January 2011 - Fly Me To The Moon

**Reg** · 01-12-2011, 06:15 PM

Hey great job...Tom, Frank and Jay... really I could hear the focus on Amin 1st 8 bars and then Cmaj. Tom much improvement since last tune... and I liked your last post. I'll listen again and try and make some suggestions. Frank great concepts and playing, really enjoyed voicings, I'll listen again also and try and find something to improve on... Jay you always sound cool, you have tons of great ideas and pull them off. Same I'll listen again and try and make some comments... Best Reg
Tom now that I've listen to that B-3 track a few times... that swing feel is off the charts...thanks again.

**fep** · 01-12-2011, 07:38 PM

Hey guys, thanks for listening and your encouragement.

I just transcribed my chord melody at the beginning of the recording. If anyone wants to check it out notated (standard notation and tab), it's here:

Let's Fly to Cancun - Chord Melody.pdf - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage

**fep** · 01-12-2011, 10:10 PM

Originally Posted by jayx123

OK here is my take on it with classical guitar. This is the first time I ever played this tune so didn't come out that good. Used mostly C major, A minor pentatonic/blues and some MM stuff at the end.

fmttm.mp3 - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage

Hey Jay, I love jazz on a classical guitar.

That melody, played real well, you've got a singing quality to your phrasing.

Your soloing sounds great. There were some lines like at 1:20 & 2:12 where you go just a little outside and then resolve, really nice.

Thanks for posting

**wizard3739** · 01-12-2011, 11:44 PM

Wow! You guys all sound great!! I am still struggling with recording and uploading techniques for the forum. I usually do this song in F to support our vocalist key.
Your willingness to share your improv is really great for the forum. I am looking forward to joining you as soon as possible.

wiz

**jayx123** · 01-13-2011, 02:32 AM

Reg, Fep thanks,

fep, I use side stepping a half tone above on unstable sections of the harmony to create an outside sound so in this case I will be playing C# major on these section

**JonnyPac** · 01-13-2011, 03:43 AM

Nice playing, guys. Sounds good all around.

**fep** · 01-13-2011, 09:38 AM

Originally Posted by jayx123

Reg, Fep thanks,

fep, I use side stepping a half tone above on unstable sections of the harmony to create an outside sound so in this case I will be playing C# major on these section

So cool Jay, you pull it off really well.

I know about side stepping but I don't use it. I'm going to have to try to get that into in my playing. Any tips on how you get it to work, for example, type of lines, how you resolve it.

**oilywrag** · 01-13-2011, 09:47 AM

@ Frank that thumb sounds very very nice.Could it be that you don't do it as often as you should?? Therefore you are not confident in being able to pull it off!!Well you did pull it off very well indeed.
@ Jay,what can I say that classical guitar sounds so sweet and as usual cool ideas and sense of direction.Well done..

Cheers

Tom

**tonyknight** · 01-13-2011, 09:58 AM

Tom, Frank, and Jay, What a pleasure it was to listen to your versions. Tom, you are making great advances and you are a real motivation for us more junior jazzers. Frank, very nice, and particularly I enjoyed the octave work. This is a style which likewise I love and would like to understand better (nudge, nudge, wink. wink, Reg). In any event, very well done and I'm looking forward to the day when I can do something similar. Jay, as usual, a stellar performance, beautifully done, with the added bonus of the nylon sound...

Hats off to all of you.

**fep** · 01-13-2011, 10:05 AM

Hey Tony,

Regarding learning octaves...

As a start; I'm going to start incorporating them in my melody playing. When the melody is simple enough to play with octaves (like Fly Me to the Moon for example), then octaves it is.

For me: Left hand, always 1st and fourth finger, regardless of which string sets. Right hand, thumb.

**tonyknight** · 01-13-2011, 10:09 AM

Thanks Frank - but how do you mute the string in between? with the first finger of the left hand? Obviously I understand how it would work if I were to use a finger style with the right hand...

