dliiacg

I had two nice gigs this weekend. I had great time playing, and it was good to feel my arm getting better.
From my perspective, I was a little dissapointed with the lack of chromaticism in my playing, especially on how the weekend before it was effortless pouring out of me. That raised a question: Why am I no longer using approach notes?
I sat down this evening to figure it out. I worked exclusively on the Joe Pass Blues Etude I've been working on these past weeks. I had a lot of fun with the loopstation, and switched between looping a chord progression and a walking bass line.
I played the etude several times, altering the rhythm and improvising of the reharmed chord changes. My big breakthrough of the evening came when I took my eyes off the paper and just thought about the changes going by. For some reason, not reading made it easier. It was almost as if reading the changes was taking up too much brain energy to really improvise and interpret the music. When I closed my eyes, or looked away from the paper, I found that I could influence my playing a lot more.
I did a lot of experimenting and found some good uses of the altered 5 and approach tones to the downbeat of a new chord. When things were going well it was exciting. When things were going bad, it was just because I was distracted or couldn't concentrate.
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chxbgu

I should have known this before I started, but having a good practice day yesterday means that probabaly today's practice session won't be as good. If I only could have figured that out sooner....
All of a sudden everything became hard again today. What's a chord? What's an arpeggio? What's an alterted scale?
A couple of deep breaths and slowing the metronome down helped, but the real issue is accepting how long this will all take. I keep thinking I'm a patient man and then I'm proved wrong by my own actions.
Today I started by continuing on in my Joe Pass book. The only thing I did wrong (in retrospect) was move too fast. I worked really hard to get where I was yesterday. I expected that today would be easy for some reason.
In his book, I'm looking at some rhythm changes lines and some blues lines. They are delightful little lines and worth studying more than I can right now.
I'm bouncing back and forth between reading his etudes and exploring his ideas throughout the fretboard.
I'm trying to get these licks under my fingers so I can use them in my own solos. For some reason today, it's easier said than done.
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Recognizing my frustration is helpful. I took walk outside and got my legs moving.
One of the interesting things about my lifestyle is that I sit down a lot. My spine gets compressed and I don't use my legs very much. Lately for breaks, I've just been standing up and moving around a bit. It gives me a little more pep and focus for the next time I sit down with the guitar again.
After my break, I tackled the Joe Pass book again. This time I took a step back and put my focus on the blues. "Let's learn the dominants before we get to the ii-v's."
It was a good workout. Again, I was bouncing between reading and improvising. I have a photocopy of the page that I'm working on, and I think I'm going to add to my book. It's a great framework for any blues tune.
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I finished this evening with a recap of the Joe Pass Blues Etudes. They are beginning to remind me of the Guliani Exercises. With the Guiliani Exercises, the right hand is trained through a series of 120 examples using only the chords C & G. The exercises trained the hand in a very thourough and focused way, so that when it came time to play a real tune, the r.h. was ready to launch onto the strings and tear the tune apart.
I feel something similar is happening to me by learning this exercises (these and other things over the past year & half). I'm becoming more comforatable with the sound. I'm hearing more bebop approaches in my playing. The b9, b5 & #5 are all comforatable sounds to me, where before I was a little confused on what to do with them. I think these exercises are training my ears and fingers on a more subtler level than I imagined.

jistmufv

This is a very interesting time of year for me. With gigs just about every weekend, I end up working on ideas or studies during the week and then exploring them in context on the weekend. It's getting to the point where I'm getting excited to perform, because I'll get to try out a new techniqure or theory and see how it flies. It also helps my practice because if the weekend is coming up and I haven't learned anything new, then I better get moving.
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I went down to the Berklee Bookstore this AM to pick up some books on Jazz etudes. I got the Joe Pass book Tim recommended and I got Fred Lipsius' Jazz Rhythms. Lipsius' book looks at different jazz rhythms and explores them over standards using guide tones, and full out jazz lines. It looks like a great book; a good mix of learning and doing. Pass' book, is just a classic. I have a couple of Joe's books lying around here somewhere, but Tim suggested this one to me for etudes in the back.
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There sure is nothing like being injured to appreciate the time when you 'can' play.
I'm learning a lot about my injury, and am becoming very sensitive about how I can change my posture and positioning while playing & sitting at the computer. Today was a good example where I had some pain, but alleviated it by alterning my sitting position and getting up and stretching throughout my practice time.
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With the weather & hummidty on the rise here in Boston, I'm gravitating to later practice times in the evening, when things have cooled down a bit. This has me with headphones, which I particularly like.
Today I put a lot of my effort into my new Joe Pass book. I spent some time reading it and then just playing it. He's a very interesting man and has some great approaches to the guitar. I worked on a couple of his reharm ideas for improvisation. I got two good licks out of it for the day. One over a minor or minor b5 chord, and one over a Dom7 or ALT chord.
I played through a lot of lines and feel better for it. I was singing my way through everything and would take breaks to improvise over the chords that I was playing. I"m gaining some control over this style of music that I didn't have before.
My ears are getting better as well. I would still like to have a little more structure to my ET, but things are coming along.

