Anyone know of any good resources (other than his songs) that I can study to get a better insight into how he approaches this. Ive got a book 'Stevie Wonder - a Musical Guide to the Classic Albums) but there is nothing in the way of musically notated ideas - although there are some great insights into what he plays.
Any DVDs/books worth looking into. A lot of them just seem to be the standard vocal/keyboard things and not really accurate.

Mark

hi mark,

I went through the same thing Stevie wonder... I really couldn't find anything, so I decided to use programs like trnascribe! and figured it out by slowing it down. Harmonically he is using pretty common jazz voicing, its the rhythm that's tricky. But if you slow it down and practice slowly at first and speed it up eventually you'll be able to do it.

Hi etcetra

Thanks very much for the tips ! I'll check Transcribe out.

Mark

Hi Mark

I am learning Stevie's tunes also and at the moment I am transcribing his music. I would like to ask if you wanna transcribe yourself some of them too and then we can share together? If you are in, we can talk more in detail... like which songs you (or I) want to do...

His music is so great. they are not easy but I believe we can learn a lot more effective if we can find someone who have the same common interests to work with.

Hi
I'm not up to the transcription stage yet, I've just started out on non-classical within the last year. But I have also been learning Stevie Wonder. I am becoming quite good on Overjoyed, and achieving really good progress on Send One Your Love (that IS a hard one).
I'm not going to add much value to your club at the moment but I would love to receive improv tips on Stevie Wonder.

Hi Mark

I am learning Stevie's tunes also and at the moment I am transcribing his music. I would like to ask if you wanna transcribe yourself some of them too and then we can share together? If you are in, we can talk more in detail... like which songs you (or I) want to do...

His music is so great. they are not easy but I believe we can learn a lot more effective if we can find someone who have the same common interests to work with.

Hi Champy

Sounds good to me. Currently Im working on going through Superstition (slowly).
His ballads are great - I notice he uses a lot of 9ths and some 13th chords

Mark

Another thing Im working on is a solo piano arrangement of Lately, which is a ballad in C# major with a few Coltrane-like steps.

Hey, just wanted to see how people were coming along with this. I bought Stevie's Anthology book but was disappointed to see a lot of this stuff is too simple and doesn't sound as nearly as big or full as what he actually plays. I've been looking everywhere and I can't seem to find how he actually plays this stuff, so I guess I'll be looking into transcribing.

Ah, there is a reason that the Anthology book does not sound good, and that is *arrangement*!! If you listen to his music carefully, you will find that his arrangements are VERY complicated and heavily layered. I have some note for notes of SW if you want them. But, again, they don't sound like what you hear because his arrangements are so big.

And one other thing: "Lately" is in Db. They have a note for note transcription of it on amazon.com. I think that ballad is one of the few that could be made to work for solo piano.

Cool... Could you please send them to me?

Ribbon in The Sky sounds great solo piano-- I used to play it at gigs-- got the arrangement from an R&B fake book. My Cheri Amour has become part of jazz "Real Books" . There's another ballad with lyrics "I'm a man of many wishes I hope my premonition misses ___________ "Cause it always makes me cry Cause this time could mean good bye" I can't think of the title obviously. Come to think of it, it may be "Lately."

"Living For the City" would take a lot of work but might be doable. I've tried "Higher Ground" a few times....that's a work out. Anyone with SW arrangements they care to share-- please do! I've noticed a lot of stock stuff isn't correct, but with a little listening and adds and removals, you can get close.

ALL IN LOVE IS FAIR played by Marian McPartland.

ANOTHER GREAT ONE THANKS!

reading this has me interested in Stevie Wonder -

Did you know that Superstition has 16 clav tracks?? If not you do now!

Cheeze...