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Is it documented exactly what Bird practised?


Terje

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Posted

I mean, it'd be interesting to know even if I can't see myself practicing for 15 hours a day for five years. I know he is said to have practiced blues and rhythm changes in all 12 keys, but that can't be all, right?

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Posted

I mean, it'd be interesting to know even if I can't see myself practicing for 15 hours a day for five years. I know he is said to have practiced blues and rhythm changes in all 12 keys, but that can't be all, right?

 

 

id imagine he did what every jazz musician should do...

 

studied his chords, arpeggios... built a vocabulary. PLAYED TUNES!

 

ya just gotta keep playing.. i doubt he had a strict regiment. he just knew what to work on.. as most musicians should. but he did it for 15 hours a day!

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Posted

I know he is said to have practiced blues and rhythm changes in all 12 keys, but that can't be all, right?

 

 

You say that as if that's an easy thing to do. Here's a test for you. Can you take any simple song that you know well and play it equally well in all keys? Can you still play all the typical lines and comping patterns in any key? Can you still improv at the same level in all keys?

 

If you can, it's quite a feat. Much more than a parlor trick, learning to play anything you want in any key is a major accomplishment! Bird knew his music and his keys - to a level few of us can appreciate.

 

cheers,

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Posted

You say that as if that's an easy thing to do. Here's a test for you. Can you take any simple song that you know well and play it equally well in all keys? Can you still play all the typical lines and comping patterns in any key? Can you still improv at the same level in all keys?


If you can, it's quite a feat. Much more than a parlor trick, learning to play anything you want in any key is a major accomplishment! Bird knew his music and his keys - to a level few of us can appreciate.


cheers,

 

 

Truth.

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Posted
You say that as if that's an easy thing to do.



That's not how I meant it. I'm definitely not equally proficient in all keys when playing the blues. F# and B are problably my weakest keys, followed by A and Db.

However, I suck equally in just about all keys when playing rhythm changes :)

Suppose he practiced those two progression and all other tunes he knew, in all 12. That's a pretty damn thorough practice routine right there!

One more thing about Bird, he knew a {censored}load of Lester Young Solos, that is also something that's well known. A funny trick you can do is to speed up a recording of Lester Young to about double speed and listen to what you hear. It's gonna sound like a very famous alto player... it doesn't really work the toehr way around. Bird at half-speed does not sound like Prez.

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Posted

One thing I've been doing is to change all the tunes I practice to a different key each week. I do it by the circle of fifths or fourths.

 

It gives your brain a workout. You start to see patterns at work in the way chords are positioned.

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