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Is it better to study a large number of jazz standards (over 100) or concentrate on a few (maybe 20)?
In the first case, can an amateur (and should?), who practices from half an hour to three hours a day, keep in mind more than a hundred jazz themes.
And in the second case, can a musician consider himself a jazzman if his repertoire is so limited?
(I am an amateur, playing blues/rockk on stage, but never giving up hopes of going to jazz jam someday).
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08-31-2020 12:27 PM
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There are different levels of difficulty and you can work with pieces that have a more fundamental harmonic structure (diatonic, not so many secondary dominant chords) and really get to know those pieces, melodically, harmonically, on different parts of the fingerboard and as you get to know them, you'll find out that other pieces have similar attributes. Then introduce yourself to pieces that present individual devices to the lexicon. Get to know pieces like those.
Ex: Autumn Leaves, the theme from MASH (suicide is painless), The Shadow of Your Smile can make a decent starting point as your first explorations, one at a time so you can really get a lyrical and structural feel for the piece as a whole, and for its component parts.
Next you might want to explore the idea of Secondary Dominants, or focus on turnarounds. Both very important principles. Find pieces that mix those sounds in and work on them in the same immersive way.
Train your ear to recognize root movement, for example sing a root as you play a melody, play a root as you sing the melody, etc.
I made a thread a long time ago where I introduced a piece a week, and each month would be an easy (more fundamental) piece, and getting more complex through the month. It was a way to see how pieces can be related and the ideas they have in common, and the vocabulary you'd need to make them more complex.
It's a good thing to really stick with a piece and learn it well, in a compositional way. You'll find out that all pieces are really related in similar ways, different in fresh ways. Be patient. It gets exponentially easier each tune you learn if you do them in a gradual way, and it broadens your improvisational language in a gradual way so you can stay in control of your abilities as you grow as a player. As your ear gets better, you'll appreciate the solos of others, take ideas from them and let them inform your own creative forms. Take each step one at a time; you'll be running in a short amount of time.
Good luck
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You could do a lot worse than focussing on the ten tunes in Bruce Forman’s list as an initial repertoire:
Bruce Forman's list of 10 tunes for beginners
ive learned to become wary of being prescriptive as a teacher. So I can’t give you a recommendation. All I can say is learning a tune properly always takes longer than I think. OTOH we are playing the long game.
The best thing is just to do it, and put yourself in the situation where you have to play tunes. You will work it out as you go, and meet other musicians. Theoretical information is easy to come by; playing experiences less so.
Jam sessions and so on are a good place to start this journey. You don’t know how well you know a tune until you have to play it on stage.
I would say that in general it is best to learn things by ear as much as you can. As Jimmybluenote says, it gets easier each time, so be patient. And do not be put off by negative or uncomfortable situations; you learn a lot from those.
one thing you could do is go to a jam and check it out. Write down every tune they play and go away and learn the ones you don’t know.
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same challenge i faced a few years back ..quite a few id say..so many songs to learn..band in a box program..jazz guitar solos folder . actually JG solos..has over a 100 standards..tab and notation....enjoy at your own pace...ignore the tempo markings ...slow them down till your comfortable... ..obviously some are harder than others..get yourself Real book for the melodies.... ..heres the list...GS001 Manha De Carnaval/Day In The Life Of A Fool EasierGS002 East Of The Sun Easier
GS003 I Didn't Know What Time It Was Easier
GS004 Rosetta Easier
GS005 Pennies From Heaven Easier
GS006 Sunny Side Of The Street Easier
