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I have an idea and I’m wondering if anyone is interested.
I transcribed nine Charlie Christian solos when I was in college and never really did much with them.
If I were to post the PDFs here, would anyone be interested in tackling them? No real project, but folks could post videos, questions, or thoughts. It could be fun to see how people go about absorbing a transcription.
They are as follows:
Gone With What Wind, Breakfast Feud, Wholly Cats, Seven Come Eleven, Flyin’ Home, Boy Meets Goy (Grand Slam), Benny’s Bugle, Airmail Special, and Solo Flight.
They’re all masterpieces and all quite short (with the exception of Solo Flight). Caveat: I transcribed them myself, and while I was in college, so they’ve got scribble markings on parts, and I make no guarantees as to perfect accuracy. But they’re close and they’re finale PDFs so they’re neat, all things considered.
Anyway … interest?
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05-19-2023 11:11 PM
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I've stolen dozens of licks from those solos, id love to see the whole things!
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I don’t mean to pull a “6-minute abs” on you or anything, but there are already transcription books, two at least.
A playing thread is a great idea though.
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Yes but mine are free.
Originally Posted by Jazzjourney4Eva
I’ve had these for forever. When I was a senior in college I got terrible tendinitis about two months before my classical degree recital. So what little playing I could do had to be classical. I ended up transcribing these (and some Miles) and just using the guitar to hunt some stuff out, but I was unable to actually spend time learning them.
Never went back and learned them though. So I think it’s time.
If you’d rather buy the book, of course, that’s fine. Would still be very cool to have people checking out the same solo for the same couple weeks!
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Cool. I developed tendinitis in college too, it really sucked. More importantly I transcribed Breakfast Feud in my high school senior year, and played it before I transcribed it. Solo Flight is a great solo as well. Swing to Bop, Seven Come Eleven, all great. Originally Posted by pamosmusic
Yes but mine are free.
I’ve had these for forever. When I was a senior in college I got terrible tendinitis about two months before my classical degree recital. So what little playing I could do had to be classical. I ended up transcribing these (and some Miles) and just using the guitar to hunt some stuff out, but I was unable to actually spend time learning them.
Never went back and learned them though. So I think it’s time.
If you’d rather buy the book, of course, that’s fine. Would still be very cool to have people checking out the same solo for the same couple weeks!
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Here's another good resource for some CC transcriptions, discographies, etc. And it's free! Solo Flight: The Charlie Christian Legacy
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oh awesome! Originally Posted by jazzshrink
Well we can keep it going past the nine then.
(Edited because initially I couldn’t find the actual transcriptions — found them though.)
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Here's a great lesson from Brad Shepik on 'Benny's Bugle'.
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Awesome. Thanks for sharing! Originally Posted by David B
Yeah I think it would be fun to start with one of these solos and see anything people come across like this, any lines people develop from it, exercises or etudes they make up, what fingerings they’re using, whatever.
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Well I’m going to get rolling on some Charlie Christian. I’d love to see folks share any lines they find interesting, takes they’re proud of, ideas for shedding. Whatever.
Absent that, I guess I’ll just share my own!
Anyway … I’m going to start with Gone With What Wind. There are a couple monster lines in it.
You can find the transcription right here:
http://www.soloflight.cc/Xcripts/GoneWWW1_a.jpg
Ive also attached mine. I’ve found a couple small mistakes already, but at least the coffee stains didn’t ruin the scan.
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Oof, this is a new one to me. Off to the Woodshed...
Anyway, thank you, @pamosmusic, for starting this interesting thread/topic.
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A lot of his solos have already been transribed, I found this on Youtube, one of my favs.
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I did Benny's Bulge a while back. He's like the epitome of hip playing!
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That was brought up earlier. The linked transcription was from an archive someone posted with basically his whole catalog transcribed. Originally Posted by GuyBoden
A lot of his solos have already been transribed, I found this on Youtube, one of my favs.
I picked the nine I wanted to start with because I transcribed them myself years ago while I was coming off a hand injury and never learned them. I’d love to do more than just the few I listed!
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So here’s something I like to do with cool ideas from solos like this. This one is from measure 17-18 (the IV chord, second chorus). I like to take ideas like this and sequence them through scales to see if the ideas still work at different pitch levels.
To make the kind of chromatic passing thing work, I used a Barry Harris idea. Jens Larsen does a really good explainer on that right here. .
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Nice playing, great sound, and the amount of talking was perfect. Originally Posted by Alter
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yeah this sounds great! Originally Posted by Alter
What do you do with a transcription like this after you learn it? Do you have any tricks or practice ideas for internalizing the lines you like?
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Here’s a pretty rough take of the solo in fifth position.
Part of the reason I like these solos so much is that they’re so short. It’s not a particularly heavy lift to put in some extra time and learn them in different positions, pull lots of licks out and mess around with their construction—that kind of thing.
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My thing with transcriptions is, once I learn them and can play them with the CD, I try to stay with them for at least a month. Play the licks, play the solo. Change positions fingerings, mix them up. After a while part of it sinks in. Originally Posted by pamosmusic
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Hi all! Just came across this thread. @pamosmusic - did you post your nine transcriptions somewhere? I saw "Gone With What Wind" a few posts up, but not the rest. Originally Posted by pamosmusic
Many thanks for your contribution!
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Peter, which tune should I start with?
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