The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #476

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    It's the summertime, and the living is easy. So we're beginning August with a really nice tune that can give everyone something to work with.
    Alice in Wonderland is a tune that has a very listenable harmony and melody, yet as we can see from Bill Evans' version, there's a lot you can do when you play with what's there. So it's a manageable song that you can really grow with. In the key of C, with some nice turnarounds that combine to bring us home in the bridge.
    I hope you find something in this tune and I hope you share your ideas. Or at least let me know if anyone is actually reading any of these.
    David

    Commit to a song a week. What could a serious student hope to learn?-screen-shot-2018-08-07-8-23-08-am-png

    Here's Bill Evans and his trio in the famous Vanguard run. This is actually how I learned about this tune.


    I think of John Abercrombie as one of the most respectful and truest keeper of the Bill Evans flame. Here's his take on Alice in Wonderland in a trio with sidemen who played with Bill.



    Dave Brubeck with Paul Desmond


    Hope you find this tune an adventure and a satifying experience to work with.

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  3. #477

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    I really love John Abercrombie's version of Alice. That disc is a real gem...

  4. #478

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    I'm following along, using this thread as a sort of "weekly lesson". I really appreciate all the work you put into this. I'm trying to learn the songs from the recordings and then check with the lead sheet after so it takes me a while but I'll try to post results when I can. Right now I'm still working on the melody of Alice in Wonderland, but I know when I get to improvising I will have problems with the 3/4 time. I feel very stiff and rhythmically repetitive in 3/4. Any suggestions for how to get it sounding as loose and free feeling as Bill Evans and John Abercrombie? Perhaps I should begin by practicing just the melody notes phrased different ways?

  5. #479

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    For me, I find it very helpful to use Transcribe to just loop a few measure section of a solo I like and just focus on matching the the feeling and phrasing. After I can play along with that section, I continue the loop but start to work on counter and complementary melodies that keep the same feeling. By focusing on a smaller bit it lets me just hang with that and getting comfortable rather than trying to dive right into the whole form.

  6. #480

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    That's a really good suggestion. Unfortunately, for me, playing songs in bite size chunks results in me not knowing the form - I'll go from one chunk to another, but not in the right sequence . This is a particular weakness of mine. To counter act this, if I'm practicing the first four bars, I'll improvise over the first four bars and then comp out play melody through the rest of the form until I'm back at the top. Takes forever but right now it's necessary for me.

  7. #481

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    My suggestion was really focused on getting the phrasing flow in 3/4 down. I totally agree it doesn't help with the learning the form!

  8. #482

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    I hear ya! I'll try it, but I'll imagine I'm not playing part of Alice in Wonderland, I'm just playing "ii V I IV"!

  9. #483

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    Quote Originally Posted by ibnrushd
    I feel very stiff and rhythmically repetitive in 3/4.
    I find that 3/4 has a flow of its own, and it's like rowing a boat on water with small waves, as opposed to the more open feel of an even meter. It's a good way to explore more minimal phrasing, maybe even a single note in a measure. How does the placement of this note within that 3/4 "wave" change what you can do? It's also a good way to really come to grips with just how different longer notes and eighth notes are, not only in sound but in function. Use eighths to support a given note of choice, to support an idea rhythmically.
    I always look to minimizing when trying to get into a rhythmic understanding. We tend to inherit our phrasing from others, or just find patterns by default. Rhythm is a plateau of playing unto itself and working with odd meters really puts you out there in making each note find a place within a cadence that doesn't "walk" like even counted meters do.
    Great question, and a whole dimension of this tune I'd failed to focus on. Nice!

