fast tunes
i´m into practising fast tunes at this time... i need more tunes to work on. could anyone name the most usual standardtunes that often are played in tempos above 220 bpm. playing in 220bpm seems to be one thing and playing faster than 240 seems to be another thing. anyone have any useful tips on practising in fast tempos? any mental exercises?
martin
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tunes that use "rhythm changes", blues, autumn leaves, tune up, i'll remember april, another you, etc.
one approach to up-tempo playing i've found useful is to avoid the temptation to play long lines. leave plenty of space, and play lots of short simple 2- or 3-note motifs that you can develop through the changes. try using a mixture of short staccato articulation with long (held) notes.
aniother thing that has helped me is the bebop scale, especially for double-time playing. if you can play good sixteenth-note lines in medium-tempo tunes, you're going to find up-tempo quavers easy.
like the above replies indicate,up-tempo soloing is a study in itself;
you're mainly interested in making the changes so trying to get into complex lines/patterns isn't as important as simple ones that you can execute at the tempo you're trying to master.......start compiling a collection of 2,4,and 8 bar ideas that you work on with a metronome,
playing them over the related changes.....from there,take some of the tunes and gradually work them up to tempo,starting from a place that feels comfortable not forced and increasing the tempo a little at a time...then you might want to pick up one of those "rhythm section cd's" that have tempos way up and see what you can do;tape and listen to yourself....listening to a lot of recordings where players who can play these tempos comfortably get into their s--t probably will help you get used to thinking/hearing "way up"........
https://www.jazzbooks.com/miva/documents/handbook/10_practice_procedures.pdf
similar to what jazz+ said, you can't think about the pieces of the tune when it's zipping by at over 240. at this point you get one beat per measure, maybe two, and you have to think about the whole tune at once.
the thing is, you always have to think about the whole tune. if you are ever breaking your tune down into chunks based on chords and harmony, then you're still inside a tiny musical box.
as soon as you break out of that box and forget about each chord but play the song by hearing the sounds and playing them, then you've arrived at a new level.
so on very fast tunes, like cherokee, all i do is keep the melody in mind. it's always there in the background. i do that with almost all my tunes because it keeps me in place and i always have something to relate what i'm playing to.
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by Scot Ranney on 10/17/2007, 10:17
this echos my last teacher's advice, the late great eddie weid. for fast or not so fast tunes.
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