Crusaders-Street Life Sax Solo on Guitar

[Bellycaster]

Hi

I had an hour and half learning this solo on guitar tonight and got half way through it, although not quite up to speed yet.

I figured it would be a good finger exercise and good for learning new patterns and I also wanted to try something Jazzy etc.

I narrowed the key down to A Flat Major by finding the Minor Pentatonic that fitted, which was F.

Question is: What defines a Jazz scale? From the half of the solo I have learned, I have roughly figured that it stays within the A falt Maj and F Pent notes, but maybe not all of the notes, I have not had time to study it in depth and my theory is not that of an expert. It may be modal and be in a different key for all I know. Have I got onto the right way of finding a Key to a track by finding the Min Pent and then it's relative Major?

I love some sax solos and they are well worth learning on the Guitar, another example is "You Don't Have To Go" by The Chi-Lites, cracking solo and not difficult too.

Can a solo sound Jazzy when just keeping in the notes of the Major scale and relative Min Pent, or do you have to go into different boundaries etc?

I don't expect anyone to study this song for me, but if anyone who is a theory guru can help with this without breaking sweat, I would be grateful.

Thank you

Jon.

[Koss59]

Just had a quick listen but not with a guitar next to me.
It's in F minor, first question would be have you learnt all the chords? If not, do that first or you won't learn anything from the exercise.
The solo to me sounds like mainly arpeggios over each chord with chromatic passing tones and things, don't get bogged down with scales over these things, most great jazz players play over the chords not a scale. It does briefly modulate into Ab using a 2 5 1 of the key but is mainly in f minor for the solo.

Hi

I had an hour and half learning this solo on guitar tonight and got half way through it, although not quite up to speed yet.

I figured it would be a good finger exercise and good for learning new patterns and I also wanted to try something Jazzy etc.

I narrowed the key down to A Flat Major by finding the Minor Pentatonic that fitted, which was F.

Question is: What defines a Jazz scale? From the half of the solo I have learned, I have roughly figured that it stays within the A falt Maj and F Pent notes, but maybe not all of the notes, I have not had time to study it in depth and my theory is not that of an expert. It may be modal and be in a different key for all I know. Have I got onto the right way of finding a Key to a track by finding the Min Pent and then it's relative Major?

I love some sax solos and they are well worth learning on the Guitar, another example is "You Don't Have To Go" by The Chi-Lites, cracking solo and not difficult too.

I don't expect anyone to study this song for me, but if anyone who is a theory guru can help with this without breaking sweat, I would be grateful.

Thank you

Jon.

[Bellycaster]

Just had a quick listen but not with a guitar next to me.
It's in F minor, first question would be have you learnt all the chords? If not, do that first or you won't learn anything from the exercise.
The solo to me sounds like mainly arpeggios over each chord with chromatic passing tones and things, don't get bogged down with scales over these things, most great jazz players play over the chords not a scale. It does briefly modulate into Ab using a 2 5 1 of the key but is mainly in f minor for the solo.

Hey thanks, that is a big help. You have however touched on an issue with me, you mentioned CHORDS. I used to think I was ok at transcribing chords until I started experimenting with more Funky and Jazzy tunes. I realised I needed to look more at extension chords 9,11,13 Chords which I have started doing and have made some progress.

A good comparison to what I mean is like. I could transcribe the chords to "Up the Junction" by Squeeze, as that has your usaul Major, Minor, Possibly Min7. I mean, I'm ok up to Maj, Min, Min7, Maj7, DOM7 and I'm just daring to creep into the 9,11,13 and Diminished etc. I have also started to pay more valuable attention to intervals, I mean really listening to them, but it's hard at first.

The opposite end of the scale is when I tried to transcribe Nightbirds by Shakatak, I took ages and I got about 40% and ended up cheating using tabs, which were correct, but I bet if you can play this, you already know which chords I could not work out.

I have more chord knowledge in my arsenal now, it's just daring to try.....eeeek.

To me the chords are just as beautiful as the lead part and I really want to get smart with that, time is the enemy, lol.

Thanks again.

[Kebabkid]

Happy New Year Bellycaster and +1 to Koss59 Re: playing over the chords.

Two great guitarists who do the above and also listen to sax players rather than other guitarists for their inspiration are Robben Ford and Larry Carlton. You've probably heard the following 2 songs that they respectively feature on and I think they offer pretty good examples of this with their little turnarounds:-

Help the poor - Robben Ford - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGzibVH-YCA - solo at 2mins 7"
Kid Charlemagne - Larry Carlton (Steely Dan) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tT0D1K8quV4 - Solo 2 mins 20"

All the best with your learning

[Bellycaster]

Happy New Year Bellycaster and +1 to Koss59 Relaying over the chords.

Two great guitarists who do the above and also listen to sax players rather than other guitarists for their inspiration are Robben Ford and Larry Carlton. You've probably heard the following 2 songs that they respectively feature on and I think they offer pretty good examples of this with their little turnarounds:-

Help the poor - Robben Ford - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGzibVH-YCA - solo at 2mins 7"
Kid Charlemagne - Larry Carlton (Steely Dan) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tT0D1K8quV4 - Solo 2 mins 20"

All the best with your learning

Happy New Year to you too, Kebabkid. Thanks for the links, I'll check those out. I always like the phrasing and emotion of Sax solos, but the guitar is my true love instrument. I think the reason I love David Gilmour's Guitar playing is the emotional similarities it conveys, similar to that of a Sax player.

Take care.