At 8:32 AM -0400 7/5/09, dhbailey52 wrote:
>Just remember that even Charlie Parker couldn't play them if
>he were reading them, so be wary of spending too much time
>learning to play his solos. He never played the same solo
>twice. Far better, in my opinion, is to learn to play your
>own solos, not someone else's.

I could not disagree more. If you read interviews with great players, and talk
to the great players you know, you will find that most of them spent a lot of
time in their formative years learning the solos of the players they thought
were great players. Heck, Wes Montgomery learned to play guitar by doing nothing
but learning Charlie Christian solos. Pat Martino talks about the hours and
hours he spent slowing things down with a multi-speed turntable.

There is something about the human brain that results in your learning music in
a very deep way by going through the process of learning to play music you like
by ear -- and I mean really play so that you can play along with the record.
Your brain integrates a lot of information that way that you will have
difficulty learning any other way. If one doesn't have the time/patience to
learn by ear, learning from written music is still helpful (but not as good as
figuring it out by ear)

If you want to pick up on what makes a player tick, you will only get their
phrasing down by playing along with them and trying to match them note for note.

In my opinion, unless you are a rare genius, if you skip learning the work of at
least a few great players, your playing will be less rich than if you did. I
regret that when I was in my formative years that I wasn't more assiduous in
learning the solos that I thought were great. I managed to develop good
dexterity and "chops" but failed to pick up on the things that made my favorite
players tick and while I could player over complicated changes -- I didn't pick
up idiom. So, now, when I can find the time, I am trying to learn great solos
note for note -- and I feel that my playing is greatly improving for the effort.

Best,

E