Hey Duke! Great tune, and as Stephen said, great to hear you singing it. So here's my first attempt at this style. I hope it's mostly sloppy in a good way. ;-) And a great excuse to pull out my 1960-ish Harmony Stratotone! Hope all is going well with the tour and recording, but nice to have you back! Thanks, Duke. I'd love to hear what you think of this. Bruce
Hey Steve. Yup, the Ebm is in bar 5 (I have it marked as Ebm7) and it is indeed the II of the upcoming Db. You could easily get away with just playing an Ab7 (dominant 7 like in blues) over both bars 5 and 6. Bar 9 is still in Db major and in bar 10 as long as you play the Fb (or E natural) on the Dbm6 it's easy. The next part goes through a small section of "cycle of 5ths". You can actually play that a bunch of ways; you can substitute chords with the same tri-tone, which happens to always work out to be chromatic. For example, Ab | F7 | Bb7 | Eb7 | could be played as Ab | F7 | E7 | Eb7 , going down chromatically to make it easier. The tri-tone in Bb7 is D and Ab, where D is the 3rd and Ab is the 7th. Where on a E7, Ab (or G#) is the 3rd and D is the 7th. Functionally they both work and you can intermix them to get a really interesting sound. Sorry, I get very geeky when I talk about music theory, I've always found it pretty fascinating. Regards, Bruce
One of the techniques I use for soloing over a lot of chords is to think about dividing the song into "tonal centers". When the chords are all diatonic to the key, like Ab6, Bbm7, Cm7, Db6, Eb7, Fm7, etc, you don't even have to think about those so much as different scales, because they all use the Ab major scale (i.e. play over the I chord). There are better notes and worse notes to use for the chords, but the notes will all sort of fit for the most part. So the Bb7 that starts the tune off is not diatonic, but close. The only difference is that it uses a D natural instead of a Db, making the Bb major instead of minor. If you played a Db by accident, it would sound a bit bluesier than you might want in this tune, but you could always just slide up to the D natural. So I think of the first four bars as being basically in the Ab major tonal center and the second four bars as being in the Db tonal center. The Ebm7 to Ab7 is a II-V that brings us into the new tonal center of Db. So you could play the first four bars in Ab and the second four bars in Db and it'll be pretty close. But if you know some good II-V licks to play over the Ebm7 to Ab7, it really helps to emphasize the change in tonal centers.
Does that make any sense? I hope it helps! Looking forward to hearing that sweet vibrato of yours on this.
You can also get these chords from Duke's first lesson on the PDF transcription. I put parens around chords that you don't really need to think about so much for soloing.
Thanks so much, Duke! In addition to teaching me how to play, you have taught me how to really *enjoy* playing the guitar. Looking forward to the next lesson and to hearing your new album! Best, Bruce
Hey Duke, me again. Here's my new version of this one. Hope you enjoy it! Glad to hear you've been recording, would love to hear some new stuff from you! This morning my wife and I did laundry while I was listening to Bill Jennings on my iPhone. Man, I can't believe that he isn't more well known. He's so great. Thanks so much for turning us on to him! Take care, hope you like my tune. Best, Bruce
Great job on this Bruce, I like your ideas and it's good to hear you improvising on the changes. You are playing very melodic and tasteful and it's really gratifying to see the results! Duke
Thanks so much, Duke! In addition to teaching me how to play, you have taught me how to really *enjoy* playing the guitar. Looking forward to the next lesson and to hearing your new album! Best, Bruce
Wow Duke, you have blown my mind with this lesson. You are doing exactly what you said, playing around inside the chord shape. At first it was like finding a constellation in the sky, trying to trace imaginary lines from different points, in this case notes, in order to create a shape, and in this case, the chord shape. Once I saw that you were literally (like you said) playing around in the chord shape, all I had to do was figure out what inversion you were thinking about and it was all laid out there, super clear, how you were playing through the chord. Another VERY good reason to learn those chords in the first lesson! ;-) Thanks a lot, Duke. I'm hoping to post a video by tomorrow. Bruce
Hey Duke! Thanks for noticing that I was quoting the opening to the solo from the original. ;-) I love that phrase. I really fell in love with this tune when I heard Lambert, Hendrix and Ross do it. They do an amazing version, copping the solos almost exactly while adding Jon Hendrix's amazing lyrics. Annie Ross sings that phrase as "Mellowly, mellowly mellowly..." and I melted when I first heard her do it. This tune really is a lot of fun to play and it's been great for my playing. I would love to hear what you think about this one! Take care and thanks for the great lesson! Bruce
PS here's the Lambert, Hendrix and Ross version, in case you don't know it. I really think it's quite brilliant.
