# Music by Genre > Jazz/Blues Variants, Bossa, Choro, Klezmer >  suggestion for a jazz standard for a beginner

## MandoNicity

Back when I used to play BG I considered myself a capable intermediate level player, but now that I am trying to play jazz I am most definitley a humble rank beginner.  I have lots of material to work with: Teds book, Dons articles, TEF files, Mand0-magazine etc., and I find myself kind of floundering around with no focus.  I am trying to set up a routine whereby I work on Teds FfCP and I want to have a song project to work on also. From past experience I find it very beneficial to have a tune to work on alongside exercizes.   So I am seeking the combined expertise of all you jazzers to help me choose a standard that's not overly difficult to learn, to work on.  I am mostly interested in the chord and harmonic structure and not so much the melody.   What would you experienced players recommend as a good standard to start with?  I humbly await any responses.

JR

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## Bruce Clausen

Do one you already know and like, but have never tried to play-- preferably something not too fast or tricky, and one you can sing.  Then you'll be accompanying yourself and you'll hear how the whole thing fits together.  Otherwise you're just doing the chord progression as an exercise. 

BC

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## John McGann

Autumn Leaves is a good start- ii V I IV in one key, iim7b5 V7 Im in the relative minor key. It gets you comfortable with the essential ii-V-I concepts in both major and minor, the melody is simple and sequential (making a good template for your improv- it's very important to learn the melodies of tunes!), and everyone plays it (in the mainstream jazz world) so it's very practical to know for jamming...and the A part of Grisman's "Dawgmatism/Dawgma" is based on it...

If you have questions dealing with it, this is a good place to ask, as you can have a dialog with several folks who can give good advice. My suggestion is learn how to voice the chords, root position, one voicing per chord symbol, so you can play through the tune. Then, learn to invert the chords (3rd in bass, 5th in bass, 7th in bass). Some of them are less practical as full 4 note voicings, but it will give you the 'lay of the land' for available chord tones across the strings in those positions. The inversions connect vertically, and so if you arpeggiate (and you should) the chord tones, you'll see how those positions link. For example:

Am7 (root position)= AECG 2233
Am7 (1st inversion/3rd in bass)= CGEA 5575

arpeggio ACEGACEG- AC/25 (4th string) EG/25 (3rd string) note missing in connecting the two voicings A/7(4th string) or open 2nd string; CE/37 (2nd string) G/A 35 (1st string).

Chord tones are very important in just about every style of music, but crucial for jazz improvisation.

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## swinginmandolins

I too say work on songs you know the melody to and like. I started with tunes like Willow Weep For Me, Over the Rainbow, What a Wonderful World, Summertime. 

To go along with John's response, make a chart of ii V I's in major and minor around the circle of 5th's and practice those. It will help to move around and it will also help you find shapes that are common for those chords. I used to just study my chord book to find moveable chords. 

You are starting on a new musical journey, and man do I have a long way to go on mine to get to where I want to be.

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## 250sc

Do you know at least one way to play a 6th, Maj7th, Min7 and Dom7th chord? 

When I work out a song I will work out the chords first, then the melody then start playing arpegios through the chord changes. 
After that I'll start playing with substitutions. 

I think that Blue Bossa is a great song for mandolin.

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## nickster60

The first song I learned was Avalon from Bruce Dix Gypsy Jazz book. I like his book because it has back-up, slow and up to speed  tracks   I am still working through the book, I just like gypsy jazz I think it is kind of cool,but jazz is cool period.

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## swampy

Autumn Leaves
Blue Bossa

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## Ted Eschliman

The Dix Bruce books are great for dipping your toe in the water; having the accompaniment tracks available will drive you to apply the skills you're achieving in your exercise "lab" time.

Mix it up: Scales. Tunes. Chords. Just play what the "Lizard Ear" likes. Repeat.

