Charlie Christian! I really did not expect him to use Drop2 voicings as arpeggios 😀 Of course, I am always open to suggestions for who to do a video on, even if I don't do a lot of the fusion guys, so let me know! 🙂
Very cool, isn't it! I think that this an approach that works really well, very natural to guitar and yet is often ignored by guitarists as they think of it as not 'proper' somehow ... I know I don't often use it.... I think Peter Bernstein actually thinks this way a lot - out of the shapes, at least that's what he says. He also said that the only solo we ever transcribed all the way through was a Charlie Christian one... You can certainly here those m6 arpeggios in Pete's early playing (circa 'Light Blue') and obv. hear a lot of Grant Green too, who was probably Charlie Christian's direct descendant musically.
I'm thinking Django might have some surprises for you too, actually.... He's much more interesting harmonically than most modern Gypsy players lol.... Trying to think of a good solo. His 1936 Exactly Like You has some fun stuff in it... Also Django's Castle is an interesting study on what to play on a 13b9 chord.
I think a Barry Galbraith video would be cool. He's got some cool ideas on his album "Guitar and Wind" and some great rhythm parts and solos on many other albums. He is really showcased on Willie Rodriguez "Flatjacks".
Jens! I would just like to thank you! I have taken so much from all these lessons over the last year or two. I can’t stress how important that is to me. So many concepts you’ve helped me with!
Charlie Christian is a must for any guitar player starting to understand jazz lenguaje and also for more advanced players that that forgot their roots. Great video as always
Just watched this video for the second time after a few years, and just now I realize what a resource it is (like all your videos)! Thanks again, Jens!
No he was not influenced by charlie christian or any other guitarist apart from oscar aleman his friend django made over 40 albums of music charlie christian made no albums only thing that exists are him being a side man for other peoples bands. Charlie christian made no money whilst django toured all over the world.
@@theprogrammerrolandmc3039 Charlie Christian tragically died young of tuberculosis. Along with Django, his influence on subsequent generations of guitar players cannot be overstated. It's distasteful to compare them on the basis of how much money they made in their lifetimes.
@@davidstucker3962 It's called capitalism my friend if it didn't exist you would have never heard of CC unless you seen him play when he was alive. And he would not be happy knowing a few days in his lifetime of recording made millions that he never got.
Thanks enormously for this lesson Jens. Absolutely a gem, and a lot of hard work for us to get stuck into. I really appeciate all your very accessible lessons.
He was brilliant and very ahead of his time! Very helpful the way you explain his use of swing phrasing - now I understand why playing my CC licks over bop or modern blues sounds square. Thanks!
Really interesting lesson, Christian played much different content than I was learning on clarinet at the time. I always thought he was very modern (outside) although perhaps not...? Very creative use of the upper structure still available under a guitar players fingers but a bit of a reach for a fledgling clarinetist. Cool, Thank You!
I learned it!!! It took me a month, and I'm not yet at his tempo, but I can play it from start to finish at 144 with his 'barely use the pinky' fingering and I'm geeking out!!
Thanks for the C.Christian hotlix breakdown. If you listen to the live "Immortal Charlie Christian" album, you can hear him playing some of the exact same phrases you've picked here, which means they're in his hotlix arsenal and applied to certain chord change patterns. Its always great to learn a master's signature moves, so you can include them in your own lines as a sort of nod and or wink-wink tribute. It also helps the developing guitarist to reverse engineer the lines and discover the "why's" of a master's note selection. Great video here!
Hi Jens! Thank you for another really nice video - for me it’s the perfect mix of information and relaxation since you have a really chilled out way of explaining complexe stuff 😊
As an instrumentalist, with a jazz guitar, upon occasion, I forget how beautiful the human voice actually is, and the honour, if we are lucky enough to accompany such an instrument.
Sometimes it's so very hard to master, such inflection, I could imagine, even harder to teach,. playing like that voice, or others could only be a rare aspiration. Take care Sir, you have my respect.
Jens thanks for highlighting Charlie Christian. He was truly ahead of times and your video was absolutely illuminating. He was truly a legend... did u know that he was only 25 when he died???????
I know that this is not the topic of the video but I think it's nice to mention that CC played most down picking. This is one of his "secret" to that incredible tone. Great video as always. :)
Thanks, Cleber! It was mentioned in some other comments too. I don't actually think his tone is that great personally but that is of course a question of taste :)
You make some of the same observations I made when transcribing Christian on this song 40 years ago. LOL. Another "modern" innovation is the way he "stresses" B-natural on the Dm chord. Earlier improvisers, like the Hot Five on this number, or other songs that have that Sweet Georgia Brown feel to them - have soloists using Bb, even when the D-chord is major. And that Dm6 (by any of its names: rootless G9, or Bm7b5) would be the same "arpeggio," a whole step away, that you point out he uses on the A7. Also, let's not overlook how great the solos of Benny Goodman and Lionel Hampton are.
Hi Jens, that chromatic lick over the G7 is very close to the melody of "It ain't necessarily so". I hear people quote it almost as much as "cry me a river". It's a cool modern sounding lick, contain major 3rd and minor 3rd, so I use over the tonic chord, major or minor. Thanks for another great lesson 😀
Hey Jens, love your content. I got really tickled when I saw this because Charlie tends to be overlooked/lost in the fray when it comes to the "who's-who" of jazz greats, especially since the music has gone through a vast evolution since Charlie's untimely death. Sure, guitarists and other jazz musicians get hipped to Charlie's playing, but there truly is some monumental foreshadowing in his lines of what would be taking place in the music post-Swing era that, in my opinion, doesn't always get the attention it deserves. You ought to check out "Charlie Christian: Selected Solos from the Father of Modern Jazz Guitar" by Chip Henderson. It's chock-full of transcriptions of multiple live, studio, and rehearsal takes of the tunes that showcased Charlie's talent so well. The quotes at the end of the book are fun to read as well. Thanks for all you do for the jazz guitar community, and take care!