    David

  10. #484

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    From the first time I looked at this tune, it's had the strongest affinity with me. I've always found a real natural flow to it, an ease in the melodic and harmonic progression.
    There Will Never Be Another You never gets tired for me. I never stop finding new things in it.
    The tune is in the key of Eb, and really doesn't modulate from there. There are some nice secondary dominants but the root movement is very nicely laid out for the improvisor.
    Commit to a song a week. What could a serious student hope to learn?-screen-shot-2018-08-11-7-36-03-am-png
    In its most basic form, it moves down the scale from the I chord EbMajor. Down through the VII which takes you to the VI minor.
    At the root position of the V we see the II of IV, see how you expect a major or dominant sound and you're delighted with the minor that leads you to the IV? Then you've got the set up back to home.

    The melody breaks the ABAC form into phrases that closely follow the systems of the page (each line on the paper seems to have a nice complete feeling to it, with a short pickup note taking you to the next system). This gives you a nice guideline to how you might phrase yourself.
    First system seems like a melodic idea.
    Second system parallels that idea with a minor tint to it.
    Third system has two small phrases that can work nicely to question and answer one another.
    Fourth system ties up the first half of the tune and seems to ask a question at the same time (ending with that all inquisitive B7 leading home to Eb)
    The second half of the tune starts off similarly but winds up ending with almost a vamp-like long turnaround in home tonality Eb. Try out your best extended ideas here, just make sure you're home on time for the final arrival of Eb.

    I hope you see some of the familiar structures and feel adventurous enough to try out some new ideas in the space where the form allows.
    Maybe we can explore some ways to take expectation and introduce some more adventurous "out" ideas to get new colours from the solo. I can talk about that if there's any commentary here that shows interest.
    Thanks for the thoughts, questions and feedback as they come to you. I love seeing how things are developing.
    More thoughts after we've had a handshake and run with this piece. Hope you like it!
    David

    The deep end of the pool with Sonny Rollins. Listen carefully to his choice of ideas and see if you can hear how his individual phrases grow out of one another, where they fit on the form and how they use vocabulary that is within your own knowledge. This is a master class in itself.



    Wes has a version



    Hank Mobley swings his lines and his phrases are so elegantly embellished and his ideas are always so strong.



    Kenny Burrell's nice chord solo



    Hope you can use these examples to give you ideas. Start slow, and really savour the qualities of the progressions, your lines and strive for meaningful ideas. Remember, start slowly, hear your ideas and then respect what you create when you build upon it.
    Have fun!

  11. #485

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    Such a great tune!










  12. #486

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    Quote Originally Posted by TruthHertz
    From the first time I looked at this tune, it's had the strongest affinity with me. I've always found a real natural flow to it, an ease in the melodic and harmonic progression.
    There Will Never Be Another You never gets tired for me. I never stop finding new things in it.
    The tune is in the key of Eb, and really doesn't modulate from there. There are some nice secondary dominants but the root movement is very nicely laid out for the improvisor.
    Commit to a song a week. What could a serious student hope to learn?-screen-shot-2018-08-11-7-36-03-am-png
    In its most basic form, it moves down the scale from the I chord EbMajor. Down through the VII which takes you to the VI minor.
    At the root position of the V we see the II of IV, see how you expect a major or dominant sound and you're delighted with the minor that leads you to the IV? Then you've got the set up back to home.

    The melody breaks the ABAC form into phrases that closely follow the systems of the page (each line on the paper seems to have a nice complete feeling to it, with a short pickup note taking you to the next system). This gives you a nice guideline to how you might phrase yourself.
    First system seems like a melodic idea.
    Second system parallels that idea with a minor tint to it.
    Third system has two small phrases that can work nicely to question and answer one another.
    Fourth system ties up the first half of the tune and seems to ask a question at the same time (ending with that all inquisitive B7 leading home to Eb)
    The second half of the tune starts off similarly but winds up ending with almost a vamp-like long turnaround in home tonality Eb. Try out your best extended ideas here, just make sure you're home on time for the final arrival of Eb.