If you don't already have a Real Book, this would also be a good acquisition to your library. My personal favorites are here: Tuneage

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## 250sc

fake book

http://www.hvar.komerce.cz/fakebook/

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## MandoNicity

Thanks for the suggestions folks, all comments are much appreciated.  To clarify a bit, my undergrad degree is in music, so I understand the theory but have never really tried to apply it to mandolin.  I was a violist back then, (too many years ago), and am still most comfortable with the alto clef.   :Wink:   There are so many ways to voice chords on a mandolin and I really haven't got the vocabulary yet. I am miles away from it!  (no pun intended  :Wink:  ) As for Jazz, I have been a fan for many many years, so I know most "standards", and I love them!  Ultimately I would like to be able to sit in and play some of them with a combo, if I ever get proficient enough.  Special thanks to John for the in depth response, which was just the kind of input I was seeking.  Looks like I will give Autumn Leaves a shot as a starting place.  I'll have to dig out my old Erol Garner records.   :Wink:

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## Pete Martin

I often start folks into Jazz with 3 and 4 chord tunes like Lady Be Good, South and western swing tunes like Miss Molly, then onto simple circle of fifths progressions like Sweet Georgia Brown.  After they can handle these, then II V  I in major and minor (ala Autumn Leaves, etc)..

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## mandroid

I'll mention Miles Davis', 'All Blues', [conveniently written in G],  have  managed a rough harmonized  melody in double stops, then drift away from it.

sing what you want to hear , then make the fingers do that..

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## farmerjones

i recomend the PBS DVD, A Night in New Orleans's with The Preservation Hall Band.
i'm not so much getting bored with Bluegrass, but itching to explore. 
It seems like in Jazz just like with Bluegrass, one man's too simple tune, is another man's beloved tune. I learned all the simple Bluegrass tunes first, as a matter of course. Now i'm waiding through the St. Louis Blues, Old Spinning Wheel, Basin St. Blues, and Panama Rag. And let's not forget Saints. I knew how to "speak" BG, but these darned horn keys are making new synoptic curcuits left and right. I can nearly "talk" if they let me do it in G, D, and A. Working on my chops in C, Bb, and F now.

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## mando.player

Autumn Leaves +1.  There is a lot to learn in that tune.  The head is pretty sparse and leaves a lot of room to fill in the gaps.  As already mentioned, it's a great ii-V-I lesson in both major and minor key centers too.  If you can bear my playing, I posted a quick version in another thread here.

Not my best playing, but the point was to post some sound clips of my latest acquisition.  Enjoy the journey...

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## MandoNicity

Again thank you all for your input.  All information is eagerly and gratefully considered and I am thrilled with all the information and guidance that you all have given.  I'm going to start trying to work out the chord fingerings tonite and get started on this project.  Also it looks like a good choice for my next tune would be "Blue Bossa", but one tune at a time.   :Wink:  

PS:  Hey Charlie!  How amazingly kismet that you posted this very tune this very day!  It must mean something!  That Austin has an lovely sound!  

JR

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## John McGann

This will help with transitioning to and from alto clef, or any clef!

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## fred d

I started with TIGER Rag ( still there)

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## MandoNicity

Thanks for the link John.  The beauty of the alto clef is that it sits squarely in the middle of the grand staff and the beauty of the viola is that it bridges the high and the low.  When I got to music school trying to learn the bass and "trouble" (treble) clef was quite the task.  lol!  I must confess that I never got comfortable reading trouble clef for viola and would rewrite those parts in alto clef even if I had to write a million lines above the clef!  lol!

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## SincereCorgi

Sher Publications puts out something good called The Real Easy Book if you're looking for relatively easy standards to learn improvisation. They're 'real' standards (a couple have some minor simplifications), with a lead sheet type presentation on the left page and suggestions for possible scales/chord voicings/basslines on the right.

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## luckylarue

I'd suggest "All of Me".  Pretty straight forward in the friendly key of C.

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## Jim Bevan

Sister Sadie

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## mandroid

Asked the Women MDs & RN's at the VA dermatology surgery as they cut out a Melanoma from my Back and left cheek of my face, 
do they Know the song ''All of Me''..  :Grin: 

It's in the Real book,  sort of a circle of 5th changes, but goes back and forth, 7ths to minors, minor 7ths.