Just to chime in, I completely agree with your thoughts. I suspect that many younger players are delving into the jazz guitar of a more chronologically advanced point and perhaps only a relative few of these neophytes have an interest in exploring the evolutionary line before, say, Pat Metheny or maybe even some of the more contemporary players. Thus, with little or no sense of history and context, they're not able to appreciate how startlingly different and forward-looking Charlie's style was in its time or how influential it has proven to be. ... Dizzy Gillespie once said of Louis Armstrong, " No him, no me." Many contemporary jazz guitarists could say the same thing about Charlie.
I am not sure I think that is entirely true, to be honest. For the school, where I teach, even if they don't check out a lot of Charlie Christian they are aware and at the very least checking out the generations right after him. From a stylistic point of view learning a lot of Charlie Christian may not be solving your problems as a developing jazz guitarist, and I think that is as much a reason that he is not more of a topic in lessons.
Jens, but your statement seems to suggest that Charlie's style or point in jazz guitar evolution can't be an end in itself. There are jazz players today -- perhaps not on the tip of everyone's tongue but, then, who playing jazz is? -- whose approach shows little if any influence beyond Charlie's era or personal innovations. Does this mean that they have no validity as jazz guitarists? Among those of us who have had exposure to the pre-Hall ... Metheny ... Lund (just random names) universe, aren't at least some of us just making the choice, based on preference, to confine our harmonic/note choices and way of addressing the beat to how things were done in, say, 1940? Of course, the harmonic and rhythmic boundaries have expanded since then, which is great, but does choosing not to go to the edge mean you have nothing worthwhile to say musically?
Well, I am of course coming from a teachers point of view I guess. I would indeed think that it is not a good idea to take that route if you have issues in other parts of mainstream jazz phrasing since it is a very specific choice. You can specialize in that but I would recommend getting your mainstream act together first if you want to make have a shot at being a jazz guitarist. It's not really a judgment of the validity of the style. I view that no differently than I view people specializing in free-jazz or looping if they are in a Jazz education program. It's a choice for later once you have your bases covered.
I dig. I'm sure your being a teacher gives you a somewhat different, and certainly expanded, perspective. ... Actually, maybe I'm a little hazy on how you define "mainstream" jazz or, specifically, guitar. When I hear "mainstream" in any context I think _popular_ or _commercial_ or, more broadly, _accepted_ . In the former sense, who in jazz has been a household name since Wes (and then, sadly, because of stuff like "Windy" on '60's variety shows)? And in terms of what's "accepted" or "established," isn't that constantly evolving? ... Not trying to be difficult. :-)
Jens, after you mentioned that CC was coming up, I was wondering what song you were going to discuss -- great choice. IFANB has some of my favorite Christian figures, all of which you dissect thoroughly. Charlie was a giant, no question! It's true that he appeared at a transitional time, but to fully appreciate his genius, it must be borne in mind that he wasn't reacting to the transition -- he was creating it! His big influence was Lester Young; he couldn't afford a sax (tenor or otherwise), so he played at first a homemade guitar, on which he learned all Prez's lines and this is how the horn-like, as opposed to strongly chordal, use of guitar developed -- which we saw progress and expand through Charlie's "children," like -- say -- Grant Green and maybe Jimmy Raney most obviously, but also guys like Barney and Wes who, though they incorporated a lot of the chordal style into their solos, also cite Charlie as their major influence/inspiration. Two other points: Charlie couldn't read; he was just an extremely intuitive player (who, of course, practiced endlessly, like Bird). Also, bear in mind, he died in '42 -- before Bebop even had a name. He was at all those famous after-hours sessions at the renowned Minton's, literally stirring the bebop pot, along with Bird, Monk, Dizzy, etc. -- all the guys we now see as the chief architects of the style. Charlie's impact on modern jazz guitar is incalculable as it is, but imagine how he would have developed and influenced others if he had lived longer! ... Excellent discussion!
One of Charlie Christian's influences was Eddie Durham, guitar, trombone, arranger, composer. It's said Eddie was man who got guitar into big bands. Eddie experimented with various ways to amplify the sound of the guitar before the Gibson with a pickup like we're familiar with today.
@@DojoOfCool Yep! I'm a big fan of Eddie's work in all three roles. There may be some amplified guitar prior to Eddie's on the Kansas City Five/Six sides (with the Basie band contingent), but offhand I'm not thinking of any. He employed the chordal style in his solos at times, but also single-note lines and arpeggios, whose influence showed up here and there in Charlie's work. ... You may have read that Goodman was thinking about luring guitarist Floyd Smith away from the Andy Kirk band after hearing the '39 recording, "Floyd's Guitar Blues," on which Smith played amplified. Then, of course, Charlie was literally smuggled onto the stage with Goodman. It's said that when Benny caught Charlie in purple pants, a yellow shirt and a Stetson hat, among all his sidemen in matching suits, he was fit to be tied, so he called out "Rose Room," thinking Charlie wouldn't know it and he'd quickly get rid of him. After forty-five minutes, or whatever it was, of that one song, Charlie was in the band!
Thanks, Elizabeth! Yes, there is a lot to discover in a solo like this. This one is more complex than the others I checked out btw. I think I do hear some of these lines in Wes and certainly also in Jim Hall's playing
Jens, re: complex -- I think it can be heard on the records that Charlie, as one of the founders of bebop's "cool" aesthetic, was at times fighting a little bit against Goodman, who being very much of the more old-fashioned "hot" school, wanted a really heavy swing beat, which may not have provided Charlie the best context in which to express his more forward-looking ideas. Goodman, in fairness, loved Charlie's playing, but I don't know that he had a full grasp of how Charlie's approach was diverging from swing's harmony and way of addressing rhythm. In addition to several sides in the blues form, where Charlie excelled in his own unique way, the Goodman Sextet recorded several standards. I like Charlie's work on Memories Of You ua-cam.com/video/za06bkFtweU/v-deo.html and I Surrender, Dear ua-cam.com/video/0X443lODfGk/v-deo.html You get a sense of his favorite harmonies and also his more unorthodox, for the day, beat emphasis.