Hey Duke! So here's where I'm at with the melody and fills. It sure is tricky adding in those fills, but a lot of fun. I have to keep reminding myself that I have plenty of time and not drop the end of the phrase in order to get to the next position on the neck. I'm also working hard to be more focused and play with a clear intention. I would love to hear what you think about how it's going. ;-) Thanks for all the great ideas! Best, Bruce
Hey Duke! You picked one of my 100 or so favorite Duke Ellington tunes! ;-) That intro is very cool. Looking forward very much to the next lessons. I would love to hear any thoughts you have on this. Take care, Bruce.
Hey Duke! So here's my take on this one. I didn't use the quick four because it was too much trouble to change my backing track. :-) Great tune, lots of fun to play. I'd love to get your feedback on this. Thanks! Bruce
Hey Steve, thanks a lot! Yeah, that throw is kind of psychedelic. My grandmother made it about 50 years ago, but I'm pretty sure she wasn't on anything except high blood pressure meds. ;-) Take care, Bruce
Hey Duke! Thanks for the new lesson and the great tune! Last night my wife said, "That song you were working on -- did Billy Taylor do that?" and I said I didn't know, that I though it was a JImmy Smith tune. But we looked it up on her Billy Tayor album and there it was, a piano version of TNT. Billy's version is very cool too.
I think this one is really helping me to get a better understanding of keeping the groove between the beats, and most definitely it is a lot of fun to play! Would love to hear what you think about this effort of mine.
Thanks, Duke!
PS, here's Billy Taylor's very cool piano version.
Hey Steve, thanks a lot! Yeah, that throw is kind of psychedelic. My grandmother made it about 50 years ago, but I'm pretty sure she wasn't on anything except high blood pressure meds. ;-) Take care, Bruce
Hi Corey! Still working on this one, feeling stronger on it all the time. What do you think? I know that thumb is still wacky, but it just wants so much to do that. Thanks, Bruce
I'm aware that I'm still occasionally doing funny things with my thumb and not always supporting the slide with my other fingers, and I'm working on that. But aside from that, I feel like this is pretty good progress. Even my wife commented that my slide playing is sounding good, and she's usually the hardest one to impress. ;-) Would love to hear your thoughts.
Thanks Bruce. Yes you are making great progress. I would say only to work on steadying your tempo... Maybe try tapping your foot to keep time, it use a metronome. Also use the heal of your wrist to mute the strings and hey more isolation for the notes you want to feature in the song. I like your enthusiasm when you play. Thanks again for posting.
Hi Corey. Back again with a more rehearsed and comfortable with the words version. I'm playing sans annoying metronome today and the time does wander a little, but hopefully with enough feeling to justify it. As you always advise, I'm really focusing on trying to start out by moderating the volume and intensity of both my guitar and vocal so that there's some room to grow. I'm trying to build it up so that the solo is the highest peak, and then bring it back down after the solo into the last verse and ending. And trying to play more accurately on the slide! Anyway, look forward to hearing your comments. Best wishes to you. Bruce
Greetings. Your performance here is much more relaxed... you are taking your time with this and it sounds better. Two things that stand out: watch the positioning of your thumb on your left hand...seems that sometimes you are letting it float in front of the neck instead of behind the neck. Also continue to work on your slide phrasing...it seems a little stiff. Your volume when you play is good...thats what I was talking about. Keep working on thanks for sharing
My pleasure, Steve! Sounds great. I can really hear you building ideas and playing through the changes on the improv section. Nice work! Bruce
Hey Duke! Great tune, and as Stephen said, great to hear you singing it. So here's my first attempt at this style. I hope it's mostly sloppy in a good way. ;-) And a great excuse to pull out my 1960-ish Harmony Stratotone! Hope all is going well with the tour and recording, but nice to have you back! Thanks, Duke. I'd love to hear what you think of this. Bruce