    I hope you see some of the familiar structures and feel adventurous enough to try out some new ideas in the space where the form allows.
    Maybe we can explore some ways to take expectation and introduce some more adventurous "out" ideas to get new colours from the solo. I can talk about that if there's any commentary here that shows interest.
    Thanks for the thoughts, questions and feedback as they come to you. I love seeing how things are developing.
    More thoughts after we've had a handshake and run with this piece. Hope you like it!
    David

    The deep end of the pool with Sonny Rollins. Listen carefully to his choice of ideas and see if you can hear how his individual phrases grow out of one another, where they fit on the form and how they use vocabulary that is within your own knowledge. This is a master class in itself.



    Wes has a version



    Hank Mobley swings his lines and his phrases are so elegantly embellished and his ideas are always so strong.



    Kenny Burrell's nice chord solo



    Hope you can use these examples to give you ideas. Start slow, and really savour the qualities of the progressions, your lines and strive for meaningful ideas. Remember, start slowly, hear your ideas and then respect what you create when you build upon it.
    Have fun!
    Perfect timing. This is the tune I have been working since your hiatus, David. I’m working full-time these days, but hope to be able to fully participate this week like old times.

  13. #487

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    I'm happy so many are on board and checking this out. A few things I like about working with There Will Never..., simple devices like a scale, how effective they can be when combined with some figure at the end. And this same scale can be given a completely new life when the rhythm is changed around. And look at how a scale can be motific if you change the chord scale it's based on, or change the ending. Or look at how the small intervals can be contrasted with wider leaps.
    As you're putting together your solo, try thinking of the forest as well as the trees. I mean the process of laying down notes is something that can be practiced. Keep in mind things you want to do, a motif, an intervallic relationship, etc. and keep that in mind, through development, embellishment, through rhythmic interest. How long can you maintain intention and an idea? This kind of thinking can give your thoughts of scales meaning and context, and it makes a solo not only interesting, but a composition.

    I'm working around a lot of guitarists this week, it's Guitar Week at the school in town and I'm hearing a lot of notes, notes that have been run and practiced a LOT. But what is being said as a larger whole is not a priority.
    It's certainly something to consider as a part of your thinking when you spend your time on the instrument.

    Thoughts?
    David

  14. #488

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    Re: notes. Just a silly little exercise or idea here. Instead of playing the lines that you hear in your head, how about switch it around and let the note values for the lines you hear in your head provide the rhythm for the rests instead. And your goal is to play notes where you would normally rest. Does that make sense?

  15. #489

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    Quote Originally Posted by wzpgsr
    Re: notes. Just a silly little exercise or idea here. Instead of playing the lines that you hear in your head, how about switch it around and let the note values for the lines you hear in your head provide the rhythm for the rests instead. And your goal is to play notes where you would normally rest. Does that make sense?
    It does! At least in my mind. If I'm hearing you correctly, you imagine where and what you would have normally played, then you work in the negative space. Very nice!
    If you've ever read interviews with drummer Tony Williams, he loved working with Miles, and he learned a lot about playing/not playing by using the space that Miles left at the end of a phrase. Commentary and reaction, creating in unexpected places you wouldn't normally think of.
    A friend has his students play an exercise called Space Stella, where you'd play over a change or two, a bar or two, you set the parameters, and then you lay out. This is really fun with another player. Not the same thing as your idea but kinda along the same lines.
    Another really fun workout also involves playing with a friend. You split the form up, maybe two bars each and you alternate between comping and soloing. It sure keeps you alert!
    Thanks for the idea!
    David

  16. #490

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    Wow this is a great tune for practicing different tempos. Each one of those versions feels so different, but the song still sounds great.

  17. #491

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    Stardust is a really nice piece by the composer of so many great tunes, Hoagy Carmichael. I remember hearing this on a Charlie Christian record and thinking "I'll be happy when I can play this as a solo piece." It's always been a great piece for me.
    Commit to a song a week. What could a serious student hope to learn?-screen-shot-2018-08-26-9-27-03-am-png
    It's a piece that can be broken down to a few familiar tonal areas in the key of C. Some interesting spices, the IVM going to IVmin is a nice touch. That is a common usage of this modal interchange progression and a nice way to add a contour to the harmony.
    In the 5th line (system), there's a D9. This is a secondary dominant going to G7, or a nice introduction of some tension that takes us back home.
    Give this a spin and see what you think.

