sort of Coltrane tunes, where there are so few common tones between adjacent chords, has really made navigating less complex tunes easier.

I wouldn't say that... as an example, the first 3 chords, B^7, D7 & G^7, have the scale tones of B, E & F# in common, and a few scale tones they don't share will work too, e.g., G#, D# (b6 of G^7), G (b6 of B^7). These common chord tones can be focal points for connecting phrases.

The Giant Step changes are very predictable (as Howard Roberts explains in his article linked here - What's your approach on giant steps? ).

There are many other tunes with nonfunctional harmony that I find much more difficult to solo over - by Bill Evans, Carla Bley, et. al.

But I think what you said here is key to improvising over difficult chord changes: "I just try to 'hear' the harmonic colors and find a way to play a melody on top of them."

[James W]

The Giant Step changes are very predictable, there are many other tunes with nonfunctional harmony that I find much more difficult to solo over - by Bill Evans, Carla Bley, et. al.

Firstly, everything is 'predictable' if you learn it. Secondly, you imply you don't find Giant Steps that difficult to solo over. In which case, I'd be interested in hearing your rendition of it.

[James W]

The Giant Step changes are very predictable (as Howard Roberts explains in his article linked here - What's your approach on giant steps? ).

He says the shifting of the key centres comes in odd places. Not very 'predictable' at all.

[JDNC64]

Speaking of Bossa versions, here is one from 15 years ago according to youtube!
( influenced by Metheny's take)

[Mick-7]

He says the shifting of the key centres comes in odd places. Not very 'predictable' at all.

I'd call V-I progressions moving in major 3rds "predictable." For the sake of his audience, Howard toned down his statements in the Guitar Player articles.

[Mick-7]

Firstly, everything is 'predictable' if you learn it. Secondly, you imply you don't find Giant Steps that difficult to solo over. In which case, I'd be interested in hearing your rendition of it.

I could record something but I've played it so rarely that I'd have to spend some time on it, and take it at a tempo at which I can hear and respond to the changes, i.e., not at 200 bpm.

[James W]

I'd call V-I progressions moving in major 3rds "predictable."

Ok, but why would you call that predictable?