Fine

I worked on some scale and speed exercises this afternoon and then moved on to finishing my Phillip Johnston transcription. It was a difficult one for me. I had 30 seconds to transcribe, and it took about 3 hours to do it. I was delighted to find at the end a nice whole-tone improv at the end of his solo. It was really helpful to see, learn and hear what he was doing that made this solo so cool to me. Now I just have to play it in time.

Shredder's Delight

I apparently took a Holiday today. Not much guitar work. I did some work with the metronome: scales and rhythm exercises. Listening to the Phillip Johsnton and Paul Desmond solos helped me realize the work I need to do with scalular-based playing. They highlight the importance of speed. I spent a little time working on it today, and I want to spend some more time working on in the future. They are very easy exercises and I think they really can help my playing.

PJ

Much of the same today… I moved forward on my Phillip Johnston transcription. It’s a hard tune to transcribe and I’m having a hard time with the last part of it. It’s very fast and sometimes the horn is a little out of tune and I have to make an educated guess on which note he’s using. Because I’ve transcribed the first 2/3rds of the solo I have a pretty good idea of where he’s going with his solo. He’s repeating a lot of his licks and using slight variations. I really feel it’s important for me to finish this solo because of this repetition. If I can see, hear and play the licks that he uses over and over than that means I have his sound in the bag. It’s this idea that keeps me working forward with this piece. Because it’s hard, it seems like a lot, but because I’m seeing results and imagining what will come, it inspires me to continue.

I spent a little time on some modal exercises and some scale playing, but I was pushed back to the Phillip Johnston improv. During this intermission I made the observation that I don’t practice scales or arpeggios any more. Looking at a player that plays so fast is reminding me of what I’m lacking (as far a speed is concerned). I want to take some time in the future and look at the some scales in a more regimented and disciplined way.

My last turn at the Phillip Johnston idea was to record myself soloing over his Eb Lydian b7 groove. I used my delay pedal for the groove and the loopsation for the recording. I think this was my first or second take. The phrasing I’m using intrigues me. It seems somewhat similar to PJ’s, and there’s one lick that I specifically learned from his solo. My time isn’t the best, but I like some of my melodic ideas and development (even if it’s a bit rambling). Regardless of how proud I am of the solo or not, I wanted to record it for posterity. I’ll try to record another example in a month or two, when I get a better feel for his playing.

current

I worked on improvising through Freddie The Freeloader again. I was less inspired than last night and was getting a little frustrated with my ability to hit the changes. I switched gears and tried some dorian exercises and felt at a loss for what to do. I thought going through more of Miles: Kind of Blue album might help, but I decided I should finish what I started with my other solos.

I went back to work on my Phillip Johnston transcription. I transcribed another 3rd of his solo. This isn’t my favorite part of the piece, and I was thinking of skipping it and going to the last part. Many of the licks are the same or similar, which is fine, but I noticed that he crapped out towards the end of this third. When I was listening to it, it sounded like he sort of ran out of steam, needed to take a breath and then regroup for the final chorus. Upon transcribing I found that not only did he crap out, but the bass player got lost. I didn’t realize it before, but the bass player lost where he was in the piece. It’s only a 2 bar phrase that he plays and then deviates. Upon one of his deviations he somehow lost where one was when Phillip lost steam in the playing. Phillip then, plays a long note to regroup everyone and then take off for the end. It’s a very dynamic solo because of it. It’s got a real low point. I think it’s neat that I didn’t really know what was happening until I wrote it out, or at least listened to it over and over.

After that, I casually practiced (noodled) using the tune’s Eb Lydian b7 scale. Just to get a feel for the fingerings. I had some fun, came up with some cool licks; nothing serious, but felt good to play.

400mg

I took yesterday off to give my back a break. Over the past few weeks my back has been progressively becoming more painful. I think it’s because of my posturing when I’m practicing in combination that with my poor upper body development. Taking the day off from guitar was harder than I thought. I found myself with not much to do.

