How to Make Your Solos Swing Like Charlie Brown

The soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas, by Vince Guaraldi, is one of the most inspiring jazz albums in my collection. Today we are transcribing the full piano solo from O Tannenbaum and learning how to use that to make us better improvisers.
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[@glfrazier1]

As an almost-intermediate guitarist, I watch a lot of instructional music videos on youtube. This one is special---that was really good.

[@JoshWalshMusic]

Thanks! Glad you are here.

[@michaelswank6602]

Guitar player here - great stuff and so fun to transfer some of these principles to my favorite instrument. Makes me want to pick up piano too!

[@michaelswank6602]

I smashed that Subscribe button 10 seconds into your Simple ii-V-I substitutions vid - simply awesome!

[@charlesmccormick2625]

Transcription is grinding work! This video is inspiring!

[@MrNeat-dw5zk]

This is really awesome, thank you! This christmas I've been learning that song from the same book, and I noticed that the solos were missing. I'm having a hard time with the written swing part as it is, so I probably won't touch the solo for a while, but knowing someone else felt the same way and then did something about it give me a great sense of satisfaction.

[@redroyal3720]

What I understood from this is, 'The better the jazz, the harder it is to transcribe'

[@conner53]

thanks Josh this is an excellent learning video

[@martynramsden]

Great advice on how to approach transcription Josh, I now want to go and play this along with Vince and get into his masterful style! Thanks for sharing your hard work and hopefully some young people will have the transcription printed for them! 😁🎹

[@mandohat]

Great discussion. Everything you talked about before even getting to the notes and hamony is something that I can think about and apply to any song

[@AnSmith-w2z]

This is awesome. You are awesome. Went through same frustration/path that I did, only you followed through successfully. Thanks!

[@sopranogirl13]

I have the “piano solo” version of the book. It’s called A Charlie Brown Christmas, but does not say Vince Guaraldi’s trio. The cover looks the same. This book contains the different Jazz chording for that song, plus all the other songs. My piano teacher rated the book as late intermediate/advanced, I’m loving playing these lush big jazz chords. This would be perfect for your nieces if they’re at this level of playing. Funny, my daughter bought me this book from a thrift store for .50, it’s been one of my favorite piano books.

[@JoshWalshMusic]

It doesn’t credit Vince’s trio?! That seems borderline criminal.

[@sopranogirl13]

@ I think like most music it was written so that different levels of players can play it. My book would be for intermediate/advanced where the actual song Vince wrote would be for an advanced player.

[@hesgotthesauce]

great insight josh keep it up :)

[@davivify]

Reminds me of the time I transcribed the piano intro/outtro/middletro from Cat Steven's Morning Has Broken hymn. Later found out it was Rick Wakeman who came up with it. And didn't get paid or even noted on the album. Anyway, I always found it thrilling, so one day, I set myself the task of writing it down - well as much of it as I could, anyway. And it was slow. Stopping every few seconds to really listen. And listen again. And again. And after some months finally got that sucker down. I know how frustrating it can be to listen to records and not even be able to roughly reproduce tunes. Good on you for your hard work !!

[@JoshWalshMusic]

I have a video doing this same process on that tune too. A couple years old, but it’s back there! Glad you enjoyed it. Cheers.

[@ChristianCummins-Elliott]

Great video

[@SeanTheDiscoNinja]

Very fast subscribe from me. Love it.

[@JoshWalshMusic]

Honored. So glad to have you here with us.

[@FlabbyPigLegs]

Just in time. Thank you so much for this! You've prolly noticed as well that the book does not have a transcription of the instrumental version of Christmas time is here, only the vocal version. Maybe next project??

[@JoshWalshMusic]

Would be fun. Not going to do that before Christmas though. Maybe next year!

[@ianoliver1508]

Do you own the "A Charlie Brown Christmas: Artist Transcription for Piano" sheet music book from Hal Leonard? It has the full transcriptions for each song, solos & left hand comping included. I don't know when it was published, but it's been a staple of my Christmastime playing for the past five years or so. The full solo transcriptions can also be found in "The Vince Guaraldi Collection: Piano (Artist Transcriptions)." Anyways, great video.

[@JoshWalshMusic]

I did not know this existed. Thanks for the tip. Did I come close? 🤣

[@ianoliver1508]

@ Yeah, you did a brilliant job! I don’t think I noticed even one discrepancy between your lines. I enjoyed the content and the insights. 🙌

[@JoshWalshMusic]

@@ianoliver1508 I’ve found one mistake. But oh well. That’s life lol. I’m not telling you what it is. 🤣

[@nicomatf]

you are very cool

[@kamarinmann3572]

You do look like a cool uncle lol

[@JoshWalshMusic]

Made my day!

[@PatrickRibar]

Help this is awesome but I can’t find the link

[@JoshWalshMusic]

Merry Christmas Patrick. It’s in the description: jazz-library.com/video-downloads/

[@Ana_crusis]

Josh I haven't seen a new video from you for a while. This one popped up and I have to ask... You seem to have something crawling across your top lip😅😅

[@JoshWalshMusic]

You should check back more often it’s been here a while. 😂 Left a few pounds behind since then too. Glad you are back. Happy holiday!

[@Ana_crusis]

@JoshWalshMusic i would but i can't get the notifications for new videos to work properly! Yeah Happy Xmas!

[@KrystalJ-t3q]

Lol the calculating sound 🤔😂

[@JoshWalshMusic]

The sound of my childhood. 56k

[@nermomi]

I'm flattered but I don't swing that way

[@ize1000009]

Hot take: You cannot play melodically with just 8th notes.

[@nefermawuko8203]

Another great video. tx you for doing this