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Joe Pass Transcription

January 20, 2016
by Rick Stone
17 Comments

About This Joe Pass Transcription:

Ever since starting to play jazz guitar about 40 years ago, I’ve been a fan of Joe Pass, particularly his solo playing. Back in the 70s I had several of his solo and duet books and enjoyed learning and practicing from them. Especially impressive was the way Joe could slip in and out of chords, single-lines and bass-lines in his playing.  He did it so seamlessly that it often created the illusion they were all going on at once. So the other day when I saw this rare video clip on YouTube, I knew I’d have to transcribe and share it with you.

My First Encounter with Joe Pass:

I had the great pleasure and privilege to meet and speak with Joe Pass a couple times. As well as being an incredible artist, he was such a warm and humble person and his approach to music and the guitar was so totally practical. Our first meeting was around 1980 at a master class Joe gave in the little basement room of Dick Lurie’s music studio in Cleveland. About 6 of us paid $20 each to attend and Joe just played and opened up us about everything; the CAGED system, finding the relationships between you chord voicings and your scales and developing facility, practicing tunes, etc.  Then he asked for a volunteer to get up and play something and I did.  He was very complimentary and I have fond memories of that afternoon. The lessons learned that day guided me for a very long time (and probably still do).

My Last Encounter with Joe:

After that, I spoke with Joe briefly on breaks at a few of his solo gigs at Fat Tuesdays in NYC, but the last time I saw him was probably the most significant. I’d been playing duo gigs at a place called Cafe D’Angelico in Montclair, NJ and they decided to cut back to solo guitar. I didn’t really consider myself to be a “solo” jazz guitar player at that time, but the owners encouraged me to do it. So a couple months into this, Joe was playing right down the block at Trumpets and I was playing my first set.  As I was playing, I became aware of someone standing behind me talking with the owner, so I glanced back over my shoulder and there was Joe Pass! (talk about an adrenaline rush!). I thought it would be weird to stop playing (New Yorkers are conditioned not to gawk at celebrities) so I kept on playing (but a lot more self-conscious now) and before I could finish my tune, Joe comes over to me, puts his hand on my shoulder, says “You sound beautiful man!” and left. So on my first break, I went over to Trumpets to catch part of his set (I had to get back to my own gig before he finished) and when I went back on my next break, he was already done and gone for the night. He may have already been sick at that time, because it was pretty early for a weekend gig at Trumpets to end, and I think this might have been one of his last gigs in the area before he passed away. But I’ll always remember the lessons I learned from him and his encouragement. Joe Pass was a great man!

How to Practice This Transcription:

The first thing I should probably point out is that although the description on YouTube calls this tune a “blues” this is technically incorrect because while it admittedly has some strong “blues-like” tonal qualities, it’s really a 32-Bar, AABA form. The basic changes are as follows:

1st A: G7|G7|C7|C7|G7,E7|A7,D7|G7,E7|A7,D7|
2nd A: G7|G7|C7|C7|G7,E7|A7,D7|G7|G7|
Bridge: B7|B7|E7|E7|A7|A7|D7|D7|
Last A: G7|G7|C7|C7|G7,E7|A7,D7|G7,E7|A7,D7|

You’ll probably find it most productive to learn the transcription 8-Bars at a time. Learning and memorizing this basic underlying harmonic structure will make it much easier to understand the substitutions Joe uses in this example. You’ll notice that most of the substitutions are simply chromatic chords used to lead into the main changes of the tune.

Fingerings:

It seems that the audio is a little out of sync with the YouTube video, but if you observe Joe’s left hand, you’ll notice a few things. One obvious one is that he never seems to be stretching or doing anything uncomfortable. Another thing I’d like to point out is his fingering for the Root-7th-3rd Dominant voicings with 6th-string roots; he invariably uses the fingers 2-3-4 for these, making it possible to approach the next chord from a chromatic bass-note either above or below. Also notice that his hand stays in the same basic shape when he moves over to the 5th-string root Minor 7th and 7(#9) chords (with the addition of the 1st finger).  Minimizing unnecessary left-hand finger movement and maintaining contact with the strings is one of the keys to smooth and connected chord playing.

In Conclusion:

What I really love about playing this solo is how easy it actually is once it’s under your fingers.  Everything feels natural, and that’s kind of the point. It’s important to realize that great playing doesn’t have to be difficult (and probably shouldn’t be). It’s about the ways of the hand, and Joe’s hands knew some great “ways.” I hope that you’ll enjoy learning this transcription and that some of Joe’s “ways” will become your ways!

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Thanks so much for your ongoing support. I’ve dedicated my life to playing jazz guitar and sharing my knowledge with others. I hope that you enjoy the articles here.

Musically Yours,
Rick-Stone-signature-white-on-transparent-copy

 

 

 

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About the Author
About the Auther: Rick Stone is a jazz guitarist working and teaching in the New York City area for over 30 years. He has performed and recorded with Kenny Barron, Eric Alexander, Ralph Lalama; appeared at the Blue Note, Birdland, Carnegie Recital Hall, the Smithsonian, the East Coast Jazz Festival, Kennedy Center; and toured South America and Italy. His trio can be heard regularly in NYC at the Bar Next Door and the Garage Jazz Restaurant. Their latest release “Fractals” made JazzWeek’s Top-100 CDs of 2011. Learn more (and get a free MP3 and Transcription) at www.rickstone.com). Rick is available for private lessons and also teaches online lessons via Skype (vist www.JazzGuitarLessons.com for details).
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17 Comments
  1. Jose Arboleda. January 20, 2016 at 6:33 pm Reply

    Great transcription,thank you very much.

