Where do you even begin to learn Brian's Orchestra guitar parts?

I have a pretty firm grasp on the basics of jazz guitar. I'm sure a lot of us here are itching to learn his stuff from his orchestra catalog. But how to you even begin to learn the rhythm parts when they're being somewhat overshadowed by the rest of the band? Davey Jones, how the hell did you manage to tab out "Hollywood Nocturne". I envy you.

To the casual Setzer fan, he's known for his intricate soloing and ironically, his soloing would probably be the easiest thing to learn from that era due to the clarity of the notes and everyone else getting the hell out of his way.

But christ man, this guy's got me working and thinking. How do you train your ear to hear his rhythms during the verses and/or choruses. Is he playing a I,IV,V? A II,V,I? Is he playing chords strictly from the key? I figure if I can just get the basic triad sound, then I can work my way into the 7ths, 9ths, etc etc. but I struggle to learn that. Is that why there aren't many B.S.O. tabs out there? Because of the difficulty to transcribe his parts? I don't want to HAVE TO resort to tabs, but.....i'm desperate. Not really. I've managed to transcribe some Cats stuff but that's a different animal. All it is, is bass,drums, and a distorted guitar.

There are a few videos online for songs like Footloose Doll, September Skies, Nightingale. Those are some of the songs that I want to learn but it's still pretty difficult to see what his hands are playing. Anyone got any ideas? Thanks!

for those of us blues based musicians... he uses the black hole mystical
"jazz substitution chords" purposefully to show his disdain for us folk
that only took part time music lessons throughout elementary and college.

What are jazz substitution chords?!? I know my teacher showed me all of these diminished chords, 7th, major 7ths, and minor 7ths. I've never been quite sure where to place a diminished chord, and since then I've forgotten the shapes of diminished chords. I guess it is true that if you don't use it, you lose it!

I'm Incinerator wrote:

What are jazz substitution chords?!? I know my teacher showed me all of these diminished chords, 7th, major 7ths, and minor 7ths. I've never been quite sure where to place a diminished chord, and since then I've forgotten the shapes of diminished chords. I guess it is true that if you don't use it, you lose it!

everyone knows it requires Jazz hands

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

everyone knows it requires Jazz hands

must I have too-short pants/jeans that show off my socks as well?

I'm Incinerator wrote:

What are jazz substitution chords?!?

Like tritone or tonic subs.

rockabillylaker wrote:

I have a pretty firm grasp on the basics of jazz guitar. I'm sure a lot of us here are itching to learn his stuff from his orchestra catalog. But how to you even begin to learn the rhythm parts when they're being somewhat overshadowed by the rest of the band? Davey Jones, how the hell did you manage to tab out "Hollywood Nocturne". I envy you.

To the casual Setzer fan, he's known for his intricate soloing and ironically, his soloing would probably be the easiest thing to learn from that era due to the clarity of the notes and everyone else getting the hell out of his way.

But christ man, this guy's got me working and thinking. How do you train your ear to hear his rhythms during the verses and/or choruses. Is he playing a I,IV,V? A II,V,I? Is he playing chords strictly from the key? I figure if I can just get the basic triad sound, then I can work my way into the 7ths, 9ths, etc etc. but I struggle to learn that. Is that why there aren't many B.S.O. tabs out there? Because of the difficulty to transcribe his parts? I don't want to HAVE TO resort to tabs, but.....i'm desperate. Not really. I've managed to transcribe some Cats stuff but that's a different animal. All it is, is bass,drums, and a distorted guitar.

There are a few videos online for songs like Footloose Doll, September Skies, Nightingale. Those are some of the songs that I want to learn but it's still pretty difficult to see what his hands are playing. Anyone got any ideas? Thanks!

dedication.... dedication....
dedication's what ya need brother...........!!!

ha ha ha...... and Brian Setzer's fingers

I'm Incinerator wrote:

I've never been quite sure where to place a diminished chord, and since then I've forgotten the shapes of diminished chords. I guess it is true that if you don't use it, you lose it!

Brian uses a diminished chord in place of the V7 chord a lot. For instance, if you play an open D7 chord as xx0212, try a dimished chord that looks like this xx1212 (top 3 strings are the same). Dimished chords repeat every minor third, so over that D7 chord, you could play a diminished run like xx1212 -> xx4545 -> xx7878 -> x x 10 11 10 11

What TV said. For us Blues based musicians Setzer is a giant pain in the youknowwhat.

Its a process of learning all the different types of chords he uses then somehow learning how to improvise with them. THen you gotta learn ridiculous Jazzish scales on guitar. Lastly... learn to chicken pick.

I've been playing for.....7 -8 years now? Its still crazy. However i started with simple stray cat stuff then moved to older rockabilly and country standards then jumped into some chet atkins and i feel pretty comfortable now with bouncing around on chord variations.

Buy a Realbook and practice the Standard-Changes in all positions, that'll give you a good knowledge in Jazz-Chords.