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barrymclark

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Blog Entries posted by barrymclark

  1. barrymclark
    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 fingerboard as opposed to one note to the next... if that makes any sense. Makes improv excessively hard and maybe even impossible. Everything would be contrived.
     
    So, he said, "Start easy. Just root and third. Know them like you know the sound of your own voice." After noodling about with the root-third work over the first four chords repeated over and over again, that is where I had the epiphany about the disconnect I was having. I was still looking at it as first fret on the E string to fifth fret on the E string to open D to 3rd fret on the D string and I just translated that to 1-3-1-3 over the Fmaj and Dmin chords.
     
    So....
     
    I took the first chord, Fmaj, and just included the 7 for fun. I played and hummed in unison as I ran through the arpeggiated Fmaj7 over and over and over and over and over and over....
     
    ...then I dropped out the guitar and just hummed it. Then I sang it saying the note name at the matching pitch. I brought the guitar back in to make sure I was still at pitch then dropped it back out. Then changed the words to Do-Mi-So-Ti and just went back and forth with note names and those scale sounds as well as bringing guitar in and out. I kept it up during the shower. Checked pitch against guitar when I got out. Ate breakfast but kept it going in my head. Checked against guitar before I left. Sang it all the way in. When I get home, I will check it again. Next, I am going to beat on Dmin the same way.
  2. barrymclark
    Sorry for the delay in getting this up.
     
    Not much to report really.
     
    Still running through exactly what I did last week going though all of the arpeggios diatonic to C in the 6/2 hand position. The cool part is I am feeling those runs being committed to habit and am having to think less and less about it as I do it.
     
    Also, of the things Sal taught me, one of them was that the melody dictates the chords and not the other way around.
     
    Taking that info, I went to a song me and buddy messed around with a while back. For the most part, it was fine. There were some parts though, it would go pear shaped for a bit then go back to being fine again.
     
    The problem was my chord choice in a couple of places. Based on the melody over the chord, I remapped the chords and WOW... what a difference it made in terms of sound. It had that "We are on the same page" sound. haha. Taking my ears some time to adjust to it as they have grown accustomed to hearing the chords being a certain way and when it doesn't happen, it sounds wrong... until the vocal melody comes in.
  3. barrymclark
    Well, today I am out of work due to hurt ribs. I don't know what I did other than get older but boy does it hurt. No playing today but plenty up to this point.
     
    Last week I mentioned I was working the Cmaj scale in the 6/2 position as well as the Cmaj Pentatonic scale in the same position and was starting on the A Aeolian scale also in the Cmaj 6/2 position.
     
    In that theme, I have been playing the arpeggios for Cmaj7 Ionian, Dmin7 Dorian, Emin7 Phrygian, Fmaj7 Lydian, G7 Mixolydian, Amin7 Aeolian and Bmin7b5 Locrian in the 6/2 position. (I mention the modes so as to be clear what scale is being used that the chords are being derived from).
     
    As I play these arpeggios, I am being careful to spell the notes as I play them so it isn't merely becoming a dexterity exercise. I also make sure I am aware of the interval that I am playing. For example, I try to be aware that if I am playing the C that is at the 8th fret of the low E, that I know in the Cmaj scale, it is the root. In the D dorian scale, it is the 7. In the Fmaj Lydian, it is the 5 and so on.
     
    There is also a good ear trainer online that I have been using for the last week.
     
    Check it out!
     
    With the context that Sal has provided me, I am growing more and more confident with what I am learning. Very pleased so far.
  4. barrymclark
    Busy, busy, BUSY week!
     
    I played for sure. I did a bit of jammin on Autumn Leaves. Always a good tune. More jammin with Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley.
     
    Still working my way through the 6/4 position in the key of C major. I am up to the Fmaj7 arpeggio diatonic to C. As I complete these sets of arpeggios, I work on tying them together. I will go from Cmaj7 in the 6/2 position to the same in 6/4 and back. Dmin7 in between the two and so on. I will also go from, say, Cmaj7 in 6/4 to Dmin7 in 6/2 with four beats on each.
     
