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a nice jazz ballad? help please

Posted by acousticguitarist • 12/02/07 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: jazz guitar

I've just resetup my home studio.. and am testing some equipment,

I can play a lot of tunes and work out arrangements quickly, am looking for a nice tune.
what's a nice jazz ballad I could record on solo guitar?

User Comments

12/02/07

funepets

Would have loved to help, but not into Jazz. sorry.

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12/02/07

jackpayne

"How High the Moon." Perfect for jazz guitar.
Les Paul made this famous way back in the early 1950s.

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1. 12/02/07
  
  acousticguitarist
  
  thanks ...i used to do that one...jack, any others?
  thje reason I'm asking is because I want someone to come up with something I wouldn't choose myself
12/02/07

jackpayne

How about "Squeeze Me?"

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1. 12/03/07
  
  acousticguitarist
  
  gorgeous song...i heard a miles davis version ..will think about it for a day or so and then record it..appreciated
12/02/07

acousticguitarist

thanks jack ...i'll see if i can hear it somewhere

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12/03/07

kab625

What about "This Masquerade"?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpEfAV1T5b0

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1. 12/03/07
  
  acousticguitarist
  
  funnily enough i was just about to go upstairs in my house and record it
  
  thanks, it's nice on solo guitar, more challenging but pretty
2. 12/03/07
  
  kab625
  
  Awesome. I love it!
12/03/07

wandadog13

gotta be Jailhouse Rock

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1. 12/03/07
  
  acousticguitarist
  
  not sure about that one because it's so well defined already and sometimes instrumental versions of tunes like that can fall flat...i'll try it and see
12/03/07

witewood

What do you think of this one Tony?

uk.youtube.com/watch?v=I6bMfkwJrxk

Starts off as a lovely, reflective melody, then goes into a jazz section in the middle. However, this is already a solo guitar piece, and you may want a song or piece you can re-work for guitar. The piece is called "Missing Her" by Frederic Hand.

Mark.

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1. 12/03/07
  
  acousticguitarist
  
  thanks mark...nice piece
  
  have you seen Ralph Towner playing the relectant Bride
  
  uk.youtube.com/watch?v=qmZbSETaHJA
  
  i like sargasso sea with john abercrombie, their second album 'five years later' was great too but never made it to cd
  
  I'm looking for some sort of jazz ballad to play on semi acoustic, i recorded a few last night...
  
  I'm just trying to get the recording process going again, testing out my setup and still trying to get an interface, preamp...have driven every wholesaler and shop crazy lately
12/03/07

Theresa111

One of my favorites "I'll Take Manhattan."

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1. 12/03/07
  
  acousticguitarist
  
  never played it. i'll check it out
  
  thanks
12/03/07

Swan

I also love Jazz ballads!

There are many for you to choose from here:

digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best_jazz/best_jazzballads.html

Maybe you'll send each of us a YouTube link, when you finally choose one (or more.)

I only expect you to whisper my name somewhere during the song.... *laughs*

Take care and good luck with your choices!
~ Swan
Premier Software Reviews

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1. 12/03/07
  
  acousticguitarist
  
  that's funny
  
  however, i need to get a camera, record on my audio gear, film it at the same time, import the video to an editor, delete the audio and embed the good quality audio
  
  am trying to buy a preamp at the moment
2. 12/03/07
  
  acousticguitarist
  
  great...i saw the list...i'll do pork pie hat
  
  off the top ten, there's only one i haven't played..strange fruit
  
  hard song to approach
12/03/07

dharmagypsy7

John Mclaughlin and Paco De Lucia does it for me. Although that might be more flamenco guitar.

youtube.com/watch?v=tLxc_wsoPzs

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1. 12/03/07
  
  acousticguitarist
  
  beautiful stuff...it is quite hard to play just one of their guitar parts, it is achievable but now here's the hard bit ...arranging both parts for one guitar, that's a challenge i don't want until after christmas
  
  the complex thing is taking enough from the two parts to make it sound complete, without leaving anything out that might make it sound empty
  
  i had lots of paco on vinyl and i like a lot of mcglaughlins material on acoustic, especially shakti
  
  and i saw paco, mclaughlin an dimeola play
  
  of the three i like paco but i like mclaughlins brain, he also studied indian music with ali akbar khan...as yehudi menuin once said...ali akbar khan is (was) the worlds greatest musician...
  
  i'd have to agree
12/03/07

crkian

Im not a Jazz fan try Metallica - Nothing Else Matters

Original
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgiGrXpOhYg&feature=related

Done with a piano
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sZK4Hd28VA

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1. 12/03/07
  
  acousticguitarist
  
  thanks, i know the tune, i had to teach it to a number of kids over the years...my son would leave home if i even mentioned metallica...he can't stand them...and unless i did a bagpipe version or tuvan throat singing, i don't think it would cut it
  
  although ..the kronos quartet (or some other bunch with vilins etc) did hendrix.. hey and what about angelique kidjoo doing henrix voodoo chile
2. 12/03/07
  
  acousticguitarist
  
  I prefer the original
  
  and how's the drummers pic on his mike stand 1.06..hilarious
  
  piano player is out of time
3. 12/03/07
  
  crkian
  
  If we are talking about covers, this is a great list and the comments over even more to muse over.
  