Nice video on Christian! I got your book in hard copy and am getting ready to dig in! Al Di Meola from Kiss my axe would be a great fusion guitarist to look at. That's probably my all time favorite albums of his. I thought it was his best blending of his acoustic and electric playing .
Thanks! That's really great to hear :) I hope you like the book. If you enjoy it and have a few minutes then consider leaving a short review on Amazon. That is a huge help for me. I will check that Al Di Meola album, though he is not a guitar player I usually listen to.
Jens , charlie was jamming at Mintons after hours with all the future big names in Bebop , so his playing contains all the elements and had he survived would have been a big name. We know he had a tremendous ear and was an out of this world improvisor...
As a practise....cause I am still getting arpeggios for each position under my belt I came up with an idea to practise some chromatism doing the following...say using C major as an example Play through each diatonic arpeggio triad (1. 3. 5 and maybe a 7) starting at C. Then do a three note chromatic run down to the 1. Or. 3. Or. 5. Of the next chord (say D m) and move through them all that way...as a starter. It seems like a cool way of getting it into my soul and learning the different parts of each diatonic chord on the neck. I'm not thinking to much about the bee bop aspect yet but giving it more of a bubbly rythm....and also chromatic up to the 1. 3. 5 etc....maybe alternating between the two.
Please do a video on Four on Six! I know you’ve done videos citing licks from it, but I’d love to see a full breakdown of it. I find that myself and many others I’ve listened to can’t help but play bars 5-8 somewhat isolated and disconnected from one another just to get through them. But making well connected lines through the changes is deceptively challenging
Ironically I think that the approach to playing that and connecting it is exactly what those videos are about. Breaking down the entire solo won't help you with that. The skills you need for that you should develop in other ways. Do you see what I mean with that?
Oh totally! I might not have been clear though, I don’t really care specifically about Wes’s solo. I meant breaking down just navigation through those changes. I always hear people doing sort of what Wes did, playing one phrase, then essentially repeating for 4 bars through the changes until they get back to G minor. I was hoping to find a way out of that rut. So, sort of an anti-Wes solo! But I hear you, thanks for the reply Edit: I know Wes doesn’t always do this, but he does generally play very compact phrases and use repetition frequently. Since most people listen to his renditions of this tune for reference, I find that most people tend to copy this. Not hearing other stylistic approaches, I tend to see people getting stuck only imitating Wes on this particular tune. But of course the only way to improve is for me to practice haha. I will go do so now
I think you could argue that Wes' solo is great because he does that? The main thing is just to be creative with what you are repeating, he does that quite well but it takes practice to do that. The other options would be to play through it with just lines or try to find ways to make motifs that go against the chord movement. But I think it would be strange to teach that on a Wes tune since it is not something he does that much. The way he works with these changes is really a big part of his style :)
Yes indeed! I’m just lately obsessed with the tune and wish more artists played it so I could hear some different stylistic perspectives. If only Wes had decided to Coltrane’s band when he was invited to, we might have heard something out of this world haha
@@nw865 I seem to remember that Wes didn't like playing with Coltrane? You can check out the Scofield/Abercrombie version or the Pat Martino version of this song?
If I had to chose one jazz guitar solo (and maybe not only for guitar) it would be this one.Its the first jazz guitar solo I transcribed after my great teacher told me to bring him a Charlie Christian solo every week! It wasn’t easy but really helped me improvise cause I recognized some of the chord shapes. Your analysis is great but I my ear thinks and hears the first 4 bars alternating between D- and A7 bar each..I looked up charts and it’s probably what it is except the chord in bar 4 says D7, might be a secondary dominant to G7..🤔
@@JensLarsen I've been studying some of Django Reinhardt's playing and I can see so many similarities with some of the Charlie Christian examples. This is great.
Hey Jens, Charlie plays some great lines over the cycle of 5ths bridge in his solo on Swing to Bop (live at Minton’s recording, 1941) check it out..would be interesting to analyse.
Very good guitarist and song choice ! i' m always surprised by the use of the 13th on the A7 , the last chord of the A part . We play in Dm and it s the major third of it... But sounds great ! Django used to do it too, do you see that dominante 13th chord that often in a minor contexte? Great work, as always , interesting the difference between Swing and Bebop in therms of 1 and 3 or 2 and 4. Thanks Maestro
That's interesting! But a good choice. It is actually not that difficult to play and really good! What other solos did you have to learn? (if you don't mind)
@@JensLarsen I recall Halsted Street, which I found devilishly difficult. But I played it in a music store once (testing out a guitar) and it definitely turned heads. I'd have to search my files to find more titles. I mostly recall the music, but often forget the title of a piece.
Great stuff. Back in the seventies I went crazy about Christie Christian and bought re-issue vinyl recordings of Charlie soloing with Benny Goodman - At that time I miraculously found a book of his transcribed solos - the cover was pale green, but I must have sold it, and the recordings - I’m still kicking myself for getting rid of these. Wonder if that old book is still around?
Nice lesson, Jens! Just finished transcribing From Swing to Bop, and I did not ctively notice these (I'm not yet good at analysing solo's..), so had a lot of discovering fun watching :) PS: suggestion, when you hit a 100 subs, you could maybe change your "subscribe to channel" edit?! The current one shows you having only 34k and that's a shame ;)
As a novice guitar player ,I spend more time shedding on guitar than my main instrument which is trumpet.If I could play guitar as fluemt aa trumpet I'd be good . I've found a lot of great guitarist channels here on UA-cam,like yours .
