# Giant Steps for guitar



## buck fever (Apr 11, 2020)

Does anyone have tabs or chord changes for Coltrane’s Giant Steps on guitar?


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## Lemons (Apr 11, 2020)

buck fever said:


> Does anyone have tabs or chord changes for Coltrane’s Giant Steps on guitar?



I mean this in the nicest way possible, if you need someone to provide tabs or write chord positions for you then you need to stay very far away from a piece like Giant Steps.


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## buck fever (Apr 11, 2020)

Lemons said:


> I mean this in the nicest way possible, if you need someone to provide tabs or write chord positions for you then you need to stay very far away from a piece like Giant Steps.



Haha. Always at least one cork sniffer in a jazz room. 

I’ve been playing that chart for 20 years. A friend’s kid is getting into jazz guitar and I don’t have time to give him lessons right now. I figured I’d do what I could to gather charts for him, since that’s what got me going when I was 16. 

It’s that attitude that keeps tribal knowledge from being passed down. If someone wants to try to play along with something challenging, so be it. Let them stumble and fail; if they’re determined enough they’ll eventually get it. And everyone is a different type of student - nothing wrong with starting out on chord charts.


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## TGN (Apr 12, 2020)

Maybe this site is of help:

https://www.jazzguitar.be/blog/giant-steps/

Chords and some useful ideas around how to comp and solo over it.

(If someone is just getting into jazz I don't think this is a good starting point, though.)


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## Lemons (Apr 12, 2020)

buck fever said:


> Haha. Always at least one cork sniffer in a jazz room.
> 
> I’ve been playing that chart for 20 years. A friend’s kid is getting into jazz guitar and I don’t have time to give him lessons right now. I figured I’d do what I could to gather charts for him, since that’s what got me going when I was 16.
> 
> It’s that attitude that keeps tribal knowledge from being passed down. If someone wants to try to play along with something challenging, so be it. Let them stumble and fail; if they’re determined enough they’ll eventually get it. And everyone is a different type of student - nothing wrong with starting out on chord charts.




I flat out don't believe you started playing Giant Steps with any success getting into jazz at age 16 if that's what you meant. Do the kid a favour and recommend some actual approachable pieces, there's more to being a good teacher than saying have a go (and fail in this case) at anything you want. Why don't you just point him to some solid resources yourself,

And as for me being a cork sniffer I'm far from well versed in jazz guitar, why don't you drop the dumb insult and actually justify why Giant Steps is a good place for a beginner to start.


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## Nicki (Apr 13, 2020)

buck fever said:


> It’s that attitude that keeps tribal knowledge from being passed down.



Wrong.



buck fever said:


> I don’t have time to give him lessons right now.


It's ^^^THAT^^^ attitude. If you were serious about helping the kid out, you'd make time. Clearly, you're not when you basically came to a forum to ask someone else to do something for you, when a pretty simple internet search would yield adequate results.


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## buck fever (Apr 13, 2020)

Some of is have full time jobs, pal, but thanks for the input. Pulling together materials for a youngster is a pretty good effort, I think. 

And isn’t this the same as an internet search? Isn’t that exactly what this is for? Maybe you and Lemons can get together on a zoom call and sniff corks together!


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## buck fever (Apr 13, 2020)

Nicki said:


> Wrong.
> 
> 
> It's ^^^THAT^^^ attitude. If you were serious about helping the kid out, you'd make time. Clearly, you're not when you basically came to a forum to ask someone else to do something for you, when a pretty simple internet search would yield adequate results.


I didn’t ask anyone to do anything *for* me. I just asked if anyone had resources, similar to 90% of all posts on this site. I’ve been here since 2011, and that’s been our way a a group, to use one another as resources.


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## bostjan (Apr 13, 2020)

I'd recommend some easier pieces as well. Giant Steps is fine to include in a collection, but for a beginner, it's a stupidly difficult song just to follow along. My first foray into jazz was more along the lines of Red Top, Minor Swing, and Autumn Leaves. Songs like Giant Steps are really directed toward impressing other musicians.

But if it's in there with a bunch of other charts, I think it's nice of you to provide some support.


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## Lemons (Apr 13, 2020)

buck fever said:


> And isn’t this the same as an internet search? Isn’t that exactly what this is for? Maybe you and Lemons can get together on a zoom call and sniff corks together!



If you're going to continue slinging insults at me why don't you at least address what I had to say. No one cares that you're asking for resources on this site, asking for tabs of Giant Steps for a beginner to get into jazz guitar just shows a fundamental misunderstanding of how to help this kid out.


