12/15

 

Since last time

• Rehearsal 
• went over Spain many times, building tempo
• we are where we are, and it's rough at times.  But we are getting better
• Have done 1235 exercise. Not fluid, but i can do it.  
• Some shapes are much easier than others. 
• staying in same position is very difficult.
• Cycle of fifths - naming notes out loud - hard, i'm unlearning things
• Two middle string 3/7 exercise.  I grab a random ballad from iReal Pro, then try to play only the 3 and 7 on only the D and G strings.   This limits the inversions to 2.
• i have to go slow! 50bpm or whatever
• not yet doing voice leading consistently
• this works because of roots on the E and A string.  When i move to using other pairs, e.g. 3/7 on GB, it gets harder
• will keep doing it 
• have practiced getting the altered scale under my fingers
• tried jamming pentatonic over Spain chords, as described.

I have not yet started on composing a solo.

Observations

Multiple skill areas at work when playing:

• Physical 
• What is it: muscle memory, twitch, left/right synch
• Where I am: strong enough (for jazz) though i could be more economical and even.
• Visual 
• What it is: shapes on the fretboard, reading notation
• Where I am: visual is strong for fretboard.  The visual for notation is weak.
• Auditory 
• What it is: hearing intervals and pitches, rhythmic sense, melodic sense
• Where I am: strong for pitches, phrasing, and melody.  Not strong for harmony
• Mental 
• What it is: understanding harmony, thinking about voice leading, counting bars, navigating arrangements (e.g. ds al coda, etc.)
• Where i am:  ok for rock, but for jazz i am slooow

My strength areas are preventing my weak areas from developing - no surprise there.

Today

Talked about hearing harmony in recordings - when the chords don't match the changes in the chart, i have a hard time picking out.

• most of the time it's a chord substitution drawn from a vocabulary of possibilities - once you know them you can listen for one you recognize
• listen for the bass - that a clue to the root
• use a slow downer (AnyTune, Transcribe!) to pick out a part and raise the pitch one octave.  This makes the bass note much easier to hear

Transcribing as a good practice for building vocab and chops.  By "transcribe" he means - translate it to my instrument, not necessarily notate it.  For Spain, pick out 4 or 8 bars of Chick or Joe Ferrel's solo and learn it, and figure out why it works.

So - there are scale-to-chord relationships as the basis for a solo.  But also can use enclosures as an embellishment approach which can move away from diatonic harmony.

Simple: if i want to play a target note of B out of a G Lydian scale (raised 5):

1) note above is diatonic - so that's C# (raised 5 of G lydian)

2) note below is just half step - so that's Bb

3) then target note

Practice this for the 1357 of a 7 chord like F7.

This is a 3-note sequence that can be played as triplets or as 3 over 4 - practice both.

5 note version:

1) half below (Bb)

2) diatonic up (C#)

3) half up (C)

4) half below (Bb)

5) target

For this, the diatonic note (2) doesn't work if the diatonic isn't a whole step.  But it kind of doesn't matter - this is more chromatic flavor than harmonic info and the main thing is where you land.

Ballad practice: Brian likes "Polkadots and Moonbeams" (Sinatra tune) - has lots of voice-leading and inversion opportunities

Extensions and tritone subs:

Take 1357 chord; sub a 9 for the 1, and a 13 for 5.  Alter it (#/b 9 and/or #/b 13).

Bb 9/13 (natural 9 and 13) = Bb, D, F Ab, C, G - put an E under it and it becomes a tritone sub with E9 = (E), Ab, (B), D, F# - put a Bb under it and get a Bb #9b13 = Bb, D, (F), Ab, C# (#9) , F# (b13)

For Next Time

practice enclosures

practice altered scale

try two-string 3/7 over ballad with other string pairs

transcribe?

compose?