    Lots of fun.
     
    I play my Vox some, but my MicroCube gets all my play. The Vox sounds good and all... but the Roland is my favorite and it is just SO accessible. Small, no tubes... won't rattle the walls and isn't hard on my arthritic and injury beaten knees and feet. AlWAYS A PLUS! haha.
     
    A lot of other news!
     
    I turned 35 this week. Had a good birthday. Got some very comfy boots. Got a Dremel kit and ate out at a couple of restaurants. The MicroCube I mentioned before was an early present from my inlaws.
     
    My boy turns 1 in two weeks. For those that remember him being born, can you believe it has been a year?
     
    I signed up for and was quickly accepted into the college I have been wanting to attend. I am going to go for my Bachelor's of Science in Mechanical Engineering. Where I have such freedom, I will make my project music related with regards to guitar or amp parts or tools for making such parts. I can't wait!
     
    I am also gearing up for a PAF wind! This I am VERY excited about! The first weekend in June I am going to my friends luthiery school to wind my first set of PAF type pickups. These will go into my old Gretsch 6120. I have always been fascinated with what makes a guitar and/or its parts to do what they do! I will be going to his school from time to time to work on my first build. That is the plan, anyways! haha.
  5. barrymclark
    While on vacation this week, I realized that I had strayed a great deal from the intent of the blog starting with the ending of lessons with Sal. From there, I got more and more into learning songs than practicing theory (although I still do this fairly regularly). Throw that in with engineering school starting for me and I just simply don't have the time to invest in this as I want to and once had.
     
    Thanks to all that followed it!
  6. barrymclark
    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.
  7. barrymclark
    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.
     
    As exercises, he wants me to practice moving in thirds in a chord. Then moving in thirds in modes. As well, commit a major and relative minor pentatonic scale to memory.
     
    Finally, ... the ubiquitous Autumn Leaves which I am excited to learn. I am to start getting a feel for that song and we will work on that a bit next week.
     

     
    Day 1 of many under my belt!
  8. barrymclark
    This one was less of a blur, but still a blur. It all made sense, but the time I was there seemed to shoot by just wayyyyy too fast.
     
    This time, it was more focused as well.
     
    We started and ended on Autumn Leaves. To a powerchord heaving, heavy-metal expatriate, this was just mind blowing. A simple thing to you long time jazzers, but the door into a new world for me.
     
    Learned about the Jazz or Real Harmonic minor where I had only met the regular harmonic minor in passing at a bar once in Florida. Can't remember the name of the place. Anyways... it was just something.
     
    What is to be accomplished more immediately with Autumn Leaves in these lessons for me is:
     
    1: Learn the progression and melody first and foremost (of course)
     
    2: Understand how the melody and progression work together.
     
    3: Understand how a chord may seem to suggest one scale but the melody will say another.
     
    4. Forget about 1 through 3 as it is all bullshit (basically his statement), have fun and make it sound good to you. Worry about the hows and whats of it later. haha.
     
    Having just gotten back home, I am comfortable up through E rhm (real harmonic minor) so far. From there, I keep finding myself wandering off the written song instead of doing what is there. I am skipping to step 4 too fast. Possibly cause I have been playing for hours now since the beginning of my lesson.
     
    Pick up there tomorrow where I started to wander.
  9. barrymclark
    Today still had a touch of that blur that I have experienced in previous weeks, but there was notably less of it and the lesson was even more focused than it was last week.
     
    We started on Autumn Leaves where we left off last week. It was in this that he introduced me to tritone subs. "You can actually use those things?" Yep. Made a different animal of Autumn Leaves right there on the fly. Just amazing. It was this week that really drove home to the both of us just how musically illiterate I am. No worries, it just better defined the path we need to take.
     
    Besides Autumn Leaves and the quick tritone lesson, there were chromatic scales and their common usage between chord tones. Backtracking (looking way ahead so you can change the chording coming up to resolve to a certain chord) which involved more lesson in tritone subs. Quick brief on turnarounds and more Jazz Philosophy 101.
     