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## c7spheres (Apr 13, 2020)

I'd love some tabs for it. Tab's save time for us slower folks : )


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## buck fever (Apr 13, 2020)

Lemons said:


> If you're going to continue slinging insults at me why don't you at least address what I had to say. No one cares that you're asking for resources on this site, asking for tabs of Giant Steps for a beginner to get into jazz guitar just shows a fundamental misunderstanding of how to help this kid out.


There was a pretty aggressive quote earlier, but it was deleted. I’d take mine down, but I’m actually not sure how to delete a post.

Anyways, here’s the thing. You’re making a ton of assumptions. This kid is 17, is drum major in his high school band, has played piano (including jazz) since he was 4, is an amazing woodwind player and is just now picking up guitar. He’s been taking music theory since middle school, and is dual enrolled in community college, not only taking credits for a jazz theory class (his first semester), but also taking guitar lessons once a week. I said that they’re ‘just getting into jazz guitar’, not, ‘they just learned what music is and they’re curious’.

I didn’t owe you that. I just asked for simple chord chart that I have in my Real Book. I’ve gotten it to him at this point, but yesterday I was at work and was just going to shoot him a quick email if someone had it on hand. Big freaking deal. You don’t need those details, and I don’t need to be told how to teach someone. I learned the chord changes to all of Giant Steps, Blue Train and Bumpin’ by Wes Montgomery all before I left high school. And how did I do it? I took music theory in community college as a dual enrollment and I bought a Real Book, then practiced my ass off.

edit: It’s super important as a teacher to assess your student’s abilities and learning style. Everyone is different. It’s our job to recognize that and build on it. 

Anyways. Best of luck on your journey.


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## buck fever (Apr 13, 2020)

bostjan said:


> I'd recommend some easier pieces as well. Giant Steps is fine to include in a collection, but for a beginner, it's a stupidly difficult song just to follow along. My first foray into jazz was more along the lines of Red Top, Minor Swing, and Autumn Leaves. Songs like Giant Steps are really directed toward impressing other musicians.
> 
> But if it's in there with a bunch of other charts, I think it's nice of you to provide some support.



I do agree with all of this and totally appreciate the constructive comment. Although, if you just remember it’s mostly continuous II-IV-I progressions just separated by a major third, it can come together fairly easy. And it’s just the type of song to light a fire of excitement under a young musicians butt!


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## c7spheres (Apr 13, 2020)

SOMEONE PUT UP THE TAB ! ! !


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## jaxadam (Apr 13, 2020)

c7spheres said:


> SOMEONE PUT UP THE TAB ! ! !



here you go...

e—————————————————
B—————————————————
G—————————————————
D—————————————————
A—————————————————
E—0—0—0—1–0–0–0–0–0–0–0–3


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## c7spheres (Apr 13, 2020)

jaxadam said:


> here you go...
> 
> e—————————————————
> B—————————————————
> ...



Damn! That is some crazy changes there. This is gonna take me months : )


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## Lemons (Apr 14, 2020)

buck fever said:


> There was a pretty aggressive quote earlier, but it was deleted. I’d take mine down, but I’m actually not sure how to delete a post.
> 
> Anyways, here’s the thing. You’re making a ton of assumptions. This kid is 17, is drum major in his high school band, has played piano (including jazz) since he was 4, is an amazing woodwind player and is just now picking up guitar. He’s been taking music theory since middle school, and is dual enrolled in community college, not only taking credits for a jazz theory class (his first semester), but also taking guitar lessons once a week. I said that they’re ‘just getting into jazz guitar’, not, ‘they just learned what music is and they’re curious’.
> 
> ...




I'm not sure what you don't understand about the fact that you asked for tabs, there's a huge difference between asking for that and a chord chart. Of course I inferred that neither him nor you had a solid understanding asking for guitar tabs to that piece. It's almost as if you could've included all the relevant information in your initial post, we could've avoided you getting so upset about either him or you being labelled as a beginner.


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## MaxOfMetal (Apr 14, 2020)

So what you guys are saying is that, maybe he should start with little steps?


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## c7spheres (Apr 14, 2020)

Well here's a video. I haven't watched it all yet, but Beato seems to know his stuff from Other stuff I've seen from him. There's a chord chart he shows too. As a side note, his kids got that perfect pitch too which is crazy, but that's a differnt video. These people are all crazy.


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## buck fever (Apr 14, 2020)

Lemons said:


> I'm not sure what you don't understand about the fact that you asked for tabs, there's a huge difference between asking for that and a chord chart. Of course I inferred that neither him nor you had a solid understanding asking for guitar tabs to that piece. It's almost as if you could've included all the relevant information in your initial post, we could've avoided you getting so upset about either him or you being labelled as a beginner.