**fep** · 01-13-2011, 10:24 AM

Originally Posted by tonyknight

Thanks Frank - but how do you mute the string in between? with the first finger of the left hand? Obviously I understand how it would work if I were to use a finger style with the right hand...

For me my 1st finger of my left hand is muting all strings below where that finger is fretted and my 4th finger is redundantly muting the string below where it is fretted.

---------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------
---7------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------
---5------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------

So if I'm playing the above D octave. My first finger is on the 5th fret and my 4th finger is on 7th fret. My first finger is muting the 4th, 2nd and 1st strings (and my 4th finger is also muting the 2nd string, although it's not necessary but, for me, that is just what happens)

BTW, the idea of using the 1st and 4th finger regardless of string sets came from a Don Mock instructional book that I was recently reading thru. I tried it that way and liked it. It looks like Reg does it that way also.

**jayx123** · 01-13-2011, 10:34 AM

Tom and tony thank so much,

Tom, your version showed much improvement from your last recorded tune - well done
fep - I will record some examples with explanations how I use side stepping and will try to upload them as soon as possible

Jay

**tonyknight** · 01-13-2011, 02:31 PM

You're most welcome Jay, and thanks Frank for that explanation - it's not as I would have imagined it, so I'll have to give it a shot!

Following the lead you guys have set, here's my version... there's a little overdrive which I didn't want and the guitar is a bit dark - that's just the set up I'm using, sigh... stillove the guitar though :-)

fmttm-tony.mp3 - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage

**wizard3739** · 01-13-2011, 02:58 PM

OK. I hope my attempt to upload works! If It works, this will be a version of the tune arranged in F with BIAB realtracks for a backing track. Unfortunately, I didn't have time for more than one attempt to record so let me apologize in advance for a shoddy performance. I picked the key of F because that is my vocalists' key and we will use it for this weekends' jazz gigs. I love this thread and hope to be able to participate more often with future tunes. As some of you know, I am primarily an "ear" player so There is not a lot of thought in my improv., but mostly what I hear. Any comments will be very much appreciated.

wiz

Let's Fly To Cancun in F.mp3 - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage

**jayx123** · 01-13-2011, 03:20 PM

Wiz, that was great I really like your cool tone and you have some really nice phrases I enjoyed listening, more please.

Tony, good job mate you can hear that you are more comfortable in the pentatonic/blues scale area

**oilywrag** · 01-13-2011, 03:45 PM

What can I say?

@Wiz lovely with some very cool phrases looking forward to more

@Tony that was well done with some nice pentatonic phrases, nice one Tony.As for the tone, that 335 sounds just fine.

Cheers,

Tom

**wizard3739** · 01-13-2011, 04:16 PM

Good Job Tony, Nice vocal too!! Thanks guys for the nice response to my "F" version of the song. Tom, you and the guys on this thread may have created a monster, thanks to your help, I can upload music here and to my website to my hearts' content. Thank you all very much!

wiz

**fep** · 01-13-2011, 04:45 PM

Hey Tony and Wiz, thanks for joining in.

Wiz, you sound real good, jazzy swing lines, enjoyed the listen. That is a real nice backing track too.

Tony, good voice and sense of humor. That's a spirit I like. And I'm digging those bluesy lines near the end of your solo.

These are my favorite threads. Like friends jamming together offering advice and encouragement. Cheers to you all.

**Reg** · 01-13-2011, 05:19 PM

Well said Frank... Howie... great feel and Tony, yea fun and i dig the blues licks also. What might be cool and maybe helpful to all is to try and explain your solo to us, rather than us explaining it to you. I found that it will help develop your thought process of soloing when you verbally explain to someone else. A trick is to keep as short as possible... all details aren't required. And then we give feedback of how we heard what you were trying to say in your arrangement or solo. Usually after a few tunes you begin to be able actually play what your trying to say in a manor that's understandable to more people... But I'll go along with whatever the group wants to do... best Reg

**Reg** · 01-13-2011, 05:21 PM

I mean each of us explain their arrangement and solo to the group etc... Reg

**Jazzaluk** · 01-13-2011, 05:32 PM

Wiz and Tony ... really enjoyed listening to your tracks as with all the others.