  blogcritics.org/archives/2005/07/19/121227.php
4. 12/03/07
  
  acousticguitarist
  
  thanks...that's a good read and informative ..wild horses was written by the Burrito's
12/03/07

acousticguitarist

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1. 12/03/07
  
  acousticguitarist
  
  essential viewing...
  
  and that's why i'm doing solo guitar
12/03/07

crpitt

mmmmmmmmmmmm nice

youtube.com/watch?v=ezbJkZouXX4

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1. 12/03/07
  
  acousticguitarist
  
  what's happened to the other pic?
2. 12/03/07
  
  acousticguitarist
  
  brilliant...a new industry standard
3. 12/03/07
  
  crpitt
  
  Sorry I couldnt resist posting that
  
  Other photo was me and one of the nephews, he has gone to live in Hamburg so I am missing him, so changed avatar.
12/03/07

acousticguitarist

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12/03/07

talen32

Autumn Leaves would be an interesting choice for solo guitar

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1. 12/03/07
  
  talen32
  
  I was thinking the slower version of Autumn Leaves by Miles Davis
2. 12/03/07
  
  acousticguitarist
  
  thanks ..i already do that one
12/03/07

jackpayne

Ramsey Lewis played the Rush Street (Chicago) Jazz joints in the 1960s--long before he finally hit the big time in the 1980s. I used to catch him regularly, and always thought his rhythm section approach--only piano, bass, and drums-- lent itself to possiblilities for good jazz guitar arrangements.

Something to ponder?

Also, how about some of the old Herb Alpert stuff, like Lollipops and Roses (or the Jack Jones slowed-down style), A Taste of Honey, Zorba the Greek, What's New, The Work Song, All the Things You Are, The Shadow of Your Smile, Fandango, or Rotation?

[reply]
1. 12/03/07
  
  acousticguitarist
  
  thanks, good thoughts ..
  
  will not play zorba...the work song is nice, i used to do that in a trio with two jazz guitars and dble bass
  
  i had a ramsey lewis album in the early seventies, nice player
  
  thanks for taking the time to give me some ideas
  
  i recorded 'there will never be another you' and a few others last night...i'll listen back in a day or so to see how i feel about them
1/18/08

Swan

You should check to see what you can find on any of Al Green's CDs - he has a multitude of beautiful jazz to listen to!
~ Swan

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1/18/08

ghostytwofish

Oooh, wish I had seen this thread earlier. Stanley Jordan? Did a great rendition of "Broadway" ... and I have a copy of him doing Led Zep's "Stairway to Heaven" LOL ... prob not what you're after.

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1/18/08

yhc

How about Ain't Misbehavin'? That's one of my favorites, ought to sound nice on guitar.

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1/19/08

genopianist54

Try...

- Smoke Gets in Your Eyes --> Jerome Kern
- Satin Doll --> Billy Strayhorn
- Moon Over Miami --> Joe Burke
- The Way You Look Tonight --> Jerome Kern

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1/19/08

acousticguitarist

thanks for all the recent suggestions, will consider

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1/19/08

witewood

Tony, ever heard of Sketches For Friends by Fredrick Hand? One of those is terrifc Jazz piece called Brooklyn Boogie. In one section, the guitar imitates the double bass.

Another is Three Bus Stops on the Road by Nikita Koshkin. That one may well be hard to play, knowing Koshkin.

One more, Sua Cosa by John Duarte, captring sleazy nightclub atmosphere. If you're interested in any of those I'll try to get you more info. I have a recording of Brooklyn Boogie.

[reply]
1. 1/19/08
  
  acousticguitarist
  
  no Mark, I haven't heard any of them
  
  I was trying to find a few sort of common tune but something I may not have considered doing. I often find that a throwing song into funny key will make it come alive. Because I tune some of my guitars down a semi-tone and put the tunes into other keys, it's possible to find something extra in a song that I never realised was there.
  
  Because I can sing as well, it's great when I find an interpretation of a song that I've been humming on and off for years, it's great to find a very different key than the original and then sing it with a very different sort of guitar part, it's quite a treat. I found tuning down a semi t to E flat opened up so much for me, it enabled my voice to relax. a lot of EM and G tunes are great for my voice...almost...so playing in G flat makes it relax. I always wanted to sing Whiter Shade of Pale and one day it came alive in G flat. Took me 34 years to find a way to interpret it that I was totally happy with. Also, While My Guitar gently weeps is gorgeous in E Flat minor.
  
  However, G flat being a weird sharp key sometimes one of my guitars just doesn't sound right because of all those weird overtones.
  
  Don't know Nikita ????
1/19/08

witewood

Interestingly, Segovia had also been known to tune down a semi tone, to coax a sweeter tone out of the guitar. Also Stepan Rak, so classical players also do these sort of things as well!

I've also been looking for Whiter Shade of Pale, inspired of course by Bach, that organ part. It was used on solo guitar in a commercial some years ago, to great effect. I think the player may have been Bill Kanengiser, but I'm not entirely sure. I'd be interested to hear your interpretation Tony, if you record it sometime.

Nikita Koshkin is a Russian guitar composer and performer. I think you might like the pieces I mentioned, I'll try to dig some recordings out to send you a sample if you want.

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1/19/08

simonjjames

Hello there,

How about "Bess, you is my woman, now" form the Porgy and Bess OST and there us an Ella and Louis version. Or maybe "Crazelogy" by Miles Davis and Charlie Parker. Or even another Miles one, "This is Jazz".

I could go on an on and on.

Simon
simonjjames.blogspot.com/

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