Basic solo #2 This lesson is for membersLog in to continue, or create a free account to watch the free lessons first.Become a memberLog inLessons in Django’s TigerShow allChordsChordsA 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 ›Theme and improvisation (full form demonstration)AdvancedDjango 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 ›Basic solo #1BasicYour 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.Basic solo #2BasicA 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 ›Basic solo #3BasicA 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.Advanced soloAdvancedHere 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.‹Previous: Basic solo #1Next: Basic solo #3›