    Expanding on last week's statement about learning it so you can forget about it, it is even more clear today what he meant: like you don't have to think about the words and letters that make up the words that you make your sentence out of, you want to get where you don't have to pay much mind to the chords and notes you choose. You just want to get your point across.
     
    Another philosophical point: You are going to make mistakes, the trick is to spin the lemon (mistake) into lemonade (something great). For that you need sugar (knowledge) and water (experience). Without it, you still just have a lemon (mistake). Like a good politician, you, in the end, can turn something wrong into something that sounds right... even if it is wrong because you did it and got out of it with conviction.
     
    This week I am to practice the things mentioned above and start on Georgia on my Mind.
  10. barrymclark
    This one had hardly any blur to it at all. That was nice. Still a boatload more info than I can take in for a session, but still very productive. Some of it was reinforcing what I knew already but tons of new info and things I can do for study and practice.
     
    Lots of sub work. Dim7/7b9 and I/III sub'ing.
     
    We used Georgia on my Mind for working lead melody into chords and sub practicing.
     
    At the end of it, I as looking at his Super 400. He has owned it since about '78 and, from what I saw, it is a '66 made in Kalamazoo. When we got talking about used market values, I mentioned that models like his easily go for over 10k and run around 15k to 20k. He said, "I'd drop it in a heartbeat if someone offered me that kind of money for it. The guitar isn't as important as the player. There is this kid in his 20's and he plays on a $300 Ibanez and he sounds incredible." In a nutshell, the old adage that it's a poor workman who blames his tools (Thanks for the adage, Ben). Of course, I knew this to be true already that a top quality guitar in the hands of a novice will always sound rudimentary and cheap, beat up, old jazz box in the hands of a master will make it sing.
     
    Sorry for the late entry. I came home to a baby with a fever last night so the wife and I were taken up with caring for him. He is fine now. Just needed a day.
     
    So, off to a week of practice.
  11. barrymclark
    Alrighty.
     
    Week 5 was great, but I will get to that. I figure I should put more in detail what I am doing with what Sal teaches me for those interested so..... here goes.
     
    Since my week 4 meeting with Sal, I have been using Autumn Leaves as my playground a bit as I am more familiar with it and using Georgia on my mind as more theoretical study. Which is proving just as helpful.
     
    On Autumn Leaves, I have experiemented a bit on that one like I mentioned. I would play it straight the way I have it in front of me. I do that most of the time. Just getting more familiar. Then, I went through and changed all the V7 chords with the bII7 chords. Didn't always sound great, but I just didn't do it again if it didn't work against the melody for me. I also substituted the 7b9 chords with it's dim7 and other 7b9 cousins (Still workin on this one). I also dropped the chords out and just played the 3rds of each chord in various places about the neck. I am now adding the 5th's of each chord into the equation. For example, after the walk up from Emin, I play C and E over where Amin is then F# and A over D7 and so on. I listen to how each note, where ever it is I play it, works in the song as I go. If I like something but it doesn't seem to resolve to the next chord the way I want, then I just keep it in my back pocket until another opportunity comes along where it might fit better in my ears. Also doing this with the chord substitution previously. Starts pretty randomly, but a method begins to come of the chaos.
     
    On Georgia on my Mind, I merely went through the sheet music and wrote in pencil above the chord names the subs. I also went through the vocal melody and put down what interval the note was of the chord it was being sung over. Pretty much all I did with that song. Just a study in spelling the chords.
     
    Sal commented on my standards book. He really digs it. For those interested, it is called Jazz Standards and is by Budget Books.
     
    Here is the book on Amazon.
     
    Great price.
     
    This week, we jammed a bit on Autumn Leaves. That was definitely cool. I am getting less nervous playing in front of him. That is a progress in its own right as far as I am concerned. We also played around with chord tones and how they make up the vast majority of popular melodies. All of Me and the Cradle Song and all that. Very interesting. Explored chord tones over Autumn Leaves: took the root, 3rd and 5th of the chords and played in various orders.
     
