How To Improvise A HOT Gypsy Jazz Solo - without shredding
I'm gonna teach you a super simple and groovy solo on the Gypsy Jazz standard, Coquette. This will prove that you don't need to shred to play a really groovy and meaningful solo in Gypsy Jazz.
What You'll Learn:
• Complete solo breakdown on Coquette (D major)
• How to play over 2-5 progressions (this whole tune is full of them!)
• A phrase I heard Biréli Lagrène play on his Gypsy Project album
• That gnarly E flat Jimi Hendrix chord (tritone substitution)
This whole solo is not shredding. It's melodic and stylistic, but not full of awkward phrases. I'm not a shredder - I'm always looking for melodic and groovy ways in my solos.
Welcome back to the rolepaly, XC! Your application for the role of original character Robin Nolan has been accepted! Please consult the new trainer checklist to get started. Welcome to the world of Pokemon!
Born right smack in the upper middle-class, Robin’s parents were a pair of mildly successful investment bankers. She never really saw them around the house very much, considering the nature of their jobs and she got quite used, early on, to expensive birthday gifts and disappointing voicemails. They had a nice big house in Celadon City that always felt emptier than it ought to be. Left to the care of easily distracted college kids hoping to make a quick buck and occasionally the company of her introverted cousin, Robin learnt to keep herself entertained by just … zoning out. It turns out that time passed really fast if she went on imaginary adventures in imaginary worlds with imaginary Pokemon. Hell, after a while, she even stopped watching television. This got her into quite a bit of trouble in school, when she was always unable to answer the teacher’s surprise questions. Her report slips constantly had something along the lines of ‘exhibits potential in her studies but lack of effort leas to her falling short’.
Fortunately, for Robin, her parents never pressured her or showed any inclination to want her to join the finance industry. Instead, they constantly made jokes (whenever they were around) that she shouldn’t follow in their footsteps if they wanted to spend time with their children. Robin shrugged it off, never really considering it a loss or anything - she never knew their companionship, after all. Two holidays a year to exotic places, expensive birthday gifts, whatever she wanted, and good food? She was happy enough.
Her whole marijuana hobby started off when she was dragged to a party by her school friends who decided that she needed to be more social outside of class. Very quickly, she decided that loud music, sweaty bodies, and alcohol was not her thing, so she looked around for somewhere quiet. What she stumbled upon was a soundproof room somewhere in the house, filled with smoke. She met the friendliest, most welcoming people she had ever seen, and they instantly offered her a bong. For a girl who loved to zone out and chill, it was love at first breath.
Her parents started becoming more successful towards her Senior year in high school, which only cemented Robin’s laziness further - she supposed that she could live off them forever, and have a trust fund or something she could use for the rest of her life. But it was also this time when her parents semi-retired, and started being around the house more. This not only meant that she had to be a lot more discreet with her smoking (switching to brownies and the like), but also having to tolerate being peppered with questions about university.
Only after a few months of pestering from her parents, Robin applied to the first university brochure she picked out from the pile - which happened to be Kanto University of Pokemon. Surprisingly enough, her two weeks worth of cramming for finals exam (PANIC!) granted her good enough grades to be admitted to the rather prestigious, if not expensive school.
Thank goodness she had someone real chill for a roommate, though, because she’d probably have been kicked out within the first few months there - either because she was not handing up her work, or because she had been reported for being in possession of drugs. She earned Robin’s undying loyalty simply by sharing a pot brownie, once, and they just laid there and stared at the ceiling … while a high Robin rattled off about some philosophical nonsense that made no sense to either of them by the time they recovered.
After much deliberation, she took Sports Science on as a Major, with a Minor in Pokemon Training. During her years at college, Robin realised that her skills lay not in Pokemon Battling but in analysis and tactics. She helped out in the Training Team as some sort of coach, helping the Trainers watch match replays and etcetera so as to work out strategies and even drawing up training schedules and nutritional guidelines for their Pokemon.
Upon her graduation, Robin set out to make her own name in the Pokemon world, understanding that to achieve her dream of being a professional Pokemon Trainer-Coach, she’d have to get herself a few badges first to establish some sort of legitimacy.
POKEMON
Have you been exposed to Pokemon previously?: I’ve played the games since Yellow. I’ve been there to cry when Ash turned to stone.
What Eevee evolution would your character prefer to have?: I don’t know, but I feel like Robin doesn’t prefer a single Eevolution. She sees a Pokemon that has so many evolutionary paths as something … special, above the rest. There’s a reason why it should be able to change under so many different conditions, and Robin doesn’t presume to try and think she knows better than the Pokemon. She’d love to keep a plain Eevee and cuddle it daily until it decides to evolve, wherever, whenever, to whatever.
What legendary Pokemon does your character most desire?: Mewtwo. Maybe not desire to capture and own, but to have as a partner, as a companion. Robin approaches training scientifically, with a methodical rationality, and it seems only fitting for someone like him to come together with Robin. I don’t know if Robin actually wants to own a Legendary Pokemon - she reveres them in a way that she thinks it’s too arrogant of her to try and own one. She’s satisfied with an occasional encounter.
