Reddit Reddit reviews The Real Book (B Flat, Sixth edition)

We found 3 Reddit comments about The Real Book (B Flat, Sixth edition). Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

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The Real Book (B Flat, Sixth edition)
9 in. x 11 in.Since the 1970s, musicians have trusted these volumes to get them through every gig, night after nightThe problem is that the books were illegally produced and distributed, without any regard to copyright law, or royalties paid to the composers who created these musical masterpiecesThis is the first legitimate and legal edition in 9 x 11 inform
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3 Reddit comments about The Real Book (B Flat, Sixth edition):

u/Yeargdribble · 21 pointsr/trumpet

If you want technical exercises, this book is the way to go. This will help you get the technique so that when you want to play what's in your mind's ear, you can without futzing around with notes and keys. You need to be more technically proficient in more keys and also more theory proficient than a non-jazz player because in jazz you're frequently moving very quickly through different key areas and you don't have time to think about it.

I'd also get iReal Pro. It's such an amazing tool it's virtually worth getting an Android or iOS device just for it alone. Use it as a band-in-a-box and play along with tunes out of a Real Book or virtually anything you want to play really since you can easily add your own exercises, which will be helpful with some links I'll give later. I personally prefer the Android version. It's literally easier to do custom stuff on my phone with Android than on my iPad with iOS. I also believe there are Android emulators if you need, though I've never had a need.

Do lots of listening and get used to the style you want and be aware of other styles out there. Try to play the tunes with those styles. There are different approaches to improv. I've found that one of the least intimidating ones is literally to pick 2 notes and make a solo out of it... listen to how it feels across different changes. Then add a 3rd note. Listen. This is especially easy over blues changes. Play simple solos... melodic. Think of playing a something you could sing rather than feeling like you need to jump right into crazy bepop with flying scales and arpeggios.

Use some basic theory knowledge (some of which is in the book I mentioned) of what scales and notes fit best over certain things. Learn to quickly think of your "guide tones" for a given chord (3 and 7). If you're playing over some changes with only a 2 or 3 note improv to get used to hearing things, start thinking about what those notes are in each chord you're playing. You might be playing an E... it's the 3rd over the C chord and 6 or 13 over the G chord and 9 over a D chord and a #11 over a Bb chord. That kind of thing. You'll start to find out what notes are purely "avoid" notes, though realistically, almost any note can technically work if you don't sit on it. Due to how chords work in jazz, you literally almost can't be on a wrong note, though some will work better than others depending on context and some will only really work as passing tones.

Your ear will tell you a lot what does and doesn't work. Another approach to improv is to simply be able to embellish the written melody. So do some of that. You basically will end up mixing ideas to get the best solos, but mostly use your ears, but also train them by doing lots of listening. Something like a b9 chord might sound jarring to someone who hasn't done much listening, but can sound amazing as you develop that acquired taste.

If you find a lick you like in a solo while listening to Chet or someone else... steal it! Transcribe it. Play it in every key. Figure out what changes it fits over. Add it to your tool belt.

Here are some long-tone studies that run through ii-V-I in every key focusing on different chord tone relationships that will stretch your ears and beef up your chops.

Here are some scalar exercises with the same ii-V-I idea.

This will probably melt your brain, but here are some very extensive scale things if you somehow ever run out of stuff to work on in the book I mentioned as far as technique.

Hope some of that helps. It's quite the rabbit hole.

EDIT: Oh, in case you didn't know, this is the Real Book most people play out of, though if you play a lot, you'll find that there's a ton in there you don't need and not nearly as many of the tunes you would like.

Also, here is a link to a ton of the Wikifonia files before it got shut down. Open the files with MuseScore and you can adjust keys or whatever you need to do. While I've found issue with some of the chords, the leads tend to be pretty good, so if there's a tune you like, you can probably find a lead there and then download the changes to iReal Pro and play over them that way.

u/PierreLunaire · 2 pointsr/Clarinet

Get yourself a copy of The Real Book in Bb and start learning the heads and chords to some songs that you are familar with. Youtube can help you find recordings of songs. Most of what makes Jazz different is in the rhythms and articulations, and you can learn those by listening to the greats and emulating them. Then there is the art of improvisation, which will takes years to master, so start now.