I was gutted to hear when Sylvain Luc passed away in March of this year. In many ways an unsung hero of the guitar, Luc carved a unique sound that remained distinctly French. I'd urge any listener to check out his live performances which are boundless as they are captivating. Though today's transcription comes from a duo recording, it was Luc's solo performances which caught my attention first of all. Luc's deep immersion in improvisation conveys a spirit of exploration which made him such an engaging player.
'On Green Dolphin Street' was recorded with frequent collaborator Bireli Lagrene. There are so many teachable moments in this solo, but today I'm focussing in on the arpeggios which is where the French colour shines in this music. The A section of the tune is made up of parallel harmony, and Luc burns through a series of arpeggios that neigbour each other on the fretboard. There's no use of slurs and the punchiness of the passage is all down to the picking technique that comes straight from Manouche. In manouche, descending arpeggios are played with downward rest strokes. This really lends itself to the swing present in the style. With this, we're looking for a much more modern sound so I chose to combine alternate picking with economy picking. Have a practice and choose what suits you the most.
The A section changes are as follows: Cmaj7, Ebmaj7, Dmaj7, Dbmaj7, Cmaj7. Notice how each arpegio drives the line into the downbeat of the next bar, landing on a chord tone of thenext arpeggio.
