How I learn gypsy jazz tunes

Learning gypsy jazz guitar repertoire can be daunting when you first start out. I’ve started learning tunes, and have an approach that seems to work for me.

I put off learning gypsy jazz guitar repertoire for a long time, for various reasons:

• I never thought I’d use it
• learning licks and technique is more challenging and fun
• there’s so much of it, it’s overwhelming and you never know what the “right thing to learn” is

Learning tunes is important though, so here is what has been working for me. I’m by no means perfect, the below is just to get the bare bones down so you can participate in jams, where things really happen.

Prerequisites

• Know the bare minimum of chords. Don’t get caught up in inversions etc.
• Know, or be able to identify, the basic chord progressions: V-I (e.g., G7-C) and ii-V-I (e.g. Dm-G7-C). Eventually, you’ll want to know them cold, but when first starting, don’t worry too much about it.
• Have a decent gypsy rhythm sound, in your own opinion. Practicing tunes is rough when it sounds ugly to your ears. Your sound doesn’t have to be “legit” or “perfect”, just good enough for you. You should refine your technique, of course.

The “method”

In summary, the method involves a bunch of listening up front so that you internalize the tune before trying to learn it, analyzing a basic chord chart, and reviewing it many many times.

1. Listen to the tune a lot

I get recordings for the tune, and listen to them over and over. I get a feel for what’s going on, just by ear: the different sections, the cadences. I don’t bother trying to learn things yet, I’m just really getting it into my ear. Luckily, I’ve been listening to many of the tunes for a long time already, because I only have a few CDs (so far!), so I have a good feel for them already.

I aim to be able to sing or even hack-play the theme of the song on the guitar, because to me that means more than a title (e.g., if you asked me to play “Daphne” I want to immediately think of the first few notes of the theme).

2. Get a basic chord chart, play through it

I get the most basic chord chart I can find that still accurately conveys the tune in the standard key. Many charts are too complicated, it’s best to go with something stripped down. My preferred sources for such charts are:

• Sven Jungbeck’s Proper Chords playlist - he also offers great instructions and voicings, he’s my preferred go-to
• Christiaan van Hemert’s Backing Tracks

I play (usually slowly) through the changes a few times, noting the general form of the tune, identifying changes, etc. I’m not really memorizing, just playing along and sort of “fitting the chords” on top of the idea of the tune that I’ve already got in my head.

After playing the rhythm a few times, I usually have a good idea of what’s going on, and will know how the tune is built, e.g., “A section, I-vi-ii-V three times.” There are just a few building blocks that almost all tunes use, which Christiaan van Hemert talks about: ii-V-I’s, Christophe changes, Idom-IV-IIdom-V, etc. I fit those to the tune, and note any weird parts that require special attention.

I write out my own chord changes in a condensed form, in a way that I can easily access. One of my samples is given later.

3. Reviewing (this is what matters)

By now I’ve “learned” the tune, but it’s really just in my short-term memory, and I’ll probably forget it tomorrow. That’s fine, and in fact that’s actually good. There’s a bunch of research on learning languages etc available, and the thing that I want to develop is my active recall of the tune. There are a few ways to do that:

• Playalongs: I make a playlist of tunes that I’m learning, shuffle it, and I play rhythm along with the tune. If I screw up, I just review the chord chart, and maybe play it again. I’ll play that playlist many times.
• Mental review: As I’m listening to a tune, or even just thinking about it out of the blue, I’ll see if I have a clear picture of the chord changes and know the structure. If I’m not listening to the tune, there’s always a chance I’ll get it wrong, but it’s still a decent check.
• Flashcards/SRS/Anki: I haven’t gone this route yet, but I might as it seems like it could be useful. The front of the flashcard could be the title, and the back would be the key, the form, the changes, and any gotchas.

I try to constantly review the tunes I’m learning – the form is usually very short and repeated several times.

“Learning” is the up-front effort of listening and analyzing a tune, but reviewing is really the key to solidifying repertoire.

A sample condensed chart.

Here’s one of my little charts for “J’Attendrai”. It’s much more portable for me, and I can quickly get the different sections and building blocks of the tune.

Intro:
  | C Am | F G7 | C Am | F G7 |

A
  | C  | .       | .   | B7 |
  | C  | C/E Ebo | Dm  | A7 |
  | Dm | Dm      | Dm7 | G7 |
  | Dm | G7      | C   | .  |

B
  | C7 | . | F  | Fm |
  | C  | . | Dm | G7 |
  | C  | G7 |    |    |

Another approach

From CVH’s Discord, user Hana has this method, which again is a listening first approach:

1. I pick 4-5 tunes, make a Youtube playlist
2. Listen to them many times, so I can “play them in my head” and sing the melody
3. Play along with the record, figure out chords, modulations, similarities to other tunes.
4. Check some charts - did I get it right? Sometimes I need the chart to figure out the chords (Nuages), notice the differences between charts, listen to what they are really playing
5. try to play with the recordings without the charts in the next days, also without the instrument in my hands, actively recall the record in my head repeatedly.
6. Move on to the next batch of tunes

I like this idea:

• each 5-tune list is a small step forward, and could be done in a couple of weeks with daily practice.
• the playlist could contain the 5 songs, then 5 different versions, then 5 again. Multiple versions can have different feels and might trigger different associations.