Hey Steve. Yup, the Ebm is in bar 5 (I have it marked as Ebm7) and it is indeed the II of the upcoming Db. You could easily get away with just playing an Ab7 (dominant 7 like in blues) over both bars 5 and 6. Bar 9 is still in Db major and in bar 10 as long as you play the Fb (or E natural) on the Dbm6 it's easy. The next part goes through a small section of "cycle of 5ths". You can actually play that a bunch of ways; you can substitute chords with the same tri-tone, which happens to always work out to be chromatic. For example, Ab | F7 | Bb7 | Eb7 | could be played as Ab | F7 | E7 | Eb7 , going down chromatically to make it easier. The tri-tone in Bb7 is D and Ab, where D is the 3rd and Ab is the 7th. Where on a E7, Ab (or G#) is the 3rd and D is the 7th. Functionally they both work and you can intermix them to get a really interesting sound. Sorry, I get very geeky when I talk about music theory, I've always found it pretty fascinating. Regards, Bruce
(part 2)
One of the techniques I use for soloing over a lot of chords is to think about dividing the song into "tonal centers". When the chords are all diatonic to the key, like Ab6, Bbm7, Cm7, Db6, Eb7, Fm7, etc, you don't even have to think about those so much as different scales, because they all use the Ab major scale (i.e. play over the I chord). There are better notes and worse notes to use for the chords, but the notes will all sort of fit for the most part. So the Bb7 that starts the tune off is not diatonic, but close. The only difference is that it uses a D natural instead of a Db, making the Bb major instead of minor. If you played a Db by accident, it would sound a bit bluesier than you might want in this tune, but you could always just slide up to the D natural. So I think of the first four bars as being basically in the Ab major tonal center and the second four bars as being in the Db tonal center. The Ebm7 to Ab7 is a II-V that brings us into the new tonal center of Db. So you could play the first four bars in Ab and the second four bars in Db and it'll be pretty close. But if you know some good II-V licks to play over the Ebm7 to Ab7, it really helps to emphasize the change in tonal centers.
Does that make any sense? I hope it helps! Looking forward to hearing that sweet vibrato of yours on this.
Best,
Bruce
Hey Steve, mind if I offer my 2 cents? The A section actually starts on the Bb7 for one bar, Eb7 for one bar, then Ab6 for two bars.
A section (first 16 bars)
Bb7 | Eb7 | Ab6 | Ab6 | Ebm7 | Ab7 13 (Ab7 b13) | Db6 | Db6 |
Db6 | Dbm6 | Ab6 | F7 | Bb7 | Bb7 | Eb7 (D7) | Eb7 |
and here's the last half of the B section (the first 8 bars are the same as the A section)
Db6 | Do7 (diminished) | Ab6 | F7 | Bb7 | Eb7 | Ab6 | Ab6 |
You can also get these chords from Duke's first lesson on the PDF transcription. I put parens around chords that you don't really need to think about so much for soloing.
(part 2 coming up!)
Thanks so much, Duke! In addition to teaching me how to play, you have taught me how to really *enjoy* playing the guitar. Looking forward to the next lesson and to hearing your new album! Best, Bruce
Hey Duke, me again. Here's my new version of this one. Hope you enjoy it! Glad to hear you've been recording, would love to hear some new stuff from you! This morning my wife and I did laundry while I was listening to Bill Jennings on my iPhone. Man, I can't believe that he isn't more well known. He's so great. Thanks so much for turning us on to him! Take care, hope you like my tune. Best, Bruce
Great job on this Bruce, I like your ideas and it's good to hear you improvising on the changes. You are playing very melodic and tasteful and it's really gratifying to see the results! Duke
Thanks so much, Duke! In addition to teaching me how to play, you have taught me how to really *enjoy* playing the guitar. Looking forward to the next lesson and to hearing your new album! Best, Bruce
Wow Duke, you have blown my mind with this lesson. You are doing exactly what you said, playing around inside the chord shape. At first it was like finding a constellation in the sky, trying to trace imaginary lines from different points, in this case notes, in order to create a shape, and in this case, the chord shape. Once I saw that you were literally (like you said) playing around in the chord shape, all I had to do was figure out what inversion you were thinking about and it was all laid out there, super clear, how you were playing through the chord. Another VERY good reason to learn those chords in the first lesson! ;-) Thanks a lot, Duke. I'm hoping to post a video by tomorrow. Bruce
Hey Duke! Thanks for noticing that I was quoting the opening to the solo from the original. ;-) I love that phrase. I really fell in love with this tune when I heard Lambert, Hendrix and Ross do it. They do an amazing version, copping the solos almost exactly while adding Jon Hendrix's amazing lyrics. Annie Ross sings that phrase as "Mellowly, mellowly mellowly..." and I melted when I first heard her do it. This tune really is a lot of fun to play and it's been great for my playing. I would love to hear what you think about this one! Take care and thanks for the great lesson! Bruce
PS here's the Lambert, Hendrix and Ross version, in case you don't know it. I really think it's quite brilliant.
