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

The Sound

Stan Getz is someone I need to hear more of ... his solo on O Morro Nao Tem Vaz (Favela) is soulful and beautiful and even though Luiz Bonfa is a beast on guitar the song is owned by Mr Getz.
This guy can really blow.

Pay Attention

The first time I had a lesson with Martyn it struck me  how  attentively  he listened to a Pat Metheny track he had obviously heard 100 times before. That and reading "The  Music Lesson" has is helping me to become a more attentive listener, but I think need to start developing  the level of focus I pay to my playing and the playing of others. I suppose the obvious way to do this is with some meditation ...

Soul is King

Listening to BB King and Albert King for a while got me thinking ...

Jazz blues is harmonically much more interesting than big city/chicago blues, and even though people like Wes Montgomery drip soul and feel from every pore, there is something really special about electric blues.

Santana says when people stop talking and walking to listen to you, then you can say you can carry a melody. The only way to get people to pay attention to put soul into your playing. Practically this means putting real emotion into it. In The music lesson, the kid says that you should always smile when you play, and your playing will be better for it. Maybe some would think that isn't the best advice for playing the blues, but playing the blues always makes me feel better and I think emotional intensity the key.

On the Albert King and Stevie Ray album, the King mentions that there are so many guitarists out there and a lot of them can play a lot of notes and play fast but they don't have any soul.

For a long time I have been leaning more towards acoustic blues, but listening to the Kings made me think about how much you can do with one or two notes, some fuzz and a whole lot of soul.

Time to turn up the gain a bit, slow things down a bit and put some soul it !

Alone Together

Jim Hall is a monster. The album with him and Ron Carter is the business.

The solo for St Thomas is transcribed in Wolf Marshalls Best of Jazz Guitar.

uncle willie

Willie Thomas is an amazing man

his site http://www.jazzeveryone.com/ is just what i needed to take my playing to the next level and for access to that amount of jazz wisdom $10 a month is a joke.

I am signing up today if i can get through all the free stuff :-)

the best laid plans

So there are some things I need to work on ... in no particular order

I need to practice :

Arpeggios starting from the 3rd 5th and 7th:

I noticed a big difference in my soloing as soon as I could properly arpeggiate through changes.

The important thing though IMO is to connect them smoothly, because in the beginning I always seemed to be starting from the the root on each new arpeggio/chord, which just sounds like an exercise.

Practicing arpeggios starting from the other chord tones seems like the way to nail this.

Also like Emily Remler and Pat Metheny point out, a good way get a good flow going and be able to cut in and out at any point is to practice playing every 8th note in the song, no breaks or pauses, so this would be good to combine.

I also need to internalise/focus more on descending arpeggios shapes + in general look more at melodic/harmonic arpeggios

All blues soloing and comping:

The Allblues soloing book has hundreds of ideas for soloing over the blues (and changes in general) in the style of many great players like Joe Pass Herb Ellis Kenny Burrell etc.

It covers a lot of different applications including Major, Major Pentatonic, Dorian, Mixolydian, Chromatic, Blue Scale and much much more

It really seems to cover all the essentials of soloing in the jazz idiom.

The art of Travis Picking/solo fingerpicking:

I always enjoy playing and learning finger style pieces since I really neglected this important part of playing the guitar for way too long. I need to focus on changing chords smoothly as well as getting a good groove going. I have a fairly good grasp of the first 3 patterns (O-I, O-I and pinch) but I need to work on the last one, alternating between the patterns and then start adding slurs.

March Past

The Oscar Peterson Trio Live at the 5 spot album is the business

Oscar Peterson on keys

Ray Brown on bass

Herb Ellis on guitar

Bobby Durham on Drums

These legends reunite after years of being apart and bring the house down

This album swings so damn hard it hurts

type one or type two ?

There are two kinds of dominant seventh chords in this world ...

Those that resolve down a 5th and those that don't.

You can play more "outside/tension" tones (b9 #9 b5 #5 M7) over a dominant chord that is going to resolve and you need to play the more inside/pretty notes (9th #11th 13th) over a non-resolving/moving dominant.

This is because the V - I resolution makes the overall harmony obvious, so you can play the tones that take you further outside the key over a dominant that resolves.

In her video, Emily Remler says that she likes to keep things simple and think in terms of minor and majors. She doesn't think in terms of Mixolydian when she solos over a dominant chord, instead she just thinks of jazz/melodic minor scale.

Type 2 dominant 7th chords resolve down a 5th.

On a Type 2 dominant chord play the Jazz/Melodic minor a minor 2nd above the root

Type 1 dominant 7th chords don't resolve down a 5th

On a Type 2 dominant 7th chord play the Jazz/Melodic minor a perfect 5th above the root

Why does this work ?

Looking at a type 2 G7

Over a Type 2 we play the minor up a 5th, so over G7 this means D melodic minor

1 3 5 7 1 3 5

G7 - G B D F G B D

D melodic - D E F G A B C#

5 13 7 1 9 3 #4

D melodic has the chord tones plus the pretty tones (9 13 #4)

Now Looking at a type 1 G7

Over a Type 1 we play the minor up a minor 2nd, so over G7 this means Ab melodic minor

Ab melodic - Ab Bb Cb Db Eb F G

G7 - G B D F

1 3 5 7 1

G7 - G B D F G

Ab melodic - Ab Bb Cb Db Eb F G

b9 #9 3 b5 #5 7 1

Ab melodic has the important chord tones plus the more outside tones (b9 #9 b5 #5 )

Thanks to Emily Remler for this idea

one potato two potato

To get deeper into the groove I need to start thinking in terms of 16th notes. Coltrane plays 16ths, Pat Martino plays them so I need to be able to play them, or at least hear them.

Since I have always had a potato fascination of sorts it makes sense I should use this particular three syllable word to start counting 16ths, so its one-po-ta-to two-po-ta-to three-po- ta-to four ....-po-ta-to.

Now is the time

Now is the time to start again

In the musical sense that is going to mean revisting all the standards I sort-of know, memorising them all then recording and performing them all

that starts with making a list and then ordering it


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

Okay now trying to group these

The ones I know pretty much by heart (melody and harmony) and just need some polishing

I remember You

Softly As In A Morning Sunrise
Afternoon in Paris
All of Me
Blue Bossa

How Insensative
St Thomas

Take five

Jelly Roll

Autumn Leaves

Satin Doll

Summertime

These I know well but need some work

All Blues

Black Orpheus

Canteloupe Island

Blue Monk

It Don't Mean A Thing

Take the A Train

Oleo

Valse Hot

Footprints

These I know most of the chords and melody but not by heart

Blues for Alice

Girl from Ipanema

My Funny Valentine

This Masquerade

These I only know the melody or only the chords or neither properly

Maiden Voyage

Four

My Romance

In Walked Bud

Caravan

So What

Freddie Freeloader

Jordu

Sirabhorn

Prince of Darkness