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How to Learn Tunes, Step 1 - Listen!!!

March 28, 2008 – 11:34 am

This is the second in a series of posts about How to Learn Tunes. To view the introductory post, click here.

The first and by far the most important step in learning any tune is listening to it, ALOT! The first step is not to look at your real book and play through the melody, as some of you may believe. After all, music is an aural art. The tune was written for you, and everyone else, to hear it, not to read it on a page.

Start with finding as many versions of the tune you are trying to learn as you can. If it is a standard, there are probably hundreds out there. Search your library and make a playlist of all the versions you already have. Try and get the quintessential version of the tune. If it is a Duke Ellington tune - get a version of Duke playing it. If you’re not sure what the quintessential version is, do a little research. A great place to start is Jazzstandards.com, or you can check out some books at your local library. Also, the real book usually lists a version or two at the bottom of the lead sheet (although I don’t always agree with their choices for the best versions of a tune). Or you can e-mail me and I’ll tell you what version you gotta have.

If you don’t have many versions, or if you don’t have a classic version - it’s time till fill in those holes in your collection! I often use learning a new tune as my main excuse to buy new CDs, and so should you. Heck, it’s for your education! Often, I will do a little research online and come up with 5 or so CDs that I want with the tune I’m trying to learn. Then I go to my local record store (which fortunately has an awesome Jazz CD collection - you may not be so lucky) and get them. If you’re on a budget (aren’t we all) you can also probably find some versions of the tune on Amazon or Emusic. Then you will only have to buy the individual tune and not the whole record.

Now it’s time to go to town and listen:

Set aside some time to just listen to the versions you’ve gathered. Don’t try to do other things while you are listening. Don’t do the dishes, or noodle on your guitar - just find a comfy place and listen. Listen to each version a few times - at least 2 or 3. If you really love a particular version, listen to it even more.

Really get to know the melody. As you listen to it more, you should know it well enough to be able to hum along with the tune. This is especially important for the tunes you are trying to learn that you are less familiar with.

Try to hear what’s going on with the harmony too. You don’t have to analyze the whole thing right then, but try to get a feel for where the harmonies are going - even if you don’t have names for every chord yet.

Really try to listen to the nuances of each of the players, and how they make the tune come alive. Listen to their solos with a vested interest. Sometimes, when I’m listening to Jazz, I like to pretend I’m at the Jazz club, and listening to it live. Because of the spontaneous nature of Jazz, it always sounds more alive at the moment it is created. So pretending you are there, at that moment, helps you lose yourself in the tune, and in everything the players are doing.

Once you’ve listened to the tune enough times, you should already know it pretty well. You won’t be able to translate it to your instrument yet, but you should be able to hum the entire melody, and you should know the whole form. You should also have a general sense of the harmony, and of the improv concepts of the musicians you’ve heard.

If you cannot do all of those things, DO NOT ATTEMPT TO PLAY IT ON YOUR INSTRUMENT. Go back and listen some more. I can’t stress this enough. You will only lose time later on, when you have trouble getting the melody, or when you forget the tune completely a week later. As I’ve said before, music is an aural art, and you need to learn what a tune sounds like before you can learn it on your instrument.

When you feel you have really gotten to know the tune, then you can move on to the next step, which is learning the melody. More about that to follow in my next post. Happy listening!

By Matt | Posted in Practice, Tunes | Comments Off

How to Learn Tunes

March 23, 2008 – 5:02 pm

This is the first in a series of posts about How to Learn Tunes.

So how well do you really know the tunes you say you know?

Can you play the melody?
Can you improvise through the tune?
If you are a chordal player (like me) can you play through the chords?
Can you play the chords and the melody at the same time?
Can you play a bass line?
Can you do all of these things in 12 keys?

If your answers to these questions is an unequivocal yes, then you don’t need this series of posts. If you are like the rest of us, though, your answers probably went more like this:

So how well do you really know the tunes you say you know?
Really well man, I’m a Jazz player
Can you play the melody?
Of course, duh.
Can you improvise through the tune?
With my eyes closed.
If you are a chordal player (like me) can you play through the chords?
You’ve got to know how to do that.
Can you play the chords and the melody at the same time?
Um…for most tunes sure.
Can you play a bass line?
Why would I do that - I don’t play bass
Can you do all of these things in 12 keys?
Well, I, um…I could probably play the melody…in…some keys.

Learning tunes is the single most important thing for a jazz player (and players in any genre really) to do. Period. Every Jazz player out there may not agree with me, but I believe it. There is so much you can learn from a single tune, that you can spend an entire year on just one, and never practice the same thing twice. Not to mention, that knowing a lot of tunes is essential to every working Jazz musician.

So this series is dedicated to all of the things you can learn from a jazz standard. It is also about how to really learn tunes. How to learn a tune so that you will never forget it, even if you haven’t played it in years. How to learn a tune so that, no matter what situation you are thrown into - solo, duo, trio, quartet, with a singer, big band, etc. - you can handle yourself on the tune.

So let’s get started: How to Learn Tunes, Step 1 - Listen!!!

By Matt | Posted in Philosophy, Practice, Gigs, Tunes | Comments (0)

Lick # 7 - Improv.

May 4, 2007 – 12:11 am

This lick is based around the opening bass lick of the eponymous tune of my Jazz trio Sixtanato. You can here a recorded version of the tune here.

Here is the bass lick:

Most of the following lick is built on the first three note motif of the bass lick. There are also some hints at a D7 chord, which are the next four notes of the bass lick.

Lick #7 - Mp3

Sometimes I will record a quick improvisation and write it down in my lick book - which is what I did here. It is played in free rhythm, just as the solo on the A section of Sixtanato. The rhythms of the notation are therefor only an approximation.

If you have a recording program - which you should (get Audacity if you don’t) - then try recording something and transcribing it. Add it to your lick book.

By Matt | Posted in Improv, Lick Book | Comments (0)

The Music Lesson Blog

How to Learn Tunes, Step 1 - Listen!!!

How to Learn Tunes

Lick # 7 - Improv.

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