Today my back was feeling much better. I could tell, because in the morning, when I woke up, I wasn’t in pain. I took it easy through the day and did some mild stretching. In the evening I sat down for two practice sessions.

The first was more the more theoretical of the two. I spent some time reviewing my modal exercises from Tim Miller. I’m a little at a loss and amazement with the possibilities and priorities of exercises regarding modes, but I’m eager to begin because I think it holds a lot of value for me. I’m a little of a jagged melodic player and I’d like to some more linear ideas into my repertoire. I spent some time trying out some different notes on some modal vamps and feeling the dissonances. I’ve been noticing the profound difference between saxophone or trumpet players compared to what I do as guitarist and I’ve been trying to develop some of the power those instruments hold. While developing my lines I was really trying to feel each note and it’s relative dissonance or consonance by its vibration. I also tried cutting back on my available strings to play to give me a more linear sound. I played through Freddie The Freeloader this way and I was intrigued by the results. It brought out some slurs as I jumped for some of the further notes and it required me to not only think about the changes, but think about my ear. As I started out I was thinking more from my ear’s perspective and was amazed with some of my note choices. I was using avoid notes and chromatic approaches quite liberally and really only knew what chord I was on by it’s sound. My ear was good enough to let me know where the next note would be, but it couldn’t articulate the chord in symbol format. I find this fascinating, because essentially my ear can tell the sound of the chord and know what note will sound good over it (I have to be on the fretboard to start with). I know intellectually what note I’m playing and what note I will play next but I don’t know the next chord by name, even if it’s a familiar form, like a blues. This is an experience that I keep seeing in my playing and I find fascinating. My ear’s ahead of my intellect, and I’m not sure how to get my intellect up to speed. Sometimes when I have to think of a chord or chord scale the amount of information seems to complex for me to think about. Thinking the chord Bb7 can be too much sometimes because there are 4 notes involved, two tensions and one avoid note, not to mention the Blues applications with altered tensions. It’s a neat experience to be aware of where I’m having trouble playing.
When I was working through this exercise I was ear-dependent I was surprised and pleased by the results. At times the melodies were sound and nice, and other times when I sounded like a saxophone player (wayne shorter to be specific). Noting my limitations and seeing small progress, even though I have a long way to go, is inspiring and humbling. Accepting to be patient is not always very exciting.

My other big practice session was sitting down with the solos I’m working on. I had a chance to look at Phillip Johsnton’s and Miles’ solos this evening. When I sat down with PJ’s it was the first time that I actually could play the whole thing. I couldn’t do it at tempo, but that didn’t seem to matter. There were some very difficult phrases in there for me and I was amazed that after taking a day off, how solid some of them were. The ones that I had been working on in the past really came together for me. The new licks I looked at today were coherent for the first time. It’s a good feeling because the practice routine I’m using is showing results.

When I looked at the Miles solo, I was happy with my playing. I was really solid with the whole thing. Some of the phrases that were tricky for me a few days ago were solid this time around (and I even had a day off). The tune was so solid that I actually could take my ear away from the solo on the recording and listen to my own playing. It was really nice. There’s an understanding of the tune that I’m developing that I don’t really understand, but I remember working this way when building my rock n’ roll chops. Listening to my own guitar, I really could feel the weight of each note and craft the articulation of each phrase. It was quite delightful.

