[Dixielandjazz] Sing Song Girl

[Gluetje1 at aol.com]

Hi Allan,
I have needed to dance as fast as I can to try and catch up just a bit with 
 coming late to jazz also.  With questions like yours about Sing Song Girl 
I  start with the Internet looking up the song, the composer, the era, the  
slang, etc.  Since my once upon a time schooled history had almost  nothing 
to do with the twentieth century, it has been a wonderful way to finally  
learn a bit more history.
 
As far as coming late to using one ears for finding melodies and chords I  
don't know any fast or painless way to begin that.  I am of the opinion  
that this ability is on a bell curve as is whatever an IQ test  measures, etc.  
So all I know to advise is to start with simple tunes you  know well, trail 
and error or such as the melody to say, "Happy Birthday", then  the chords, 
then try again on another starting note; i.e., in another  key.  We may 
never get expert but we can get better than we were.
Ginny
 
 
In a message dated 10/18/2009 4:54:13 A.M. Central Daylight Time,  
allanbrown at dsl.pipex.com writes:

Thanks  again folks. It's a pretty bizarre song, I can't work out what  it's
supposed to be about. Was it originally part of a stage show or  something?

Thanks for the fakebook leads. Goodness, that Charles  Anderson collection 
is
astonishing! There must be hundreds of gems buried  in there. However, I
think I'll begin by looking about the  http://www.ultimatebanjo.com/ site.
The trouble is I know so few of the  songs that I wouldn't really know where
to begin.

I have real  trouble trying to transcribe or even play melody lines and
chords from  tunes I like (or dislike for that matter.) I tried for hours to
work out  the melody for Persian Rug of my guitar and when the lead sheets
came  through I realised I wasn't even close. I know there's no quick fix  
for
this sort of thing, but I refuse to be beaten and am very riled by  the
thought that some people have a natural gift for this and I  don't!

Does anyone have any thoughts about the most effective way of  developing
this skill?  

Allan