My first (maybe second) poll. Just curious how other members approach tunes. I've purchased many play-along recordings over the years but find I don't really use them. I learn from lead sheets and then try to find a recording for solo ideas. Usually just me, my horn, and a metronome.
How do you learn and practice tunes?
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Personally, if I don't know the song, I'll try to find a version of it online that I can listen to a little bit. If I have a bit of an idea of how it sounds already, I'll usually just try and sightread it. It's good for sightreading practice, and counting, as well as learning the song.
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My stuff is all 1920's jazz, so I try to get to the original recordings and listen to how the composer played it. I've found that many current trad bands do not play the same chord changes as were done by the composer (BABY, WON'T YOU PLEASE COME HOME is a prime example), nor are the fake books accurate.
I get the melody in my head, then if I'm stumped on a certain change, I'll do more research. I also like to play the same key as was done by the composer and if there is no original recording by the composer, I'll next go to the published sheet music, although I realize that some tunes have been published in a variety of keys. Still, one must be flexible enough to play a tune in many keys - vocalists, you know. DAVE
I get the melody in my head, then if I'm stumped on a certain change, I'll do more research. I also like to play the same key as was done by the composer and if there is no original recording by the composer, I'll next go to the published sheet music, although I realize that some tunes have been published in a variety of keys. Still, one must be flexible enough to play a tune in many keys - vocalists, you know. DAVE
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with jazz, i would say originally its learn the melody sheet with the changes,mainly because of the complexity that jazz can have!..with many other genres rock/soul/funk/pop, i tend to like to learn the riffs"phrases by ear more listening to recordings of originals!,and immersing as best i can in what i hear,overall though its good to play by ear as much as possible, because i always believe in developing ones"inner sense..if that makes sense??"..ha.
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I find the oldest and best recording I can, then go straight to the piano. The bass line (especially during the head) gives away A LOT of the harmony, so I transcribe that first, after learning the melody, of course. Then I make my own lead sheet and check it against a published version, if available.
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Another vote for the mixed experience! I like learning songs with playalongs, but I find I get a better feel for the form if I play it and solo over the changes unaccompanied. I've learned a couple songs by listening to recordings, and I learn most tunes from lead sheets. For playing at jam sessions I have found that it's better to be 100% confident on the melody and know 90% of the changes than vice versa.
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I learn the melody, try to learn it in as many ways as possible, fool around with it for quite some time. Then I learn the chords, from the bass line up to the basic chords and then the possible extensions. Play the chords on the piano. Then I try to combine the melody with the chord structure.
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Thank you, I was wondering how people learned the chords without the leadsheet.
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From the link I posted:
Learning Melodies: Excerpted from http://forum.saxontheweb.net/showthread.php?130972-When-you-see-a-Minor-chord-how-do-you-think
Here's a memorization method taught to me by Daryl Lowery, a great sax player in Boston. I may have tweaked it a bit to fit my own learning style.
Start by singing the whole passage. Don't play it first as a reference, just work out the sounds of the intervals in your head, and only sing the note when you know you have it right. This takes a long time at first, but you get better quickly. After you've sung it several times reading off the page, try to sing it from memory. Close your eyes and get as far as you can, and cheat when you need to. When you can do this correctly all the time, it's time to pick up the horn. Sing the first note and then play it. If you play the wrong note, sing it again, and play it again. The important thing here is not the first note: that can be whatever you want, and you can check that against the sax. The important thing is every note thereafter. Work out the intervals in your head before you play them. Start at the beginning with one note, then add the second, third, etc., so you're learning to play the whole phrase. After adding each note, sing the whole phrase once, then sing it up to the new note you are about to add. All this really is is ear-training: learning to hear and recognize intervals and them play them on the horn quickly. While this exercise is designed to help you memorize tunes, it will help all aspects of your musicianship, as well.
While this seems like a lot of work, it is much quicker than trying to learn long passages through repetition. It also sticks the stuff in your brain longer. After I learned this technique, I took an hour to work through Donna Lee with it, and I still remember that head 5 years later! This is a good method for learning new scale qualities, chord qualities, licks, tunes, passages, or whatever. It cuts down your time learning in 12 keys, too, because you will already have the singing part learned when you go on to a new key.
Learning Changes: Excerpted from http://forum.saxontheweb.net/showth...hanges-on-standard-tunes.&p=937399#post937399
The way I teach memorization from the page is a 7-step method.
1) Listen to the tune. This gives a general and practical idea of what the sound and feel of the tune is all about.