Hey Duke! So here's where I'm at with the melody and fills. It sure is tricky adding in those fills, but a lot of fun. I have to keep reminding myself that I have plenty of time and not drop the end of the phrase in order to get to the next position on the neck. I'm also working hard to be more focused and play with a clear intention. I would love to hear what you think about how it's going. ;-) Thanks for all the great ideas! Best, Bruce
Hey Duke! You picked one of my 100 or so favorite Duke Ellington tunes! ;-) That intro is very cool. Looking forward very much to the next lessons. I would love to hear any thoughts you have on this. Take care, Bruce.
Hey Bruce, I must be one of your faves, you started your solo with a quote from the original recording! Good work! Duke
Hey Duke! So here's my take on this one. I didn't use the quick four because it was too much trouble to change my backing track. :-) Great tune, lots of fun to play. I'd love to get your feedback on this. Thanks! Bruce
Pretty playing, Steve, as usual.
Hey Steve, thanks a lot! Yeah, that throw is kind of psychedelic. My grandmother made it about 50 years ago, but I'm pretty sure she wasn't on anything except high blood pressure meds. ;-) Take care, Bruce
Hey Duke! Thanks for the new lesson and the great tune! Last night my wife said, "That song you were working on -- did Billy Taylor do that?" and I said I didn't know, that I though it was a JImmy Smith tune. But we looked it up on her Billy Tayor album and there it was, a piano version of TNT. Billy's version is very cool too.
I think this one is really helping me to get a better understanding of keeping the groove between the beats, and most definitely it is a lot of fun to play! Would love to hear what you think about this effort of mine.
Thanks, Duke!
PS, here's Billy Taylor's very cool piano version.
Hey Bruce. Nice.
The throw on your couch is messing with my mind.
Cheers
Steve
Hey Steve, thanks a lot! Yeah, that throw is kind of psychedelic. My grandmother made it about 50 years ago, but I'm pretty sure she wasn't on anything except high blood pressure meds. ;-) Take care, Bruce
Hi Corey! Still working on this one, feeling stronger on it all the time. What do you think? I know that thumb is still wacky, but it just wants so much to do that. Thanks, Bruce
Hi Corey,
I'm aware that I'm still occasionally doing funny things with my thumb and not always supporting the slide with my other fingers, and I'm working on that. But aside from that, I feel like this is pretty good progress. Even my wife commented that my slide playing is sounding good, and she's usually the hardest one to impress. ;-) Would love to hear your thoughts.
Peace and best wishes to you, Bruce.
Thanks Bruce. Yes you are making great progress. I would say only to work on steadying your tempo... Maybe try tapping your foot to keep time, it use a metronome. Also use the heal of your wrist to mute the strings and hey more isolation for the notes you want to feature in the song. I like your enthusiasm when you play. Thanks again for posting.
Thank you, Corey! That is great to hear! I will most definitely keep at it. Best to you, Bruce.
Thanks, Corey! I am very grateful for the feedback and will keep working on. I look forward to sharing more efforts with you in future. Bruce
Hi Corey. Back again with a more rehearsed and comfortable with the words version. I'm playing sans annoying metronome today and the time does wander a little, but hopefully with enough feeling to justify it. As you always advise, I'm really focusing on trying to start out by moderating the volume and intensity of both my guitar and vocal so that there's some room to grow. I'm trying to build it up so that the solo is the highest peak, and then bring it back down after the solo into the last verse and ending. And trying to play more accurately on the slide! Anyway, look forward to hearing your comments. Best wishes to you. Bruce
Greetings. Your performance here is much more relaxed... you are taking your time with this and it sounds better. Two things that stand out: watch the positioning of your thumb on your left hand...seems that sometimes you are letting it float in front of the neck instead of behind the neck. Also continue to work on your slide phrasing...it seems a little stiff. Your volume when you play is good...thats what I was talking about. Keep working on thanks for sharing
Thanks, Corey! I am very grateful for the feedback and will keep working on. I look forward to sharing more efforts with you in future. Bruce