GS007 Nice Work If You Can Get It Easier
GS008 In A Mellow Tone Easier
GS009 Man I Love Easier
GS010 A Foggy Day variation w/bridge ??? Easier
GS011 Lady Be Good Easier
GS012 Girl From Ipanema Easier
GS013 It Could Happen To You Easier
GS014 How High The Moon Easier
GS015 You'd Be So Nice Easier
GS016 I Love You Easier
GS017 Ain't Misbehavin' Easier
GS018 Alone Together Easier
GS019 Wave Easier
GS020 Someday My Prince Will Come Easier
GS021 Satin Doll Easier
GS022 Sweet Georgia Brown Easier
GS023 Bb Blues w/variation Easier
GS024 Corcovado Easier
GS025 Autumn Leaves Easier
GS026 Stella By Starlight Easier
GS027 Honeysuckle Rose/Scrapple Easier
GS028 Rhythm Changes Easier
GS029 Green Dolphin Street Easier
GS030 "Take The ""A"" Train" Easier
GS031 My Funny Valentine Intermediate
GS032 When Your Lover Has Gone Intermediate
GS033 It's Only A Paper Moon Intermediate
GS034 Our Love Is Here To Stay Intermediate
GS035 A Foggy Day Intermediate
GS036 This Will Be My Shining Hour
GS037 My Romance Intermediate
GS038 Have You Met Miss Jones Intermediate
GS039 Advanced
GS040 Like Someone In Love Advanced
GS041 Just Friends Intermediate
GS042 Shadow Of Your Smile Advanced
GS043 It's You Or No One Advanced
GS044 Blue Skies Advanced
GS045 I Concentrate On You Advanced
GS046 All The Things You Are Advanced
GS047 Rhythm Changes Advanced
GS048 I Remember You Intermediate
GS049 There Will Never Be Another You Intermediate
GS050 How About You Intermediate
GS051 My Funny Valentine Easy
GS052 When Your Lover Has Gone Easy
GS053 Confirmation Easy
GS054 Once I Loved Easy
GS055 I'm In The Mood For Love Easy
GS056 Old Devil Moon Easy
GS057 Lazy Bird Easy
GS058 Georgia Easy
GS059 KTOBCTOI also 119 Easy
GS060 I Thought About You Easy
GS061 Where Or When Easy
GS062 It Don't Mean A Thing… Easy
GS063 Moonglow Easy
GS064 Fly Me To The Moon Easy
GS065 Don't Get Around Much Anymore Easy
GS066 All Blues Easy
GS067 Hello Dolly Easy
GS068 Blue Skies Easy
GS069 Bluesette Easy
GS070 A Night In Tunisia Easy
GS071 Darn That Dream Easy
GS072 Deed I do???? Easy
GS073 All The Things You Are Easy
GS074 Perdido Easy
GS075 On A Clear Day Easy
GS076 Triste Easy Bossa
GS077 Love Walked In Easy Swing
GS078 Yesterdays Easy
GS079 Back Home In Indiana/Donna Lee Easy
GS080 Just In Time Easy
GS081 That's All Intermediate
GS082 Airegin Intermediate
GS083 All Of You Intermediate
GS084 Am I Blue Intermediate
GS085 Blue Moon Intermediate
GS086 There Will Never Be Another You Intermediate
GS087 There Is No Greater Love Intermediate
GS088 Jeannine Intermediate
GS089 Jordu Intermediate
GS090 Intermediate
GS091 If I Should Lose You Intermediate
GS092 Speak Low Intermediate
GS093 Algo Bueno Intermediate
GS094 Blue Bossa Intermediate
GS095 Easy Living Intermediate
GS096 Bye Bye Blackbird Intermediate
GS097 Four Intermediate
GS098 Joy Spring Intermediate
GS099 Laura Intermediate
GS100 Colors of Chloe???? Intermediate
GS101 Falling In Love With Love Intermediate
GS102 I Should Care Intermediate
GS103 In Your Own Sweet Way Intermediate
GS104 Alice In Wonderland Intermediate
GS105 Just Friends Intermediate
GS106 Up A Lazy River Intermediate
GS107 Cherokee Intermediate
GS108 Dolphin Dance Intermediate
GS109 Doxy Intermediate
GS110 Do Nothing 'Til You Hear From Me Intermediate
GS111 My Funny Valentine Chord Solo
GS112 When Your Lover Has Gone Chord Solo
GS113 Confirmation Chord Solo
GS114 Once I Loved Chord Solo
GS115 I'm In The Mood For Love Chord Solo
GS116 Old Devil Moon Chord Solo
GS117 Lazy Bird Chord Solo
GS118 Georgia Chord Solo
GS119 Same as 59 Chord Solo
GS120 I Thought About You Chord Solo
GS121 Where Or When Chord Solo
GS122 It Don't Mean A Thing… Chord Solo
GS123 Moonglow Chord Solo
GS124 Fly Me To The Moon Chord Solo
GS125 Don't Get Around Much Anymore Chord Solo
GS126 All Blues Chord Solo
GS127 Hello Dolly Chord Solo
GS128 Blue Skies Chord Solo
GS129 Bluesette Chord Solo
GS130 A Night In Tunisia Chord Solo
GS131 Darn That Dream Chord Solo
GS132 Deed I do Chord Solo
GS133 All The Things You Are Chord Solo
GS134 Perdido Chord Solo
GS135 On A Clear Day Chord Solo
GS136 Triste Chord Solo
GS137 Love Walked In Chord Solo
GS138 Yesterdays Chord Solo
GS139 Back Home In Indiana/Donna Lee Chord Solo
GS140 Just In Time Chord Solo
GS141 Satin Doll Advanced
GS142 Night And Day Advanced
GS143 Lullaby Of Birdland Advanced
GS144 Girl From Ipanema Advanced
GS145 Advanced
GS146 I Hear A Rhapsody Advanced
GS147 How Long Has This Been Going On Advanced
