it don’t mean a thing (violin lesson)

It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing. This is an easy minor key jazz standard ideal for the violin. In this lesson I demonstrate the basic melody, and point out how Stephane Grappelli would play only the first four bars of this, improvising the rest of the sequence. I look at various licks taken from the recordings with Django Reinhardt and with George Shearing. In each case I show how these licks can be dropped in at many different places in the sequence. I demonstrate how the chords in the bridge can either be treated as two II/V/I’s, or else shrugged aside using the G minor pentatonic. A free pdf of the sheet music for this lesson is available to subscribers (see below). There are plenty more videos on jazz violin technique and repertoire elsewhere on The Fiddle Channel. Below are details of further fiddle resources from Chris Haigh 1. Patreon 2. Books 3. Subscription video courses 4. Website 5. Email to request pdf’s. 1. PATREON This is a pla