Adrian Holovaty
@adrian · Guitar · Amsterdam
Gypsy-jazz guitarist and Soundslice developer. I post musical ideas and lick transcriptions here.
I just discovered this great fingerstyle tune from Chet Atkins’ 1968 album Solo Flights and written by Jerry Reed. Such a tasty, bluesy melody! More…
I love this simple but melodic idea from Joost Zoeteman — first over the C minor, then over the G minor. Sounds dissonant, but he’s just playing the flat third and natural sixth over both chords. More…
Big news for Django fans: a new live recording was unearthed and shared online. It’s Django playing with the ATC Band on Dec. 16, 1945. Here’s the full transcription of all six choruses by Django over… More…
From “Bags Meets Wes,” recorded in 1961. More…
Here’s a small thing I made up. Could work well as an outro to a ballad in A major. More…
A nice rhythm idea that I hadn’t come across, plus some quick licks. From Adrien’s DjangoFest Northwest workshop last week. Thanks to Paul Sommer for posting this video to YouTube! More…
Sean posted this exercise on Instagram yesterday (https://www.instagram.com/p/BoX8_NCl8LO/), saying "it's the best guitar exercise I know," so I had to Soundslice it. It's a chromatic scale in octaves,… More…
An interesting intro here from the tune “Relaxing at Camarillo” on the album Nine Stories Wide. It ends up resolving to C major at the end — I included some extra audio at the end for context.… More…
The most beautifully melodic improvised guitar solo of all time? Every jazz guitarist should learn this classic by Django.… More…
John is one of my favorite players here in the local Dutch scene. Super fast, clean and inspired by shred/rock — a refreshing color palette for gypsy jazz. I need to transcribe more of his stuff... More…
Nice improvised intro here leading into the G major for “Nuages.” More…
Super-swinging playing! By pianist Eddie Costa on the tune “Walking” on the Barry Galbraith album “Guitar and the Wind,” from 1958. I’ve transcribed only the piano melody, not the left hand rhythm. At… More…
Here’s a little etude I wrote recently for myself to practice some new (to me) chord transitions and the gypsy picking technique. It’s over the changes of “Djangology.” I suppose you could even play it… More…
From a 1951 session with pianist Jess Stacy. I love these little three-note chords — they have that certain early-jazz-guitar sound. The move in bars 6-7 (then repeated in bar 17) is really nice in particular,… More…
Here’s a little exercise I just came up with, to develop the dexterity for my third and fourth fingers. Lots of times these sorts of exercises aren’t very musical, so I wanted something that actually sounds… More…
Take the Adrien Train! Lots of classic Adrien ideas in this single chorus. Live at Joe’s Pub in NYC, with Benoit Convert and special guest Cyrille Aimee. More…
A nice break here from Adrien, over “Cherokee.” More…
From Django In June 2018. Video by Ric Molina. More…
Here’s an excellent chord etude Angelo showed at Django In June 2018, which took place last week in Northampton, MA. If you don’t know Django In June, mark your calendar for next year — I highly recommend… More…
Here’s my own fingerstyle arrangement of this great jazz standard. More…
Excellent etude by Joe Giglio (http://www.joegiglio.com/) over the changes of “All The Things You Are.”… More…
Here’s an etude I made for beginning gypsy-jazz guitarists. Note you can change the recording to only hear the rhythm guitar vs. lead guitar vs. full mix (for practicing!). More…
So many great voicings and ideas in here from Adrien. More…