GS148 Wave Advanced
GS149 It Had To Be You Advanced
GS150 On The Street Where You Live Advanced
GS151 Falling In Love With Love ????? Advanced
GS152 Easy To Love Advanced
GS153 Deed I Do Advanced
GS154 Days Of Wine And Roses Advanced
GS155 Come Rain Or Shine Advanced
GS156 Bb Blues Advanced
GS157 Am I Blue Advanced
GS158 I'll Remember April Advanced
GS159 All Of Me Advanced
GS160 After You're Gone Advanced
GS161 Yesterdays Advanced
GS162 Autumn Leaves Advanced
GS163 Back Home In Indiana/Donna Lee Advanced
GS164 Tenderly Advanced
GS165 Tangerine Advanced
GS166 Summertime Advanced
GS167 Stella By Starlight Advanced
GS168 The Song Is You Advanced
GS169 Just In Time Advanced
GS170 On A Clear Day Advance
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Just do one. Sufficient unto the day, etc. Then do another one :-)
You know, sometimes I've done the same one for maybe a month. Even then one comes back to it later. You've got to get inside it, wring everything you can out of it, go on till you can't any more.
I know people will say do ten, do twenty. See if you can do just one and get everything you possibly can from it. Then do another.
Doing a whole lot at one time... what will you really get from them? Just play the tune? Not good enough. You'll see.
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What Christian said is good.
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I think this was the thread,I was just looking at it not long ago, it's worth taking another look.I made a thread a long time ago where I introduced a piece a week, and each month would be an easy (more fundamental) piece, and getting more complex through the month. It was a way to see how pieces can be related and the ideas they have in common, and the vocabulary you'd need to make them more complex.
Commit to a song a week. What could a serious student hope to learn?
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Thanks everyone for the answers. About three months ago I concentrated in my practice on learning melodies (not only jazz, but for example, The Beatles, some pop songs e.t.c), making simple fingerstyle arrangements. And I would like to learn a fairly large number of them. But how to practice them without having 24 hours of free time? It only takes a lot of time to practice a large list of "heads" and not forget them ... and besides that, you also want to work on improvisation, comping and many other things... And on the one hand, it seems logical to limit your repertoire, but on the other ... firstly, I really want to learn a lot of my favorite tunes, and secondly, I want to approach the professionals in this. By the way, a question for the professionals - how many jazz standards could you play "right off the bat" and how do you practice them?
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At the moment pretty much none! I had someone come around for a play and it is painful!
Originally Posted by Kmatuhin
if I am comping in a quartet or something, hundreds, and some stuff I can just busk if I get some pointers.
If I need to play the melody in a trio or something, fewer. Still quite a few though. I think that reflects on the way I used to learn tunes (eg chords up instead of really focussing on the melody first.)
If I am playing a solo gig, fewer, but I’m aiming to get better at improvising this rather than relying on arrangements.
Now I always focus on melody first and tbh if I get that down, a lot of the time the changes just fall into place. But I have a lot of experience. Everything is learned by ear and then I compare what I have learned to popular charts such as the real book, and note the differences.
In general there seem to be about 20-30 tunes that are in general rotation in the overall jazz community at any time, tunes for in and out of fashion.
Ive slowly come to the realisation that the ultimate object is not to learn tunes but learn how to learn them really quickly. A lot of the time it’s in and out of short term memory, and relearn relearn relearn.
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Lots of good ideas. Here are a few thoughts.
Everybody can sing a bunch of songs that they know from somewhere. They don't have to think about it, they just know them.
So, as far as playing melody goes, can you play the songs you already know? If not, you can work on your ability to think of a melody (a song or your own improvisation) and play it instantly.
