Hello,
I may be noob-knighted for this one but it would be well worth it for this song.

I recently borrowed a copy of one of the Real Books and have had some trouble following the chord changes in 'Round Midnight.

I know all the chords but seem to lose it after the first time through it all. Are there any tell tale signs of when the music and changes begin repeating themselves or will I just have to ear it out?

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Can you play the melody in yer sleep in at least two keys? That helps me a lot on tunes I have trouble memorizing the changes to.

there are multiple sets of changes for this tune. if you really want to learn it, check out the monk version(s) and then the Wes Montgomery verion(s.) do the hard work, and people will love you more. can't tell you how many times i have earned another gig by knowing the intro/arrangement/changes off the album...

the real book= the wrong book!!!!!!!!!:mad:

Even if you know the song, it's not an easy one to play on bass, esp for a noob. -- been there, in fact still there.

It's an object lessson in "fewer notes is good", and they gotta be good notes or they just get in the way. Go to the library and check out a couple recordings to get some ideas.

Hello,
I may be noob-knighted for this one but it would be well worth it for this song.

I recently borrowed a copy of one of the Real Books and have had some trouble following the chord changes in 'Round Midnight.

I know all the chords but seem to lose it after the first time through it all. Are there any tell tale signs of when the music and changes begin repeating themselves or will I just have to ear it out?

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated. Thanks


Ummm, it's a 32 bar tune (not including the intro and outro) right? So it "repeats" after 32 bars.

But you gotta hear form...

there are multiple sets of changes for this tune. if you really want to learn it, check out the monk version(s) and then the Wes Montgomery verion(s.) do the hard work, and people will love you more. can't tell you how many times i have earned another gig by knowing the intro/arrangement/changes off the album...

the real book= the wrong book!!!!!!!!!:mad:

The 6th Edition changes are a lot better than any of the illegal ones. But you're right, it still doesn't have any of the intro/arrangement stuff that normally go with the tune.

If you are getting lost, then think/sing the melody as you walk.
If you won't learn the head, the you gotta spend a long long time memorizing the changes. To make it easier, break it all down into key centers and though you may miss a change or two, your ear should hear that new key center.

If you can't play the melody, or be able to sing it then you're hurting yourself in many ways.

1. Getting lost
2. Not having that melodic resource to pull from in the middle of your bass solo.
3. Other players will think your not hungry since you don't know the head of Round Midnight!