Barry Greene Video Lessons

Hey Barry:

I think it might be fair to say that I have gotten more mileage out of the Major II V I lessons based on your Charlie Parker transcriptions than virtually any other lesson on your site (which is saying a LOT--cause I get tons out of every lesson!) Those 8 simple lines (based upon the 7-3 movement and the incorporated b9) have totally transformed my ability to play over II Vs and I encourage anyone who hasn't checked them out to do so. Both your more recent Major II V I lesson and the older one (where you use Tune Up as a vehicle) are just tremendous resources (also the Linear Turn Around Secrets lesson). Occasionally in those videos, to illustrate where the simple concept can ultimately take one, you'll take off and play a series of lines at blazing tempos etc. and say something about how one can become a "bebop machine" once these lines have become internalized etc. I'm not there yet and my lines STILL sound collegiate and I STILL just recycle that basic scale line on the II chord etc. Anyway, I KNOW you've already given a lot of attention to this concept, but given the transformative impact that it can have, MIGHT you consider doing a lesson based upon how to integrate these lines more fully into one's playing, how to be creative with them and how to achieve "bebop machine" status with them? I'd sure appreciate it. And the open invitation to St. Croix remains ;-) Thanks!
-JGC

I’ve read your email several times trying to think of a way to answer it. What you’re asking about is the discovery part of learning how to improvise. Everything you’re asking of me I learned by just playing, transcribing, and listening to recordings over and over again. I don’t think there is a methodology for what you’re asking, it just comes from practice and more importantly playing with people. I know it’s a crappy answer, but I have no formula for teaching what you’re asking about.

Check out my response in the duplicated thread. It goes back to how you learned English. Probably not with a dictionary, you probably listened to other people speak and over time were able to take strings of words and create sentences, sentences to create paragraphs.

Is Jazz your first style of music? If you started with Rock/Blues like most of us, you probably have a vocabulary in that style. How would you answer the same question if a beginner asked you how to play a blues line? I probably stole at least 50% of my rock/blues bag from SRV and Hendrix (and it's blatantly obvious). I just try to make sure that the other 50% is enough to keep me from sounding like a complete clone. Hopefully this doesn't come across as condescending, because I feel you. I have the same goals. It's frustrating when you practice all the time and you end up exhausting every idea you have in a single chorus of a tune and you wonder how Barry can continue to sound original after playing 8 choruses. It's all about getting most out of what you know, and continuing to build on what you have.

Perfect analogy and great advice! Thanks, I really appreciate this response. And, as I said to Barry above, I just got tickets to Kurt Rosenwinkle at the Village Vanguard on August 12th, so just exactly how bad can things be anyway?

@jcanning - which video lesson is it? Is it major 251?