Or a medium swing piece like how high the moon or there will never be another you. I always feel like I start to lose meaning or direction when soloing on them.
Brilliant! This makes it so much clearer! I am a music teacher certified in a method called "The Kodaly Method," which is very based in singing and solfege. Finished the training like 10 years ago and always wanted to find more ways to apply it to my own jazz learning. I've dabbled on and off, but after watching this, I'm seeing how it can really help open up a tune like Giant Steps by reducing it to these very musical patterns (mrd, bebop scale fragment, drmst, etc.). Thank you for putting this video and the etude together!
This is amazing. How many times I've listened to G.S. and wondered what the hell I would play over it (if I could), and not being able to afford to pay somebody for enough music lessons to get to the point of having this explained to me, feels like skipping the hard work and learning the genius stuff off the bat. I feel like Kim Jong Ill after he played golf for the first time, hit 9 holes-in-one, and decided he need play golf no more. Cheers!
This etude helps you to see the underlying pattern of the shifting key centers. The first three bars outline an augmented triad with two drops of a Maj 3rd: Bmaj7 / Gmaj7 / Ebmaj7. At this point, the harmonic rhythm pauses from cut-time to regular as we sit on Ebmaj7 for a full measure and then take a full measure for ii-V to Gmaj7. Now we're back to the cut-time harmonic rhythm again, identical two drops of a Maj 3rd starting this time from Gmaj7 / Ebmaj7/ Bmaj7. Again, we sit on the Bmaj7 a full measure and take a full measure for the ii-V that will take us up a Maj 3rd to Ebmaj7 and the pattern will continue in regular-time harmonic rhythm with the ii-V's moving us up by major 3rds: We hit G, then B, then further up to Eb and the final ii-V taking us back down to B which is the head. Essentially the song is built on straight forward movement within an arpeggiated augmented chord made up of B, G, and Eb. Whether up or down, the key change is always a Maj 3rd away.
Best example of the harmony i have seen Interestingly enough on " The best of J.C." the last song is Central Park West which is the slow ballad version of Giant Steps. As a ballad that underlining scale movement that sets up the key centers is just so important to the song as much more than an augmented cycle , it is a beautiful melody
This is great! I watched a masterclass by Gary Pwacock and he said the same thing: a great advance in ear training is when you s next think of one note in the context of every chord. He considered this skill essential to playing bass well.
The etude becomes much easier to sing by avoiding the chromatic passing notes in bars 1&2 and 5&6 (db between d and c etc.). They can be effectively substituted by the diatonic notes b, g, and eb/d# which happen to be the tonic notes of the preceding key (the one that's just being left) as well as the 6th/13th of the dominant chord leading into the following tonal center.
@@kikodasneves1 no man that's like a really low b you may be mistaking it with the b an octave up which his voice's timbre mistakingly makes it sound like because he is having so little trouble going down there
AHHHHHH! Jeff, my brotha! I've been talking about singing over Giant Steps for years. Hell, on my crappy channel, I talk about singing through tunes while relating everything to the key signature--not each chord. It's the Charlie Banacos way. Anyway, glad to hear you telling everyone to sing through tunes. I'm a guitarist and singing was my gateway into really CONNECTING with the tunes I play and the solos I take over the tunes. It's a LONG process, but it's so much more interesting than doing Chord Scale Theory for the upteenth time... Hats off to you! My singing through Giant Steps is much worse than yours, but I might be able to put it together again to illustrate the key signature chromatic solfege approach. So that would mean hearing and singing Giant Steps in B major and using chromatics to account for all the cycles that occur in the key. This "one key" concept works because most tunes start in a home key, do some traveling to add tension, and then return home. Giant Steps is a great example of being home, taking a very colorful trip, and then returning home. Does this make sense? I hope so :) I could illustrate the Charlie Banacos way by singing your etude in his manner and posting it in reply to your video. Do I have your permission?
A good way of hearing the note relations is to use movable do. Just move the note you want to the scale degree it corresponds to. For example if the 3rd turns into the root then youd move your Mi to Do and then that would fix the relation in your head
good stuff! I found this video clarifying! I practice/play Steps as much as possible and learn something new about it every time I work it!PS:.The improv shown works somewhat as a bass line to a point! ;)
beginners guide : just play Db major scale over ( B maj - D7) A major scale over the ( G maj 7 - Bb7 ) and F major scale over the ( Eb maj 7 - Gb7) Those are the tricky passages. Just try to start on chord tones. and yu can add 1 half step. If yu dont start on a chord tone then dont add the half step and it will even out...😉
oh, man. simple piece. dorian scales ; ami dorian (g major scale) for the D7sus chord and CmiDorian (Bb major scale) for the F7sus chord, basically mixolydian scales (D mixolydian = G major (ionian), F mixolydian = Bb major (ionian)).. but think of it as a slash. i like to think of it as Ami (dorian)/D to Cmi (dorian)/F , can use those min. pentatonics too if u like.. common notes between the two dorian scales are - C,D,G,A, so can ride on those notes for melody /voice leading. hope this helps
When I learned GS on my soprano I sang the root notes of the harmony away from the piano/guitar until I had really internalised the harmony. Your approach of taking a line through the harmony is different. Is this easier than singing the root (or 3rds) through the form? Do you think that you hear the progression as well with this or with single notes such as roots?
Great question, Bill. I’d say my method here is easier (and thus, more effective) than singing only roots or only thirds. Jumping around from chord tone to chord tone in a tune like this can sound (and feel) awkward, especially when singing. My etude sets up the chord tones with a more melodic line and with fewer awkward intervals, which can be difficult to sing without the aid of an instrument. That said, being able to sing through with roots only is certainly worth practing as well!
Thanks. But I don’t use big computer. Only my iPhone, Jeff. That’s where my goodreader app is and there’s no icon to send to someone else via email and then have them print. So I guess I’m out of luck? This new technology is a bit much for old farts like me. I’m lucky to know how to find you on RU-vid. So I’m grateful.
I’m 74 and not being a smart ass. I just don’t see way to send to a big computer from my phone. Which I do with lots of stuff I get of lessons from RU-vid etc. I’m well aware that you can’t print on a phone.
@@brucejeric6701 Oh. Sorry, I wasn't meaning to offend you (no idea what I said, but my bad). Also, I didn't know you couldn't print from phones. I figured I just didn't know what I was doing. I'll stop now, so this will be the last reply. I just doubted Jeff would see your comment and tried to help.
easy: replace the B7 with A7 and you will see all of the 2-5-1's. it's easy. another thing is play the damn whole tone scale every once in a while. this is legit and you will sound legit if you do it. don't get hung up on this shit. there are harder tunes to solo on.
@@popespalace823 It was a joke. Flanagan is a cool dude, I really like a lot of his other stuff. He just wasn't at his best during that recording session...
@@adgp8945 extremely! in fact i sing when i improvise now! my fingers and brain are faster than my mouth, so anything i sing i can 'capture' with my hands, changes the way i play entirely!! also: body motion is extremely important. musicians who sit there stiff as a bolt, sound, well, stiff as a bolt... physical motion translates to emotion...
