[Dixielandjazz] Charlie's chord progressions

[Larry Walton Entertainment - St. Louis]

Kent
On guitar, changing keys is just a slip of the fret away that is if you are 
playing up the neck and not using open strings.  Key is just a matter of 
what fret you have parked on or the fingering pattern.  For example the 
blues scale patterns can be slipped up and down the neck for different keys. 
The basic pattern if put on fret 5 gives you A and so on.

The sax is a completely different animal from the guitar.  If you are 
learning to improvise there are probably a lot of things you might do rather 
than learn some licks in various keys.

What you describe doesn't sound like improvising at all.  The second you say 
"Writing it out" just blows it.  If you are truly learning to solo I would 
strongly suggest you start with the Abersold basic blues CD's.

If you have your heart set on it though I would suggest getting some of the 
Jamey Abersold records that do just that.  He takes a progression or tune 
and puts them in various keys.  One of his CD's goes through all the keys 
with 4 different tunes.  I can tell you which CD numbers if you are 
interested but that might not be the best way to go about it.  You might 
also try taking a familiar tune and keep playing it a half step higher 
through all the keys or go around the circle of fifths whichever you prefer. 
Just playing major scales that way is good practice.

I think the whole thing is tearing yourself away from the printed page and 
go for it.  IMO Learning to listen for chord changes is a much more useful 
skill than learning licks in different keys.
Larry
St. Louis
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kent Murdick" <kmurdick at jaguar1.usouthal.edu>
To: "Larry Walton" <larrys.bands at charter.net>
Cc: "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Thursday, July 05, 2007 7:57 AM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Charlie's chord progressions


> Emily Remler (sp?) the jazz guitarist once said that she learned to 
> improvise by taking chord segments (like Charlie's), writing out 10 solos 
> over each one and memorizing them in all keys. She said that once she did 
> that, she could solo like a pro.
>
> I'm currently learning to play saxophone and can solo a little bit, but 
> I'm going to try a scaled down version of Emily's idea.  I'm going to take 
> four chord segments, write  five solos and learn to play them in five 
> keys.  If this changes my life, I'll do the larger project.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> To unsubscribe or change your e-mail preferences for the Dixieland Jazz 
> Mailing list, or to find the online archives, pleas visit:
>
> http://ml.islandnet.com/mailman/listinfo/dixielandjazz
>
>
>
> Dixielandjazz mailing list
> Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
>