@@JensLarsen The lessons you post have been very helpful. The occasional humor thrown in to make a point is brilliant. I've been playing for many years but I really have the jazz bug now. It's great to have a new guitar journey to embark on. Of course I learned the old fasioned way due to lack of internet in younger years. Horray for you tube and Jens Larsen! 👍
Wow another eye opening lesson. Could you please explain where the chord progression Dm-G7-C7-F6 comes from. I think I missed that in the video and don't really understand it. It sounds great though.
Thank you Jed! The chord progression is really more Dm for four bars (which then feels like a tonic Dm) and then a cadence to F using the dominant of the dominant so: G7 C7 F7 Dm - Dm - Dm - Dm G7 - C7 - F6 does that help?
@@underwoodvoice9077 Actually, it's a fun thing to try! Most of Django's single note stuff was just 1st and 2nd finger (!).... Makes you view the neck in a new way.... You realise there's no need to stretch (which is something Kurt mentioned in an interview - he doesn't stretch anymore for single note stuff as it was messing up his hand.)
@@JensLarsen Of course - and with three fingers LH, pinky and third finger RH locked down onto the scratchplate..... Joking aside, I do actually think it helps get the feel closer, that heavy old school thing.... You probably know Miles Okazaki's essay on Charlie Christian?
No, I don't know that essay. To be honest I don't think I feel the need to sound like him. The whole swing phrasing thing is nice but sounds very foreign to me :)
They never met but of course Wes knew Charlie very well. I read somewhere years ago that when Wes was starting out on guitar he was initially overwhelmed by Charlie's solos and then thought to himself they both have six strings and five fingers on each hand so why can't he do it too? The rest, as they say, is jazz history.
Here's an oddball question you or others might be able to answer for me, Iv'e been watching your hands, and I notice when you start any vibrato, or a trill, it always begins with an upward finger movement. I am the complete opposite, I am a southpaw who plays right, is this common?
Sorry Jens, I notice stuff, no matter how insignificant to others, is my nature, now that I brought it to your attention, hope it helps to notice the little things, how unimportant, it might seem, I always felt a guitar was made for a left hander, feels natural, no one told me otherwise. love your stuff.
The patron thing confuses me. Not specific enough. ALL I want are the tabs and any notes that go with this - and any other -Charlie Christian lesson(s).
@@JensLarsen You're an acid-tongued Dutchman, Mr. Larsen, but you're quick as a whip and a stand-up musician. I love your lessons, but not to the degree that I love Mr. Reinhardt.
Charlie Christian! I really did not expect him to use Drop2 voicings as arpeggios 😀
Of course, I am always open to suggestions for who to do a video on, even if I don't do a lot of the fusion guys, so let me know! 🙂
Very cool, isn't it! I think that this an approach that works really well, very natural to guitar and yet is often ignored by guitarists as they think of it as not 'proper' somehow ... I know I don't often use it.... I think Peter Bernstein actually thinks this way a lot - out of the shapes, at least that's what he says. He also said that the only solo we ever transcribed all the way through was a Charlie Christian one... You can certainly here those m6 arpeggios in Pete's early playing (circa 'Light Blue') and obv. hear a lot of Grant Green too, who was probably Charlie Christian's direct descendant musically.
I'm thinking Django might have some surprises for you too, actually.... He's much more interesting harmonically than most modern Gypsy players lol.... Trying to think of a good solo. His 1936 Exactly Like You has some fun stuff in it... Also Django's Castle is an interesting study on what to play on a 13b9 chord.
Django would be cool or a lesson specifically on bebop chord progressions would be cool if you don't already
I think a Barry Galbraith video would be cool. He's got some cool ideas on his album "Guitar and Wind" and some great rhythm parts and solos on many other albums. He is really showcased on Willie Rodriguez "Flatjacks".
Jens! I would just like to thank you! I have taken so much from all these lessons over the last year or two. I can’t stress how important that is to me. So many concepts you’ve helped me with!
Charlie Christian is a must for any guitar player starting to understand jazz lenguaje and also for more advanced players that that forgot their roots. Great video as always
Thank you Matias! Glad you like the video!
"Charlie Christian and the Unusually Modern Arpeggios" would be a great name for a band...
It would have to be British though 😂
hahahaha
Just watched this video for the second time after a few years, and just now I realize what a resource it is (like all your videos)! Thanks again, Jens!
I really enjoy these solo analyses. The historical context helps me understand jazz evolution better.
Thank you! Really great to hear 🙂
Awesome lesson! Charlie Christian is a great guitarist to study for understanding the early years of bebop guitar.
Thanks, Varg! He is indeed a great place to hear how it all got started!
2:03 instruction starts
3:49 solo starts
You can smell 100k, you deserve it brother. Loved your channel for close to 2 years now. Absolutely quality uploads, always.
Thanks! :) We'll get there eventually
Thanks Jens. I'm in Charlie Christian bootcamp this month and this really helps out.
Great! Go for it 🙂
Charlie Christian might be underrated - a huge influence on Django. Swung hard & full of energy. Thanks for doing a video on him.
Glad you like it! :)
No he was not influenced by charlie christian or any other guitarist apart from oscar aleman his friend django made over 40 albums of music charlie christian made no albums only thing that exists are him being a side man for other peoples bands. Charlie christian made no money whilst django toured all over the world.
@@theprogrammerrolandmc3039 Charlie Christian tragically died young of tuberculosis. Along with Django, his influence on subsequent generations of guitar players cannot be overstated. It's distasteful to compare them on the basis of how much money they made in their lifetimes.
@@davidstucker3962 It's called capitalism my friend if it didn't exist you would have never heard of CC unless you seen him play when he was alive. And he would not be happy knowing a few days in his lifetime of recording made millions that he never got.
@@theprogrammerrolandmc3039yeah capitalism is awesome
Love the mix of chromaticism with arpeggios. Jens, your videos are changing the game for me.
Thank you, Ken! Great that you can put it to use!
