Advice on playing through Charlie Parker solos

[stu FORD]

Hi there. Just looking for some advice on these things. I'm working on a few solos out of the omnibook. I took this video today while working up the Ornithology solo. I only did one take so forgive the big fat wrong note in the last 8. This is at 160 bpm, I top out at about 180 and that's even after removing the ornaments and cutting out some of the 16ths. What do other people do when they are practicing these?

I'm kind of looking for some direction on how to practice these solos to get the most out of them. Also looking for tips on working that speed up. I start at about 60 bpm which is about as fast as I can sight read something like this, and usually spend a good thirty minutes down there before even bothering going above 80 bpm. I'm trying to be as legato as the lines will allow me to be on a bass, but certain lines just sit really weird on the instrument.

If you have a minute, please watch the video and give me any tips on how I can be doing this better and where I should take this kind of practice. Feel free to critique any aspect of the playing, if you've got anything constructive to offer.

Thanks!

 

[AGCurry]

I'm pretty impressed that you would even try to play Charlie Parker lines on a bass guitar, and I have no criticisms of your technique at all.

I would say that practice of this kind may not yield quantitative gains, but it's definitely not a waste. Something you learn from it will inform your musicianship in ways you may not even realize.

 

[Spin Doctor]

Hey you sound good to me, man. Just keep doing what you're doing. That tempo will sit fine in a lot of jazz tunes. You don't have to shred unless you just want to.

The trick to playing faster is *drum roll*... Just play faster. Sight reading is great, but you're not gonna be sight-reading a solo on a gig (I hope). Just learn it and try to apply what you learn to other tunes. Another thing to do it transcribe solos from records, CDs etc, by ear and write them out, or just learn them. You don't have to transcribe an entire solo all the time. Just stuff you like. It can be 2 measures, 8 measures, 1 measure, whatever.

That's all I got.

 

[Ed Fuqua]

If you have Audacity on your computer you can take the recording and adjust the tempo without changing the pitch, I’d say get off the paper and start trying to match the phrasing of Bird’s horn. Get all the nuances - dynamics, legato/staccato, slurs, all the articulations.

 

[kesslari]

There's a website called jazzadvice.com - they talk a LOT about how to get the most from doing transcriptions and learning jazz language.
More than just learning how to play the solo - what phrases "speak" to you? Take them out of the context of the tune - what harmonies do they work over? Can you fit them in playing over those changes in a different tune? They go way deeper than this, but just some thoughts.

 

[RSerbel]

These are things that have helped me get anything out of a transcription:

- Memorize the solo regardless of the speed you play it. It makes practicing it so much easier.

- Identifying what he's even playing (chord tones, chromatic approach notes, etc). This was hugely important for me, especially for the next part.

- Take little bits you like from it, exact lines or just concepts (such as 'approach chord tones w/ a chromatic note from below) and turn that in to an exercise, all keys, find out how to fit it to different chord types. It's almost endless at this point.

- Take just parts of the solo and run them slowly and crank up the speed as you go, many many times over and over. I'd find that I'd get to a spot where I start to mess up, then work that over and over, until days or weeks pass. Apply it to any section of the solo then combine sections.

Hope those are helpful man.

 

[Groove Master]

That is pretty good. I also like the fact that you play with the metronome on 2&4 and your timing is good. That is a good start.
I've notice that you use a lot of slide down with the index, I would avoid that for sound and speed.

Good job and good luck you're on the right track,

GM

 

[stu FORD]

If you have Audacity on your computer you can take the recording and adjust the tempo without changing the pitch, I’d say get off the paper and start trying to match the phrasing of Bird’s horn. Get all the nuances - dynamics, legato/staccato, slurs, all the articulations.

HA! This is a game changer. We used to use Audacity at Berklee and I had somehow completely forgotten this tool exists. I just downloaded it, and meant to say thank you but I got sidetracked transcribed 32 bars of something else I had on my mind.

 

[stu FORD]

That is pretty good. I also like the fact that you play with the metronome on 2&4 and your timing is good. That is a good start.
I've notice that you use a lot of slide down with the index, I would avoid that for sound and speed.

