Re: Soloing
David Kaczorowski ( kaczordk@UMDNJ.EDU )
Wed, 18 Dec 1996 22:41:26 -0500 (EST)
At the risk of sounding like an uneducated ass, which I may be, I've
been following this thread and wondering: is all this talk of dominant
bebop scales and chromaticism not just a lot of over analysis?
Though I'm certain I'm not nearly as experienced as many of you, I have
spent a lot of time studying my instrument and studying the way music
moves, and all of this seems to be a lot of trouble. I will probably
download Reed's exercises and give them a look as sight reading material.
As a part of my practice I read from Slonimsky's Thesaurus of Scales and
Patterns. As a result, chromaticism, whole tones, bi-tones (interval of
a third), etc. and their various interpolations and exterpolations are
becoming a part of my regular musical vocabulary and do not need to be
thought about as such. Anything anyone ever plays is just a combination
of the things found in this book. Furthermore, in the process of
practicing such material you will become a better reader, you'll come
to know your axe better, and perhaps most importantly, you will learn
the sounds of different intervals and interval patterns. This will
help in transcribing also.
Now that I've gotten a little side-tracked, let me make my point.
In the course of working on such material you will not need to think
things like,"Oh man, I've got to work on my chromaticism." You'll
already know it without even really knowing that you know it. IMHO,
if you're thinking about something this specific, you're digging
too deep.
Peace,
David Kaczorowski
Kaczordk@umdnj.edu