Rosenberg Academy

bars 75-77 might have some errors. In the video, Stochelo plays the A7 on the top 4 strings, but it is notated on the bottom strings instead. I can tell it came out wrong but was initially notated right, because the fingerings correspond to the chord shape that Stochelo actually plays.

The climb down to that chord also looks a bit strange, but I'm not sure.

By the way, I can tell the production has been stepped up a notch. It was already great but the mixing is really good on this one and the extra camera on Stochelo is nice too. The video also seems crisper than usual.

I recorded two videos, the solo and the rhythm. I post both here so I don't make another thread in the YouTube videos forum.

Here is the performance of Stochelos solo, to the best of my current ability:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK2ENEvJwNg

And here is the rhythm attempt:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utvWlyVeJyo

For the rhythm I tried to follow Stochelos general idea about making the parts sound distinct, playing looser on the bridge etc...

I figured to try the different ways of playing would be better than play the straight rhythm all the way through, so I can get feedback on all aspects, since there also are stretches where I play just the basic rhythm pattern.

That's what I settled for and it's working so far. I'm going to record my take on this song once I have a week or two more of practicing and will record Stochelos performance, improv and a take of rhythm playing.

So I'm going to stick with the advice I've gotten so far, emphasis on 1 and 4 and continous down up movement of the right hand.

What I find is that this 6/8 rhumba is a lot less tiresome to do than the 4/4 rhumba for some reason. In both styles I find the biggest challenge to eliminate excessive noise from the muted strokes. The ideal would be to retain the percussive feel while eliminating noise so that the rhythm is discreet and supportive while also driving the soloist forward. That's what I'm working towards now.

Since it's "rhumba month" I'm re-visiting Caravan. I still have no endurance to play rhythm at Rosenberg tempo, so I practice at 60-70% to get the muscle memory down so I can relax completely and gradually move upwards. For the 6/8 I'm a lot closer to Rosenberg tempo.

Thanks again, I'm going to keep working and submit a video soon.

Thank you. That clears up the accent pattern for me. As for the right hand pattern, is it consequently down, up, down, up or does Nous'che reinforce some beats with double downstroke?

When I look at the right hands of rhythm guitarists playing these rhumba styles, there seems to be some differences.

In this video for instance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7JQpRVaR24

I can't quite tell if there are double downstrokes or just extra hand movement for accent which makes it appear as such.

Listening to the rhythm track, it is kind of difficult to identify exactly what Stochelo is doing. He seems to do a lot of variations, maybe a lot of rhythmic improvisation.

Any tips on how to get to the essence of this rhythm style?

By the way, can you also add the PDF with the chord voicings for this tune to the real book?

Just out of curiosity I want to ask if there is anything that influences Stochelos choice of key signature? I think Django played this one in the key of Eb originally, while Stochelo seems to have chosen the key of C.

Interestingly, "There will never be another you" is also originally in Eb, but Stochelo plays it in D.
On the other hand, Stochelo plays "My Blue Heaven" in Eb, while Mozes seems to prefer the key of D.

The keys C,D,G and F seem to be the most common, but then again Stochelo plays some songs in Eb, Bb and even Ab.

Yes, maybe once each recording session is more realistic. Either way, it doesn't have to be more than a couple bars every once in a while.

It could just be maybe four bars, because everything Stochelo plays is golden and if practiced and absorbed, just one smal phrase will enrich our playing more than we could imagine. Such is the case with the little nuggets in the improvisation lessons, and in the solos too.

While the solos are an invaluable source of licks, Stochelo seems to have a staple vocabulary that shows up time and again in most songs. These are very effective musical phrases that just work. But every now and then I hear some ideas that he doesn't play that much. These seem to be tied to specific songs. One that comes to mind is the opening lick in the solo on "What Kind of Friend". I have listened to almost all the CDs of The Rosenberg Trio and have noticed this phenomenon. Stochelo has a "global" vocabulary for all songs(for lack of a better term), and a song-specific vocabulary. The latter is littered with exciting ideas that can really add to our playing.

I think it could be a great idea that for each month, or maybe just once every other month if that's more convenient, Stochelo can pick out one certain lick, phrase, intro, outro, chord-lick, or idea that he feels is important to know. Something that is good for a player to learn.

I think this can be a great way to supplement to each months song lesson with a lick or idea that can be worked on in depth and explored. It can be just whatever Stochelo feels is important to know.

I'm suggesting this because I learned so much from the past improvisation lessons here, but I know that soloing on a static chord is not a way that Stochelo prefers to work. The ideas themselves are invaluable musical gems and licks from the past improv lessons have become a permanent part of my playing for that reason.

Another idea could be to pick out a challenging chord progression in particular, like the half step major chord change in "Hungaria", or the D major to Db7 change in "Them There Eyes".
While the solos for these songs contain strong licks for these changes, supplementation is needed to be proficient in improv. Maybe it could be an idea to loop the a section of these songs and have Stochelo improvise over them, then afterwards pick out just the parts that go over the challening chords and just transcribe those?

I learned so much from the previous lessons in the improv course, it really has helped my playing a lot. The G-minor lesson for instance gave me a great foundation as I tried to work out ideas over "Douce Ambiance".

Mp3s for this song are missing. Can you upload them?