lhcgzbmb

In health related news, I went to the Doctor today and got a referal to see a Nuerologist about my arm. My MD thought it could be irritation of my Ulna Nerve, some inflatmation in the Carpal Tunnel region, or something back in my shoulder. It could also possibly be all three. Either way, he suggested I see a Neurologist to figure out where the problem is and how to get it fixed. After that, I can take that info and bring it to a physical therapist and then take it from there.
My MD's observations and comments were helpful. He explained where the Ulna nerve was and how and irritation near the elbow can affect the ring and pinky finger. I'm going to try to be a more delicate and mindfull of this area when I'm at the computer or guitar. It brings up a senerio where I could also be damaging myself while I'm playing the instrument. Because I sit down so much when I play guitar, I tend to put a little bit of weight or pressure on my right forearm while I"m playing. This is something that should probably be changed.
We'll see how it goes.
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My afternoon practice session was mindfull of my right arm position. I tried to use good posture and not to much pressure on my arm.
I started with my Joe Pass etudes; the blues one. I've got about all the licks down into a chord shape by now and I can play it at fairly fast clip. I'm using some of the reharms to spice up my own Jazz-Blues improvs. It's helpful, but I think I need a little while and a few more keys before I retain it all. Right now I can either think of chromatic approaches or reharms, not both at the same time yet.
After that I moved on to my random chord exercise. This is fun compliment to reading music and thinking hard on improv. I try to be extra creative with it, and use wierd looped click tracks to keep time.
I bounced back n' forth between playing it real well, and then not so well. Sometimes when I focus on my fingers, or the shapes I do okay, sometimes when I focus on the sounds, I do okay. And with both I screw up too. I'm still not sure where the connection is there for me to get these notes together. I want to continue to work on the Teoria ET drills, because I think I need a little more clarity to my playing.
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qbbxi

I spent more time on my "Without A Song" transcription this evening. Jim Hall & Sonny Rollins are so dreamy in this version. I worked on the same part that I did last night and just tried memorizing Jim's Lines. I don't really feel like writing this one out. I feel like it's going to be more work that it needs to be. It's very fast and I imagine it will be a lot of bars and eights notes. Maybe I'm lazy; maybe my priorities are in order.
So pretty much the head was what I was looking at today. Playing Jim's lines and chords. After the head, I would improvise in quarter notes (fast quarter notes) and try to hit chord tones and guide tones. It was a little tricky at that tempo.
I had a good time playing through the tune. There is an infectious joy to the tune that I"m enjoying as I play. After a while, I cap out and need to move on, but generally it's pretty fun.
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After that, I spent some time working on my Joe Pass Etudes. I've really only looked at one of these Etudes in depthly. It is a blues one. A nice blues one at that. The piece is very much under my fingers now, and I'm examing it to see how it fits into chord shapes and grips that I allready know.
I put a loop of a generic blues into the loopstation and then I start playing the lines over it. The fit nice (of course) and they're reharms are delightful. After a while of getting that under control, I started venturing off into my own territory, try to get the sound on my own. At first (a couple of days ago) it was all about the chromatic approaches to the downbeat. Now, I'm looking at the reharming of the chordprogression: playing a C dim over a F7 chord, adding a ii-7 before a V, and other simple tricks. They sound so nice when they are utilized correctly. I'll try again tomorrow. See what stuck.
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I conclude my guitar practice time with a 4 chord random progression improv. I just tried again, to use my ears, voice & whatever to make the notes come out in harmony with the chords beneath it. I'm getting better at this exercise, but I need to do it more.
When I get it right it's like holding onto an optical illusion. It's hard to mental hold onto some part of it. I'm sure that the more I do it, the stronger I get. I jsut have to remember to be inspired.
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While doing my random chord exercises, I was reminded that I haven't done my ET tests in a while. I figured I'd go back and give em a swing.
I've gotten a little better with the ET drills, but as a whole I'm still using tricks to remeber the pitches rather than hearing the pictches for themselves.
practice, practice, practice.
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Big Music Goals