    Was a lot of fun.
     
    There won't be a Week 6. He has a gig. So... I have two weeks to work on what we have done up to this point.
  12. barrymclark
    As posted last week, Sal and I weren't getting together this week. Still thought I would post anyways as I am still working on it regardless. This time without a get together with Sal has proven helpful too. I am able to really play around with what I have learned and beat it into my head a bit more as opposed to learning it just a little before I get a mess more crammed in there.
     
    So, it is more of the same. Autumn Leaves played all kinds of ways. Doing some minor improv stuff. Very, very minor. Nothing to get excited about. I would, say, play Autumn Leaves with every other chord rushed a half beat. For instance, I would play the Amin on time, but play D7 a half beat early. Gmaj on time then Cmaj early and so on. Gives it a neat groove.
     
    From there, I would tool around with the 'vocal melody' part. Making it have as many notes as syllables at first. Then adding a flavorful extra note here and there. Nothing crazy.
     
    Again, I would, outside of the 'vocal melody' part, play single note stuff. Playing just the 3's. Playing just the 5's. Playing just 5's over the Amin and D7 then just 3's over the Gmaj and Cmaj. Do that in a few octaves. Then I would find ways to 'dress up' the boring single notes. A quick and easy way I found to add class to a note all by its lonesome is a simple slide up from a half step down nice and quick like. For the sake of argument, over the Amin, the third is a C. Slide up to the C from B. Don't linger on B or it just sounds like you screwed up.
     
    Other than that, I finished learning the basics of Autumn Leaves. I have found some fun in going on YouTube and playing along with other people's versions of it. This morning, it was Nat King Cole's turn!
     
    I have been discussing with a friend over the past few weeks of the rather Zen nature of learning jazz. He sent me this quote from Bill Evans' liner notes in Kind of Blue:
     
    "There is a Japanese visual art in which the artist is forced to be spontaneous. He must paint on a thin stretched parchment with a special brush and black water paint in such a way that an unnatural or interrupted stroke will destroy the line or break through the parchment. Erasures or changes are impossible. These artists must practice a particular discipline, that of allowing the idea to express itself in communication with their hands in such a direct way that deliberation cannot interfere.
     
    The resulting pictures lack the complex composition and textures of ordinary painting, but it is said that those who see will find something captured that escapes explanation.
     
    This conviction that direct deed is the most meaningful of reflections, I believe, has prompted the evolution of the extremely severe and unique disciplines of the jazz or improvising musician.
     
    Group improvisation is a further challenge. Aside from the weighty technical problem of collective coherent thinking, there is the very human, even social need for sympathy from all members to bend for the common result. This most difficult problem, I think, is beautifully met and solved on this recording.
     
    As the painter needs his framework of parchment, the improvising musical group needs its framework in time. Miles Davis presents here frameworks which are exquisite in their simplicity and yet contain all that is necessary to stimulate performance with sure reference to the primary conception.
     
    Miles conceived these settings only hours before the recording dates and arrived with sketches which indicated to the group what was to be played. Therefore, you will hear something close to pure spontaneity in these performances. The group had never played these pieces prior to the recordings and I think without exception the first complete performance of each was a take."
     
    Thanks again, Ben!
  13. barrymclark
    Sort of a bummer of a week on a couple of fronts. Mainly because the boy - 6 month old son- got an eye infection which babies are prone to get but also, and leastly, I had to cancel my meeting with Sal to tend to his needs. Don't regret it, just a bummer.
     
    Anyways, the upside on both counts is that the boy is better and the week off from Sal I have seen as HUGELY beneficial.
     
    How? Well, it gave me a couple of weeks to practice what I have picked up and not having more piled on every week. Also, I found an awesome tool for jamming with Autumn Leaves on line. There is a Jam Track on YouTube and you can find it
    . Very cool stuff. 
    Jamming along with this I can hear better what Sal is talking about. I started with just the chord changes. Then start doing the chord subs. Then, I practiced running chord tones instead of chords. Then a mix of the two.
  14. barrymclark
    Alright, I am back meeting with Sal after a couple if missed weeks.
     