‘Tabs or chord changes’. OR. 

I don’t need to qualify a request for a chord chart. Get over it.


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## buck fever (Apr 14, 2020)

c7spheres said:


> Well here's a video. I haven't watched it all yet, but Beato seems to know his stuff from Other stuff I've seen from him. There's a chord chart he shows too. As a side note, his kids got that perfect pitch too which is crazy, but that's a differnt video. These people are all crazy.



These are fantastic! Thanks for sharing these!


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## budda (Apr 14, 2020)

It does help to put all pertinent info in the first post. Or else this thread happens.

Jaxadam cleaned up, close it up.


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## buck fever (Apr 14, 2020)

budda said:


> It does help to put all pertinent info in the first post. Or else this thread happens.
> 
> Jaxadam cleaned up, close it up.


Is the background of the person I’m requesting sheet music for pertinent? Can you not just ask your community for a chord chart here? I guess maybe this particular sub board is different from the rest of seven string.org.


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## ElRay (May 2, 2020)

buck fever said:


> ... I don’t need to qualify a request for a chord chart. Get over it.


And you're posting to a public forum. Nobody needs to qualify a "You don't appear to know what you're talking about." reply. Get over it.


buck fever said:


> Is the background of the person I’m requesting sheet music for pertinent? Can you not just ask your community for a chord chart here? I guess maybe this particular sub board is different from the rest of seven string.org.


Your initial posts made about much sense as: "Anybody got a good Sachertorte recipe? I know a kid that's made a few Betty Crocker Cake mixes." or "The neighbor kid ran a 10k, anybody know any good marathon routes?" So in this case, as in many, yes complete details help.


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## USMarine75 (May 2, 2020)

What in the shit is going on in this thread lol?

Dude posts on an internet forum asking if anyone has XYZ. 
No he doesn't need to qualify why he wants it.
And no, you don't have to help. You could ignore the thread.
You can politely ask why he wants it, instead of being angry turdburglars and deconstructing his motives.
Instead of shitting on him for why he wanted the complex piece, why not say "hey it sounds like he should start with something like ABC first".
tl;dr y'all getting COVID Crazy. Save the anger for the actual COVID thread .


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## jaxadam (May 2, 2020)

USMarine75 said:


> tl;dr y'all getting COVID Crazy. Save the anger for the actual COVID thread .



:fist bump:


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## Lemons (May 3, 2020)

USMarine75 said:


> What in the shit is going on in this thread lol?
> 
> Dude posts on an internet forum asking if anyone has XYZ.
> No he doesn't need to qualify why he wants it.
> ...



I'm not sure how you can both be a champion of being polite to people on the internet and call a group of people angry turdburglars at the same time. 

Good job though.


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## akinari (May 3, 2020)




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## USMarine75 (May 3, 2020)

Two more points...

1. What if someone sees this thread and has their musical interests broadened? Isn't that one of the cool aspects of having an internet forum? Randomly coming across a Johnny Hiland YT product demo opened me up to country. Gambale REH and DCI VHS tapes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VHS) got me into fusion which led to (some) jazz. If you're a jazz wanker (i.e. one who burgles turds) don't you want other people to also discover what is awesome about jazz?

2. I've taken a stab at many musical pieces I wasn't ready or capable to play (e.g. Jason Becker), but that doesn't mean I can't learn snippets, techniques, phrasing, melodic ideas, etc. from a more complex work. I remember trying to learn a solo from Practice What You Preach by Alex Skolnick way back in the day. I absolutely couldn't master 90% of it, but I copped a cool modified sweep/rake that I use to this day. Besides, it was fun and it was what I wanted to do with my hobby.


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## _MonSTeR_ (May 3, 2020)

Actually though, if you were a _true _jazz wanker, you’d know that every time someone else starts to like jazz, you lose a little bit of your smug sense of jazz superiority. Jazz wanking is an exclusive club that maintains its exclusivity by excluding people.


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## Lemons (May 3, 2020)

You guys got me, I'm the guy that hides all the jazz knowledge. My name is Albert Jazz, my father William Jazz invented the genre so I believe I have a right to pick who learns its secrets.


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## ElRay (May 4, 2020)

USMarine75 said:


> Two more points...


I (and I assume others did too) read the OP's OP as a definite not understanding what you're getting into. The chord progression for Giant Steps is actually pretty trivial, that's why it has the position it has as an IMPROVISATION standard. If you need TABS OF BASIC, STANDARD CHORDS, then trying to play Giant Steps, as intended, is indeed too much to handle and would likely result in a teen saying F-this.

