Learning Standards Building A Book Everyone you run into is going to tell you to learn Tunes.

I'm not going to be any different. LEARN SOME TUNES!! Okay I did that just for fun, however I'm being serious. Learning tunes is important and I am no tune master by any stretch the imagination but I know somewhere around 100 150 tunes right now and feel inadequate to the point that most of my practice focus is on learning more standard tunes right now, not only for their most obvious practical applications but for those in my interest in Jazz Composition. The More tunes you know, well the more tunes you can play. People who are real book readers or only know 40 tunes are limited in what their set lists are going to be like day in and day out. And yes, when I talk about knowing a tune, I'm talking about memorization and not only memorization but Internalization of that piece of music. I often listen to Keith Jarrett recordings with his trio and am amazed at his command of these pieces. There is a man that knows a lot of tunes, and went back to standards when they were starting to quite honestly become passe in the jazz cannon. Most people in the mid-late 70's were playing electric music and a lot of original music. The Standards trio's discography is not only impressive in it's number of recordings but the breadth of the standards chosen. The Same exists with other players especially pianists who follow the more Bill Evans school of playing. Evans' influence on Jazz as a whole cannot be shortchanged by any means but he certainly had a way of playing standards in a way that made them memorable. He has plenty of definitive versions of several Jazz standards, go to recordings that Musicians transcribe his changes and lines from and this is really an important thing to us as Musicians looking for material to play. If all I knew were 40 tunes then I'd be pretty bored pretty fast. Even with the 100 tunes I do know I forget what tunes I actually do know and out of those 100 maybe 40 of them are tunes I want to play all the time. So that's a 40% ration. Say I knew 40 tunes, then maybe a dozen of them give or take would be tunes I really wanted to call on gigs? Man I'd be in trouble in a hurry. Learning tunes has a learning curve. At the start, getting comfortable with learning and becoming fluent on a tune can be frustrating and time consuming. It used to take me a week to learn a tune well enough so that I could play the changes, melody (in 1 octaves) and improvise without getting lost in the form of the tune. Now, after years of study I can learn a standard tune in a day unless it has a particularly difficult form or melody (like a bebop head). However this isn't wholly do to just spending time on it, it was a system that I developed for learning Standard tunes that allowed me to apply it quickly and not only to be able to play that tune in one key but in any key that I so desired. This was to me a huge advantage because I was doing a lot of work at points in time with Vocalists who seldom (in my experience) perform tunes in the given Keys that instrumentalists like to play them in. But my ability to transpose changes easily and quickly almost on the spot gave me a leg up on a lot of other people who were looking for gigs and what not. I didn't have to read the Vocalist's chart like they would, if he or she said Autumn Leaves, C minor then it was not a problem for me to be able to transpose it right then and there and not need to have a chart. Most people where I

was were not so keen on being able to do that. The other advantage to the system was that it taught me how to learn melodies and form to the point that getting lost was now a thing of the past for me. This is something that plauges most people when learning tunes, blowing the form, which A section am I on, was that the bridge? I forget the 2nd ending on this tune?! Be aware my friends that there is no set number of tunes you should know. But be aware that basically you should never stop learning tunes ever. The larger your book the more melodic and harmonic material you can draw from. One of my favourite quotes of all time comes from the late great Tenor Saxophonist Joe Henderson. You never met a guy that knew 400 tunes that couldn't play? Amen Joe, Amen. The Melody There really are two types of Melodies that come in the Jazz Tradition. Melodies from the Bebop Tradition and those that are in that vein and those that are from the Lyrical Tradition. Bebop type melodies and the tunes they spawned have complex melodies that require a technical approach to playing them. These tunes can be melodic in nature with some nice singing passages to them, but often times they are angular and 8th note based that require significant time to work out on the instrument. Especially because these heads often were written by Horn players they can lay strangely on the Guitar. For example, certain parts of the Bridge on Confirmation are really hard to pull off clearly. Guitarists need to learn how to ghost notes or at least develop a swift enough right hand (sweep picking) to be able to pull off some of these bebop lines. Melodies coming from the American Songbook were written with lyrics and therefore written to be sung before played by an instrument and therefore are easier to deal with. Most people don't learn Bebop tunes in 12 keys because of the amount of work it would take to do it, and because some of these tunes present such a significant challenge themselves to play over the changes that people will only stray from the given Key in order to offer themselves a specific challenge to themselves and or their band mates. It would be a rare thing to have someone call a tune like Moose the Mooche in anything but the normal key even though it is only a Rhythm Changes, because people don't bother learning that melody in any other keys. However, when it comes to regular Lyric standards being able to play in 12 keys melody, changes and whatnot is an important skill to have. The Practical applications of having tunes transposed is simple... GWS (Gig with Singer). Vocalists change keys of standards constantly and only because they may or may not be limited by their instrument or sound, feel more comfortable singing everything within a certain register of keys. Thus the key of Eb might be no good for a singer and therefore has to sing I Hear a Rhapsody in the key of Ab. Who knows, it is a crap shoot. However knowing how to play something without reading is always the best option and therefore knowing how to effectively transpose things is something worth learning to do.