    We jumped right in with learning All of Me and then later in the lesson picking up on Beyond the Sea. These were songs of my request as they are in constant play in the ol' iPod.
     
    I got a bit of a jump on the lesson as I get there early. He gave me the sheet music for All of Me and let me use a teaching room not in use to get familiar while I wait.
     
    This song is another great example of how chord tones can make the lion share of the melody.
     
    Song starts in Cmaj. From there, the melody is pretty simple. It is, in Cmaj, descending root ©, fifth (G), third (E) for the words "All of me...". The use of the root, 3rd and 5th for the melody keeps up through the A section as the chords change. There are notes outside of the chord tones to be sure as well as some passing tones, but this pattern will get you most of the way there.
     
    Beyond the Sea is more of a homework assignment than All of Me as we just went over it quickly. I will have more on this song next week I am sure.
  15. barrymclark
    I started this week figuring I would have to cancel the next two lessons because money is just too tight right now. I called Sal up on Monday to let him know and he insisted I come anyway. "Don't worry about the bread," he said. "It's more important to me that we keep this going."
     
    That meant more to me than anything I could put on here. That definitely signaled to me that I wasn't just a half-hourly pay.
     
    That coolness aside, we immediately dug into Beyond the Sea. That song really moves through the chords! The changes to me are a bit awkward but I am getting it slowly but surely.
     
    I think what makes this one so much fun to learn is my familiarity with it. That presents its own obstacle for me since I tend to do what I want to hear as opposed to what I should be doing for the sake of learning. I have to pay attention to when I wander off and reign it in.
     
    It still amazes me how fast he can make changes to a song. In utter awe of it. He often leaves me in the dust but quickly notices I am not with him anymore and comes back for me.
     
    He won't be there next week so I will spend the next two weeks on All of Me, Beyond the Sea and Autumn Leaves.
  16. barrymclark
    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.
     

  17. barrymclark
    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 opposed to the chords dictating the melody. So, my quest this week is to take the F-Dm-Gm-C7 vamp and go about choosing the F chord but the 'right' F chord in my ears so as to support the melody. Do more active counting as opposed to feeling the beat by tapping my toes. Play the single line notes and fit chords in over dead space between the melody notes and, where fitting in chords over 'dead space' pick some sub chords to push the song along.
     
    As short as this post is, the above is easily a heavy workload for me over the next week. Let's just see how it goes for me.
     
    I think the next song I want to tackle is Ev'rything I've Got. I love that song. Just dark, humorous and all over a nice bouncy, happy sounding song.
  18. barrymclark
    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 Sea.
  19. barrymclark
    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 early this time. So, I spent that time in the truck playing and trying to get something to show.
     
    Funny enough, all we did was just jam on the changes of Beyond the Sea with him playing the melody, then me on the melody, then me singing over it. It was VERY relaxed. In the end, he said he saw a marked improvement in my conviction of playing since the last time we played. That was a welcome but unexpected compliment.
     
    Anyways, I am going to start moving Beyond the Sea into different keys and I will be picking out the melody for Everything I've Got as sung by Ella Fitzgerald with Chick Corea (on the Verve Jazz Masters Volume 20). It is a new one for Sal it would seem as well. So, this could be fun for the both of us!
     
    For those who have never heard it, Everything I've Got is a delightfully dark song. I encourage a listen especially if it is the version I mentioned previously.
  20. barrymclark
    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 same lines, I would play the chord tones ascending in pitch and then descending in pitch down the scale until I hit the root of the next scale diatonically then go up that one.
     
    That would be, in C:
     
    C, E, G, B, A, G, F, E
     
    D, F, A, C, B, A, G, F
     
     
    and so on.
  21. barrymclark
    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 tones for a progression such as I-vi-ii-V7. Change keys and go again.
     