If, instead, the request was for tabs of IMPROVISATIONS performed by others to ROTE MEMORIZE, that seems like expanding ones boundaries; however, OP didn't say that. In addition, when asked for details so that folks could supply the best fit, for the intended purpose, OP got all tRump-like, don't question me, point-out my errors, give me what I want even though I didn't give you enough information to satisfy the task.

Hence, my analogies. Anybody at the cake mix stage, that can't even find a recipe on their own, should not attempt to make a sachertorte. Anybody that has only recently completed a 10K and can't find a marathon route on their own, will more likely than not, sour themselves on running trying to do a marathon.

The reason this spiraled, is because the OP got snarky when people pointed out that the minimal information he provided made it look like he was setting the kid up for failure/frustration.


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## bostjan (May 4, 2020)

ElRay said:


> The reason this spiraled, is because the OP got snarky when people pointed out that the minimal information he provided made it look like he was setting the kid up for failure/frustration.



Someone being sarcastic on ss.o?! - be still my heart!  I keed I keed...

But I think you hit the nail on the head.

When I bought my first electric guitar, the salesman told me it came with three free guitar lessons from the store's resident teacher. I though, "Cool! I want to learn some Led Zeppelin or something!" When I showed up for lesson one, the guy was on the phone the entire time, then came in and said time was up, but that he wanted me to learn "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and escorted me out. The next week, I complained that it was too hard, asked him if I could learn some Led Zeppelin, so he gave me some Luigi Boccherini piece instead and brow beat me about not practicing. The third lesson, I had learned the Boccherini piece, but he just wigged out and played with action figures and told me stories about his friend stepping on an old land mine and blowing himself up as a kid. Needless to say I didn't go back, despite the store's offer to extend an extra lesson to make up for the one where the guy was on the phone.

I wonder if the guy who wants to teach a beginner how to play Giant Steps is the same guy I had for my three lessons from hell. [jk]


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## DudeManBrother (May 4, 2020)




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## Emperoff (May 5, 2020)

bostjan said:


> The third lesson, I had learned the Boccherini piece, but he just wigged out and played with action figures and told me stories about his friend stepping on an old land mine and blowing himself up as a kid


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## ElRay (May 5, 2020)

bostjan said:


> ... lessons from hell.


A bit of a derail, when I started to play, my first teacher would only teach scales and claimed that if I tried to learn songs (even on my own) before I mastered "all 12 scales", I would run my ability to play.


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## Bettershredthandead (Jul 1, 2020)

Wow this thread turned into a bit of a turd fest from just a simple question. Anyway, I used to gig out jazz back in the day and really the place you should start with learning any jazz piece from paper are the Real Books. If you are not familiar with these type in 'Jazz Real Books' and read up about them and what they are about. They are multi-volume and each one consists of a hundred or so jazz standards. You should be able to find a volume or two by adding the search term 'pdf'. And yes Giant Steps is in one of the volumes. Seek and yea shall find.


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## Eptaceros (Jul 8, 2020)

It's laughable how presumptuous some of the responses have been in this thread. "setting the kid up for failure"....? Are you kidding me? There is absolutely nothing wrong with learning material that's out of your grasp, no matter what stage of playing you're at. Obviously if the student has no interest or drive, then it will go nowhere. There is no "right" or "wrong" material to learn, and it doesn't matter if it's via tab or sheet music or ear. If the student persists in their methods, he/she will go far. It's a creative discipline, part of the beauty lies in how people approach music from all different angles. 

I spent years playing Necrophagist and Yngwie songs terribly at half speed when I started playing guitar, and those painstaking years were huge for my development. The advanced nature of the material provided me with a rich, technical blueprint that allowed me to learn a plethora of techniques without having to sit through hours of boring exercises. 

The guy asked for one thing, and instead people swarmed in here to attack him and assume he's a bad teacher and shove inherently wrong philosophies on learning instruments down his throat. I hope Giant Steps blows this kid's mind and it propels him to shred your faces off.


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## budda (Jul 8, 2020)

Its like you didn't read the thread


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## Eptaceros (Jul 8, 2020)

Alright, what did I miss? I see there's evidence of posts getting edited/deleted, so that might account for my lapse in understanding here. But I don't agree with the general undertone in this thread. OP is not required to give any details whatsoever, and he reacted appropriately to the snobby responses in this thread. The majority of people who responded to the original question came at it from a negative assumption regarding the kid's playing/passion and attacked OP's character as a "teacher". How is that okay?


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## 777 (Oct 2, 2020)

I want to get in on this action. You've been playing Giant steps for 20 years and you don't know the chord changes?


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