Tips and tricks for practicing with Djangolizer
Lick treasure chests
If you are autodidactic and patient, you should try to listen and analyse solos from Django. Djangolizer shows you all the possible notes Django probably used.There are some books with transliterated solos.
Books I like to recommend are:
- Samy Daussat und Angelo Debarre, Gypsy Guitar, The Secrets, Volume 1
- Samy Daussat und Angelo Debarre, Astuces de la Guitare Manouche Volume 2
- Andreas Oeberg, Gypsy Fire
- Stephane Wrembel, Getting into Gypsy Jazz Guitar (one of my favourite books)
- Daniel Givone, La Guitare Manouche (only in french available)
- all books with solos of Django Reinhardt. Some of them have transliterations, wich are uncomfortable to play and for sure not how Django played them with his two fingers. Try to find out, where on the fretboard the lick will fit you better.
Anyway, it's a good exercise, to play a lick or a theme on different positions on the fretboard. The theme of "Swing 42" is a good example to check this out.
And here comes the trick:
Learn the licks from the books with the consciousness, wich notes are used and over wich chord you play them.With this method, you can use the licks on other chords with the same quality and transposed in other songs. You will be amazed, that even only a few licks will help you, to get through allmost every standard.
For example: If you learn a lick over the last three chords of "Djangology", Am7-D7-Gmaj69 (2-5-1), you can use it in other songs, with the same chord progression. This major 2-5-1 progression is used in many Jazz standards!
You will find 2-5-1 progressions in:
"Dinah" the last four measures
"Hungaria" last four measures
"It don't mean a thing" part B
"Blue Bossa" measures 9-12
Also the Rhythm Changes (1-6-2-5) are easy to transpose. Their licks work easily in every tonality.
Transpose a lick from "Daphne" (D) to C and try it in "Swing 42".
Common Rhythm Changes are: "Babik" (F), "Belleville" (D), "Daphne" (D),
"Artillerie lourde" (C), "Swing 42" (C) and "Swing Guitars" (C).
Again: Once you've learned a lick, you can check on Djangolizers fretboard, how it works over the chord (cognitive learning). You can see, if the lick uses arpeggio or scale notes. Are chromatic notes used? Where does it start, wich is the last note? Third? Fifth? Seventh? Root? Use the interval view to find it out.