Giant Steps by John Coltrane video on YouTube

Richard Nelson · Post by **Richard Nelson** » 24 Apr 2018 10:23 am

Hereâ€™s Giant Steps. Sorry about the video quality and sync. This is my first time trying to do the whole thing myself so itâ€™s a learning curve. Sounds ok though.
https://youtu.be/1EWegukpBY4

Jack Stanton · Post by **Jack Stanton** » 24 Apr 2018 5:25 pm

Very cool, Richard!

Joseph Napolitano · Post by **Joseph Napolitano** » 24 Apr 2018 5:46 pm

Nice!

Richard Nelson · Post by **Richard Nelson** » 25 Apr 2018 5:02 pm

Thanks for watching. Iâ€™ll be posting a few more later this year,

Christopher Woitach · Post by **Christopher Woitach** » 25 Apr 2018 6:16 pm

Great job - really nice, connected, and musical lines! Really well done

Richard Nelson · Post by **Richard Nelson** » 26 Apr 2018 12:08 am

Thanks Crisopher. I know you know how hard it is to get this tune up to speed.

Ken Boi · Post by **Ken Boi** » 26 Apr 2018 4:16 am

Very nice Richard. Good job!

I hope you get the video quality sorted out.

John Alexander · Post by **John Alexander** » 27 Apr 2018 12:03 am

Very good!

T. C. Furlong · Post by **T. C. Furlong** » 28 Apr 2018 9:05 am

Really nice playing Richard. I never had the concentration to get all the way through Giant Steps. I now know that it can be done, back to the crying table I go....

Richard Nelson · Post by **Richard Nelson** » 28 Apr 2018 4:35 pm

Thanks TC, John and Ken. Iâ€™ve been working on this tune on and off for maybe 17 years and I played it on my Masters recital last year in DIT. Itâ€™s perseverance mostly. Iâ€™ve studied the Coltrane solo and Iâ€™ve been working on triad pairs and the Bergonzi tetrascale approach recently. This tune is a real test of what chops youâ€™ve got but really itâ€™s what Christopher said, which is about musical lines. I banged this solo out without much pre-conception but all that stuff Iâ€™ve worked on for years is in there somewhere.
Itâ€™s a tune thatâ€™s a lot easier than a lot of Charlie Parker tunes and if anyone wants to hear real jazz played by the best itâ€™s Doug Jernigan every time.

Bob Taillefer · Post by **Bob Taillefer** » 1 May 2018 4:33 pm

The way you connect melodic lines on Giant Steps is excellent. Listening to Gerry Bergonzi certainly helps. Bravo!

Bob T.

Richard Nelson · Post by **Richard Nelson** » 2 May 2018 7:27 am

Thanks Bob, the Coltrane lines are impossible to play at any speed on a PSG. It would take a lot of work to get them down. They just don't sit easily on this instrument. I had to adapt what I learned from them to a useable form. It can be done but I don't have enough time in my lifetime to do it. The Bergonzi method is much more melodic and user-friendly . Actually the scale chord approach works well with a few alterations on the dom7s.

Steve Sycamore · Post by **Steve Sycamore** » 3 May 2018 4:12 am

Very nice and wonderfully melodious! At one time I transcribed the recorded Coltrane solo to 6 string guitar with tab but never tried it on PSG. Joe Diorio's material could be worth attention too:

Joe Diorio -- Giant Steps: An In-Depth Study of John Coltrane's Classic

Richard Nelson · Post by **Richard Nelson** » 3 May 2018 6:23 am

Steve, many thanks. Iâ€™ve looked at the Joe Dorio book a while back. From what I remember itâ€™s similar to the Bergonzi 1235 1345 sequence. Bergonzi is a great approach for all tunes, itâ€™s difficult but it gets you out of your usual playing. Thereâ€™s a years work in book 1.
I have a transcription of the complete Coltrane solo on pdf if anyone wants it. Listening to the solo in slow downer is a great way to hear his fantastic swing feel, even at the fast tempo.