Lee Sloan plays 'Gang O' Nothin' - by Art Tatum

This piece is in the key of Db major. To begin to appreciate the difficulty of playing it, try playing a Db major scale in tenths in the left hand, legato, at a moderate tempo. 'Gang O' Nothin' was republished in the collection 'Jazz, Blues, Boogie and Swing', by MCA music. Lee recorded it as part of his 14-track tribute to the great jazz pianists of the swing era, 'Resurrectin' Fats & Friends'.

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Music

Tags:

• Lee Sloan
• piano
• pianist
• jazz
• swing
• boogie
• blues
• keyboard
• Fats Waller
• Art Tatum
• Willie the Lion Smith
• James P. Johnson
• Duke Ellington
• jazz age
• solo
• stride Orleans
• American music
• music

[16yearoldwhiteboy]

You played this? That's nice. I'd like to have pointers from you, I'm (trying to) play Art Tatum's rendition of Tiger Rag now.

[Hojo1756]

@16yearoldwhiteboy A couple of pointers for you: practice slowly, increase your speed little by little, make sure you have no tension in your shoulders, arms, hands, keep your wrists low, always listening closely to how you sound.

[16yearoldwhiteboy]

@Hojo1756 Thank you. (: Are those tips based on my videos or are those just general tips?

[Hojo1756]

@16yearoldwhiteboy Both, in fact. Looking at your video again, the only other thing I'd add is to remember to aim for a steady rhythmic pulse throughout (except where the feel is obviously rubato, like the intro), no matter how slow at first. As the song says 'it don't mean a thing, if it ain't got that swing'. Best of luck.

[beforeourveryeyes]

WOW! Thank You!

[16yearoldwhiteboy]

@Hojo1756 Yes, I try to you may want to check my videos again, i plan to upload one where I play more rhythmically accurate and whatnot. I was actually playing past my comfort level on the last half of my video. I have quite a bit of practicing with a metronome (as much as possible atleast because the tempo changes a little throughout the song) and with the song 2 do. I think the swing will come when i get more comfortable with the song & can play it with ease like at the beginning hopefully.