Everybody knows what the chords of the tunes they know (from somewhere) sound like. If you heard, say, a Beatles song that you know well, played with the wrong chords, you'd instantly be aware of it.
Musicians who know a zillion tunes can think of a tune and know what chords to play, from the sound in their minds. Most of us can do that with something as simple as a blues. You just feel where the IV chord is coming. But, a great player can do it with any tune in any key.
This is not memorizing language (although that may help). It's recognizing the sound in your mind and knowing what the next chord is.
So, getting good at this is about repeated exposure to songs and ear training.
Unfortunately for many of us, not everybody is going to be great at this.
For us mere mortals, I'd suggest the following.
Learn, in what ever way works for you, the 20-30 (well, maybe 50) jazz standards which you simply must know to be respected at a jam. If you don't know Autumn Leaves, All The Things You Are, There Will Never Be Another You, Rhythm changes etc, you aren't going to get called back. If somebody calls a less familiar standard, you can find it on your phone without triggering any funny looks.
Practicing them in every key is a good idea too, not because you're likely to have to play Autumn Leaves in Bmajor, but because it will help train your ear for tunes which modulate into different keys. You're trying to get to the point where you bring a song to mind and your hand seems to find the next chord on its own.
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Can or should someone consider themselves a jazz musician with a ready to go repertoire of 10 to 20 songs? No. The gulf between amateur and professional jazz musician is enormous. If you live near somewhere with a strong jazz scene, the ultimate of that being New York City, and you go to clubs you will see musicians whom you have never heard of, who are new/young/relatively low ranking on the local totem pole, and even they know 100 or more tunes that they don't need a chart for and could play with any group of other musicians.
Top drawer jazz musicians know hundreds if not thousands of tunes and seem to be able to summon them up at a moment's notice (no pun intended) in any key. Joe Pass, for example. I think in order to be able to do that you either have to be (a) remarkably gifted in terms of your musical memory or (b) somebody who doesn't do much other than work on music and so has 16 hours a day available. I know of people who can hear a song once and play it back for you, which I just simply don't seem to have the musical memory to do (nor the ear even if I could remember it). And if they don't know the song, by the end of the first or second course they have learned it.
Pat Metheny tells of being a high school student and playing gigs with experienced musicians in Missouri; they'd be on the bandstand and ask him "do you know such and such a tune," to which he'd reply "no," and they'd count it off and he was expected to keep up. You have to develop the ears to hear the song as it unfolds and intuit where it's going, if you don't know it already. When I think about the development of these master musicians, they came up in a time and place when there were dozens if not hundreds of gigs almost every night of the week, often four or five sets, usually without charts, and it forced them to develop those ear skills in a way that is not available to most musicians today. When he was in his teenage years, Pat Martino played six sets a night six nights a week at places like Small's Paradise. Just imagine the development that forces upon you! Even the Grateful Dead had 200+ songs in rotation on each tour, so that every show was a different setlist and you could go 4-5 nights in a row with very few repeats- not a jazz band but a jazz approach to rock and roll.
Learning songs by ear rather than from a chart, if you can do that, probably improves recall dramatically. Being able to sing the melody and the lyrics, not necessarily for anyone else to hear but as a way to orient yourself, also cements the tune in your head. Many standards have lyrics. Learning the melody and then transposing it into different keys to provide independence from fingerboard patterns would also be helpful- you should know the melodic phrase and be able to find it under your finger by hearing the intervals and knowing where they are (e.g., hearing the minor vs. major 3rd). Once you have the melody learned, in most cases that will give you the indication of the harmony structure. There are some tunes for which that is not as true, but for most Tin Pan Alley/show tune/Great American Songbook kinds of songs it's mostly true.
And, so I am told although it would be difficult to prove by me as an example, as you learn more songs learning new songs becomes easier because there are common patterns that you develop an ear for.
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What Cunamara said. I think people are getting a bit deskilled... iReal has a lot to answer for!
In terms of busking a tune it is possible if you know what the usual tropes are. Those tough situated learning environments really made musicians good. You can't do it simply as an individual. That's a myth. You have to be in the right environment too.
I did a few dance gigs with New York players. It was very much that - tune, tune, tune. Count them off. Knew about 30% of them. Wish I did it more! It's to the culture so much here. People are in their comfort zones more.
I think part of it is learning to enjoy being slightly at sea and really listening hard.
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If you know 20 songs, you aren't ready for a NYC style casual gig with no charts.
