Django’s Tiger is Django Reinhardt’s own take on Tiger Rag, the Dixieland classic that the Original Dixieland Jazz Band recorded back in 1917. Django made it his own on 31 January 1946, and it has stayed one of the most played tunes at jam sessions worldwide ever since.
Musically it gives you something valuable: the chords stay put for longer stretches than in most Gypsy Jazz standards. That extra room over a single chord is a gift when you’re learning to solo. You have time to hear an idea, try it, and follow where it goes, instead of scrambling to keep up with changes flying past. If you are building your improvising, this is one of the best tunes to do it on.
This tune also has a couple of good stories attached to it, you can find one in the chords lesson and one with the theme.
Mozes does some very nice soloing on the improvisation takes, while Daniel provides a swinging rhythm. Get ready for a real Mozes Rosenberg Method treat!
Lessons in Django’s Tiger Show all A little history lesson worth knowing before you learn these chord changes: Django's improvised solo on the 1946 recording was so good that it became the melody. Players learned it by ear, passed it on, and over the decades the chords everyone now uses ended up being built on that improvisation rather than on the harmony underneath it.The result is a small irony: Django's own version can sound slightly wrong to players who grew up with the modern one. What you are about to learn is a tune reshaped by people who loved it and copied it. In this lesson Mozes plays the chord changes as they are... Read more ›
Django was a lifelong admirer of Louis Armstrong. He first discovered jazz through a friend's record collection full of Armstrong and Ellington, and years later he would tell young guitarists who wanted to play like him to go and listen to Armstrong instead. Armstrong recorded his own version of Tiger Rag, and if you listen closely you will hear something familiar: the opening of Django's melody bears a striking resemblance to how Armstrong begins his improvisation on that tune. Whether it was a deliberate nod or something that simply stuck with him, it tells you a lot about who Django was... Read more ›
Your first solo over Django's Tiger. This is where those long stretches on one chord start working in your favour: you have room to place a phrase, hear how it lands, and go from there. Mozes keeps it playable while still sounding like the real thing. Take it slowly and let each phrase settle before moving on. There is no hurry in this tune.
A second solo over the same changes, taking you in a different direction. That is the point of having more than one example: comparing them shows you the choices being made, not just the notes being played. Try to find ideas and melodies that are worth repeating and that you can work with in your improvs. Notice the fast sweep-arpeggios in bars 6-8: a simple idea - don't let all the notes in the sheet music fool you - that takes you flawlessly through the descending passing chords. Once you can play a couple of basic solos, try mixing them. A phrase from the first, a phrase from the second... Read more ›
A third approach at approximately the same level. By now you will start to notice which ideas keep coming back and which ones are new, and that recognition is worth as much as any single lick you learn. Three solos over one tune, all playable, all different. That is your vocabulary starting to build.
Here the tune opens up. Longer lines, more chromatic movement, and the phrasing that separates a solid solo from a convincing one. It asks more of your picking hand than the basic solos do. Break it into short sections and get each one clean before joining them up. Then slow the whole thing down further than feels necessary. The speed comes later; the phrasing comes first.