Thanks enormously for this lesson Jens. Absolutely a gem, and a lot of hard work for us to get stuck into. I really appeciate all your very accessible lessons.
Great to hear it is useful 🙂
He was brilliant and very ahead of his time! Very helpful the way you explain his use of swing phrasing - now I understand why playing my CC licks over bop or modern blues sounds square. Thanks!
Thanks, Dave! Yes that is true, some of those swing phrases are going to be a bit funny in a bop piece :)
Thanks again Jens, your videos are at the highest level; great licks and interesting and notable knowledge of the history of jazz playing. Fantastic!
Thank you, Pertti! That's great to hear!
Really interesting lesson, Christian played much different content than I was learning on clarinet at the time. I always thought he was very modern (outside) although perhaps not...? Very creative use of the upper structure still available under a guitar players fingers but a bit of a reach for a fledgling clarinetist. Cool, Thank You!
"What's old is new; what's new is old".
Thanks Jens!
There is that! 🙂
Wow amazing lesson, so inspiring, thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it!
I learned it!!!
It took me a month, and I'm not yet at his tempo, but I can play it from start to finish at 144 with his 'barely use the pinky' fingering and I'm geeking out!!
Great 🙂
Thanks for the C.Christian hotlix breakdown. If you listen to the live "Immortal Charlie Christian" album, you can hear him playing some of the exact same phrases you've picked here, which means they're in his hotlix arsenal and applied to certain chord change patterns. Its always great to learn a master's signature moves, so you can include them in your own lines as a sort of nod and or wink-wink tribute. It also helps the developing guitarist to reverse engineer the lines and discover the "why's" of a master's note selection. Great video here!
Hi Jens! Thank you for another really nice video - for me it’s the perfect mix of information and relaxation since you have a really chilled out way of explaining complexe stuff 😊
Thank, you Tina! That's a very nice compliment :)
This was really great, thank you Jens. I'm currently working on the solo from Seven Come Eleven, and Charlie really threw a lot of stuff into that!
Thanks! Go for it :)
@@JensLarsen I got a recording of it down. It's pretty fiddly in places but it felt great to work through it. Time for more!
Great, long waiting for CC analysis !!
Hope you find it useful! 🙂
Me too. Thanks for this video Jens. Nice one.
As an instrumentalist, with a jazz guitar, upon occasion, I forget how beautiful the human voice actually is, and the honour, if we are lucky enough to accompany such an instrument.
Right on!@John Gardy
You have geat understanding for others,@John Gardy
cool man.
Right on, thanks keep your stuff up, just a ol guy, take care.
so informative, thank you!
You're very welcome! I am glad you like it! 🙂
That's an understatement.....
Sometimes it's so very hard to master, such inflection, I could imagine, even harder to teach,. playing like that voice, or others could only be a rare aspiration. Take care Sir, you have my respect.
Jens thanks for highlighting Charlie Christian. He was truly ahead of times and your video was absolutely illuminating. He was truly a legend... did u know that he was only 25 when he died???????
Thank you! I thought he was 23 actually? But I did know he was very young
He was 22 when he died
Another great video, gotta love Charlie. Thanks you!!!
You're very welcome Gino! I am glad you like it! 🙂
Jens is like a human encyclopedia !
Beautful work man ;) Thank you
Glad you like it!
I know that this is not the topic of the video but I think it's nice to mention that CC played most down picking. This is one of his "secret" to that incredible tone.
Great video as always. :)
Thanks, Cleber! It was mentioned in some other comments too.
I don't actually think his tone is that great personally but that is of course a question of taste :)
For sure and it's great that each one has your own taste, otherwise everyone would had the same tone. hahahaha. :D
@@cleberguima1 Exactly! :)
Fascinating... thanks for the analysis.
Glad you like it, Michael! 🙂
You make some of the same observations I made when transcribing Christian on this song 40 years ago. LOL.
Another "modern" innovation is the way he "stresses" B-natural on the Dm chord. Earlier improvisers, like the Hot Five on this number, or other songs that have that Sweet Georgia Brown feel to them - have soloists using Bb, even when the D-chord is major.
And that Dm6 (by any of its names: rootless G9, or Bm7b5) would be the same "arpeggio," a whole step away, that you point out he uses on the A7.
Also, let's not overlook how great the solos of Benny Goodman and Lionel Hampton are.
Bravo! i love this.
Excellent video, thanks for that! And now, with these concepts in mind, let's try to phrase as fluidly and swing as hard as CC did!!
Thanks! Go for it!
Really helpful!
Thank you! Very glad to hear that!
Hi Jens, that chromatic lick over the G7 is very close to the melody of "It ain't necessarily so". I hear people quote it almost as much as "cry me a river". It's a cool modern sounding lick, contain major 3rd and minor 3rd, so I use over the tonic chord, major or minor. Thanks for another great lesson 😀
That's true, though I don't really hear it like that. Most of the time that quote is used a little more obvious :)
Hey Jens, love your content. I got really tickled when I saw this because Charlie tends to be overlooked/lost in the fray when it comes to the "who's-who" of jazz greats, especially since the music has gone through a vast evolution since Charlie's untimely death. Sure, guitarists and other jazz musicians get hipped to Charlie's playing, but there truly is some monumental foreshadowing in his lines of what would be taking place in the music post-Swing era that, in my opinion, doesn't always get the attention it deserves. You ought to check out "Charlie Christian: Selected Solos from the Father of Modern Jazz Guitar" by Chip Henderson. It's chock-full of transcriptions of multiple live, studio, and rehearsal takes of the tunes that showcased Charlie's talent so well. The quotes at the end of the book are fun to read as well. Thanks for all you do for the jazz guitar community, and take care!
