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Donna Lee - Charlie Parker's Magnum Opus! Melody & Chords study! (Patreon)

Published:
2025-10-11 13:00:16
Imported:
2026-08
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Content

I'm still catching my breath after this one!.. a seriously deep dive into one of Charlie's most revered pieces. Full to the brim with iconic be-bop vocabulary and signature moves! We break down every single phrase and analyse what's going on harmonically.

Then at around the 22 minute mark we turn our attention to the chord changes and work our way through a study I put together that applies an equal amount of essential jazz manoeuvres!

After that we get deep into some technique and tone talk before finally saying goodnight!

The materials for this are as exhaustive as the lesson itself, so you should have everything you need from the melody itself, to chord charts with grids and finger numbers, and the audio of my performance AND backing track!

You will not find a more thorough, in-depth walkthrough of this legendary standard anywhere else.

Do let me know in the comments if you enjoyed the lesson!

Files

Charlie Parker’s “Donna Lee” - Jazz Masterclass! Melody, Chords & Analysis Bebop Guitar Lesson + TAB

Access all lesson materials by becoming a Patreon at the link below for just a small monthly fee!.. https://patreon.com/AlexFarranGuitar If Patreon isn’t your bag, you can purchase the materials for this lesson alone, directly at the link below; https://smogfalls.gumroad.com/l/tywvqu Book in for a private Zoom lesson to level up your playing, or find new inspiration!.. just choose a slot at the link below; https://tidycal.com/alexfarranguitar/guitarlesson I'm still catching my breath after this one!.. a seriously deep dive into one of Charlie's most revered pieces. Full to the brim with iconic be-bop vocabulary and signature moves! We break down every single phrase and analyse what's going on harmonically. Then at around the 22 minute mark we turn our attention to the chord changes and work our way through a study I put together that applies an equal amount of essential jazz manoeuvres! After that we get deep into some technique and tone talk before finally saying goodnight! The materials for this are as exhaustive as the lesson itself, so you should have everything you need from the melody itself, to chord charts with grids and finger numbers, and the audio of my performance AND backing track! You will not find a more thorough, in-depth walkthrough of this legendary standard anywhere else. Do let me know in the comments if you enjoyed the lesson! ⏱️TIMESTAMPS⏱️ 00:00 - Performance 00:37 - Introduction 01:21 - Lesson Materials 02:18 - The A Section 03:50 - F7 pivot lick 04:59 - Bb7 3 to 9 lick 06:05 - Recap 06:24 - ii-V in Ab 06:58 - Arpeggios within arpeggios! 07:40 - Honeysuckle lick 07:58 - Eb7 altered 08:52 - Looper practice! 09:33 - C minor 7 over Ab Major 10:12 - ii-V in Db 11:24 - Practice ethic = internalising vocabulary 12:51 - Sheet music 13:07 - IV to iv minor 13:33 - Ab Major - common idea 13:58 - F7b9 Django lick 15:17 - Chaotic Bb7(b5) lick! 16:10 - ii-V-I in Ab 17:39 - F minor ii-v-i 19:17 - Buzzing bee chromatic madness 19:44 - F minor 1 2 3 5 19:55 - B dim arpeggio into C minor 20:07 - Cascading ii-V ideas 20:16 - Common Harmonic minor run 21:00 - ii-V in Ab 21:43 - Common turnaround 22:18 - Head summary 22:45 - Chord Study (A section) 23:17 - Using the ii to add movement 24:27 - Tritone Subs 25:09 - Different flavours of major 25:22 - Setting up the IV 26:37 - B section; IV to iv minor 27:31 - Bb7 walk up 28:00 - Nuages! 28:20 - More ii-V manouveres 28:56 - Big chords! 30:00 - C section and minor ii-V movements 30:47 - Fm6 voicing 31:31 - Minor 7 vs minor 6 31:21 - After You’ve Gone lesson 32:36 - Closing bars 33:43 - Are you still with me?! 33:58 - Right hand technique 34:15 - Chord Club Rules 35:34 - Tone talk! 36:49 - Sign-off! Gear used in this video; 1958 Gibson Es175 Thomastik Infield 12 Gauge Flatwounds Dunlop H3 Pick Lazy J20 Amp Universal Audio Apollo Twin X Logic Pro Universal Audio plugins Sony ZVE-10 camera Neewer Desktop Tripod Final Cut Pro Thanks for watching! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexfarranguitar/ Buy me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/alexfarran #jazz #bebop #charlieparker #guitarlesson #guitarra #tutorial #chords #melody #donnalee #jazzstandard #vintageguitar