One of the things that is important when having a practice journal is to have a written set of Big musical goals. I recently realized that I have not done that here. These are just rambling journal entries.
I remember, a few years ago, one of my Big music goals was to play with the most amazing musicians on the planet. For some reason that was important to me. It gave me a lot of clarity when I was practicing. I would think about sitting down with Brad Meldau for a gig and then think about what I would need in order to play with him: ears, chops, reptoire, funk, rhythm, etc.
Right now, that Big goal isn't as important to me. Here's what I'm working on now:
Big Music Goals:
To express my imgaination & ideas through my instrument.
That pretty much gets me inpirsred and off my butt to practice and learn. Inside that goal is Ear Training, Scales, Theory, Harmony, Rhythm, Funk, Poeticism, Beauty, etc.
For me, right now, this is what I'm using to pick up the guitar and push on through the day.

Without A Song

On my drive home yesterday, "Without A Song" popped up on the ipod. It was Sonny Rollins' version with Jim Hall on Guitar. Wow, was it nice. I made a quick voice memo to transcribe it later and forgot about it.
When I was tranfering my voice memos to their appropriate places, I plugged in the tune again and was in bliss.
I played a four-hour reception tonight (with one break) and after an hour's drive home, I found that I had to learn this tune and both Sonny & Jim's solos.
That's a pretty good feeling for someone who has a bum arm.
I spent about two hours transcribing lines from both guys and started working on Jim's solo section. Maybe I'll write some stuff down on this, but for right now it's easy enough to memorize.

still raining?!

The past two days I've been working on my chromtic approaches to chord tones in Blues & Jazz tunes. Also, with some pop tunes (I need to sound like the Gratefull Dead today). Chromatic approaches are so beautiful and nice and so under-utilized in my own playing.
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Regarding my injury: yesterday I stayed away from the computer a lot and did okay with my arm. Today, I stayed away competely from the puter. I had a four hour reception gig, and didn't want to mess anything up. My arm/shoulder started bothering me on the drive up, so I drove mostly with my left hand. I played for four hours with absolutely no problems. I'm really proud and happy with that. I know this injury can really mess up my playing, I'm just glad it isn't from or aggrivated by me playing guitar. I'm lucky in that way.

Brookline sticker

What else am i going 2do with a new cameraphone?

Phone test

I cleanded out my book today.

gnqpsaj

Being in such massive pain yesterday, I'm limiting my time on the computer. I'm officially scrapping my web re-design project until the fall and just trying to keep my right hand/arm healthy. It's not uncommon for musicians to get laid up with an injury for a while. I guess my time has come.
Today I've been going through my book editing and adding some tunes. I started with some Beatles tunes that I have to add for an upcomming wedding. After I had my required tunes in the book I couldn't stop playing beatles tunes. I have a good anthology book that has all of their tunes in lead sheet format, and i flipped through it page by page, just adding tunes that I liked.
I haven't really thought about it, but I've really gotten better as a Solo Guitarist & a reader. I was playing some of these tunes and wondering why they weren't in my book already. And then I remembered that there was a time where I had trouble reading leadsheets like the ones I was reading. There were some keys that were more difficult for me and there were some things that I could not do as a solo guitarist.
It's nice to have those observations. Especially when I'm feeling "not so well," to realize that I've really come a long way and that I can create some pretty nice music. I"ve just got to take better care of myself.
Luckily enough, I don't have many problems when I play. I've been very carefull in the way that I hold the guitar, and everything comes out the way I need it to. I"ve just got to stay away from clicking the mouse for a while. That's (I think) what's putting me in a bad spot.
live n learn -------------------
... now that the day is over, I'm very happy of my moderate use of computer, guitar and other things today. I really worked as an "injured" person and worked on things a little bit at a times.
the majority of my day was cleaning out my gig book. It's been something I've been meaning to do for a while and I'm happy that I've done it. I had tunes in there that I couldn't play, and didn't have tunes in there that i should play. Going through all the tunes really warmed up my fingers and put them in a good playing spot. I'm looking forward to performing this weekend.
Playing all of this Solo Guitar is getting me excited about recording again. I've got some many tunes that should be up on the website....
My big advancement in playing today was holding my guitar like a classical player, but resting the guitar on the chair between my legs. The guitar wasn't really resting on me; just very close to me. This allowed a very comforatable reach of the freboard and a balance to my sitting. I also could be a little more mobile, as I sat, and be flexible with my sitting posture.
Despite a moderate injury and lots of ibuprofin, it was a good day.
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rainy & painy