Just to chime in, I completely agree with your thoughts. I suspect that many younger players are delving into the jazz guitar of a more chronologically advanced point and perhaps only a relative few of these neophytes have an interest in exploring the evolutionary line before, say, Pat Metheny or maybe even some of the more contemporary players. Thus, with little or no sense of history and context, they're not able to appreciate how startlingly different and forward-looking Charlie's style was in its time or how influential it has proven to be. ... Dizzy Gillespie once said of Louis Armstrong, " No him, no me." Many contemporary jazz guitarists could say the same thing about Charlie.
I am not sure I think that is entirely true, to be honest. For the school, where I teach, even if they don't check out a lot of Charlie Christian they are aware and at the very least checking out the generations right after him.
From a stylistic point of view learning a lot of Charlie Christian may not be solving your problems as a developing jazz guitarist, and I think that is as much a reason that he is not more of a topic in lessons.
Jens, but your statement seems to suggest that Charlie's style or point in jazz guitar evolution can't be an end in itself. There are jazz players today -- perhaps not on the tip of everyone's tongue but, then, who playing jazz is? -- whose approach shows little if any influence beyond Charlie's era or personal innovations. Does this mean that they have no validity as jazz guitarists? Among those of us who have had exposure to the pre-Hall ... Metheny ... Lund (just random names) universe, aren't at least some of us just making the choice, based on preference, to confine our harmonic/note choices and way of addressing the beat to how things were done in, say, 1940? Of course, the harmonic and rhythmic boundaries have expanded since then, which is great, but does choosing not to go to the edge mean you have nothing worthwhile to say musically?
Well, I am of course coming from a teachers point of view I guess.
I would indeed think that it is not a good idea to take that route if you have issues in other parts of mainstream jazz phrasing since it is a very specific choice. You can specialize in that but I would recommend getting your mainstream act together first if you want to make have a shot at being a jazz guitarist.
It's not really a judgment of the validity of the style. I view that no differently than I view people specializing in free-jazz or looping if they are in a Jazz education program. It's a choice for later once you have your bases covered.
I dig. I'm sure your being a teacher gives you a somewhat different, and certainly expanded, perspective. ... Actually, maybe I'm a little hazy on how you define "mainstream" jazz or, specifically, guitar. When I hear "mainstream" in any context I think _popular_ or _commercial_ or, more broadly, _accepted_ . In the former sense, who in jazz has been a household name since Wes (and then, sadly, because of stuff like "Windy" on '60's variety shows)? And in terms of what's "accepted" or "established," isn't that constantly evolving? ... Not trying to be difficult. :-)
Great lesson.
Thank you, Oscar. I am glad you found it useful! 👍
Jens, after you mentioned that CC was coming up, I was wondering what song you were going to discuss -- great choice. IFANB has some of my favorite Christian figures, all of which you dissect thoroughly. Charlie was a giant, no question! It's true that he appeared at a transitional time, but to fully appreciate his genius, it must be borne in mind that he wasn't reacting to the transition -- he was creating it! His big influence was Lester Young; he couldn't afford a sax (tenor or otherwise), so he played at first a homemade guitar, on which he learned all Prez's lines and this is how the horn-like, as opposed to strongly chordal, use of guitar developed -- which we saw progress and expand through Charlie's "children," like -- say -- Grant Green and maybe Jimmy Raney most obviously, but also guys like Barney and Wes who, though they incorporated a lot of the chordal style into their solos, also cite Charlie as their major influence/inspiration. Two other points: Charlie couldn't read; he was just an extremely intuitive player (who, of course, practiced endlessly, like Bird). Also, bear in mind, he died in '42 -- before Bebop even had a name. He was at all those famous after-hours sessions at the renowned Minton's, literally stirring the bebop pot, along with Bird, Monk, Dizzy, etc. -- all the guys we now see as the chief architects of the style. Charlie's impact on modern jazz guitar is incalculable as it is, but imagine how he would have developed and influenced others if he had lived longer! ... Excellent discussion!
One of Charlie Christian's influences was Eddie Durham, guitar, trombone, arranger, composer. It's said Eddie was man who got guitar into big bands. Eddie experimented with various ways to amplify the sound of the guitar before the Gibson with a pickup like we're familiar with today.
@@DojoOfCool Yep! I'm a big fan of Eddie's work in all three roles. There may be some amplified guitar prior to Eddie's on the Kansas City Five/Six sides (with the Basie band contingent), but offhand I'm not thinking of any. He employed the chordal style in his solos at times, but also single-note lines and arpeggios, whose influence showed up here and there in Charlie's work. ... You may have read that Goodman was thinking about luring guitarist Floyd Smith away from the Andy Kirk band after hearing the '39 recording, "Floyd's Guitar Blues," on which Smith played amplified. Then, of course, Charlie was literally smuggled onto the stage with Goodman. It's said that when Benny caught Charlie in purple pants, a yellow shirt and a Stetson hat, among all his sidemen in matching suits, he was fit to be tied, so he called out "Rose Room," thinking Charlie wouldn't know it and he'd quickly get rid of him. After forty-five minutes, or whatever it was, of that one song, Charlie was in the band!
Thanks, Elizabeth! Yes, there is a lot to discover in a solo like this. This one is more complex than the others I checked out btw.
I think I do hear some of these lines in Wes and certainly also in Jim Hall's playing
Jens, re: complex -- I think it can be heard on the records that Charlie, as one of the founders of bebop's "cool" aesthetic, was at times fighting a little bit against Goodman, who being very much of the more old-fashioned "hot" school, wanted a really heavy swing beat, which may not have provided Charlie the best context in which to express his more forward-looking ideas. Goodman, in fairness, loved Charlie's playing, but I don't know that he had a full grasp of how Charlie's approach was diverging from swing's harmony and way of addressing rhythm. In addition to several sides in the blues form, where Charlie excelled in his own unique way, the Goodman Sextet recorded several standards. I like Charlie's work on Memories Of You ua-cam.com/video/za06bkFtweU/v-deo.html and I Surrender, Dear ua-cam.com/video/0X443lODfGk/v-deo.html You get a sense of his favorite harmonies and also his more unorthodox, for the day, beat emphasis.