But, that's not the only situation where jazz is played.
Just before Covid, I got called for a corporate gig in a major hotel. Guitar, horn, bass trio. Horn player the leader. Well known local pro. I knew the bassist slightly. He'd toured with a name everybody knows and plays with some good players around here.
I didn't know what to expect. I don't know hundreds of tunes. I added them up once, and got about 120 that I can probably get through without making egregious errors. I can play some of them in an arbitrary key, but will have trouble with others. So, I showed up with IRealPro on my phone and a Real Book.
The horn player sat next to me and without asking, opened a book in Concert (not Eb,even tho he played alto) and turned to the first tune. It was a chestnut -- in fact just about every tune he called was. He had a chart open for every tune on the gig. The bassist surprised me. He had his own book and put a chart up for every tune, including tunes I think he could have played in his sleep.
So, in this case, they didn't expect me, or themselves, to know a even single tune. They took no chances whatsoever. The guy who referred me has no idea how many tunes I know. That NYC zillion tunes thing was not simply not expected. My guess is they each knew plenty of tunes, but they didn't try to conduct the gig that way. It wasn't a concert. It was background jazz for a party.
I've played in a bunch of situations like that. Guys playing standards who probably don't need books, have one anyway. But, at a jam, if somebody calls All The Things You Are, I think it would be embarrasing not to know it.
Some of these guys could probably do fine in NYC. But, apparently, they don't expect everybody to be at that level.
Can you call yourself a jazz musician if you need the book? I'd say that you can, if you're getting jazz gigs. If, otoh, you go to NYC and you never get a second invitation to anything, well, maybe you're not that kind of jazz musician.
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I just think it varies so much. Like here there's a list of maybe 50 tunes everyone's expected to know. A lot of these lists are put together by the music schools, and graduates of those schools just play those tunes.
But there's differences between little groups and cliques of musicians. They call something they think is obvious and I don't know it, but then I call something I think obvious and they don't know it. And some of these are really good players too, top end straightahead and bop guys in the city.
The thing is; I have to underline this, you get used to whatever playing situation you are used to. If you are around people where it is taken as read that you need to be really good at sight reading, you have to get your reading together. Same with tunes. If no-one uses charts, you won't either. I used to do trad gigs and it was taken as read you would not only play without charts but be able to play everything in any key at a moment's notice. None of the modern players here would be expected to do that, but they all play tunes with harder changes... and so on. I know some music professors who barely know any tunes, but can read the most complex originals stuff without blinking.
So with that in mind I'd say - find a playing situation and do what you need to do to participate in that. You don't retain what you don't use.
ATM I record solo versions of Kenny Wheeler tunes and things that I've practiced, but I'm weirdly at sea when someone calls 'How Deep is the Ocean.' A lot gets rusty in 6 months. It's coming back to me after a few plays, but my god...
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Another experience comes to mind.
I play in a big band. The kb player asks me to warm up with him, "let's play a tune". He's a working pro. He asks me to call one.
I call "I Should Care". He fumbles a bit and can't play it. Suggests All the Things You Are.
Still another:
I'm in a lesson with a Brazilian master who can play anything, any key and make it sound like he wrote the tune. Somebody calls Stella. The master knows the tune and starts playing in F. He isn't a jazz musician. He may not have known it's usually played in Bb, or may not have cared.
Two pros are playing. One a name you probably know and the other a Professor of Jazz Guitar. Both great players. I won't create a searchable post with their names here. Neither of them could play Stella in F the first time. One took a chorus or two and the other a chorus beyond that. The NYC wedding musicians of my youth wouldn't have noticed anything unusual had occurred while they switched keys without changing their bored expressions.
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"find a playing situation and do what you need to do to participate in that. You don't retain what you don't use." This is the best advice I've heard. There are lists upon lists of standards everyone should know. But a lot of those include many swing-era standards that I've never heard called at an open jam.
If your goal is to play at a jam, go listen to the jam and make a list of what songs get called and learn those. My modest experience at NYC jams (never made it to Smalls) is about 20-30 songs get called, mostly Parker, Coltrane, Davis and Benny Golson. But no one frowns at "All Things You Are" or "Without a Song", which may be more accessible to a beginning jazz player. And I've seen guys get up and say "I only know 'Bye-Bye Blackbird'" and the other players say "Sure, let's do that."
My experience is learning to play the absolute heck out of five songs, is far better than learning the bare bones of 20 songs.
