OK People. Here is my first attempt. Decided to play this one on Soprano. There are a few dodgy notes
chords are a bit much to handle at the moment, but then again, thats the point of learning the tune! Any tips on how to approach these chords would be much appreciated
I normaly post a version at the start of the month, work on it and hopefully have a improved version at the end. Anyway, let me know what you think.
Nice sound. I appreciate your courage! Great way to do it. It didn't sound as bad as you think.
I am not much in the position to give advice, but the way I think about this tune is
(1) listen to vocal versions, such as the following version -- I very much like her interpretation:
When Sunny Gets Blue - accompanying a singer
There are many good vocal versions. Check out the one by Barbara Streisand also:
When sunny gets blue - BARBRA STREISAND
When I am playing this, I think like a vocalist, singing in my head and trying to play what I hear in my head. Vocalists take liberties with time, pushing and pulling, and they often imply chord substitutions that open a new window in the melody. I have been caught doing similar things, based on what I hear in my head. As Alex suggested, the better you know the melody, the more you are going to hear in your head and the more magic can happen.
(2) Analyze the chords. In concert key, the A section is in F-major, but it modulates here and there. The first bar is a ii-V in Fmaj, but the second bar (ii-V in Abmaj) comes between it and the Fmaj7 resolution in the 3rd bar. If I were more advanced, I might be able to recognize the function of the 2nd bar, but I don't. Maybe it's just a temporary modulation to Abmaj. The 2nd chord in the 3rd bar is a ii chord, then the 4th bar is a ii-V of Gmaj. Then the 5th and 6th bars start off with a minor ii-V-I in Aminor, but the V chord is kind of a tritone substitution (it walks chromatically down from the ii to the I. All goes here -- it is just building tension. Then the 6th bar is like the 5th bar, but a whole step lower, heading into a ii-V in Fmaj, the home key, in the 7th bar. The 8th bar (1st ending) always sounds wrong to me and I don't know what to do with it. The second ending is just a ii-V leading into the I (Dmaj7) of the B section. In the B-section we are in the key of Dmaj in the first four bars, where we have the sequence: I-ii iii-VI7 ii-V I. Then the second 4 bars appears to modulate to the key of Cmaj, where we have the sequence: ii-V I-ii (7th and 8th bars I think should be a ii-V-I in Cmaj, like the 3rd and 4th bars are in Dmaj, but there is some extra color). At the very end there is a ii-V-I in Fmaj, but the V is again a tritone substitution to add more color and tension. This is not an authoritative analysis, just based on the Real Book version and my amateur understanding.
So what to do with this knowledge? Well, I'm learning as much as you all are... but I usually try to know what my key center is at any given time and often just play in that key and throw in some chromaticism, using my ear and knowing the melody. If I had more time to learn and memorize, and practice, I would aim to really understand the functions of the chords (tension/release/temporary modulation/etc) and see how the melody fits them. But since I don't practice a heck of a lot, I have to think fast on my feet, especially when reading the tune in concert key and transposing, which is what I do most of the time. I am usually scolded for this, and as I understand it, most real musicians memorize tunes by knowing their chord progressions (which are usually variations of going around the cycle of fourths within the key, like I IV iii vi ii V I).
I would like to hear how everybody else thinks. I'm always impressed when I go to a jam session and the band knows every tune from memory. Some have amazing ears, and some know how each tune works internally.
tuner.ninja
