random picking

I found a few cool videos series on improvisation from the NY jazz clinic

I need to work on all of these but for now i will work on the scale fragments, rearranging the scale and exploring the tail

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF_HQYTYBj0

* less is more
* get to the music quickly - more playing less practicing

* fragment the scale
jazz guys never play a whole scale but tunes like somewhere over the rainbow
or in a sentimental mood use scale fragments and leaps

* rearrange the scale
put the tonic in the middle (not top and bottom) of your scale/riffs


*explore the tail
descending below the root so you can avoid arriving with a thud

*Tell a story from 5 to 1 - coherence and correlation ?)


* vary the changes

*use this scale model to introduce new harmonies



Need to spend some time with Larry Coryell getting the altered sounds into my playing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIpkABVrdn8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n0DFKqKU7I

The Keys to Success

Part of my plan for 2012 will be to learn to play in all the major and minor keys.

To get started I am going to go through one major key a day for the next few weeks till I know them backwards.

This means writing out and then playing through:

• The scale, triads and 7th chords 
• The common changes (ii V I, I/iii vi ii V, I IV  V) (need to add to these)
• The common substitutions (in C Maj : vi I iii: Am7 CMaj7 and Em7, vi V ii :Bm7b5 G7 Dm)

I need to incorporate

• 3 shapes for each root note for the scales and chords
• Extended chords CMaj7+Dm 1 3 5 7 9 11 13
• important inversions
• modes
• single string, 2 string, 3 string

Time allocation is

• 5 minutes to write it out
• 5 minutes to verbalise and visualise 
• 5 minutes single scales
• 5 minutes triads 
• 5 minute break 
• 5 minute interval study
• 5 minutes 7th chords
• 5 minutes playing common changes
• 5 minutes to verbalise and visualise

 To keep it interesting, as I progress I will need to

• Expand the list of common chord progressions 
• work through modal vamps
• Learn tunes in the chosen key
• Improvise

At one per day it will take at least two full weeks to get through them all and I should cover each key at least 3 times to retain as much as possible so I am looking at about six weeks total.

Standard List

Add a few to the list

Stompin at the Savoy
Moanin
Tune up
Bright Size Life
Blue Trane


Afternoon in Paris
All of Me
All Blues

Autumn Leaves
Blue Bossa
Blue Monk
Blues for Alice
Black Orpheus
Canteloupe Island
Caravan
Freddie Freeloader
Footprints
Four
Girl from Ipanema
How Insensative
In Walked Bud
I remember You
It Don't Mean A Thing
Jelly Roll
Jordu
Maiden Voyage
My Funny Valentine
My Romance
Oleo
Prince of Darkness
Satin Doll
Sirabhorn
Softly As In A Morning Sunrise
So What
Summertime
St Thomas
Take five

Take the A Train
This Masquerade
Valse Hot

Dizzy on the blues and playing the piano

The great man breaks it down.

He talks about how Jazz is firmly rooted in the blues and that it always should be. He also talks about how playing the piano gives you a better insight into structure and harmony. Time to hit the keys.

Laduma

Goals and objectives (to be sorted in order of priority and short medium and long term)

Time to set myself some simple achievable goals.

Science of the Unitar and single string playing , Intervals and counterpoint - I need to record all the major key modal vamps in mp3 format and practice over them every day over one then two then three strings



Blues in all keys - This is one that could take years as the harmonic and rhythmic possibilities of the blues are almost endless. For now lets just say I need to learn the I7-iim7-IV7-V7 chords for all keys so I can play traditional blues and simple jazz blues (ii-V turnaround) in all keys

Finger picking - I need to complete the art of Travis picking. I have made it most of the way through and my playing has come along, but I need to work on the four basic patterns every day including moving bass and ring finger variations. I also need to be able play through all the songs in one sitting without mistakes.
Alternatively I should look at playing through all the standards I know using the four patterns with variations.

Standards/songs/repetoire - I need to consolidate my current body of work with a view to performance. There are a few tunes that I have need to finish learning (the boxer, Walk don't Run) some I need to perfect (bright size life, sirbahorn, Mediterranean Sundance). For now I should finish them in the order I learned them : walk dont run then the boxer. I need to print out my repertoire and pin it up so I can rework and reorder it. The goal should be to play through all the songs I know at least once or twice every week. I can tie this in with the single string playing and the finger picking.

Another approach should be to create a set list and play through it without stopping. Start small at 3 songs and then get it up to 10, 15 20 etc

Singing and playing - This is something I should work on every day. Learn all the lyrics to all the songs I know and sing them when I practice them, to start with I should play: Skinny love, free falling, Blackbird, MOCS, and some oldies

Song writing/composition. I need to go through all my BB recordings and the songs that I have written and worked on.

I need to get the lyrics and structure down for the 3 songs I have some lyrics for (walk on the water, miss blues, who am i) and then and work the structure and write down the others I have been working on

Instruction, Surrender, Chop wood and draw water

I guess I am one of those cup overflowing kind of students.
I learned a quite a lot from Stu despite the fact my cup was always full.

With Martyn I had a chance to start again, and although I initially  dived into his method and in Mick Goodricks Modal Vamps etc I think I have reverted back to my own position/chordal based playing :-)

I really need to just put my own opinions and knowledge on the back burner and surrender to his expertise.


What this means is going back to the drawing board and starting from scratch, learning the names of the notes of all the keys one string at a time :-)

To make this interesting I need to get creative. I need to do daily random key and mode practice, as well as improvise over simple chord progressions and standards on one string.

Time to chop some wood and draw some water.

Mastery - the endless path

I just finished George Leonard's book : Mastery - The keys to success and long-term fulfillment

The summary part is worth repeating here

Five Master Keys

• Instruction
• Practice
• Surrender
• Intentionality
• The Edge

Dealing with change and homeostasis

• Be aware of the way homeostasis works
• Be willing to negotiate with your resistance to change
• Develop a support ssytem
• Follow a regular practice
• Dedicate yourself to lifelong learning

Getting energy for mastery

• Maintain physical fitness
• Acknowledge the negative, accentuate the positive
• Tell the truth
• Honor but don't indulge your darkside
• Set your priorities
• Make commitments, take action
• Get on the path of mastery and stay on it

Pitfalls along the way

• Conflicting lifestyles
• Obsessive goal orientation
• Poor instruction
• Lack of competitiveness
• Overcompetitiveness
• Laziness
• Injuries
• Drugs
• Prizes and Medals
• Vanity
• Dead Seriousness
• Inconsistency 
• Perfectionism