Another practical application beyond singers is that we ourselves as Guitarists might want to visit standards in other keys just to fit better on the guitar. E flat is a good example of a key on the Guitar that I personally find frustrating. It's difficult to play in that key for me moreso then a key like F or B flat. I prefer the lay of those keys. I like A minor over D minor etc. So if I want to play tunes for myself I can play them in any other key I want to. Plus this is great for transposing standards to create introductions or just entire solo pieces by yourself to get a better lay of the guitar. Example: In A Sentimental Mood is in the key of D minor but with hit's melody it lays very high on the guitar and needs more bass support. You could tune your E string down to a low D or you just could play the whole thing down a 5th and it will lay beautifully on the instrument plus give you some nice open string options for chords. Learning to transpose melodies for me was challenging. But I typically went with the process of understanding chord tone relationships and just straight up knowing the melody really really really well. Learning Lyrics was a big help, even if not knowing the entire chorus it's good to know the lyrics to the start of each section as it re-enforces the interval relationships. Knowing the Interval from the root for key parts of the tune will also help. For example I Love You has series of 7ths in the melody. My Favourite part of that tune is on the bridge when it goes up and up all the way to the 7 of a II minor chord (more on that in a second). Playing melodies in boxes can work, especially if your melody has a limited range. If you're playing a tune that has a range of no more then an octave can be learned in a simple single shape and learned in at least 2 octaves to help you get some more expressive options. However, this way of learning a melody can stunt any sort of creative improv with the melody in and of itself. Be-careful when playing melodies that you don't just play it off the page. This can sound pretty boring and uncreative. The Harmony Memorization of the Changes is probably for Guitarists the thing that we focus on the most since we only really get to play Heads when we're in trio or say quartets with Pianists. Sure sometimes other conditions apply but lets be honest, a lot of guitarists (myself included) know the changes to more tunes then we know the melodies to. I am working to fix that but for example no matter how many times I've played There Will Never Be Another You I tend to forget that melody somehow. Either I don't connect with it or I just never get a chance to. The Changes, I know and don't worry about. It's a combination of a system to learn the changes plus they're often times used to make contraphacts (compositions where the composer takes an existing tune and writes a new melody over the changes). Early on most people just go with straight name recognition of chords and therefore learn the tune in a very rigid and at the start limited fashion but they're able to get through it. Obviously the more you play a tune the easier it gets just through repetition. I used to learn tunes like this off of real books and lead sheets given to me. Years ago I changed and started to learn through a process of memorization of the functional harmony of the tune. It helped my theory, ear training and let me transpose everything to any key I want to. Jazz Standards are often combinations of cliche progressions that I'm sure you might already

be familiar with. II V I or I VI II V or III VI II V etc etc. Through a process of learning tunes that way with a combination of memorization of root movements you can learn a tune in any key and in a way you won't forget. For example, why don't we look at an old standby jam tune, All The Things You Are. If I were to learn the changes to this tune by naming every chord individually I have to go.. Fm7 Bbm7 Eb7 AbM7 DbM7 Dm7 G7 CM7 CM7 Cm7 Fm7 Bb7 EbM7 AbM7 Am7b5 D7b9 GM7 GM7 Am7 D7 GM7 GM7 F#m7b5 B7b9 EM7 C7+ Fm7 Bbm7 Eb7 AbM7 DbM7 Dbm7 Cm7 Bdim7 Bbm7 Eb7 AbM7 wow that to me is a lot of information to remember. Why not look at it like this... The tune starts VI II V I IV in the Big Key in this instance Ab. Then my IV chord's root moves up a step and becomes the II of a new II V I in the key of III (in this case Cmajor) then it does it again up a perfect 5th. Then it does the All The Things You Are Bridge (explained later). II V I in the key of VII (G major). Then my root moves down a step and becomes the II of a deceptive II V I in the key of #V (E Major) Then I am on my last 12 bars. Starts the same way that my first 4 bars. Then we have IV major then basically IV minor, down a step minor down a step diminished then II V I. If you know your major scale chord functions then this is a faster way to learn this tune. All The Things You are is somewhat complex because of it's form, lets look at a 12 bar blue! F7| Bb7| F7 |Cm7 F7| Bb7 |Bdim7| F7 |Am7 D7| Gm7 |C7| F7 D7 |Gm7 C7| Or look at it like.... I to IV back to I then II V to the IV chord. Root up a step diminished. I chord, then II V to the II chord (Gm7) then V and then a turn around back to the top of the tune. Obviously to understand this language you need to have an understanding of turn-a-rounds in Jazz. If you don't know what those are, you're behind and you need to get a theory book or a teacher to teach you what they are. You'll need to know terms like