    David

    Charlie Christian's version


    Coltrane's version is pretty soulful and worth checking out. The way he builds up the solo on the themes of the original tune is SO Coltrane.


    The lyrics and lyrical by Nat Cole with the great verse


    Chet Atkins!


    Even Willy Nelson had a place for this tune in his repertoire

  18. #492

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    As we work on this week's piece, I realize that we're approaching September. We're nearing a full year of study together and a tour of the many tunes that make up jazz vehicles and improvisation.
    I thought I'd ask you to share your ideas on how you approach making, studying, practicing and playing a solo. What kinds of things have been helpful? What pieces have helped you? Has this been helpful?

    One idea I'll throw out is the idea of Question and Answer.... or Call and Response... or statement and comment.

    I've been working with a student on a daily basis for the past month and one thing I've been impressed by is how awkward it can be to be mindful of what's going on around one, how to listen, and then how to respond. This takes an analytical, a thoughtful, a decisive approach to your playing to be spontaneous and purposeful in response. It can be the easiest thing or the most difficult thing: staying in control of your solo.

    I'd love it if we could share our thoughts on this, on this piece, on this process (immersion in a piece a week) and what we're doing these days in our growth and development.

    There are so many people on so many levels of study, at different points in our journey, I'd love it if we could all inspire each other and open up the discussion on what has been helpful here.

    Thanks so much!

    David

  19. #493

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    Such a fine song!






  20. #494

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    Jobim's tunes have always had a clear and pleasing sense of movement, often in fresh and unexpected ways. This week's tune is a tune certainly worth the time to know and play on. Wave flows like a series of waves, finding movement from one tonal centre to the next, and giving us a great opportunity to use our secondary dominants and 7th substitutions to get to these areas.
    I've put the lead sheet and then a little map of some of the islands that we can aim towards throughout the piece. It's this sense of movement that makes this piece so much fun to play.
    Starting in an introduction to the key of D, we are pulled into the next island, in G
    G, the IV chord, then goes through a transition into that F#13 measure. Now that's a nice dominant sound going to the B9, but I also hear it as a D/F# inversion measure, where I create a little more diatonic resting area, but that's a choice I make personally. (to this end, I'd hoped that we might evolve more into interpretations and substitutions of a given harmony in this thread but it seems that there's not much to this thread anymore... sorry to see the ends of our discussions here. But onward-)
    A series of secondary dominants bring us back to the home key, or to the bridge.
    THe bridge is a nice easy trip to F.
    And another transition to Eb
    Which brings us back to the A section again like the top, and home in D.

    Commit to a song a week. What could a serious student hope to learn?-screen-shot-2018-09-09-10-38-44-am-png
    and one way to see a closer look
    Commit to a song a week. What could a serious student hope to learn?-screen-shot-2018-09-09-10-37-42-am-png

    Jobim's original



    I love this version, Paul Desmond and Ed Bikert



    Dexter Gordon's version is a great example of phrases that are clear and concise



    Stan Getz played this throughout his carreer and in great ways, made this tune his own. Great feeling



    I hope you guys find something compelling, if not enlightening in this tune.
    If there's no more interest in this thread, maybe it's a good time to call this a wrap and Wave goodbye.

    anyone out there?

    David

  21. #495

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    I'm still here but insanely busy and fighting physical issues that are limiting limiting practice time. But I really appreciate your analysis and find it very helpful!

  22. #496

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    Still lurking and absorbing

  23. #497

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    It was a year ago that I started to put together a program of tunes that would, in essence, create an environment of immersion for those who had found some traction in the Howard Roberts Super Chops program we did together. Honestly, it was a good time for me to do this, I'd kind of gotten over the fascination with those aspects of guitar besides playing (no more need for acquisition or personality worship) the task of being someone who REALLY understood the process seemed a good one, especially with like-minded players in this forum. We've covered much more than just tunes in this past year. Thank you all.