Nice video on Christian! I got your book in hard copy and am getting ready to dig in! Al Di Meola from Kiss my axe would be a great fusion guitarist to look at. That's probably my all time favorite albums of his. I thought it was his best blending of his acoustic and electric playing .
Thanks! That's really great to hear :) I hope you like the book. If you enjoy it and have a few minutes then consider leaving a short review on Amazon. That is a huge help for me.
I will check that Al Di Meola album, though he is not a guitar player I usually listen to.
Jens , charlie was jamming at Mintons after hours with all the future big names in Bebop , so his playing contains all the elements and had he survived would have been a big name.
We know he had a tremendous ear and was an out of this world improvisor...
Yes, I think so too. Am I saying that he wasn't? I am a little confused
very good fundamentals_ like it
Thanks, Francesco! Glad you like it!
As a practise....cause I am still getting arpeggios for each position under my belt I came up with an idea to practise some chromatism doing the following...say using C major as an example
Play through each diatonic arpeggio triad (1. 3. 5 and maybe a 7) starting at C. Then do a three note chromatic run down to the 1. Or. 3. Or. 5. Of the next chord (say D m) and move through them all that way...as a starter. It seems like a cool way of getting it into my soul and learning the different parts of each diatonic chord on the neck. I'm not thinking to much about the bee bop aspect yet but giving it more of a bubbly rythm....and also chromatic up to the 1. 3. 5 etc....maybe alternating between the two.
Sounds like a solid approach! :)
Please do a video on Four on Six! I know you’ve done videos citing licks from it, but I’d love to see a full breakdown of it. I find that myself and many others I’ve listened to can’t help but play bars 5-8 somewhat isolated and disconnected from one another just to get through them. But making well connected lines through the changes is deceptively challenging
Ironically I think that the approach to playing that and connecting it is exactly what those videos are about. Breaking down the entire solo won't help you with that. The skills you need for that you should develop in other ways.
Do you see what I mean with that?
Oh totally! I might not have been clear though, I don’t really care specifically about Wes’s solo. I meant breaking down just navigation through those changes. I always hear people doing sort of what Wes did, playing one phrase, then essentially repeating for 4 bars through the changes until they get back to G minor. I was hoping to find a way out of that rut. So, sort of an anti-Wes solo! But I hear you, thanks for the reply
Edit: I know Wes doesn’t always do this, but he does generally play very compact phrases and use repetition frequently. Since most people listen to his renditions of this tune for reference, I find that most people tend to copy this. Not hearing other stylistic approaches, I tend to see people getting stuck only imitating Wes on this particular tune. But of course the only way to improve is for me to practice haha. I will go do so now
I think you could argue that Wes' solo is great because he does that? The main thing is just to be creative with what you are repeating, he does that quite well but it takes practice to do that.
The other options would be to play through it with just lines or try to find ways to make motifs that go against the chord movement. But I think it would be strange to teach that on a Wes tune since it is not something he does that much. The way he works with these changes is really a big part of his style :)
Yes indeed! I’m just lately obsessed with the tune and wish more artists played it so I could hear some different stylistic perspectives. If only Wes had decided to Coltrane’s band when he was invited to, we might have heard something out of this world haha
@@nw865 I seem to remember that Wes didn't like playing with Coltrane? You can check out the Scofield/Abercrombie version or the Pat Martino version of this song?
If I had to chose one jazz guitar solo (and maybe not only for guitar) it would be this one.Its the first jazz guitar solo I transcribed after my great teacher told me to bring him a Charlie Christian solo every week! It wasn’t easy but really helped me improvise cause I recognized some of the chord shapes.
Your analysis is great but I my ear thinks and hears the first 4 bars alternating between D- and A7 bar each..I looked up charts and it’s probably what it is except the chord in bar 4 says D7, might be a secondary dominant to G7..🤔
You're the best Lens!
You're very welcome Jennis! 🙂
Awesome!!
Thanks!
@@JensLarsen I've been studying some of Django Reinhardt's playing and I can see so many similarities with some of the Charlie Christian examples. This is great.
Hey Jens, Charlie plays some great lines over the cycle of 5ths bridge in his solo on Swing to Bop (live at Minton’s recording, 1941) check it out..would be interesting to analyse.
Very good guitarist and song choice !
i' m always surprised by the use of the 13th on the A7 , the last chord of the A part . We play in Dm and it s the major third of it... But sounds great !
Django used to do it too, do you see that dominante 13th chord that often in a minor contexte?
Great work, as always , interesting the difference between Swing and Bebop in therms of 1 and 3 or 2 and 4.
Thanks Maestro
I think you can find it quite often actually, though here it is more prominent than what I usually come across 🙂
That was one of the very first solos I had to learn in music school.
That's interesting! But a good choice. It is actually not that difficult to play and really good! What other solos did you have to learn? (if you don't mind)
@@JensLarsen I recall Halsted Street, which I found devilishly difficult. But I played it in a music store once (testing out a guitar) and it definitely turned heads. I'd have to search my files to find more titles. I mostly recall the music, but often forget the title of a piece.
Same here
Great stuff. Back in the seventies I went crazy about Christie Christian and bought re-issue vinyl recordings of Charlie soloing with Benny Goodman - At that time I miraculously found a book of his transcribed solos - the cover was pale green, but I must have sold it, and the recordings - I’m still kicking myself for getting rid of these. Wonder if that old book is still around?
Thanks! I am sure you can still find that book. A lot of the old books are still available :)
I’ve done a check and can’t find it - would have been published 1970-72.
Ok. I am fairly certain you can find books with transcriptions of his solos though 🙂
Yes. I know they are available - but I just miss my old green book! 😩😩😩
Just to lighten up, Jens, as someone said, you are a good egg, Take care.
