Tired ears · Learning Jazz Violin

Tired ears

I did a gig last night with a pianist, bassist and singer.

Some of my jazz musician friends happened to be in the area and came to watch us after their gig.

These gigs are few and far between for me as a violinist but I really enjoy them.

They are a challenge, you are going to have to play tunes that the singer chooses and they could be in any key. I probably knew about 20% of the tunes and even then, I probably hadn’t played them in a long time and knew them in a different key. I always try to do these gigs without any charts.

I think for most of the gig I did pretty well and played nicely. I did manage to get most of the tunes together in my head (often by the end of my solo annoyingly).

If I couldn’t work out the chords, I just tried to play the melody if I knew it a little.

By the end I was tired though. The singer called “just the way you look tonight” but in Eb (usually in F).

I know this tune but haven’t played it in a while. When it came to the B section, (It goes up a minor 3rd), I couldn’t remember it, I couldn’t hear it and I didn’t know what key it went to at all.

Sometimes, you’re just a bit tired. That’s it. It’s best to be kind to yourself in these situations.

I passed the solo over to the pianist and slowly realised that I ended my solo playing a big G natural over a Gb major chord.

Oh well.

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