Good job and good luck you're on the right track,

GM

Thanks for the reply! Can you shed a little more light on that idea behind sliding down with the index. I can see how sliding down with the pinky or ring finger is faster (if the line allows for it), but I'd like to know more about how it would affect the sound?

 

[stu FORD]

Hey you sound good to me, man. Just keep doing what you're doing. That tempo will sit fine in a lot of jazz tunes. You don't have to shred unless you just want to.

The trick to playing faster is *drum roll*... Just play faster. Sight reading is great, but you're not gonna be sight-reading a solo on a gig (I hope). Just learn it and try to apply what you learn to other tunes. Another thing to do it transcribe solos from records, CDs etc, by ear and write them out, or just learn them. You don't have to transcribe an entire solo all the time. Just stuff you like. It can be 2 measures, 8 measures, 1 measure, whatever.

That's all I got.

I'm not really trying to read faster. It's been a long time since I really had to rely on reading to get through a gig but I would like to be able hang when the tunes are counted off at 240+ bpm. Obviously, I'm playing my own solos on the gig. Bird is just for practicing at home and for finding quotables. My thing is I've got no problem walking changes comfortably up to 280-300 bpm, but anything over 180 is difficult for me to solo on (8th notes).

 

[jchrisk1]

 

[stu FORD]

Thanks man. Which part of Northern MI are you in? I'm in Traverse.

 

[jchrisk1]

Thanks man. Which part of Northern MI are you in? I'm in Traverse.

I'm not far at all, Benzonia.

 

[Groove Master]

Thanks for the reply! Can you shed a little more light on that idea behind sliding down with the index. I can see how sliding down with the pinky or ring finger is faster (if the line allows for it), but I'd like to know more about how it would affect the sound?

The idea is to use a pull-off instead of a slide which is not very jazz sounding on a fretted bass with the index. This is due to the pressure needed on that finger which is closed to the thumb's pressure point. I usually play a stretch between the 3-2 instead and pull-off the last note to the 1 if it makes sense. To me it sounds much smoother and the hand is more solid and create a better phrasing. Tempo is another element also. Like in Donna Lee I do used a slide 1-1 in the second phrase though.

 

[Ed Fuqua]

Thanks for the reply! Can you shed a little more light on that idea behind sliding down with the index. I can see how sliding down with the pinky or ring finger is faster (if the line allows for it), but I'd like to know more about how it would affect the sound?

Well getting back to phrasing, is that fall off/slide something Bird is doing or is it something you’re “teaching” yourself to do at the end of every phrase that has a rest after it? Because that, you know, can, you know, become a, you know, verbal, you know, “tic” if you’re not, you know, careful. You know?

And sure, reading through transcriptions is good sight reading practice. But, for me, the best approach is the way in which you can use them to exercise your improvisational “muscle” - listening to the solo at half speed and singing along with it until you get all the nuances, then doing the same thing with it at full speed. THEN picking up the instrument and playing the notes you are singing/hearing. Because that’s what happens when you improvise, you audiate a line and you play it on your instrument.

 

[stu FORD]

Well getting back to phrasing, is that fall off/slide something Bird is doing or is it something you’re “teaching” yourself to do at the end of every phrase that has a rest after it? Because that, you know, can, you know, become a, you know, verbal, you know, “tic” if you’re not, you know, careful. You know?

And sure, reading through transcriptions is good sight reading practice. But, for me, the best approach is the way in which you can use them to exercise your improvisational “muscle” - listening to the solo at half speed and singing along with it until you get all the nuances, then doing the same thing with it at full speed. THEN picking up the instrument and playing the notes you are singing/hearing. Because that’s what happens when you improvise, you audiate a line and you play it on your instrument.

Thank you, Ed. Point taken. I appreciate the advice.

 

[joelns]

The benefit to learning solos like this is in expanding the vocabulary that you can use on your own. In order to be able to apply it, you need to understand how it works (in a theory context) over the changes. What are the chord tones? The approach notes? Then understand the phrasing, inflections, volume and tonal changes within the phrase. Where are the accents and what's "soft"?

Once you really understand it, not just how to play it, but really understand what was "said", then you'll be able to apply the concepts and learnings to your own improvisations.

I think most of that's already been said.