I had some major shoulder problems today. Numbness & Pain. That's no good. I spent the majority of the day waiting for it to get over with.... rest rest rest = restlessness. When my arm isn't feeling well it become noticable how important it is to what I do.
In the evening I was able to play guitar and move around a bit. I tried not to over due it and just keep close the rest mantra. We'll see how it is tomorrow.
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Devil's Log 6/6/6

I worked on some etudes Tim gave me. The are some Joe Pass Blues & Minor Blues etudes. Just running eight notes outlining harmony. They are so nice. He recommend I check out some Jimmy Rainey etudes as well. Right now, I'm just running trhough them. I put the chords in the loopstation and just read. After a couple hours of digesting I come back and there they are, under my fingers. My next step after just playing them is to analyze them from a chord shape basis to see how they relate the grips or scales that I already know. But right now, I"m just getting them under my figers and in my ear.
I've been singing along with them sometimes, but I've found that my voice gets tired quick. This could because either I need more caffiene, haven't done this in a while, or am still sore from playing baseball over the weekend. I'll start with caffinene and the move from there.
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I moved forward on putting the licks into grips. Playing them over and over had run there course. I'm looking at the lines as the relate to the harmony (or reharms) and trying to associate them with chord grips. It's pretty easy. We'll see if it sticks.
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I've got a couple licks under my fingers, but I don't think I really have it yet. The more know the less I know....
I dug out the Duke licks from last week and tried combing the two exercises. I came up with neat stuff on my own. My new favorite lick is a dimished sub arpeggio for a Dom 7 chord. It's my flashy lick right now.
My numbness is mildly back today and I'm a little bummed about it. This is a tough season for me to not to be feeling well. I'm just going to try to keep light and low stress for a while.
We'll see what the doctor says next week.
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I finished the evening with headphones on and working through some old files. I found a Tim miller transcription and a Wolfgang head. I had been working on them both a little while ago. I'm going to try to add them into my book when they're ready.
I also spent some time just "b.s.ing" over some jazz-blues using my new "licks." I brought out Blues for Alice again.
In retrospect, I think I'm appreciating my new organizational system that I have going right now. When I get bored, frustrated or maxed out on what I'm working on, I've got a whole folder of ideas to refrence.
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Captin's Log: Stardate June 2nd, 2006

I've been trying to give my arm/hand a rest this week. It really hasnt' helped much. Too make sure I didn't get to far behind with my technique I did some transcribing of some Duke Robillard licks. It's from a Hot Licks video I got from netflix. The netflix versions do not come with paperwork, so I had to transcribe it myself. He's got a couple of jazz/blues licks that I'd like to work on. The first one I lifted was a Charlie Christian type riff.
It took me a little while to get my fingers back in order, and then I was good to go.
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In the evening I went back to my Hot Licks video to see if there was anything else on it worth looking at. It's a very brief "Best Of" video and none of the artists get too far in depth. Duke's lines are the best.
To continue forward in the direction I dug out an old Joe Pass method book that I have and played through some of his lines at the end of the book. He's such a neat player. I liked playing through his blues lines. I through down a quick vamp on the loop station and just took at look at each one, one at a time. We'll see if there still there tomorrow.
I'd to incorporate more of this type of reading into my practicing. I'm doing well at the transcribing, but there is something nice about just reading music. Plus, with all of my years of experience, reading is getting easier and easier (sight reading, that is).
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