C6, Eb dim , Dm7, G7 , to go back to the head for next go around, can be used as  a repeated phrase for a lot of stuff like waiting for someone in the group to replace a broken string , tell a story over, etc.
 :Coffee:

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## chasgrav

I've been working with Ted's FFcP book, and also Pete Martin's.  They're both great ways to get yourself retooled.

Since I also play some jazz guitar, I've lately been tabbing out a lot of common guitar licks for mandolin.  The aim, of course, is to get to where I can freely improvise in a more jazz-like style.

Anyway, my recommendation is to start at the source --- Charlie Christian.  His basic, chord-shape-based licks translate fine to mandolin, and sound great.  Moreover, it's useful stuff to know, regardless of your ultimate direction.  No one ever went wrong studying Charlie!

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## Perry

John of course hit the nail on the head "Autumn Leaves"...the ultimate first jazz tune....you can noodle in the mandolin friendly key of G all over the tune and not offend too many people.

JR: I'll attempt to PM you some notes I have on the tune

Perry

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## MandoNicity

> I've been working with Ted's FFcP book, and also Pete Martin's.  They're both great ways to get yourself retooled.
> 
> Since I also play some jazz guitar, I've lately been tabbing out a lot of common guitar licks for mandolin.  The aim, of course, is to get to where I can freely improvise in a more jazz-like style.
> 
> Anyway, my recommendation is to start at the source --- Charlie Christian.  His basic, chord-shape-based licks translate fine to mandolin, and sound great.  Moreover, it's useful stuff to know, regardless of your ultimate direction.  No one ever went wrong studying Charlie!


Hey!  I'd love to see some of your tab charts if you care to share.  

JR

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## pglasse

You've received a lot of great advice here. These are all good suggestions. In my opinion the most important thing is to dive in and have fun with the process -- realizing that, for most of us, learning this terrain takes time.

A few thoughts.... 

I've found it easier for folks to start with songs they're familiar with hearing that function largely in major keys -- preferably in G or C, rather than say Db. ii V i changes (in minor keys), though essential in the long run to learn, are often more daunting as an early introduction than the equivalent in a major key. 

Like Pete, I've found that western swing is often a good "gateway" to jazz; the tunes often have jazz elements while being simpler in some respects, are frequently played in mando-friendly keys. They lend themselves to a lot of leeway in terms of how jazzy or string-bandy one decides to take them.

A good teacher can help speed the process in certain ways. I've found it helpful to promote a jazz approach to analyzing tunes, which can include exploring ways to make a complex tune simpler and, conversely, ways to mine simple songs for more possibilities (taking a nice simple song and making it complicated :Grin: ).

Welcome to the club!

Paul Glasse
Austin Texas
http://paulglasse.com

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## mando.player

Continuing along the western swing theme...

Since I also try to play guitar, I recently picked up "Rhythm Guitar the Ranger Doug Way".  It's basically the changes to a bunch of swing tunes presented with 3 and 4 note chord grids. What's nice is that for many of the tunes, he will present multiple (sometimes 4) versions of the changes, basic to more advanced.  It's insightful to see how he adds complexity and it translates fairly easily to the mandolin.

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## pglasse

> Continuing along the western swing theme...
> 
> Since I also try to play guitar, I recently picked up "Rhythm Guitar the Ranger Doug Way".  It's basically the changes to a bunch of swing tunes presented with 3 and 4 note chord grids. What's nice is that for many of the tunes, he will present multiple (sometimes 4) versions of the changes, basic to more advanced.  It's insightful to see how he adds complexity and it translates fairly easily to the mandolin.


That sounds like a great resource. A reminder to folks: anything like this indicating chord variations/substitutions can be interpreted melodically as well. That is, think about soloing over those substitute chords rather than the plain vanilla ones. How can those principles be applied to other songs you know? 

One can get a lot of mileage from that.

Paul Glasse
Austin Texas
http://paulglasse.com

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