“Blues For Alice” is a great Charlie Parker tune. It is a 12-bar Blues, but it moves through a lot of ii-V sequences. That modified version of the Blues is usually referred to as “Bird Blues” changes.
Blues for Alice (Part 1/6)
The lead sheet shows the fingerings I use. Keep in mind that those are only suggestions. Feel free to experiment with your own fingerings. As I mention in the video, it seems logical to move down the neck to accommodate for the gradual key changes, instead of trying to play everything in the same position— at least for the first 4 measures.
Circled numbers refer to the string numbers, non-circled numbers are your left- hand fingers.
Blues for Alice - List of Jazz Chronicles
- The melody (this chronicle)
- 3-note voicings
- Comping study
- 4-note groupings
- An arpeggio study
- Improvising with quarter notes only
If you have any questions or comments, do not hesitate to contact me through The Guitar Channel by commenting below or directly through my website brunojazz.com.
See you again soon!
Bruno.
Note from The Guitar Channel
If you are looking for an excellent Jazz guitar teacher, I highly recommend Bruno. He produced many Jazz chronicles in French for La Chaîne Guitare which were highly appreciated by the Backstage Pass subscribers. I also took a Skype lesson with him once (read the story about it in this article) and it was a lot of fun and very useful to help my play better and increase my vocabulary on guitar.
Pierre.
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