Re: diminished modes

Lawson G. Stone ( (no email) )
Fri, 16 May 1997 13:36:43 -0400

reed wrote:
>
> Mike,
>
> There are 16 year old kids that after one or two years of learning
> jazz can already play really well and sit in at local clubs.
>
> Of course they are very talented but I bring this up to point out that the
> way they are thinking about music has to be simple because they
> havent been doing it long enough for jazz to be some complicated thing
> to do. I.e. it's not quantum mechanics or general relativity. People
> take heroin and get up on stage and play jazz.
>
> Of course I don't mean to trivialize things or to say that it doesnt
> take tremendous amounts of work to be a good jazz player
> but my point is that if you are approaching things in some complicated
> way it's probably the wrong way.
>
> If a sixteen year old can play jazz well after a year or two,
> I can guarantee you they didnt spend time learning things in twelve keys,
> learning to tap on 2 and 4, trying to use chord scales to improvise over
> standard tunes, ....
>

I consider the great value of this discussion list for me precisely to
be in the shattering of mythology and the discussion of real principles
for playing good music. I wonder some time if we should't compile some
kind of list of these various ideas that get passed around, what goal
they are supposed to serve, and what things should be done to make real
progress.

I started out being told to learn all the scales and arpeggios, use them
to improvise over tunes, to practise exercises, tap on 2/4, etc. Of
course, I was always told "Oh yeah, you do need to learn the actual
tunes, and transcribing is a good idea too."

In fact, I realize now that as important as basic interval knowledge is
(scales and arpeggios) learning tunes, transcribing, and composing need
to be moved to the top of the list of study and practise activities.
Instead of getting tied in knots trying to tap on 2 and 4, transcribing
32 measures of Bird will get one a lot further a lot faster.

-- 
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Lawson G. Stone—Asbury Theological Seminary—Wilmore, KY  40390
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"You know, a long time ago, being crazy meant something. Nowadays,
everybody's crazy." Charles Manson