    Although there isn't much to type, this is a lot of playing... especially working full time and with a baby at home.
  22. barrymclark
    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 and playing around with intervals with particular attention payed to the chord tones.
     
    What I am also doing is, without a guitar, really introducing myself to the intervals through voice. For example, for the I chord, the scale is Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do and the chord tones are Do Mi So Ti So Mi Do. The ii chord: Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do Re and chord tones are Re Fa La Do. ...and so on.
     
    Then over the chords being played singing those intervals. First starting very simply. Contrived and boring. BUT... it is a step. From there, I am going to throw little changes into the 'walk' of the chord tones. First contrived and then try to 'feel' it a bit more.
     
    On thing I have noticed is I am MUCH quicker at noticing when something is out of scale even without being played against a progression. So... that is positive!
  23. barrymclark
    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) E(highE/0) F(highE/1)
    Going down
    A(highE/5) F(B/6) E(B/5) C(G/5) A(G/2) F(D/3) E(D/2) C(A/3) A(E/5)
    ...and up again
    C(E/8) E(A/7) F(A/8) A(D/7) C(D/10) E(G/9) F(G/10) A(B/10) C(highE/8)
    ...and down again (This one can be a bit trying on a dreadnaught)
    E(highE/12) C(B/13) A(G/14) F(D/15) E(D/14) C(A/15) A(A/12) F(F/13) E(E/12)
     
    If you have an electric and have easy access to your 21st, 22nd or 24th frets (...and even beyond for those few) then just repeat the above but starting F at E/13 instead of F at E/1.
     
    From there, I try improvising a melody out of these notes and these notes ONLY.
     
    Next, I tackle Gmin7.
  24. barrymclark
    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 noticeable impact on my household finances. So much so that we are watching our bank accounts with more fear than we ought to at then end of every pay period. We have savings, but we are trying to avoid using them. To that end, I had to cancel my lessons with Sal. Although he gave me a great rate, that is just $85 per month I need in my pocket.
     
    To that end, I am not stopping. I have the lessons I have received up until this point and I have my books that I can work with by Jody Fisher. Nothing will replace having Sal there guiding me into Jazz, but I will make the most of what I have to work with.
     
    When money loosens up for me, I plan on returning. I only hope he is still teaching then.
     
    What I have been doing this past week is just running scales and chord tones.
     
    In the 6/1 position (Root on the sixth string at the index finger), I ran C maj. I then ran the same scale but in the 5/1 position (Root on the fifth string at the index finger).
     
    In the same scale, I ran the pentatonic scale in the 6/1, 6/2 and 6/4. Pretty much did this daily until I couldn't keep my eyes open any more.
     
    Just as a drill, I took the C major scale in the 6/1 position and did the following ascending in pitch:
     
    C D E F D E F G E F G A and take that pattern and extend it on up the scale.
  25. barrymclark
    This past week has really been something! It is amazing what even a little time with a teacher can do! Before I was merely understanding what my theory and practice books were saying. Now, they have context! THAT IS HUGE! Since I discovered this, I went back to the beginning. Going through simple chords and drills.
     
    Before I mentioned that I was going through the C Major scale with the root starting on different fingers such as 6/1, 6/4 and so on. For the past week, I have been playing the C scale RELENTLESSLY from the 6/1, 6/2, 6/4, 5/1, 5/2, open and 5/4 positions (this one is a bit hard on a dreadnaught).
     
    A few days a go, I started connecting the different scale positions. Starting in the 6/4 position, I would go up the scale until I hit the highest C in that position and then went down in 6/2 until I get to the lowest C in that position and then go up the scale again but in the 6/1 position. I do this until I get sick or the wife finds something for me to do. haha.
     
    A baby step was also taken! With my growing familiarity to the C scale, I started playing the positions with my eyes closed and noticing when I hit a wrong note in the scale simply by sound. From there, I would just noodle around in the scale over Cmaj. It was improv but EXTREMELY simplistic. Baby steps. I know the basic feel I want as I go through it and do something along those lines.
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