Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Jazz Study Group: Autumn Leaves, ATTYA, etc.

jazzwee - The LIGHT has turned on for me. The reason I wasn't attempting the AL melody with LH comping was because after seeing Lesson 8, I thought Charleston was to be played with the AL melody. I tried it and said WHOA. That is nasty! So, for the past few days, I've been trying to get the left hand Charleston down with the scale exercise ... with hopes that it would then transfer to the AL melody.

Stabbing chords at the right moments - of course!

Thank you for your post.

AL here I come! (I'll still be practicing Lesson 8 to build up some speed.)

Actually I find this kind of discussion & interaction and also handing in our midi assignments very helpful to our learning and progress.

If others are following this thread, do join in the fun because the more, the merrier.

I am not going to beat an ol' horse to death (ie. lesson 8)....LOL.... but to do this alongside with Autumn Leaves.

Barb, where are you in AL? I've done Lesson 1 & 2 and will start Lesson 3.

Please lead the way.
I am a better follower...hee hee.

Rosa

Hi again - Here is my first try at AL with a left hand accompaniment of stabbing chords. Ok, so I delayed breakfast this morning until I started to get the swing of things

http://www.box.net/shared/kse3kt8g00

Rosa - I'm glad you're here with me. I have read through all of the lessons. I have some background in rootless voicings. Now that I have finally jumped into the AL melody, I will back track and spend time on each of the assignments for each lesson.

Like you, I joined up late in the game. I was too anxious to get my feet wet so I dove into lesson 8 thinking that was where I needed to begin.

So all - feedback please .... LH, RH ... where do I go from here on this tune?

Barb

Wow, that was really swingin' Barb! Congratulations!

You're doing the RH correctly. The LH stabbing was also nice and comfortable. Just remember that you need to hit the 2+ on the stabs instead of on the beat. I know that's hard to think about and that's why you ingrain the Charleston practice. The 2+ will make the LH swing.

Other than that, you really got it. Your RH melody quarter notes were detached and the melody was played in a bouncy swing style.

I think you are ready for some soloing.

Thank you for the feedback, jazzwee. In my posted example, I used the LH form from the scale exercise in Lesson 8 (1-7, 1-3).

I'll assume I'm to use the same LH form when I experiment with soloing.

Onward I go ... such fun!

.

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Thank you, rintincop. Would you believe I had to relisten to my playing to see what you were saying. In other words, I was totally unaware of a left hand pattern as I was playing it. I was just stabbing away, hoping it would make sense.

Combo Version of Melody

Here's my combo version of the Autumn Leaves melody. Rootless voicings on the LH. Listen to the syncopation on the comping which comes from Charleston timing. Played at 150bpm. Note that LH does not constantly comp and I fill in when the RH is quiet (at least that's the plan).

http://www.box.net/shared/bvpru4jk0w

I will see about getting the MIDI of this file posted tomorrow. The MIDI has 3 choruses of AL for soloing (with just bass and drums). Then you can slow down the MIDI for your desired tempo.

I made this on my brand new Yamaha Motif XS6. I'm just figuring the keyboard out.

Note that the melody is simplified compared to the sheet music version. Very common in playing AL.

On the LH syncopation, rather than thinking separately of the Charleston of the LH against the melody of the RH, I would suggest a tapping exercise where you count

where + means the + of the 2. Feel that syncopation on the LH. When playing the chord, you can play the chord on '1' and '2+' short or long depending on the space you want to fill.

At full value the chords played on beat 1, or + of the 2 is a dotted Quarter. But the choice of the length of the chord when comping is fully a personal choice or based on emulating someone's particular style.

You can practice this exercise without a keyboard. Do it while in the car so you get the beat ingrained in your system.

When I was playing it, in hindsight I frequently ended up with 3 chord stabs each time which is actually + of 2, 1, then + of 2 again. That's because that's the empty space I was filling.

jazzwee, great stuff you are posting here. Congrats on your new family member ( the keyboard ).

I have a question regarding soloing. Would it be OK if I start out with the left hand just playing whole notes while my right hand searches frantically for the notes ... PLUS, trying to play those notes with a bouncy swing rhythm. This makes more sense than trying to put the 2 together at first. What is your take on this re: first attempts at soloing?

You've probably guessed by now that I tried those 2 hands together - it was NOT pretty!

I was about to say, what's a rootless voicing? What's with teasing us with a technique we have not even learned yet? Then I went back to the index. Somehow, I completely missed that lesson. More catching up....

Congrats on the new board. I got an XS8 a couple of months ago too. Pretty sweet boards. Gotta love that performance mode. So many (more) things to learn tho. Hopefully, you've already discovered http://www.motifator.com.

Barb, playing Whole notes on the LH is totally kosher. Better yet is just play to the combo and DO NOT USE YOUR LEFT HAND.

Just like anything else, this has to be practiced separately. It's ok if it takes you a year to join the LH with the RH. This didn't come to me automatically either. But my point here is to practice so that eventually the LH will go on autopilot. Lots of technique to develop here.

Thanks Deeluk, I had an S90 and S90ES before so I was already going to Motifator (though not lately). Do you know I specifically bought a workstation so I can post here? (this thread is getting expensive )

Wow. I won't tell anyone if you don't. Have fun!

Beautiful words and a sigh of relief

Hi Everyone: Iv'e mostly been a lurker in PW and just post occasionally, so hope it's OK if I join this thread. This Charleston rhythm and Jazz are both pretty new to me but I'm trying to learn and follow along.

I decided to come out of hiding and ask for help on whether I have the right idea or what I am doing wrong so I can practice correctly.

I just played this with no "frills" and pretty slow....can't do anymore at this time but am hopeing for feedback on what I need to do to be on the right track.

http://www.box.net/shared/g6cv1ltcsc

Everyone else is playing so well and so nice of Jazzwee and the others to be teaching this.

My thanks to all!

Alene

Combo Backing Track With Melody - MIDI

MIDI File

http://www.box.net/shared/rjyes19okg

Alene, Welcome! Your melody and LH shells sound great so you're on the right track. I'm very happy you've joined us.

Now progress to the next stage by working on the rhythm. At the beginning level just play the chords on the top of the measure (beat 1 as whole notes and make sure your melody lands in the right part of the measure. Look at the sheet music again. Your goal is to get the melody and chords synchronized. You can play this slowly, that doesn't matter.

For example, you'll need to time the 1st chord Am7 as in this illustration (think of the melody with the words):

Good luck!

Here we go again. Here is my first solo attempt on AL.

http://www.box.net/shared/1n735zlusw

I did what you suggested jazzwee - RH only!

Feedback please.