Lesson 3: Rhythm Changes

I wrote this etude in the late 90’s for a very close friend of mine, Danton Boller, who is a fantastic bass player living in NYC. At that time I was playing this and several blues etudes through all the keys (Ala Jackie McLean). In this lesson we’ll just focus on the exercise in concert Bb.  The melody outlines common chords used in rhythm changes and utilizes mostly eight notes, which can be a bit rhythmically monotonous, but is always good to work on and quite the norm these days (unfortunately?).


I included an mp3 of the line played with general midi sounds (that admittedly sounds poor at best), which I like to use to sing along with while reading or visualizing the fingerings and notes. I always recommend singing whatever you’re learning to play, so you can loop this mp3 and sing along with it for days after which playing it should be quite easy.

Sing along with this mp3:

Rhythm Changes in Concert Bb mp3

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Lesson 3: Rhythm Changes
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