Sew Watt

I burned a CD of the tunes I’m working on (just their solos). It has Paul Desmond, Phillip Johnston, Miles Davis, Bill Frisell, Charlie Christian & Bill Evans on it. The entire CD is 6:37 minutes long. I had a busy teaching schedule and some driving to do today, so to make up for less practicing, I listened to this CD over and over again as I was in the car. Sometimes I would loop just one solo, other times the whole CD. It was neat. When I had a chance to sit down and practice in the evening I worked exclusively on Miles solo on So What. It’s 1:54 minutes long and I played for about a half-hour to forty-five minuets straight. Every time the tune would start, I would think that it was my last time, but when I got to the end I would do it over again because I had gotten something right where I hadn’t before. It’s a neat tune with some interesting phrasing and some standard lines. It’s his weight that he gives to each note that I find fascinating. When I really could get it right I thought it was so neat, the symmetry between trumpet and guitar. Miles can be a little sloppy with some of his notes and it’s neat to hear what it sounds like soulfully and then cleanly. It was a neat but short exercise. I’d like to see how I’m doing tomorrow.

cruise-control

Morning: I spent some time working on my Phillip Johnston licks from yesterday. It’s a challenging solo for me because of it’s speed and well, I guess just the speed. Some of the licks are very fast and have a lot of notes, and frankly, I’m not used to that. I could see this morning that my work from yesterday really paid off. Yesterday (and for several days before) I was working on how to finger some of the faster licks and then playing them very slow, over and over again, recognizing that it’s going to take my fingers and my brain to realize the pattern. Today I could play the licks faster and with more feel than before. I think I got a little while before I can bring it up to tempo and weave it into the entire solo, but it was great progress. I also spent some time looking at the last couple licks of the first chorus of Paul Desmond’s ATTYA. It’s sort of a saxophony trill that he does at the end that I’ve kind of ignored until now. That will probably come along just as the Johnston licks have.

Later in the morning I sat down with the So What solo and was happy to see that my work from yesterday had congealed. I’ve got two phrases that I’ve got to clean up. All in all, I’m having fun with my project and enjoying the results that I’m seeing.

Afternoon: more of the same. I’ve been doing this long enough to recognize when I’m doing it right and I think I’m cruising on the right track. It will just take a little while to get there. I spent some time with the Paul Desmond solo and the Phillip Johnston solo. I’m amazed at how close I can come to Johnston’s speed and dexterity of his lines. It’s coming along. I’m also really getting excited about the structure of what I’m working on. It reminds me of my 30-second tune project. It’s very matter-of-fact what I need to do and I get to see progress as its happening. It’s definitely a satisfying time in my development.

Chunes

I worked on two main things today: Modal vamps and playing transcribed solos. I’m trying to work on a little more structure with my practicing and Tim Miller suggested that I consistently work on solos that I’ve transcribed and play them over and over. So I worked on Miles: So What, Phillip Johnston: Hemline, & Paul Desmond: ATTYA. I should incorporate some Charlie Christian, Jim Hall, Keith Jarrett & Bill Frisell. Tim suggested that I take all the solos and burn them on to a CD so they are together. That’s good advise. The project aspect of it is nice. It’s help me clean up some spots in the Miles & Paul Desmond solos.
My other big topic was modal vamps. With modal vamps there are so many places to go, but right now I’m looking at harmony, and improvising with superimposed changes and improvising up and down each string (Mick Goodrick’s exercise). I recorded a modal vamp for each major mode in the loopstation except for locrian (my locrain groove kept moving to ionian) and then used the improvising techniques against them. Modal playing is not my strong point, so I’m enjoying the Miles solo. I want to look into Tim’s playing and Wayne Krantz’s playing. I think I can find some modal ideas there.

Saturday/Sunday

Saturday: I forgot to jot down what happened yesterday. Here’s what I remember: I probably spent another 2 hours on the Phillip Johnston solo. I transcribed some pretty difficult measure (lots of fast notes) and then spent a good deal of time working how to finger them. It sounds so easy when he plays it, why can’t I do it so fast? My fingers got a little fatigued during this process and I had to let them cool down. I remember going to type an email after a practice session and my left hand was like goo. The words I was typing weren’t coming out right because my left hand was all confused. I felt like it was dizzy or something. Either way, I knew enough to give it a break. There is some neural processing that needs to happen and think typing to soon after my practicing kinda confused my brain. It was nice to have a night off. I thought I could enjoy watching SNL. I was wrong.

