Well, today is a sad day in my studies, but I stand by it for the reasons I have are good. There isn't much in this world that will come between me and music, but my children are 3 of those handful of possible interferences. I don't know if I have mentioned it much on here, but both of my daughters have Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis and, although they are responding well to their treatments, those treatments are coming at a cost. That cost coupled with the cost of my time with Sal have had a not
As mentioned last week, Sal has another engagement so this is another week without a get together. The previous cancellations were on me due to work.
So, what I have been doing is, in the key of F major, playing solely in chord tones for Fmaj7 all the way up the neck. Those notes are sung "Do-Mi-So-Ti" for intervals 1, 3, 5 and 7. The notes are F, A, C and E.
*F(E/1) = note of F played on the E string at the first fret
In F:
Going up
F(E/1) A(A/0) C(A/3) E(D/2) F(D/3) A(G/2) C(B/1)
I had to cancel. Work has been just been gangbusters and I have had to stay late.
Bummer is, Sal won't be there next week... so that is ANOTHER week I will miss.
It is getting frustrating to say the least. What is getting more frustrating is I feel like i have hit a plateau in the areas I want to advance in. I am still gaining in other areas but just a bit frustrating. Won't stop me by any means.
So, what I have been doing is more of the same. I am working with a vamp of I-vi-ii-V7
This week I got held at work so there was another cancellation. What I did was pretty much a continuation of last week.
I played the diatonic chords in a key. They I would go up the chord tones then own the scale over each chord. Change keys and start over making sure to call out the name of the chord that I was playing over as I played it so that I wasn't just going through a motion but internalizing the information. Then I would go back and play chords or go up chord tones and down scale t
Sorry for the late post. My wife had something to attend so I had to cancel this week but had plenty to practice on.
What I did was keep running with the I-vi-ii-V7 vamp and then started to play only root-3rd movements. Never varied. Just stayed on root-3rd. All over the neck where ever the root and third of these chords showed up.
Now, another little exercise I have been doing is playing diatonic chords. For C, it would be Cmaj7, Dmin7, Emin7, Fmaj7, G7, Amin7, Bmin7b5.
Along those
This week's lesson got moved back a day as Sal had a gig so it was Wednesday instead of Tuesday as per normal.
The week previous, we decided it was time to start learning to improv. He picked Beyond the Sea. I love the song but I would be lying if I said that song didn't make me nervous due to the rate it goes through chords (every two beats it changes). Last night, it finally occured to me the disconnect I have between the notes and their sound. I know songs as changing positions on the fin
Ok, got back into the groove of things with last night's meeting with Sal.
The week leading up to last night wasn't much better in terms of practicing. I was prepared to go in there and honestly show no movement from the last time we met. I got there way early as I have to leave early to get there on time. I will either get there an hour early or a half hour late with how Atlanta traffic is between my work and where I take the lessons.
I ended up getting there about an hour and a half e
There isn't much to tell this week. I had to cancel the lesson. Too much going on at home with a daughter with Rheumatoid Arthritis and an 8 month old baby and another daughter with orthodontist appointments and me having to get a filling replaced for me.... and Valentines Day coming up which ultimately our plans got snowed out.
So, I really didn't much playing time in since the Week 11 entry. Maybe a couple of hours and that might be generous.
Just continuing on with learning Beyond the
Having navigated the waters of Beyond the Sea (pun intended) numerous times... enough to be comfortable with the changes, I went into this week's lesson ready to go with it.
It was fun being able to jam with Sal on another song. Having him pick up a melody line on top of the backing chords and embellish some.
His challenge to me this week is expanding the backing chords into utilizing the melody in the chord changes. That is to allow the melody to dictate to me the chords I use as oppose
Not much to tell this week really.
Sal has a gig so we didn't get together this week.
I am getting more comfortable with the changes in Beyond the Sea and continuing to play Autumn Leaves.
On YouTube, for Beyond the Sea, I play along with the Robbie Williams version because it has footage from Finding Nemo on it. haha.
Tomorrow is my first day learning from Sal. I know very little will happen tomorrow as I imagine it will be more of an orientation of sorts. Him getting a feel for what it is I am looking to get out of it and figuring out how best to get to that point.
All the same, I am absolutely pumped about the experience I am about to have learning from a person I consider to be a true master of his craft.
What a rush! I will admit, it was kind of a blur. Even with all the info he was throwing my way, somehow, it was sticking. It was things I knew, but now they were starting to make sense as I was hearing these theories in play as opposed to having them as book learnt knowledge.
Although I was clearly the lesser of the two people in that little studio, I definitely felt good leaving.
I brought my Gibson J-55 to jam along with him and his Super 400. That is a well worn guitar. Very cool.