    • Rick Stone January 20, 2016 at 11:34 pm Reply

      Thanks!

  2. Corey Fleig January 20, 2016 at 7:08 pm Reply

    Hello! I’m brand new to your website, and I was really impressed with the Joe Pass transcription!

    Is there a way I can pay for that one transcription? Of course, I’d love to pay the subscription price, but I can’t just now, since I’m moving to a new home.

    Do you sell that transcription?

    • Rick Stone January 20, 2016 at 11:34 pm Reply

      Corey,
      Thanks so much. Glad you’re enjoying it. Not really setup to pay for a single transcription so consider it a gift.

  3. David January 20, 2016 at 8:50 pm Reply

    Thanks very much Rick for another great transcription! Now I just need to get practicing :-) I always appreciate what you post, keep up the great work!

    • Rick Stone January 20, 2016 at 11:31 pm Reply

      Thanks David. Glad you enjoyed it. Oh yeah, practicing (that thing we get to do when we don’t have a gig LOL!) I had a really busy year, but things are starting to ease up a little and I’m actually finding some time to get back in the shed myself.

  4. Rick Stone January 20, 2016 at 11:37 pm Reply

    I noticed some people want to know about printing out the transcription. The embedded Soundslice notation will let you do that. If you haven’t tried it already, just click on the gear at the lower right-hand corner of the transcription window and you’ll see there are a whole bunch of options (display in full-screen, slow down, loop sections, print, etc.).

  5. Jay January 22, 2016 at 1:09 am Reply

    Thanx for that!!very kool! I studied with Joe years ago & he would rip stuff like that & yawn sometimes while doing…I wasn’t ready for him…he didn’t have the teaching skills you have but I think was the cleanest, fastest bebop player & technician to ever play. I also studied with Dave Koonse (Harry James) who took over for Joe when he left George Shearing. Joe got mad when Shearing pulled “Ghost of a Chance” which is all 16ths with added ledger lines for all upper register lines. Dave played it perfect though, as he was a good reader. He said some of the guys from the band took to see Joe playing a Fender with a Rock band. He said he’d never seen anything like it-ha. Dave’s son, Larry has done quite well play for Natalie Cole (RIP) and records on Origin. Thanx again for the great website & sorry for the length of this comment. Great syncing of notation & video!!!

    • Rick Stone January 22, 2016 at 8:12 am Reply

      Thanks for your comment and the stories. Yeah, Joe was very special. I disagree about his teaching. Joe was a great teacher. An hour-and-a-half with him in the basement of Dick Lurie’s store made everything fall into place for me. He had such a simple and down-to-earth approach. I really do try to emulate that!

  6. Dave January 22, 2016 at 8:42 am Reply

    Love this cool production Joe Pass is a favorite of mine as well.

    • Rick Stone January 25, 2016 at 1:17 pm Reply

      Thanks much. Glad you’re enjoying it.

  7. Charlie Ruggirello January 23, 2016 at 10:56 am Reply

    Rick,

    I see the video but not the transcription. Am I doing soething wrong?

    • Rick Stone January 23, 2016 at 12:31 pm Reply

      Ah, I bet you’re on an iPhone? Soundslice uses flash and the iPhone OS doesn’t do flash, so you wind up with video only (does the same thing on my iPhone). Try it on your computer and it should work fine.

      Has anybody tried it on an android? I’d be curious what your experience is. Thanks.

  8. David January 24, 2016 at 5:37 pm Reply

    Hi Rick, I can see and play soundslice/YouTube video, tab lags a bit compared with the audio but it does work for me on android. Thanks again for the tab :-)

    • Rick Stone January 25, 2016 at 1:16 pm Reply

      Thanks for the feedback David. I think there can be a lot of factors with this stuff (as there are a lot of moving parts). In the case of this transcription, the audio/video are coming from YouTube and the transcription is coming from Soundslice. I noticed a lag in the video (which seems to be slightly late) in relation to the audio of this clip. It’s the same on whatever device I watch it on and even when I’m just watching the video on Youtube, so my guess is that it happened when the person converted this video from another format (VHS tape maybe?) to upload to Youtube.

  9. Elias February 14, 2016 at 5:18 pm Reply

    I’m from Brazil, and I congratulate you for this rare material, love jazz and MPB and bossa and I’m a fan of Joe Pass and other jazz musicians, now I’m being a fan as well. thank you. obs. forgive me some error in the language I am learning.

    • Rick Stone February 15, 2016 at 8:52 am Reply

      Elias,
      Thanks so much. I’m glad you are enjoying the transcription. Yes Joe Pass was an amazing player, especially his solo guitar. It’s a very challenging style, but there’s a lot that can be learned from studying his approach.
      Musically Yours,
      ~ Rick

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