Learn pieces played on other instruments

I’ve been listening to “Blues for Alice” by Charlie Parker recently and I’m learning to play it on guitar. I learned it on piano a while ago, but haven’t reviewed the song in quite some time. The melody fits strangely on guitar. But it’s not originally played on guitar.

The shapes don’t feel like guitar shapes.

Songs by Wes Montgomery on the other hand, or other guitar players, fit a little bit better.

And it’s very useful to improve your playing. Learning to play your instrument and use it in ways that you don’t normally use it can help you have more control over your playing. You’ll be able to play more things more easily because you’re used to all of these different shapes on your instrument.

It also gets you out of the boxes that guitar players over get stuck in. We like shapes and boxes on guitar. There are a lot of them, and they fit really nicely on the instrument.

But sometimes it can be easy to get stuck in those shapes, so learning songs that were originally written or played on other instruments can be super useful.

Try to play it as closely to that original recording as you can. Try to play it as much like a saxophone player as you can. Add the same legato notes and the same slurs and inflections.

It may be difficult at first, but once you get used to it you’ll see how much it improves your playing.

ISJ