Love the sound of the Sadowsky Wiz.

Its inspiring me to offer up a version on the weekend.

**wizard3739** · 01-13-2011, 09:13 PM

Hey Reg, I will try do what you asked for. My knowledge of jazz theory is decent since I graduated from G.I.T. in the first graduating class (1977-78) but I must admit I don't think about theory very much now. As I may have mentioned, I am mostly an "ear" player and am totally addicted to jazz guitar. I am an old coot now with some arthritis challenges but IMHO, still have much I can learn and do with my guitar.

1) My solos are usually very diatonic unless I really know the tune and the audience.
2) I usually play around with the melody line unless my ear hears something different or better.
3) I learned a long time ago that my ear is more reliable and responsive than trying to use some of the theoretical approaches I have learned over the last several years. I think this is because I have done a lot of transcribing (more horns than guitars) and my practise time now consists mostly of playing tunes (with BIAB realtracks) to get ready for weekend gigs. (at least 2-4 hrs/day)
4) I think I use a lot of melodic minor up a half step for dominants and also repeating a motif up a minor third although it is not by intension but more because that is what my ear tells me to play..
5) I have picked up a few tricks for improvising and I do spend a lot of my spare time listening to my favorite musicians, not all guitar players.
6) My favorite thing to do with my guitar is to comp along with BIAB realtracks and try to play different chord voicing with each chorus. I can usually go about 4-5 choruses before running out of ideas and voicings.
7) My favorite music theory book is Mark Levines Jazz Bible and I always refer to it when I feel like I have reached an impasse or just want to try something I have read about online.
8) I know my approach to jazz improv is probably very dated back in the 40's, 50's 60's and 70's.
9) My biggest regret is I did not play anything from about 1984 to 2004. During that time, I picked up a lot of jazz books and spent a lot of time reading & transcribing. I started playing again in 2005 and will never put my guitar down again. I have been playing with various small groups since 2005 and have had my own small group since 2007.

That is all I can come up with for now. but please allow me to emphasize---ANY comment or ideas you guys on the forum may have to improve my playing will be sincerely appreciated.

**Sailor** · 01-13-2011, 09:31 PM

First, I love this thread but Regs' take on this is a little intimidating...I thought I played this well 'til I heard Reg!!

Wizard...I'm in much the same position. Musical School grad...taught elementary music for quite a while...serious classical guitarist for years. Basically put the guitar down for, like, 20 years, while I became a sailing instructor and boat building fanatic!!! (Hence, SAILOR)

I'll never put it down again. Need to catch up, learn all my scales, chords, arps, standards again...hopefully wiser and older....unfortunately, definitely older!

Sailor

**Dad3353** · 01-13-2011, 09:38 PM

Good evening, all...
All the tracks posted (no exceptions...) are very nice to listen too, and instructive, each with a different 'take', or personality. Special mention, just the same, for Tony's surprise crooning, with a special forum lyric (cunningly avoiding the copyright issues..!). Good voice, too (any others out there..?)!
It may be the simpler chord structure, or the (almost...) diatonic melody, but I found this thread much easier to follow (and thus learn from...) than the previous ones. I not yet ready to inflict my rendering on you (rest easy, 'time on the instrument', sure, but the hands are running down faster than the practicing improves them..!). Could come, though, and, at least for my part, I've gleaned a host of tips and encouragements from your collective input. I'm even rather reassured when I hear the 'clams'; maybe I'm not that far behind after all..?

Bravo to all
(This has been a message from the JazzGuitar.be Forum Self-Appreciation Society, created to promote navel-rubbing, back-slapping and mutual offerings of liquid beverages among it's growing membership. Low inscription fees. Join today for your FREE set of Ginsu knives...)