Soloing Review Lesson
Notes to Soloing Review Lesson
Lesson 52 is Mickey's last lesson on soloing and the last lesson of Book 1. We have now have at least a perception of soloing, not to mention the chordal ideas and rhythm guitar techniques that we picked up in the first half of the course. Hopefully, I've given you some ideas on how to transcribe so that your learning process continues. Our skills with TablEdit have improved and we think nothing about bringing up a new TEF and creating an arrangement, either for solo guitar, or a group.
Let's review the lessons with a short description of where we went with each one:
Lesson 24: The roots of improvisation with picking exercises, and major scales, including major scales from the classical guitarist's study program.
Lesson 25: Additional picking exercises
Lesson 26: Minor scales with picking exercises similar to Lessons 24 and 25, including melodic minor scales from the classical guitarist's study program. As a bonus, we discussed how minor scales are formed and the three most used: Natural, Harmonic, and Melodic.
Lesson 27: Runs (arpeggios) using Major triads.
Lesson 28: Runs using Minor 7th chords
Lesson 29: Runs using Dominant 7th and 9th chords
Lesson 30: Run using Diminished chords, which we learn can be used with Dominant and passing chords
Lesson 31: Three simple Blues Solos based on the runs and scales of Lessons 24 through 30
Lesson 32: Analysis of Lesson 31 and task of transposing that lesson to the six other orchestra keys
Lesson 33: Using Lesson 31's three blues as the basis, we write three solos for each of the three blues.
Lesson 34: Additional runs based on Major 7th, Minor 7th, and Dominant chords
Lesson 35: How to connect the runs we learned with lead in notes and transition notes
Lesson 36: A two chorus Blues Solo that we are to transpose to all the keys except C
Lesson 37: Mickey's Bounce Blues: Mickey gives us the frame of a four-chorus up tempo blues. We are to fill in the blanks using runs from the chords Mickey has notated. Then we are to transpose it to all the keys except Db and Eb. This is the last lesson per se on the Blues, but it never leaves us.
Lesson 38: Mickey gives us 12 "Riffs" in two positions. I've divided these riffs in to two groups: "E" (which has the tonic note on the 1st string) and "B" (which has the tonic on the 2nd string).
Lesson 39: Using the Vamp Chord Progressions we studied in Lessons 13 and 14, Mickey gives us solos using the Riffs of Lesson 38. Then we transpose the entire lesson to the other orchestra keys.
Lesson 40: Using the Bridges Chord Progressions of Lesson 15, Mickey gives us six solos in the key of G.
Lesson 41: We transpose all the Riffs of Lesson 38 to the other six orchestra keys
Lesson 42: We create two additional solos for each Bridge progression. We transpose all the Bridges' solos of Lesson 40 to the keys of F, Ab, Bb, and C.
Lesson 43: We learn all about Rhythm Changes, one of the best known chord progressions in modern music. Mickey gives us a two chorus Rhythm Changes and we must write four examples where we fill in the blanks.
Lesson 44: We are to create six original Rhythm Changes using the six bridges of Lesson 40. Then we transpose them to all keys except Db and Eb.
Lesson 45: Mickey gives us seven solos for the eight-bar sequences of Lesson 23. Then we are to write two more solos for each sequence and transpose them to all the keys.
Lesson 46: Mickey gives us four solos for the 16-bar sequences of Lesson 23. Then we are to write two more solos for each sequence and transpose them to all the keys.
Lesson 47: We receive six new Riffs from the "G" group (tonic located on the 3rd string) in the key of Bb. Then we are to transpose all our Groups E and B Riffs to this position. Then we transpose these 18 Riffs to Ab, C, Db, and Eb.
Lesson 48: Mickey introduces us to the musical form called Groove Riffs which is a sneaky way of reintroducing the Blues.
Lesson 49: We transpose Lesson 48 to the other six keys. Then we are to create two new Groove Riffs and transpose them as well to the other keys.
Lesson 50: The last three lessons deal with the art of improvising around melodies so as to not lose the essence of the melody. Mickey has chosen Dark Eyes in D minor. We then must write a four-chorus version of Dark Eyes and transpose both ours and Mickey's to the keys of C min, E min and F min.
Lesson 51: This lesson is a continuance of Lesson 50. Mickey gives us Dark Eyes in A minor. We then must write a four-chorus version of Dark Eyes and transpose both our and Mickey's to the keys of G min, Bb min and F min.
Lesson 52: The last lesson is about using repeating patterns as the foundation for building our improvisations around melodies. We are to create two original patterns for the six examples and then transpose all to the other keys.
Bonus TEF's: When I began this project in early 2006, I had no master plan nor ambition other than to put an old friend into TEF's. I also decided that during this time any original arrangements I made would include Mickey's jazz philosophy. I've included all of those TEF's that I haven't previously used elsewhere in this course here for your study, use, and encouragement. Some of these arrangements are based on transcriptions of recordings by great guitarists, and I have modified them by the tricks we've learned in Mickey's course. Most of these have notes with my thoughts on various aspects of the tune. Basically, if I can do this, so can you, maybe a lot better!
Epilogue: This project has been the most rewarding musical experience of my life and I'm truly happy to have been able to share it with you. Each lesson was really a lot of fun, some more than others. Since beginning this project I have listened to many different guitarists. I hear elements of Mickey's lessons in most, including guitarists that we don't necessarily think of as "jazz guitarists." I don't wish to imply that they are all students of Mickey's, but rather Mickey's course is based on the foundation of guitar artistry.
Hopefully, the course will grow and students will continue to send their original creations of the lessons' requirements. When a lesson is appended or revised, I'll note it on the Table of Contents page.
Over the coming months I'll be adding Appendices, either penned by me or guest authors. The subjects are about points lightly touched upon by Mickey, a natural evolution of style, Latin rhythms, and creating arrangements for small groups or solo guitar. If you have any subjects that you either have written about or wish to know more about, write me, and I'll investigate making an appendix of it. With that, let's change the concept of this "Epilogue" to a "Prologue".
Are we having fun yet!!