    This summer I had the great fortune to take on a student with whom I met on a daily basis. 6 days a week. Absolute immersion and practical discussion of the craft, abstract discussion of the art and the peripheral brought into focus. During that time I came to work with learning improvisation in a three layered process; each layer constantly being revisited and subjected to an organic evolution.
    The Form.
    Whether it was the blues form or free form, the awareness of the form and what it really means is the foundation we worked with. From the earliest lessons, I emphasized understanding of the form as something akin to a walk through a house, different rooms being accessed and each room distinct and requiring a unique mindset. When you get off book, and see recurring forms, and harmonic structures, you see form as something like another player: you respect, understand and play within its limitations and boundries.
    The Syntax
    This is the choice of mechanisms you use to adhere or build within the form. Chords, scales, consonant textures, dissonance and space. SO much goes into what you can play and getting to fit these choices on the Form was the second level we worked with.
    The Language
    In the end, we created our own language built on the synthesis of our syntax and the tendencies we found in our own playing that we developed, developed to that habit could be revealed and used for its strength, never relied upon through weakness. This was the challenge and the source of the greatest satisfaction.

    All three of these areas were an ongoing evolution throughout our time together.
    I hoped that we might share our own questions and observations with each other, to use the forum to become more creative and realized improvisors. I have loved the questions and contributions of those of you who've followed and added to this yearlong journey.
    The last couple of weeks we'll look at tunes, but also at where we are, what we do and how we grow before this year closes.

    Hey y'all, tell me who you are in the lives you lead as players. If your fascination with jazz guitar is about playing, let's hear about your partnership with tunes, your struggles and how we've come to see tunes in a different light.

    I look forward to this final turnaround!

    David

  24. #498

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    As we close out this year of practice, there are so many things we've encountered, and still so many questions and answers to explore. One of them is: How, when and why do we navigate ourselves to coordinate the shifting tonal areas of a song form and the options we've got at our disposal throughout the guitar fingerboard. For me this speaks directly to my question of "How do some players seem to have endless ideas through their solos and how can I learn to think that way?"
    One idea I've been working with has been moving figures and ideas down by whole notes.
    Here's a challenging and really useful exercise I start my practice with: I take a major scale based phrase or song segment and I play it in any key; I can begin anywhere. At the start of the week I can do this at a slow metronome setting. Play it for a number of beats/bars. I like one or two measures.
    Then drop down a whole step. This is enough so it "washes the taste" of the key and we begin again. I keep in mind the phrase I just played, but this time I can play it again, or I can make a variation, or I can embellish, or I can reverse direction... the point is to be aware of where I'm going, and what I can do.
    The more I do this, the more intent I can impart on what I play. After a while I can create a "larger picture" free of noodling that takes me where I don't want to go.

    The next exercise is taking a minor scale, and doing the same thing. Dorian is nice. Dorian phrase, drop down a whole step and dorian phrase. You'd be surprised at how this can focus your playing.

    Then try alternating. Either on the same note (Bb major and Bb minor, drop down whole step) or with descending whole tones (Bb major drop down Ab minor, Gb/F# major...)

    These whole tone sequences will open up the focus and vision of your phrasing and can take you away from single tonal noodling, or that awkward "Now what do I do?" soloing that leads to falling into cliche or lick based ruts.

    This is one of a number of techniques I use to get to really know the fingerboard, the sound of changes and the options I have.
    When you do this exercise in the variations I've suggested, you may even see and recognize some of the pieces we've encountered through our yearlong catalogue. Doing this slowly and gradually increasing will for sure open up abilities and musical options you may not have explored before.

    See if this does anything for you if you feel like it. The variations are endless, as your soloing should be. Have fun!