Only 25 years, short period of time but great contributions to the 🌎 .
Indeed 🙂
to hear the Late Eva Cassisdy's version of Autumn Leaves, is something rare, do you think, I'm just a kid, 1959 I is.
She was the best...
Nice lesson, Jens! Just finished transcribing From Swing to Bop, and I did not ctively notice these (I'm not yet good at analysing solo's..), so had a lot of discovering fun watching :)
PS: suggestion, when you hit a 100 subs, you could maybe change your "subscribe to channel" edit?! The current one shows you having only 34k and that's a shame ;)
Thanks, Simon! I didn't check out that solo, but the other ones I checked out are also less hip :)
All. Set. Bro.
after studying the great musicians the end goal is to compose one’s own music to their utmost
Nice... like this approach a lot . Example 4 seems to be the intro to Steely Dan's Royal Scam, no?
Thank you! I wouldn't if it is in a Steely Dan song 🙂
As a novice guitar player ,I spend more time shedding on guitar than my main instrument which is trumpet.If I could play guitar as fluemt aa trumpet I'd be good . I've found a lot of great guitarist channels here on UA-cam,like yours .
Great study.
Glad you liked it!
@@JensLarsen The lessons you post have been very helpful. The occasional humor thrown in to make a point is brilliant. I've been playing for many years but I really have the jazz bug now. It's great to have a new guitar journey to embark on. Of course I learned the old fasioned way due to lack of internet in younger years. Horray for you tube and Jens Larsen! 👍
@@cotiecowgill4520 That is super motivating to hear! Thank you!
@@JensLarsen Absolutely!
Wow another eye opening lesson. Could you please explain where the chord progression Dm-G7-C7-F6 comes from. I think I missed that in the video and don't really understand it. It sounds great though.
Thank you Jed!
The chord progression is really more Dm for four bars (which then feels like a tonic Dm) and then a cadence to F using the dominant of the dominant so: G7 C7 F7
Dm - Dm - Dm - Dm
G7 - C7 - F6
does that help?
@@JensLarsen I think so. The progression is Dm but feels like a VI-II-V-I but the II is also a dominant?
@@jedmarsillo Yes, but II as a dominant is the V of V right? :)
@@JensLarsen So the II of the progression is the dominant of C and the V of the progression is the dominant of F
@@jedmarsillo Well, it's not a II because it is a dominant. the II is a m7 chord. It is the V of V
Now play it all with down strokes. :-)
So, it has to be historically correct? 🙂
Of course...and if you play Django, you have to tape your ring and pinky fretting hand fingers together.@@JensLarsen
@@underwoodvoice9077 Actually, it's a fun thing to try! Most of Django's single note stuff was just 1st and 2nd finger (!).... Makes you view the neck in a new way.... You realise there's no need to stretch (which is something Kurt mentioned in an interview - he doesn't stretch anymore for single note stuff as it was messing up his hand.)
@@JensLarsen Of course - and with three fingers LH, pinky and third finger RH locked down onto the scratchplate..... Joking aside, I do actually think it helps get the feel closer, that heavy old school thing.... You probably know Miles Okazaki's essay on Charlie Christian?
No, I don't know that essay. To be honest I don't think I feel the need to sound like him. The whole swing phrasing thing is nice but sounds very foreign to me :)
This is the only channel where I set the speed to 0.75, you speak too quickly Jens, us normal humans have limits.🤣
Can you analyze Django?
No, I leave that to all the Gypsy channels 🙂
Did Wes Montgomery ever meet Mr. Christian?🐈
I don't know :)
They never met but of course Wes knew Charlie very well. I read somewhere years ago that when Wes was starting out on guitar he was initially overwhelmed by Charlie's solos and then thought to himself they both have six strings and five fingers on each hand so why can't he do it too? The rest, as they say, is jazz history.
Great vid! Please name of the tune? Thanks.
It's from I've Found A New Baby. I say it in the very beginning of the video :)
"I've Found a New Baby"
I want to know name of each songs!
What model is the Ibanez you are playing?
It's an AS2630, the model before they made the AS200 🙂
Anyone can shed light on using half dim over Maj chords?
G7: G B D F and Bø: B D F A, so it is the arpeggio form the 3rd of the chord.
Does that help?
Here's an oddball question you or others might be able to answer for me, Iv'e been watching your hands, and I notice when you start any vibrato, or a trill, it always begins with an upward finger movement. I am the complete opposite, I am a southpaw who plays right, is this common?
I have no idea, I never noticed that myself, sorry :)
top
Sorry Jens, I notice stuff, no matter how insignificant to others, is my nature, now that I brought it to your attention, hope it helps to notice the little things, how unimportant, it might seem, I always felt a guitar was made for a left hander, feels natural, no one told me otherwise. love your stuff.
And he never used bends. Every note played clearly.
I thought that was Michael Che for a sec 😐
I ,have read Mr. Joe Pass. As. Well. Took. Many. Strides. To accomplish that. Task. As well. What. Atribuet.
A Berkly. Grad. Metheiny
The patron thing confuses me. Not specific enough. ALL I want are the tabs and any notes that go with this - and any other -Charlie Christian lesson(s).
I don't offer that, sorry 🙂
Sorry Jens, getting old Brother.
Jen...you have Charlie's touch.. but, entirely too much talking, explaining. Show how it's done, then explain. This is hard to follow.
Unpopular Opinion: Charlie Christian was just doing his best Django impression
Django was doing all of this stuff, before Charlie could hold a guitar.
Pity that Django never got the swing right though. He might have been famous like Charlie 😄
@@JensLarsen Ouch. :(
I am just joining in with the unpopular opinions...
@@JensLarsen You're an acid-tongued Dutchman, Mr. Larsen, but you're quick as a whip and a stand-up musician. I love your lessons, but not to the degree that I love Mr. Reinhardt.
I enjoy trolling trolls. But please don't call me Dutch 🙂