Hi Guys! Apologies if this has been posted before but I was just wondering if anyone could recommend some good books to get get me started on playing Gypsy Jazz Mandolin?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
All the best,
Andy :)
Printable View
Hi Guys! Apologies if this has been posted before but I was just wondering if anyone could recommend some good books to get get me started on playing Gypsy Jazz Mandolin?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
All the best,
Andy :)
The Django Fakebook--not without a few flaws-- will likely come up and since lots of people read threads we'll just provide a link to a blog that contained a couple of Fake Books, available for download. The price is right on both.
Hey! Welcome to the cafe!
If you're not averse to spending some money on a book or 2, I like Dix Bruce's "Gypsy Swing & Hot Club Rhythm for Mandolin" volumes I and II. Book and CD with each.
https://www.musixnow.com/Gypsy%20swing%20mandolin.html
and https://www.musixnow.com/Gypsy%20swi...0mandolin.html
He also has a DVD which is pretty good. I think you can buy all 3 as a set for like $40.
Edit- here is his ad from the cafe classifieds
https://www.mandolincafe.com/ads/114506#114506
I noticed that Matt Flinner was offering a Gypsy Jazz course not sure when it started but you could try that, he gets lots of good reviews on his courses.
If you read standard notation, you can try Getting into Gypsy Jazz Violin by Martin Norgaard https://www.melbay.com/Products/Defa...kid=21288BCDEB
It approaches the rather complex subject of improvisation systematically, starts with simple variations of the tunes melody and moves to more advanced concepts like chord substitutions.
Example tunes include Avalon, the Sheik of Araby and After you've gone.
Most examples are playable on the mandolin, violin bowing techniques are not a subject of the book.
I also have both Dix Bruce books and highly recommend them.
Another one is 'Mandolin Play Along: Gypsy Swing', a Hal Leonard book.
To me, there is not that much difference between 'Swing' and 'Gypsy Jazz'. Django Reinhardt played regular swing and jazz tunes along with songs that may have arisen from the Roma community in Europe (the 'Gypsies'). In fact, he did songs like 'Sweet Georgia Brown' and 'Margie' which come from the USA.
Hal Leonard put out a very good 'fake book' called 'The Real Dixieland Book: C Instruments'. It is full of swing and dixieland tunes that fit in the 'Gypsy Jazz' category. In fact, it is the go-to book that my trio uses. I have come to appreciate and use the keys of C, F, Bb, and Eb through the use of these horn-friendly tunes.
I always thought that David Grisman's 'DAWG' music was very much in the 'Gypsy Jazz/Swing' styling. He has two books that he sells through his Acoustic Disc website: Dawg Jazz and Dawg Latin. I bought both and they are full of great tunes for the genre.
No FYI on my part. I also have the two free fake books that were recommended above by MC, but feel that the other books were all money well spent.
Finally, Matt Flinner teaches both 'Swing Mandolin' and 'Gypsy Jazz Mandolin' online. I have taken both classes, twice each. The tunes that he introduces in 'Gypsy Jazz' will surprise you. Although they were done by Reinhardt and Grappelli, they essentially come from the regular swing and jazz libraries. But, I suppose, by Django doing them they got to be considered 'Gypsy Jazz' tunes.
Or by Josho StephanQuote:
But, I suppose, by Django doing them they got to be considered 'Gypsy Jazz' tunes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ght2IRRG0pA
Isn't this tune also in one of Dix Bruce's books?
Well, I played it a little slower and just played the melody:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7r1KQ5gB14
Thank you ever so much for all of these great replies! This has definitely given me enough information to keep me going for a while :)
No worries.
As I was reading another thread in this Jazz, Swing, Blues forum, I noticed Don Stiernberg posting. I remembered that I also bought one of his e-books: Jazz Mandolin Appetizers from Mel Bay online. This is another great resource for jazz and swing tunes. For example, Don has several lessons on 'rhythm changes' which is the basis for many many jazz and swing tunes.
https://www.melbay.com/Products/Defa...kid=22021BCDEB
Make that two recommendations for this book. I learned a lot from it (still learning) and it has helped my reading too since I didn't have the tab crutch to fall back on.Quote:
Originally Posted by crisscross
David
Go to the SOURCE and study his stuff!
Django Reinhardt by Stan Ayeroff (Oak Publications)
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....4,203,200_.jpg
https://www.amazon.com/Django-Reinha...ayeroff+django
The Music of Django Reinhardt by Stan Ayeroff
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....4,203,200_.jpg
https://www.amazon.com/Mel-Bays-Musi...ayeroff+django
Learn to read STANDARD NOTATION!
The late John McGann has some mandolin specific learning materials on Djangobooks.com. For example
But I agree with the above post.....learn standard notation and the world is your oyster
Here are many Django solo transcriptions for free.
https://sites.google.com/site/klemjc/
Always best to have someone to play with, but gypsy jazz players aren't exactly falling out of the trees just yet. We hope that changes. Meantime, if you're so inclined or just want some additional material, strongly suggest the plethora of gypsy jazz backing tracks on YouTube. Do a search like this:Quote:
Originally Posted by Androidmuncher
https://www.google.com/search?q=yout...backing+tracks
These can be helpful because many are at manageable tempos for folks starting out. Some are better than others of course.
Check out dc-musicschool.com. While not mandolin specific, there are some great violin etudes available and he has free backing tracks available at multiple tempos.
Stephane Wrembel also has a bunch of backup tracks available at http://www.stephanewrembel.com/lessons/. He calls them "lessons" but they're really backup tracks. They are also at a pretty rapid clip in many cases so you may want or need (I do) to slow them down with your favorite slowdowner program.
David
Don Stiernberg has a set of excellent courses covering various aspects of swing mandolin on Soundslice. If you are new to swing or gypsy jazz, his course on rhythm is a great start. The Soundslice platform gives you video, audio, notation, and tab that can be slowed down, freeze-framed, pitch shifted, etc. Well worth the price of admission.
https://www.soundslice.com/store/