Today Afternoon: I’m working on some modal ideas that Tim Miller shared with me. They are modal chord ideas for vamps and improv. It’s keeping me busy. I have sit down and analyze it a little bit further. There is something I don’t understand about modal playing and there is something I’m close to discovering about modal playing. Hopefully the later will help out the former.

Evening: I was a little stuck with my modal playing so I decided to go to a source. I plugged in Miles’ "So What" and worked on learning the legendary piece. I knew pretty much everything in D minor, but when it went to Eb minor I wasn’t so sure, so I spent the most of mine time just looking into those parts. The D minor area is pretty much the arpeggio, but the Eb minor areas use more line playing and substitute changes plays: some things I was talking to Tim Miller. I spent some time working on two big phrases, trying to get the fingerings down. The first one miles uses a major triad based of the bVII (Db) of the chord going to a major triad based of bIII of the chord (Gb). The second big phrase was more linear and it moved to the D minor section of the tune. It was really neat to look at and refreshing to play. I think just spending some time working on the feel of Miles as well as Trane and Cannonball gave me some ideas for some modal playing. After this investigation I went back to the loopstation and working out some of these ideas. I put down a D dorian groove based off some of the harmonic ideas Tim shared with me (it was much different than "so what"). I began improvising using Tim’s ideas and the phrasing and melodicism from the Kind of Blue record. It was a neat experiment. The thing that I’ve been noticing recently is how easy it is for me to play a note. It seems like when saxophone players play a note that have to be constantly listening to their horn to hear if they are in tune and as a result I think they can feel the variable tension of the notes they are playing based of the chord changes. I think they really can feel when they play something in and they play something out. It’s a little harder for me to feel such things because (I think) I don’t have to breathe when I play and I don’t have to worry about my intonation as I play. The thing that I was keying in on today was the idea of superimposing this feel in my playing… really listening to the tension I was melodically creating. This is really important to me. I feel a little empty in jazz melodic ideas. My melodies sound so angular and arpeggio based.
Everything else was basically refining this idea. I’m getting new ideas for the loopstation and my effect pedals. I’ll try to get a recording of what I’m working on up this week or so.

Phillip Johnston is so cool. I spent the majority of my time today working in "Hemline." I transcribed 16 bars of his solo on the tune (about 1/3 of his entire solo). It’s a neat tune, a fun solo and a piece that I’ve liked for a long time. I was delightful to transcribe his solo and see what he was doing. I’ve been singing his melodies for years now, it’s nice to bring them to my instrument. It’s also a neat contrast to ATTYA. It’s a modal vamp that he’s improvising over and it’s a relatively unfamiliar scale: Lydian b7 in Eb. I spent time playing his solo, and improvising over it. After a while I went to the loopstation and plugged in the bass line and improvised over it for a while. It was neat, again mostly because it’s a modal tune and there’s so much more I can do with phrasing. Rhythmicly I was freed up as well, and after a while I picked up on a couple of his signature licks. After that I moved to playing over ATTYA changes and was intrigued by the results. I was playing faster and using some of the modal ideas from Johnston over the changes. Because of this work I’m also noticing the phrasing and rhythmic nuances of Paul Desmond. It’s pretty neat. Later in the evening I worked on some of the harder licks, playing them slow and giving my hands a chance to get a feel for them. I put on the newshour and gave my fingers a bit of work out and a little bit pattern training. I already noticed a difference from yesterday, I’m interested to see how my agility is tomorrow.

