Parker's KC Blues

[Wailin']

Does anyone know this tune...its in the omnibook and its seems learner friendly...what are some tips for faster learning?...so far I'm using transcribe software.

[jsweenie]

My biggest peice of advice would be to find all the fast runs and break them down (i know all that ink looks scary but its not all that bad) and its not a good idea to listen to the recording. You'll get discouraged by the way bird plays it as he goes at speeds and puts all kinds of weird mordents in there.

peace.

[soultwist]

If you have a transcriber software you can slow Parker down to half speed so you´re in the same key and then you just play along...

[soultwist]

One thing to think about when you´re working with the Parker omnibook is that his solos are so well constructed melodically so you don´t have to play them as fast as he does. They sound great at half the tempo.

[Vortex]

Yes, it's a pretty learner-friendly piece. Listen to the notes and rhythms in Parker's recordings and compare them to what's written in the Omnibook - Parker plays it differently than as transcribed. The fast runs are a bit tricky to really understand; just keep working at them and you'll master the runs. This one shouldn't be hard to play up to tempo, as it's definately one of Parker's slower pieces. Also, the melodies and rhythms are fairly basic.

Once you get good at this one, try playing Now's the Time No.2, which is slightly more difficult but in the same genre as KC Blues.

[Aceman]

another good one that isn't that difficult is Billie's Bounce... there is one run that's not so easy but overall it's deffinately one of the easier ones...
i really like playing the first one in the book... can't remember the name.. but it's alot of fun... extremely difficult up to tempo though...