January 31, 2013

Working on getting refund for Epiphone Les Paul....working on selling some piano learning stuff....all to buy gypsy guitar stuff.
Continue to work on Conti's "Assembly Line."

GYPSY GUITAR CHANGES

Ok....some changes....will probably be ordering the gypsy guitar in a few days. But I don't think I'll be using the book shown in a previous post. Looks like I'll be getting some DVDs made by Denis Chang and use them to learn.
Practiced more from Conti's "Assembly Line."

Gypsy Jazz Method Book

This is the book I'll be working through to learn Gypsy Jazz guitar. Ordered a CD and had some songs downloaded which cover the songs in this book. I'll refer to this book as simply "the book" in future posts.

Our Gypsy Jazz Band

Gypsy Jazz Debut

Introduced the Gypsy Jazz band to the public for the first time tonight and it was just great! Me on guitar, mandolin player, violinist, drummer, and stand up bass. Played for probably a little over twenty minutes to about 60 people...member of the band received applauses after solos, received a standing ovation at the end, and they asked for an encore song! We weren't anywhere near prepared to do an encore, so we just reprises one song we did earlier.
The show was billed as an afternoon of chamber music; various instrumentalists played prior to us: flute, violin, piano, clarinet, etc., in mostly a classical music show. Then we came on and did or gypsy music. Great time. But my solos need tons of work...!

January 27, 2013

The Gypsy Jazz gig is today....looking around at Craigslist for Gypsy Guitars.

January 26, 2013

Practiced with the band today getting ready for our Gypsy Jazz debut tomorrow. Wrote out my improvisations, so they aren't quite "improvised.":)
Mailed back my Epiphone Les Paul today; will use the money to get the Gypsy Jazz guitar.
Continue to work on Conti's "Assembly Line."

Snow and Practice

Practiced leads to some songs in the repertoire we'll be playing in our gypsy jazz set. Snowed today! Here's a picture of my next guitar.

Three Decisions

Will have to let go of using Conti's Ticket to Improv material only because of limited practice time available. So here's the plan:

1) Will return my Epiphone Les Paul
2) Will purchase Gypsy Jazz Guitar
3) Will focus on Conti's Assembly Line book and the Gypsy Guitar method book.

If I was a rich man....

...I'd buy a gypsy jazz guitar. Hate trying to sell one of the electrics I have to get the cash. Anyway, practiced some more today from Conti's two products. Our Gypsy band debutes in four days.

The Gypsy Jazz Guitar I Want

January 21, 2012

No one wants to buy either of my Epiphones......want to sell one to get the Gypsy Jazz guitar.....
Started Conti's third chord group in The Assembly Line. Struggling a bit remembering especially the rhythm of the improv in Satin Doll.

January 20, 2013

Happy Birthday you know who!
Reading a little of "The Music Lesson" by Victor Wooten (spelling?) Cool book. Have to probably ride the fine line between being disciplined, being loose, family time, shutting up the internal musical critic, patience, and laziness. Don't want to be toooo patient in waiting for my musical life to take off. Solo Melodic guitar (Conti Material), solo jazz leads (Conti Material), and Gypsy Jazz (Gypsy Book). Trying to sell one of my electric guitars to fund purchase of gypsy jazz guitar. In our Gypsy Jazz band, we'll be playing about 20 minutes of music for a benefit; might even get some local press coverage.

A Lot of Guitar

Spent a lot of time today trying to burn those first two "Assembly Line" chord groups into my fingers. The more I add, the more it's easy to confuse them, so I don't want to move too fast. Also, worked on getting the first two measures of "Satin Doll" from the Conti improv book burned into my fingers.
Put the Epiphone Les Paul for sale on Craigslist in the hope of getting some cash to get a gypsy guitar.

Gypsy Jazz, Conti, the Casino, and Practice

Practiced with the band tonight for the upcoming gypsy jazz gig. My solos seem so in need...
Practiced Conti's chord melody stuff.
Put my Casino on Craigslist at a very reasonable price in the hopes of funding a gypsy jazz guitar, but then took it off realizing that I'm attached to it!
Thinking that an ideal practice routine would include:
A) Conti Chord Melody Stuff
B) Conti Improv Stuff
C) Gypsy Guitar Stuff
However, must be realistic and realize that I just don't have the time to do all three. Maybe I'll just do A and B above.

Assembly Line

Continue to work on Conti's Second Chord Group. Persistence paying off.

Fake Book Dream

One thing I've been struggling with for a long time is my desire to play songs "on the fly" from a fake book on the piano. Just open up a fake book and play the tune.

Now it might be time to adjust that. Looks like with Conti's materials I will be able to accomplish that goal, but on the guitar!!

Now an attitude adjustment is in order; this is no 'easy as pie' stuff. So I need to be prepared for inevitable setbacks as I memorize chords. So patience, again, is in order.

But I am much more at home playing the guitar.

Interesting how things turn out: How I can achieve my goal by changing focus to a different instrument on which I
am more comfortable...funny I didn't think of this sooner...but then again I didn't have Conti's stuff available then, and I was engrossed by the Sudnow piano sounds.

Assembly Line

Started second chord group in Conti's Assembly Line....

January 15, 2013

Just a little practice today of Conti's first chord group. May have a buyer of my Casino to get a gypsy guitar.

Chord Group 1

Working hard on getting Chord Group 1 down in The Assembly Line book.

Gypsy Jazz!

Practiced with the band tonite, and here's a sample of how we're sounding. We have two guitars, stand up bass, drums, and violin. Here, we're doing two tunes: "La Vie en rose," and "Dark Eyes." A LOT of fun!

May have to copy and paste on your server to hear these (NOTE: There is a bit of silence before each song starts):

"La Vie en rose" :

https://www.box.com/shared/q59bkr9azu5zupedny13

"Dark Eyes":

https://www.box.com/shared/nl1mkpmzskatenq7j0k3

Minor Pentatonic

For the first time I think I know, at least in a cursory way, the minor Pentatonic scale up and down the guitar neck and how it can be used. Cool.

Major Change in the Works?

Played bass in a Rock and Roll gig this past weekend for my best friend's 50th birthday. Great time.

Major, major musical change may be in the works. To probably return my Epiphone Les Paul to purchase, and get into deeply.....are you ready.....Gypsy Jazz Guitar.

New Years Music Ideas ~ 2013

Happy New Year!

Some brainstorming of ideas about musical goals for this year in order of importance:

I. GUITAR - Each day's of guitar practice can utilize the following components:

1) Conti's Ticket to Improv
2) Conti's Assembly Line
3) Learning jazz chords as shown in the Baker book
4) Learn pentatonic scale all over the neck for Blues playing

II. PIANO

1) Using the combination Sudnow/Moody Methods.

III. SONGWRITING

1) Trying to sell songs.

IV. JAZZ BAND