Flood on the Ant Farm

My pickup came in the mail today! The SD Jazz pickup that came from Lorenzo was defective and now I have a new one. I’m going to take it in to Ben tomorrow and have him put it in. I’m really excited. I feel like I’ve been playing half a guitar the past month.
I took a little break from my Paul Desmond studies and moved over to soprano saxophonist Phillip Johnston. I worked on his arrangement of Hemline, a Steve Lacy tune. It was fun to transcribe because it’s such a simple foundation that just gets expounded by Johnston’s arrangement. The whole is a development based on Eb Lydian b7 line that gets used in the bass, melody and harmony throughout the tune (forwards and backwards). Because of the intricacy it was real delight to transcribe. It reminds me of doing the crosswords and getting excited by the writer’s cleverness. I improvised over the solo section and grabbed a couple of Johnston’s licks, but I’ll have to take a more serious look tomorrow. The saxophone is such an interesting instrument. There are some licks that I really want to investigate, and then there are others that are not so exciting. He has this one run that he does that it a chromatic line, but it sounds so cool. I wonder if I could sound that cool playing on guitar…..

Lactic Acid in my Brain

More of the same today. It’s kinda like a good workout day. The next day isn’t usually as good. I think I’m still trying to process what I was doing yesterday. I came up with a funner way to improvise over changes using the loopstation. It reminds me of the duets when Tim Miller and I sit down and play. The chords are sparse and the rhythm is dynamic. It gives me more to play off when I’m improvising. I’m listening and responding to the backing track rather than just trying to hear where I am. That’s kind of a profound realization. No wonder I was getting frustrated with my exercises.
I want to make sure I’m spending some time tomorrow listening to players. I’ve been a little to experiential lately.

Back to Boston

I was away for a long weekend celebrating my sister’s graduation. My music itch was scratched when I picked up a small music notebook/journal. In my spare moments I would write out a solo over the All The Things You Are changes. It wasn’t the greatest of solos and it was really only one chord at a time (I wasn’t looking at the whole tune as the big picture), but it was a great exercise. It was like really slow improvising. When I got home today I played through a couple of the lines I wrote and was intrigued by my choices. Some of my musical choices were very different than what I would play on the guitar. Some were bad, and some lead me to a cooler ideas. Now that I think about it, I only got through 3 measures: Fm7, Bbm7, & Eb7. After playing the lines in different octaves and different positions I took the loopstation out and recorded a very slow vamp for Fm7 to Bbm7. I had a slow temp and 8 beats per chord to try out some different things. My idea was, if when I’m writing solos I’m more thoughtful and concious about my musical choices, what would happen if I slowed down the tempo and used the same ideas. They are coming from the same brain. It didn’t work out as eloquently as I expected, but it did lead me to another exercise, which is really where I should have started and what I was doing last week: developing a profound and intamate relationship with the chord changes. I worked on position playing, alternating between playing the changes and playing over the changes (chord vs. scale) and then moved on to playing over the first 8 bars of All The Things You Are. It may not sound like much, but this kept me very busy for a long time. I feel good about it. I recognize the work-out aspects of it and I’m looking forward to working on this again tomorrow.
In other news: I’ve added two loops from the past couple months on my projects page of my website: www.BrendanBurns.com/et.htm

Situation Normal

Same stuff as yesterday. I’m working hard on hitting the changes in weirder areas of the guitar and without using some of my more familiar shapes. I’m playing with differenent tempos and I’m loving the challenge of the faster tempo tunes. I feel they are so fast that they really working my ear out. It’s a fun and difficult exercise. Not much progress today. I’ll probably see some improvement next week. I’m getting excited about my increased speed. I’ve always been in awe of faster players: John McGlaughlin, Pat Metheny, Pat Martino. It’s fun to be able to play faster than I’m used too.

Shredder!

