Playing a FAST Saxophone Solo On Guitar - Charlie Parker [ WITH TAB ]

Hi everyone, here's a great test for you: playing a saxophone solo on guitar! This is the solo found on Charlie Parker's song 'Donna Lee'. It's at a pretty frantic speed but super fun to play once you get it down!
This is an excellent example of how we can learn a lot from how different instruments play a solo: their note selection, phrasing, placement etc. Trying to implement other instruments' soloing techniques can really elevate our own solos on the guitar and make them sound more unique and less stereotypically guitar-y!
If you've found this video useful please give it a like and subscribe! If you need any tips on how to play it just leave a comment and I'll be happy to help :)
dsguitaracademy.com

[@JW-km3by]

Great solo and tab, thanks for this!

[@daveshannonguitaracademy]

You're welcome, thanks for watching!

[@KingGrio]

The saxophone has an abrasive quality to it, especially when a saxophonist blows hard on a note. I think guitarists should always emulate saxophone with a substantial amount of distorsion to get that sound and complement with detuned unison bends to get that abrasive sound quality.
Never get why guitarists play saxophone parts with a perfectly clean tone.

[@daveshannonguitaracademy]

Fair point, however I have to respectfully disagree as in my opinion having a distorted guitar sound for this particular solo would sound out of place. Furthermore, in this instance I'm seeing this as more of an exercise in replicating a saxophonist's phrasing and note selection etc when it comes to soloing as this naturally differs to how we as guitarists may come up with ideas. Unison bends would work great for any sustained notes to get that abrasive sound you mention though there simply aren't any in this solo! Overall, I'm not trying to match the saxophone tonally here at all - it was about having the guitar sound like you'd expect a jazz guitar solo in this style to sound, though it has less 'guitar-y' phrases and movement because of it being a saxophone solo transcription. I guess it's all about context - if I'm doubling any horn lines in some soul/funk bands then yes I'm definitely using some distortion! If I'm playing 'Baker Street' in a band with no saxophone (crazy but has happened to me before!) then absolutely I'm giving that distortion and all the grit I can! For jazz (in a super general sense) I'd be more selective in my use of distortion

[@yhizz1809]

@@daveshannonguitaracademy I enjoyed your clean playing on this and it reminded me kurt rosenwinkel lol it was cool that I got to see him live for once

[@daveshannonguitaracademy]

Thank you! That's cool, I've never seen Kurt live but he's a monster player

[@benmorris118]

I think an old style fuzz with a little guitar volume rolloff, and a little tone roll off could bring some of that more vocal quality. Not filthy, but just a bit of character. Maybe a tad of reverb to give the impression of smoother legato, coupled with the fuzz

[@daveshannonguitaracademy]

That sounds like a great combo, I'll have to give that a go on the next one 😎 thanks very much for your comment!