Jazz Piano Lesson: “Memphis Underground” (Herbie Mann)

Lesson Goal: To quickly internalize authentic comping and soloing vocabulary for “Memphis Underground”… by ear, intellect, eye, and muscle…

Table of Contents

Special Note: When Frank met Herbie Mann many years ago, he shared his one musical regret: That he never learned to read music… because it closed him off to learning so much more!

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Prerequisites

Basic music reading skills… basic scale, chord, and chord progression theory… basic technique… the LOVE of music… and the discipline to study and practice.

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Study, Practice, & Performance Tips

1. All of this might sound like a lot of work, but it’s not nearly as much as you think. Because even though it takes time to talk about all these things, in practice they can all be done simultaneously!
2. Your goal is not to merely memorize this, but to study and practice it until you internalize it using all four musical intelligences: ears, intellect, eyes, and muscles.
3. Every time you practice something, you are programming your brain. So always play accurately.
4. Practice with a Click Track or a Rhythm Track. Doing so will give you immediate feedback on any rhythmic misconceptions or places where your timing gets sloppy.
5. Record Yourself. Always. Listen to the playback immediately. And ask yourself: Is that what you intended to play?”
6. If anything feels tense or awkward, stop immediately and experiment with alternative fingerings or choreography.
7. Play this in other keys you expect to play in. By the way, once you see the patterns (which is guaranteed if you know your scales and chords) finding the notes in other keys will be a piece of cake!
8. If you feel stuck or overwhelmed, realize that anything can and will be mastered if you slow things down or break things down to small enough pieces.

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“Memphis Underground” Lead Sheet

Memphis Underground, the famous one chord jazz-rock tune by Herbie Mann is as simple as it gets, but is a great introduction to the delicious mix of discipline and freedom that is jazz improvisation…

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Listen to Frank Play the Chart…

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Listen to the Original recording

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Melody (Solfege)

Analysis of the melody using Solfege…

(*) It’s ok if you’d like to rename D# (Ri) as Eb (Me) instead. But don’t get hung up on the letter name and Solfege name here. It’s the sound, feeling, and function of the note that matters. As a composer and improviser, artist Frank thinks of this as a chromatic pickup into the primary chord tone Mi, so it makes sense to simply think of this as “Mi flat”.

Playing and singing the solfege syllables out loud is an extremely effective way to internalize the unique sound-feeling of each note in your minds’ ear.

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Form

The form for “Memphis Underground” is 8 bars long, consisting of two 4 bar phrases…

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Meter & Feel

“Memphis Underground” has a rock feel in 4/4 time…

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Tonality & Useful Scales

Tonality: C Mixolydian / C Major Blues.

In C Mixolydian/ Major Blues Tonality, there are at least four musically useful scale types: Mixolydian, Minor Blues, Minor Pentatonic, and Major Blues…

Listen to Frank model a fun and easy way to do ear training for this and the scales below…

C Mixolydian Scale

Play and sing every note along with the C7 chord and allow the unique sound-feeling of each note to make a meaningful impression on your mind’s ear…

C Minor Blues Scale

Ditto the study, practice, and ear training tips above.

C Minor Pentatonic Scale

Notice that this is just a subset of the C minor Blues Scale (above).

Ditto the study, practice, and ear training tips above.

C Major Blues Scale

Ditto the study, practice, and ear training tips above.

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Comping Patterns

insert some words about comping “Memphis Underground”

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Play the Idea!

Listen to Frank model a tasty ways to comp with this groove…

Any interest in seeing a score for the above or hearing Frank demonstrate some other simple soloing ideas?

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Please let Frank know if there is something else you’d Like to understand!

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Your Turn to Improvise…

Download the following bass and drum practice track recorded by Frank…

(Yes, Frank is neither a bass player nor a drummer!)

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Improvisation Tips

1. Think, hear, feel, and play in 8-bar choruses and 4-bar phrases.
2. The “feel” is a straight Rock Beat 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
3. Tonality: C Mixolydian, C Major Blues
4. Useful Scales: Minor Blues, Major Blues, Mixolydian, Minor Pentatonic
5. Don’t get scale happy.
6. Commit to playing coherent IDEAS.
7. Realize that rhythm is as important as the notes.
8. Vocabulary Sources: Rock, Jazz, Blues, Boogie Woogie, Gospel
9. Borrow ideas from the head (the original melody).
10. Cop ideas from other players.
11. It’s not all about playing solos. It’s often about creative and tasteful comping, too!
12. Don’t just think… FEEL & LISTEN!
13. Experiment like a child playing with building blocks.
14. Take your shoes off!

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