When I sat down with Tim Miller on Sunday we talked about some of the problems I’m having with hearing the changes. Our conclusion was that I’m not hearing the changes enough. I don’t know the changes intimately. I keep getting lost for a second or two as I’m playing. My assignment was to improvise through All The Thing You Are alternating between soloing through the changes vs. soloing over the changes. The latter would be more scale based playing. It’s a great assignment. I was getting frustrated with my sound and how radically different it sounded to the players I listen to. This approach is very exciting in that it gets my playing sounding good and close to what I’d like it sound. It’s a fun task and a big challenge to know the changes as well as I need to. Today I spent most of my time playing along with different ensembles playing ATTYA: Paul Desmond & Gerri Mulligan, Keith Jarrett, Bud Powell & The Allstars, Pat Metheny, Bill Evans, etc. It was a lot of fun and a great workout. Each ensemble had a different take and a different tempo. There were always new ideas to grab from. It ended up being and overwhelming and exhausting day playing guitar but I feel good. I haven’t sounded this good in a while and my speed is back. I had been a slow player for a while now. Listening and working on the tunes I have, I’ve built up my speed.

Back on Track

The past couple of days I’ve been working on pretty much the same thing: changes. I’ve been sticking with All The Things You Are and just trying to understand the changes a little more intimately. I’m working on playing the arpeggios for the whole tune on each of the six strings, I’m playing in position in different areas of the guitar, and just generally trying to clean up any aspects of the changes that I’m not totally confident. It’s a tough and thorough exercise. In this stage I’m experiencing a lot of frustration. A lot of what I play is either very technical, not very musical or just sucks. I do recognize this as a good thing. I remember what it was like sucking when I was playing rock tunes and learning the blues. Speaking of which, I’ve also been counter-balancing this practice with improvising over very familiar and simple changes. I have better ears for pop/rock/blues music. It’s exciting to think that I’ll be able to have that freedom in a denser harmonic setting. And this brings me back to my old ear exercises. I’m trying to get back on board with the journal thing and build some momentum for myself. I’m going to try to keep more regular journal entries. I stopped by Teroria tonight for an ear test. I only had enough time for 25 ascending melodic intervals: 71% I was close on the ones I missed and very clear with the ones I got right. It’s nice to see some progress (It’s been two months since I’ve done the ET tests).

Revenge of the Journal

Update: Since the Klein has come in I have been involved in a little more drama in my life than I’m comfortable with. In short, the Klein is an amazing guitar, and I love playing it, but it’s got a couple problems with it. Lorenzo’s professionalism will make the difference in the next couple weeks. Mostly because of my frustration with this process, I’ve been hesitant to keep an online journal. Here’s what I’ve been doing the past two weeks:
April 16th – 27th: Charlie Christian (Solo Flight) and Paul Desmond with Gerri Mulligan on All The Things You are (first chorus only). Those are my big transcribing and examination tunes. It seems like they could keep me busy for quite a while. It some sense they are both pretty simple, but in another I’m totally amazed with their musicianship. They both tend to solo through the changes with the occasional approach note. Desmond’s prize is his phrasing. He has such a laid back sense to the changes and where they fall. I don’t totally understand how he can do it. And that brings me to my biggest frustration. I’m having difficulty merging comping through changes and soloing through changes. When I’m comping, I hardly ever get lost through a tune. I’m always there and have a voicing to go to. When I’m soloing it’s like I forgot what tune I’m playing. I think I should be able to using my comping brain as I’m improvising melodically, but right now it’s not there. I’ve been working on soloing using shapes and Mick Goodrick’s Unitar exercises. I think (hopefully) the more I focus on fixing the problem, the more it will alleviate itself.

Today: I started out with reviewing my Desmond & Christian solos. Charlie’s solo is easier to play and easier to grab info from. I worked on Desmond’s more because I still can’t play it up to speed and I want to dig a little deeper into why he’s playing some of these phrases. The more I look at it, the more it reminds me of the way Bill Evans plays. The both group the chord progression into little blocks of info. I’ve still got to work on that. I had a lot of fun with the Loop Station. I’ve got a nice bass sound when I play with the tone knob on the Klein and I laid down a quick bass line to ATTYA to improvise and comp over. I’m getting used to using the Line 6 without a click track and should have some recordings up later this month.