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.
This guy can really blow.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Thursday, September 15, 2011
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 !
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 !
Friday, August 26, 2011
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.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
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 :-)
Thursday, July 14, 2011
the best laid plans
So there are some things I need to work on ... in no particular order
Arpeggios starting from the 3rd 5th and 7th:
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.
Friday, June 17, 2011
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
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