Comments

jonjon 0815

a great lesson (again 👍), thank you so much - the next weeks I know what to do - keep hauling 🎶

Tyrone Miller

Never get tired of the jazz standards.Great Stuff 😎😎😎

Ron Culbertson

Looking forward to this deep dive, thanks for putting in all the hard work. I don’t have any Charlie Parker in my repertoire. I’m still working on Django’s tiger. Once again, thank you and hi to Rosie.

Bruce Arthur

What an epic lesson. A lot of work to do here. Thanks. Love the jazz lessons

Jan Geerts

I know it's jazz, but, you rock

Daghan

Top class lesson Alex. Thank you

Marinho Del Santo

It is incredible the time, knowledge and workout that you put together in each lesson. You are a guitar teacher and player hero, Alex! THANK YOU!!!

Philip

Terrific lesson! I will have to watch this multiple times to absorb all the material. Looking forward to future lessons applying some of these classic bebop licks.

Joseph Corso

Absolute madman! Thanks Alex ...Tremendous as always sir...

Sander Geerdink

Excellent lesson! Last time I tried to memorize the head I got stuck half way and drove my girlfriend insane by repeating it over and over again. But Im going to take another stab at it using your materials. Thanks again!

mardin56

I liked “lazy American” chord hits. Sounded Delta blues.

Alex Farran Guitar

Always my pleasure my friend! I’m glad you enjoy the lessons! 🙏🏻

Alex Farran Guitar

Thank you Ron! Ah Django’s Tiger.. I still need to do a full breakdown of that one in a video don’t I!? 🤦🏻‍♂️ Rosie’s doing great and jumped on my lap as I was typing this response to you! 🤩

Frederic Rowley

Hey Alex! Just want to say how much I love this lesson. Been thinking about how I should approach it, and can't quite decide if I should start w learning the comp first. I think instead though, I so love the ii-V-I phrases and I know I'm just going to launch into playing and practicing the 3 or 4 of those you mention. Man I love this lesson! I know it's really dumb, but only now, thanks to your pointing it out, I finally get the idea that you can think of the I chord, as the I, or, think of it as the III, or the V, by leaning into the upper arpeggios. Thank you!! Btw - what version of Donna Lee is it that you transcribed this from? The one I was listening to today didn't sound the same to me. Charlie Parker is so melodic! Thanks!! (also btw - I would love to see more lessons on extracting phrases like the ii-V-I you've done so far. So so much to learn from that, like hitting the 3rd on the chord change and using it to launch the upper arpeggios.)

Johan

Parker confuses me because the phrases seem to often ignore the bar lines, i.e. he stays outlining a chord after its past or outlining the next chord before it arrives. Is it just me?

Israel Wright

Absolutely love it! Any news on that Bluegrass CAGED licks video? :)

Alex Farran Guitar

No, that's certainly something he does. Often he'll ignore a ii chord and treat it as the following V, before the V has arrived. Anticipating the changes is also an easy way to add a more natural flow to your lines.

Alex Farran Guitar

Hi Frederic, apologies for the slow response, I missed this message somehow. Really glad you enjoyed the lesson so much! Definitely always learn the chords first and get the changes down and committed to memory. It makes understanding the melody so much easier, and pathos the way towards improvising over the changes too. I used Charlie Parker's version as a reference point, and just tweaked a few bits here and there for a better guitar-friendly flow. Definitely many more ii-V-I lessons coming soon.. starting with a phrase building exercise ;)

Steve Furey

Ohhhh.... next challenge, looks like a lot of finger pretzels. :)

Steve Furey

Man, this is tough. I'm struggling playing this at 80% of the tempo and getting about 80% accuracy :( Current progress: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6y1bmvUj6Dg Great finger twister. Alex just wondering, how many takes does it take you before you get one you're happy with?