    David

  25. #499

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    OK. I guess I've lost anyone who was intrigued with this idea. I'd thought that through an ever increasing familiarity and facility with the structures and language of standards and tunes, we could bring our playing to include the elements of outside/inside playing over standards. I see that's not of interest so I'll say it's been a fun journey and I hope there'll always be something to be had for those self driven players who look for the limitations of their playing, of the form, of the music you hear, and strive to go beyond it through knowledge, facility and imagination.

    Yes, I still pick a tune every few days and personally, I still find something new about the instrument and the music every single day. It's the reason I love this music. I look at improvised music as an infinite series of steps. In this way, you don't get to the heights deemed impossible unless you progress steadily and humbly; then one day you look around and you've got an understanding that you're where you once considered impossible.

    A lot of progress can be made by following other people's footsteps. There is no doubt that much can be learned from the studious assimilation of other peoples' work. Too, we can fall into the dangerous place where we limit ourselves by staying in the shadows of others and not constantly searching for the things that inspired and nourished them. Acquire the tools and build your own. That's always the message.

    One example of this thinking was the set of exercises I'd thrown out there in the previous post-the whole step root movement exercise.
    It's true that for someone merely wanting to learn a tune for a jam, doing exercises like this aren't of practical use if you just want to play a tune. OK. Maybe not. Or maybe it's just not the step you want to take because you don't think it goes anywhere. Fair enough.

    So let's look at a final tune now.

    Commit to a song a week. What could a serious student hope to learn?-miss-jones-png

    Have You Met Miss Jones has been a real staple of the standards book for a long time. So many approaches to this tune and it really reflects the individual's knowledge of tonal landscape and getting around in it. This is just one way to look at what's going on.

    The piece is in the key of F and the A part is a nice relatively straightforward journey in the key of F.
    We begin at home. F Major.
    A transitional chord leads us to the II V of our key. That's nice, pretty manageable way to create some movement.
    Hey since we're headed home, let's take a little detour and go the III, VI, II, V route and THEN go home. That's nice. That's the A part.

    B part.
    Hey what's going on here?!! Hey I heard people talk about Coltrane changes. Hey I see people following the changes from their real books. Hey I see people trying to play this one by ear with varying degrees of success. What's going on?
    One way you can look at it is take our key of F and make that F a springboard to new tonal areas.
    F7 leads to Bb. Cool
    Drop down a whole step and we can play minor
    Drop down a whole step and we can play major (look at it anyway you want but it works nicely with the previous measure too)
    Drop down a whole step and play minor
    Drop down a whole step and play major. Boy this is fun. Do we detect a pattern here?
    Now we break the pattern, the key and create a turnaround to Gb
    Do the same thing a half step down and we're in our original key of F.

    Back to the A part. That was fun.

    Yeah that bridge is kinda like the exercise we met last post. And it's kinda like a water slide ride; once you know how it goes, it's not so dangerous and you can begin to have some fun.

    That's the form of the piece as I see it, and this map is just one of many ways to look at Miss Jones. You can spend the rest of your life working with and playing a song and if your imagination is ever growing, you will be able to avoid getting bored or falling into a solo you've played once before.
    Get to know the fingerboard. Just because a line seems to descend doesn't mean you need to be moving DOWN the fingerboard. Use the whole instrument-you paid for it, use it.

    I hope this year has been an enlightening one for you and for those of you who get as much or more from what you play as the trappings of the instrument itself, for those of you that find that rush in finding new ways to grow and express yourself, never limit yourself.
    You can learn something new every day. By next year this time, you won't recognize yourself.

    Thanks for taking this trip with me.

    David

  26. #500

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    Truth Hertz,

    I tried the descending whole step exercise, but I don't quite understand what you mean when you say it's a step toward outside/inside playing over standards. I do see that it forces me not to rely on familiar physical patterns, but to hear a melodic idea and find it in different keys and different places on the neck. So I've been trying to play the same or similar short melodic ideas in as many places as possible over a standard tune.

    What do you mean by outside/inside playing over standards, and how does the whole step exercise lead to it?