Sub-dominant or Backdoor II V Deceptive II V All The Things You Are Bridge I got Rhythm Changes I Got Rhythm Bridge Honey Suckle Rose Bridge Coltrane Changes Tri-Tone Substitution #iv half diminished cadence. None of these are terribly difficult to understand (well Coltrane changes can be sure). But once you learn to recognize these things then you're going to breeze through learning tunes! Form It's also really important to learn to recognize the form of a tune as quickly and effectively as possible. Take note of the A sections and B or C Sections. Many Standard tunes fall into these sorts of Forms 32 Bars AABA AABA` ABAC AABC ABCD Some Examples? Autumn Leaves = A A B C All The Things You Are = A B C D(or A`) Emily = A B A C Night and Day = AAB Body and Soul = AABA There Will Never Be Another You = ABAC Stella By Starlight = A B C D We typically look at 8 bar chunks but it's not always so. All The Things has a 12 bar D section and Alone Together has 14 bar A Sections! How To Practice Practically? When I am learning a new tune I take myself through a memorization process that helps solidify the harmony as I outlined, Melody as outlined and form as outlined without prioritizing one over the other and learn how to improvise over the tune at the same time. I will select a comfortable tempo for the tune and sit down with my metronome and start to play the melody for 1 chord, then comp the changes for 1 chorus then improvise 1 chorus. Then rinse and repeat. This way I don't get to blow again until I've worked myself through the tune completely again. This is something I'll do for 30 minutes maybe even an hour. I'll stop

when I make mistakes, fix them, work out fingerings for challenging melodic passages and go back to the start of the cycle again. As I progress through this I take the music and throw it away. Usually by the end of the day I will have the tune memorized and can then start working out specific issues with the tune. Many tunes out there have these specific challenges especially when blowing over them. Some tunes have harmonic things in them with are either unique for the tune or they have things in them that require specific directed practice. Difficult passages need to be analyzed and thought about and attacked with clear and appropriate reachable goals. Here are some ideas. Eliminate or limit the problem. If you're having trouble finiding out what to play over a set of chord changes because the changes are happening fast then eliminate the problem and practice them rubato until you can find on the instrument how to connect the changes. Then after you've mapped out the problem on the instrument and in your brain add a tempo that is fair. Start working on it at a slower tempo and start to bump it up. If you find a Progression that is odd, or strange that you've not come across you will need to address this. The Chances are many people have found the same thing a problem and have solved it and then will be listening rather unconsciously to those parts of tunes when other people play them. Transcription of ideas by masters or just really close listening and study can yield ideas. What do I play over the A Sections of Well you needn't with all those step Dominant chords? Want the answer, go listen to Monk play that tune. You'll find something. Sometimes there are tunes you just have to Live With before you really can feel comfortable with them. Memorization of a tune is not the same as being able to play a tune. Some people might be able to memorize the progression of Giant Steps but just cannot say anything on those changes for months or years later! It took Trane 6 months of hardcore shedding to be able to play that solo which was, if you look at it very formulaic and lick based.... and totally awesome. Transcription of Tunes Don't become a real book cripple. Learning tunes off recordings is vastly superior to learning out of books. You can't expect to be able to speak a foreign language unless you go to the source and this applies to learning the language of Jazz as well. Finding excellent recordings of your favourite standards is step one. From there just start working on picking through it. Real Books are a convenience and yes I own my share of them. Nowadays when I find a tune I am really into I will learn it from recordings because I want to find variations on the tune. That's all these recordings are unless they're re harmonized significantly. What I want to have is a list of options on a tune for how I want to address it. I also find that if you go and do the grunt work of transcription of the tune you will internalize it much more and seldom after that point forget how the tune goes, what the melody is played like and what the harmony of the tune is. The benefit of Memorization

Every time I go to a gig and there's a jam session atmosphere to it (meaning that it's just a Standard calling gig, no original music) and people are up there with Real Books I sometimes feel bad. I bring books to gigs because I don't know every tune, but in reality I seldom use them. I don't want to play tunes that people need to read and no one really does. I can tell when someone is reading just by listening to them playing on an audio track because there is a certain lack of freedom. I can now learn tunes on the band stand now and if I need the music I almost always have the changes in my head by the time I take a solo. But that's a skill I've learned. In a perfect world you'd not need to read on stage. So that would be an ideal goal. Memorization of tunes frees up your brain to just go and play and not have to follow the notes and chords on a page. This gives room for musicality and expression of your musical being and not letting your intellectual self need so much of your brain's RAM. The more tunes you know the better you are off in every way. Even knowing 40 tunes is an excellent start. Start a list, don't be too ambitious about it at the start but go ahead and write a list of 40 tunes you think that you need to know. If you're unsure, every Jazz forum has some sort of top 100 list of tunes. Go ahead and pick 40 out of there. Write them down and depending on your practice time start working on them. Maybe 1 a week. Then before the year is out you've reached your goal. One sure fired way to make this work for you will be to get a tune buddy. Find someone who you play with and start on the tune list together and at the end of every week get together and play the tune of the week plus the tune from the last 2 weeks without the book in front of you. Then pick the next tune. Buddy systems are great. Plus before you know it you've got 40 tunes you two can go gig on!