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Most of the standards, or 'American songbook' rather, they are not that hard to learn, because they seem to be a natural voice melodies, for singers, and probably written by just humming a melody over a chord progression.
Bebop heads are the whole other thing though, they are requiring some virtuosity, and need to be well rehearsed IMO.
Personally, I started copying things on guitar long before I learned to read, so finding right notes on the spot has become a second nature for me... which doesn't mean I don't f..k up. I do, and generally prefer horns playing heads. It's a also an aesthetic preference- I believe a horn instrument is more expressive in delivering the melody, in jazz!
But if I have to do it, like Christian said, I sometimes may end up paraphrasing the original, which I don't have a problem with, sorry! Done with a right attitude, it still works. If it was good enough for Django, it's good enough for me.
In the end, yes, learning a melody by ear is so much easier and faster for me than by reading, and I memorize it better that way too. So, highly recommended!
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01-22-2018 01:30 PM
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I find bop heads easier than song melodies myself.
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I'm the opposite. I'm still kinda working on Donna Lee, ha! But even if I mastered it cold, I wouldn't want to play it on a bandstand, unless there is a gun to my head
Originally Posted by christianm77
Thankfully, no one ever asked me to.
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The nice thing about bop heads is there's a "right" way to play them! Originally Posted by christianm77
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DL is a linear challenge - there is an end point. Originally Posted by Hep To The Jive
I'm the opposite. I'm still kinda working on Donna Lee, ha! But even if I mastered it cold, I wouldn't want to play it on a bandstand, unless there is a gun to my head Thankfully, no one ever asked me to.
Standards are never about the technical challenge.... It's deeper.... Non-linear...
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That also make them more like Classical music pieces, just with a lot of sincopation and dissonnance. Play one note wrong or misplace in rhythm, and you 'failed'. Where is the freedom? Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
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well you can reinterpret them.... there are variations.... Originally Posted by Hep To The Jive
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I think that's probably pretty unusual. I definitely find bop heads more difficult. Originally Posted by christianm77
John
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Really? Nobody tell Bird that ... Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
John
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What part? Originally Posted by christianm77
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They're just notes. If you have an effective technique and enough time, the problem of learning them is essentially trivial. One secret - don't try and pick every note... Learn how to slur in a bebop way... Originally Posted by John A.
The bonus is you learn 50 bebop heads and you have enough language to play bop (David Baker...) Bop language is kind of nuts'n'bolts... That not the sum total of the genius of Bird, but you can appreciate the extent to which this is true when you look at the generation Bird influenced.
Interpreting a melody is a real artform. There so much that goes into this... Much more mysterious...
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Listen to Bird live and compare to recorded versions.... Originally Posted by Hep To The Jive
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My problem is more with hearing them than playing them. Once I've actually got the melody correctly in my head, physically playing it is not a big deal (to a point;Donna Lee at 300 BPM ain't gonna happen no matter how well I might hear it). But I find getting the rhythms, offbeatss, leaps, etc. right to be a challenge. GASB tunes have way less of this, in general. Originally Posted by christianm77
John
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It’s a challenge for sure! I’d have to be insane to say otherwise.... but there’s a clear ground map.... Originally Posted by John A.
Rhythm? Well count the beat in 4/4 or 2/2 while you play the line. Map it. Lock it in. Play with the record. Play to click, and so on. Hard, but measurable outcomes and you know it’s tough so you don’t feel a fool for failing at it sometimes.
It will teach you vocabulary - harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic.
But learning a melody to a song? Well 1) phrasing - There’s no single right way to do it, but weak melody playing, man, sticks out. Makes everything else sound like amateur hour. I think guitarists are weak at melodies? Perhaps it’s just me.
It’s why trio (bass/drums) gigs are hard. I can’t rattle off bop heads so much because they sound thin in a trio. Strong melodies sound great... but you have to play them strong.
Even just mistakes... miss a couple of notes in DL and pick it up again... fine. Mess up a note in a standard.... you don’t have to be a musician to spot that. You’re naked.
It’s like Mozart. I’m told many concert pianists terrified of Mozart. Too simple. Revolution etude, Liszt etc. Fine. Makes the piano roar; you feel like a badass if you can play it...
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Oh singing bop heads through slowly is something that’s quite hard sometimes but good practice... getting the pitching exact is a challenge...
Also, transposing them to different keys is a good exercise.. not to performance level, but as a fretboard mapping exercise. Doing it by ear - if you can’t hear it you can’t play it...
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Learning melodies teaches a lot if you really learn it and express it... the simplicity of standard tunes sometimes work against us.. They seem so familiar and easy that we think we know how to play them without really learning)
As said some time ago I even enjoy learning standard tune thouroughly... its structure, motives, development of motives and harmonic realtions... because it makes feel the song inside out...
You play every note with confidence and meaning...
By the way I remember the discussion I had with my teacher long ago about 1st chord of Can't Get Started... seems to be so simple but teh question was exactly about the melody - is it really Cmaj7 or C triad or C6 (followed by its inversion A-7)...
And that teacher always stopped if he saw that I tried to play the tune on the spot by ear... actually my first visit to him was a shame... because I could not really play a single tune)) Even the Autumn leaves.. he stopped and said: you think you began to improvize right away? No, you just did not learn the tune...
But after the first lesson when was leaving he said... ''learn the tunes and so you'll be a great tuneplayer you know these guys 'fantastic tune-players' and then the vamp comes and oops... just kidding it's not about you''
I am not sure if he was kidding...
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