Stop F***ing Up Footprints!

Peter Martin shows you how to fix three common mistakes people make when playing Wayne Shorter's classic standard "Footprints."

========================================================

What's going on? Peter Martin here for Two Minute Jazz. What is that? That's the correct introduction to "Footprints." It's a wonderful tune from Wayne Shorter that is often butchered. But we're gonna fix that today. I'm gonna talk to you about how to stop playing this tune wrong. I'm gonna give you three major errors in this and how to fix them.

The first is that bassline and that little counter-melody. It's even part of the melody. Anticipate it, one, two, three... Okay, so you've gotta get that part of the melody right as anticipation and the bassline needs to be on the beat.

You can always leave it later on, but let's start there. Then the next part, F minor, again, we can play whatever we want, but the original stays on that drone, that pedal point C is F minor over C, not F minor. Alright... And it's not perfect fourths, that's a different song. Now can you play that? Sure, you can play whatever you want, but know the original first, okay? So get the right bassline.

All right, the third major thing we're gonna fix today is the changes on the bridge. F sharp half diminished but with that major ninth. And you gotta know the melody and how it lays. Then we go to F13 because that's part of the melody, sharp 11. So F# half diminished with the ninth, natural ninth, F13 sharp eleven, and now we've got E9 with the flatted fifth. Not... or sharp nine. I mean, you can play that, but that's not what Herbie played on the original, on Adam's Apple. And then we got A7 sharp nine flat 13. Then we got blues comin' down.

Okay, fix those three things and you will be jammin' on Wayne Shorter's "Footprints." Happy practicing.

========================================================

#2minjazz #openstudio #petermartin #jazz #piano #happypracticing #footprints #realbook

[MrJellyton]

Great video! "You can play whatever you want but know the original." Couldn't agree more. Would love to see a "Stop F-ing Up" series.

[elovesmika]

This is GOLD and I agree.... A "Stop F....king Up..." series would be the BOMB!!! This taught me so much! I couldn't hear it but I knew it wasn't what the Real Book said it was! Thanks so much Peter!!!

[diegourias]

Great Video! I like the idea of a "Stop F***ing up" series as well!

[thomasreillymusic]

I highly appreciate the specificity of this lesson - would love similar dissections of tunes

[leomorland]

I would love for this to turn into a series

[NickWeissMusic]

You would think that searching up something like “Herbie Hancock footprints voicings” would be easy, but it took quite a bit of trudging through mountains of rumors and innuendo to find this gem. Thank you!

[ryanmccaffrey]

OMG. Thank you. I am a horn player and this totally changed how i approach this tune.

[jerrymascaro]

Thank you Peter. I looked at five different fakebook versions of Footprints for a better understanding, but your video explanation was by far the best and most definitive demonstration of the correct chords. I will be looking for your videos with gleeful anticipation. Peace, stay well.

[donaldstapleson]

Thanks for a great video Peter! I hate it when I go out on a casual gig and musicians play a tune like they've never heard the original. +1 on the Stop F**ing up series!

[jazzbargainbin]

I think the reason a lot of people play the ascending fourths bass line on the Fm7 measures (creating a Fm11/C sound) is because that's what Ron Carter did on the Miles Smiles version of the tune, which is way more well-known than Wayne's version from Adam's Apple. On the Miles Smiles version, Herbie's not even playing the bass line. As for Carter's line, I feel like he sometimes makes that third note a higher C (i.e. playing C - F - C - Eb), but just as often if not more it sticks with the Bb.

[wanderingplanetearth]

On that E9(b5) chord in the turnaround I can also hear the 13. On the Wayne Shorter recording you can hear it very clearly the first time he goes through the turnaround since the 13 is the highest note in Herbie's piano voicing in that instance.

[lpgoog]

I play guitar but can't stop smiling watching this dude. Great standard.

[dojomania]

Thank you! So many guitarists mess this up by playing purely QUARTAL harmony, and ignoring the fact that there are mainly altered chords. As you said, NOT perfect fourths.

[SteveSnelling]

I think of that F# as E/F#dim (two triads). Great vid - thanks for clarifying the message.

[eddiec]

Thank you! The only person on YouTube to get the chords right!

[dzungvo]

Thank you!! I've seen so many versions of those changes, and it's hard for me to hear the voicings. This was fantastic. Would love to see something like this on other tricky tunes, like Round Midnight, Infant Eyes, and more! 20 stars!

[hrmntby]

thank you so much i am one of the ones messing up the 2nd to last chord line. I didnt know the difference between dim and half diminished when it showed in a chart. I also didnt take the time to find out the proper way to play the alt chords in this song. I just been playing a reg dim and regular dom 7 chords because i was reading charts(improperly) on the spot never went home after the gig to learn the proper way or listen to the recording closely. SMH i was looking for a vid just like this and yours showed up as soon as i did a search LOL i said to myself yup that's me F***ING up that song. Our band leader told me one time but i thought my chart was wrong in IREAL but it was actually the operator error not knowing it was me lol. Thanks again P Martin

[UkuleleAversion]

I wonder why that bridge works. There are so many Wayne Shorter compositions that are great to listen to but when you actually analyse the changes they're really hard to make sense of.

[jazzyoutfit]

Hey Peter,
just for the sake of arguing:
my 1st point: on *Adam's Apple*, Herbie is playing an 11th in the r.h. part of his Cm7 voicing - instead of the 5th (that you played). on head repeat he is making this F into a F-Gb trill (together with Wayne, who plays D with a Eb trill).
my 2nd point: Miles' album *Miles Smiles* could be regarded as the other 'main recording' of the piece (same year 1967, also with Wayne & Herbie). Ron Carter is playing C-F-Bb-Eb on Fm7 - alternating with C-F-C-Eb.
btw: I love your 2 minute jazz and You'll hear it series,
best Andy

[albrackets]

I don't doubt Mr Martin's accuracy in rendering Adam's Apple. However, somewhere on the Internets, I found a document which claimed "Wayne's handwritten lead sheet for Footprints shows the following chords for the A section." Ok, it is the Internet, so it must be true! ^) ( and if having an A section implies a B section !?!?!WTF)

Cmi 9 ( 4 measures)
Fmi13 (2 measures) (C in bass as Martin states)
Cmi 9 ( 2 measures)
F#-9 B+9+5 (1 measure)
E7+9 A+11+9+5 (1 measure)
Cmi 9 (2 measures)

BTW, the you can find a copy of this lead-sheet just before the Table of Contents in the Shorter biography "Footprints" by Michelle Mercer