I’m working on a stick transcription of Django’s Minor Swing. I have the bass chords moving from
Am6 l Dm6 l E7 l Am6 l Dm6 l Am6 l E7 l Am6

All of the above chords are for two measures each

For the right hand I’m planning on using arpeggios containing notes of Am6, Dm6 and will be playing the F diminished notes over the E7

Anyone else have different chords or scales for Minor Swing?

I guess it depends on whether you're really trying to capture that Jazz Manouche sound, and honestly it's been my experience that the guys into Django border on fanatical - I was at a jam last year thinking that I had a bunch of tunes nailed (as a guitarist) and I really did heave 'em down, but holy cow did they rip into my strumming style. The picking mechanic, etc... lol Not enough for these guys that you can play the notes right along with the recording lol And that's just a small pocket of Djangologists up here in Northern Canada. I can only imagine how it is elsewhere...

Anyways. I learned that tune on the Stick a few years ago, got it not too bad but never posted it. I tried a few different approaches for the accompaniment, but honestly two methods seemed to really work best;

1) Steve's Bass Compass - basically play a 1235 in the LH for each chord. This approach sounded best to my ears, easy to get a swing kind of rhythm, although one's hand independence needs to be kind of leveled up a bit to do this.

2) 10ths - Seems like it's too simple, but it really worked well. Easy on the brain, and it enabled a lot of extra articulation in the RH Melody.

Playing full chords in the LH sounded a bit stiff, and playing a Stick Arpeggio sequence just sounded plain wrong to my ears, way too clinical for a type of music that's groove based.
Steve Adelson plays this stuff really well, maybe he could give you some pointers? He really loves that style of music too so it might be worth at least discussing. He should do an entire album of that sort of thing, I bet it would be killer.

I learned the melody first, played along with the recording, then added a root note with it (simple, but it actually sounded good) and then gradually upped it to some other stuff, but that melody has to be baked in so that it's almost at an intuitive level.

I also learned the tune on a keyboard, played it on guitar, my mandolin, and violin. I got it on guitar to a point where I could transpose the tune; play it in any key... And I THOUGHT that would be good enough to go and jam with the saturday jazz Manouche crowd, but faaaaack... gotta have the same picking mechanics too... The only thing that saved my butt is that I play almost as articulately with only fingers. I mean, I am not quite as fast with fingers as I am with a plectrum but I can get the job done. Good times.

I don't really even play my Stick anymore, but I'd be happy to maybe try and relearn this tune and post my progress if you like. Might be an idea or two of what not to do hahaha

Hmmmm.....
Be aware that Ami6 has an F#, Dm7 has an F natural.
E7 can be made augmented raising the fifth to technically B# (C) which as the key's flat third, verifies and solidifies that you're in Ami.
The chords for the solos are just a bit different in sequence.
If you have my "Stickology" CD, listen to my version of the Beatles Blackbird. The guest guitarist is Stephane Wrembel, a respected and authentic Django stylist who studied with the Manouche. He wrote and performed Bistro Fada for Woody Allen's movie.
Washboard Dave is our percussionist. The track captures the Django flavor. Not easy on The Stick since we don't strum a whole lot
Stickology (my book and CD) are a tribute to a series of recordings called Djangology.
Listen to Django, listen to Wes, listen to Metheny.
Absorb the quality and integrity of their performances.. After you get the correct notes and chords, it's all about the feel!!

Yu Gno Hu

Thank you Steve and Scott for your feedback. I agree with you Scott on playing full chords with the left hand. It sounds stiff and unnatural on the stick. I found an old YouTube clip of Steve A playing the tune along with Dean P on guitar. Steve was doing his walking bass thing, which sounds great, but is well beyond my skill level. I will try just playing the root and third for starts.

Here’s the clip of Dean and Steve

https://fandalism.com/deanstick/d2JR

You know, just playing the melody over the root is no joke, either - take what you can get, man!

I like this tune better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNG_V7hDRGQ

BTW.....I did record a tune with guitarist Chieli Minucci called "minor Thing" on the Stickologu CD using mostly the same chords and a dyslexic version of Django's melody.

SA

DYSLEXICS OF THE WORLD - UNTIE!