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Yea, that is simple but sound advise. Originally Posted by TommyBrooklyn
I was going to say something similar; learn the jazz standards the people you are going to jam with tend to play. Of course this advise is only for amateurs like myself.
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Thank you, many interesting thoughts. One of them (as it seemed to me) is that studying jazz without the possibility of immersion in a jazz environment is a rather hopeless occupation...
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just having a regular opportunity to play is super important. Originally Posted by Kmatuhin
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Indeed... When I had a gig that forced me to learn new tunes - I did, one way or another. Trying to learn without the pressure of having to perform just doesn't all that well for me. Originally Posted by Kmatuhin
That said, the whole endeavor isn't necessarily hopeless in my view. I now tend to spend (much) more time working on a single tune, but reaping the benefits of developing my musicianship that spills over to other music avenues.
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My experience has been that no matter how much I shed a tune, if I don't at some point play it with other people there's a good chance I'll forget it. So at least for me, I've found it pointless to set a goal of learning some large number of tunes. I happen to know a decent number for someone who doesn't do this for a living, but that did not come from sitting down and learning a lot of tunes in isolation (something I have actually tried, to no great benefit). Rather, it came from playing tunes with other people. Originally Posted by Kmatuhin
By "other people" I mean pretty much any situation where you interact with at least one other person -- jamming/practicing with a friend, accompanying your lady friend who wants to sing My Funny Valentine (they all do, alas, and nearly all of them butcher it), lessons, more formal practice bands, gigs, participating in some of the study groups here, even (something I've been doing lately) hanging out on Zoom and taking turns playing whatever you've been practicing with other people you used to jam with in person. So to be more responsive to your questions:
1. No, it's not better to try to learn 100 on your own than to learn fewer more deeply. It's better to do neither and find some people to work with to start tackling tunes together. Don't wait until your reach some arbitrary level of proficiency and repertoire. Start playing with other people as soon as you can find some. That will get you much further than trying to memorize tunes on your own. If you do this for a while, you'll wind up with quite a bit of repertoire.
2. Some amateurs can keep large numbers of tunes in their heads, and some can't. Ditto for pros. The more you play in real playing situations, the better you get at remembering tunes and/or being able to fake ones you don't really remember, but people's memories are all over the map. My guess would be that I know somewhere around 100 tunes well enough not to have to look at a chart to play them. But I can comp and blow over some multiple of this that I'm somewhat familiar with, or make it through most tunes I've never heard before because I'm attuned to the patterns that occur again and again in tunes (e.g., AABA forms, ii V I's, blues variants, rhythm changes variants, etc.). It's like driving -- if you have a sense of direction, know how to read road signs, and pay attention, you can often find your way from here to there without having to memorize all the turns.
3. The short answer is that you can call yourself whatever you want to. The longer answer is that if you want to participate in a jazz scene or community, you should have enough repertoire and chops to be able to keep up. Exactly what that is depends on the scene. That said, there are about 20 tunes that get called all the time. You should know the bulk of those. If you're at a jam and someone calls Autumn Leaves, or ATTYA, or Blue Bossa, and you don't know it, you're gonna get the stinkeye in most parts of the world.
John
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Playing with others is best, but short of that you can play with backing tracks, a lot of people do.
Just make certain that you play all the roles - play the head, comp, and solo.
It's not the same as ensemble work but is better than playing strictly by yourself.
A basic plan for building repertoire - bring 3 tunes up to performance level as a starter. Then add more tunes to the list - one at a time if need be - while maintaining the others.
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You don't have to "immerse yourself in a jazz environment". You just have to play with other people at least occasionally. Even a couple of time a month will get you somewhere. It's an inherently social and interactive form of music. To do it, ya gotta do it. Originally Posted by Kmatuhin
John
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I agree wholeheartedly with the comments about playing with others.
The quickest way to improve is to play as often as you can with the best players you can get to play with you -- and on gigs as often as possible.
That said, you can make progress if you just find a bassist who wants to work on learning tunes. Around here, SF Bay Area, that's not difficult to do. There are a lot of musicians around. Many are willing to play outdoors, masked and distanced. Once you start networking, it's likely to expand. So, you pick a tune or two every week. And, pick a strategy. Usual key or every key? Which older tunes to review ... etc.
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Yeah I think my wording might have been a bit hardcore. I agree wholeheartedly with this. Originally Posted by John A.
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