2) Play the head a few times. This gives you a connection to what is most important to the listener: the melody.
3) Play through the roots on quarter notes (w/ metronome), just tongue them every beat. Starts giving you an idea of the form.
4) Turning off the metronome, take your time and shed each arpeggio independently of time/rhythm, but keep them in order as they appear in the tune. This ensures that you know all the notes in each chord, and trains your fingers to associate those notes and that sound with the chord symbol in your face.
5) Run through the arpeggios in time with the metronome. Builds a stronger concept of the form. Makes you get those chord tones down.
6) Again, independently of time/rhythm, improvise freely on each chord, pause and move to the next one. This helps you come up with ideas that work in a given place in the tune, and here's where we start getting specific to your case, you will notice similarities in the way you approach some chords, and will train yourself to hear the key centers in a practical, non-theoretical way.
7) This last step could be broken up into several steps, I guess, but then it wouldn't be a 7-step program! Here, with the metronome, we run through the tune several times. First time, play roots a la step 3. Next, hold the thirds of each chord. Afterwards, hold the 7ths. Finally, look for (and write down if you need to) "guide tone lines" that move chromatically from 3rds to 7ths and vice versa.
Learning Melodies: Excerpted from http://forum.saxontheweb.net/showthread.php?130972-When-you-see-a-Minor-chord-how-do-you-think
Here's a memorization method taught to me by Daryl Lowery, a great sax player in Boston. I may have tweaked it a bit to fit my own learning style.
Start by singing the whole passage. Don't play it first as a reference, just work out the sounds of the intervals in your head, and only sing the note when you know you have it right. This takes a long time at first, but you get better quickly. After you've sung it several times reading off the page, try to sing it from memory. Close your eyes and get as far as you can, and cheat when you need to. When you can do this correctly all the time, it's time to pick up the horn. Sing the first note and then play it. If you play the wrong note, sing it again, and play it again. The important thing here is not the first note: that can be whatever you want, and you can check that against the sax. The important thing is every note thereafter. Work out the intervals in your head before you play them. Start at the beginning with one note, then add the second, third, etc., so you're learning to play the whole phrase. After adding each note, sing the whole phrase once, then sing it up to the new note you are about to add. All this really is is ear-training: learning to hear and recognize intervals and them play them on the horn quickly. While this exercise is designed to help you memorize tunes, it will help all aspects of your musicianship, as well.
While this seems like a lot of work, it is much quicker than trying to learn long passages through repetition. It also sticks the stuff in your brain longer. After I learned this technique, I took an hour to work through Donna Lee with it, and I still remember that head 5 years later! This is a good method for learning new scale qualities, chord qualities, licks, tunes, passages, or whatever. It cuts down your time learning in 12 keys, too, because you will already have the singing part learned when you go on to a new key.
Learning Changes: Excerpted from http://forum.saxontheweb.net/showth...hanges-on-standard-tunes.&p=937399#post937399
The way I teach memorization from the page is a 7-step method.
1) Listen to the tune. This gives a general and practical idea of what the sound and feel of the tune is all about.
2) Play the head a few times. This gives you a connection to what is most important to the listener: the melody.
3) Play through the roots on quarter notes (w/ metronome), just tongue them every beat. Starts giving you an idea of the form.
4) Turning off the metronome, take your time and shed each arpeggio independently of time/rhythm, but keep them in order as they appear in the tune. This ensures that you know all the notes in each chord, and trains your fingers to associate those notes and that sound with the chord symbol in your face.
5) Run through the arpeggios in time with the metronome. Builds a stronger concept of the form. Makes you get those chord tones down.
6) Again, independently of time/rhythm, improvise freely on each chord, pause and move to the next one. This helps you come up with ideas that work in a given place in the tune, and here's where we start getting specific to your case, you will notice similarities in the way you approach some chords, and will train yourself to hear the key centers in a practical, non-theoretical way.
7) This last step could be broken up into several steps, I guess, but then it wouldn't be a 7-step program! Here, with the metronome, we run through the tune several times. First time, play roots a la step 3. Next, hold the thirds of each chord. Afterwards, hold the 7ths. Finally, look for (and write down if you need to) "guide tone lines" that move chromatically from 3rds to 7ths and vice versa.
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keep on listening to it until i get it. if it's got some weird changes other than typical standard changes, then i might consult a lead sheet...but for most standards it's not necessary. once i play through the head for a week, doing it slowly, i can get the general idea of what the change is...
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