Work

Worked throughout the day on "These Foolish Things." Its hard work today. Maybe my brain just needs a breather.

Thank You!

I recently received a "comment" to one of my recent posts regarding the Sudnow Method. It was encouraging, and I want to thank that individual for his comment. Here is his comment: "I have been involved with the Sudnow Method for nearly fifteen years and have been playing piano for over fifty years. The Sudnow Method was the most important and inspiring change to my piano playing that has ever occurred. Fortunately, I was able to spend time in my home with Mr. Sudnow several years before he died. He was an outstanding individual and a true genius. He made it very clear, in a nice way, that using your time wisely, focusing on his method, and practicing slowly without error was most important. Anything else was a waste. David was a great teacher. I think you have made a wise decision to concentrate with his methods. Hopefully you have a complete listing of all his dot songs (three books) and additional instructional aids. Best of luck and have fun." Pretty cool, huh? Thanks again for the encouraging comment!

Bruce Springsteen and The WHO

Going to see Bruce Springsteen in Philly on September 2nd, and seeing the WHO in Philly December 8th in Philly. December 8th will be 22 years to the day that John Lennon was murdered, and I wonder if the WHO will make reference to that at the show. It'll be odd seeing Springsteen without the late Clarence Clemons, but the shows sound like they have been great. The WHO will be playing the Quadrophenia album, and I hear that they will also play some "greatest hits" for encores. May be working with our keyboard player in an interesting (and possibly marketable) duet: me on guitar and him on harp. Did a lot of work today on the Sudnow song. Difficult to turn off the ego, the frustration, and the negativity. Will need to practice turning off that stuff.

Follow The Rules. Follow the Rules. FOLLOW THE RULES ! !

Found myself getting lazy with Sudnow's rules by trying to weasel out of one. Thought it wasn't THAT necessary. Then I played it again, following his rules. Sounds better following the rules. Won't be breaking that rule. Also still tempted to dive into the "Stride Piano Tricks" book.

August 25, 2012 and the Sudnow Method

Rehearsed yesterday with two fellow musicians for the upcoming wedding for which we'll be providing music for the service. Looking forward to my return to the Sudnow Method, but will probably need to curb my enthusiasm by taking it s l o w for best results. Regarding my return, a friend set me a cool quote which she correctly said applied to my return to Sudnow:     We shall not cease form exploration     And the end of all our exploring     Will be to arrive where we started     And know the place for the first time.      By T.S. Eliot. Focus today: Continue to work in a PATIENT NONRUSHED WAY on "These Foolish Things." As implied, the focus is on patience. What's the hurry? As Sudnow might say, I don't look like I'm going to die anytime soon.

These Foolish Things

Started work today on "These Foolish Things" using the Sudnow Method, and it's sounding nice. Feels good to be back.

Sudnow Method

On my travels yesterday I had a chance to listen again to my Sudnow Method CDs. And yes, I'm returning to his method. Some things I'll have to address, sooner or later, though: 1)Impatience. Impatience in trying to get a song learned quickly and recorded quickly so I can move on quickly. This impatience has resulted in songs played with pauses and hesitations that were ugly. SOLUTIONS: Dont let anyone hear any recordings for at least a year. Take your time. Do not move on to another song until the present song is practically perfect. And by practically perfect, I mean going at a pace that would be practically perfect too. Take your time with memorization. If it means putting off new songs, than put off new songs till later. No Rush.Do not worry about 'where will this lead me after 15 songs.'Just do it and we'll see later where it leads.

Still Floating Around

Will probably stay in the band I'm in and go back to some utilization of Sudnow's piano ideas. Might just do a little Beatles stuff with our keyboard player, and that is what may find itself in the band. Still might go for songwriting stuff....meeting with Mick tomorrow regarding songwriting and guitar stuff. Trying to see the WHO in Philly in December.

In Flux

Have a wedding to play in two weeks.... May be leaving the band....to focus on Beatles / songs of the 60's duet ..... don't feel excited by the band anymore and we seem to be getting no place very fast ..... Songwriting is in a drought.....thinking of piano (again).....may get together with Mick on Sunday....

Practice

Practiced two out of four major scale patterns from the scale book. Can hear the critic already: "You gonna remember all these scales? No way!" Will hang in there! Worked a lot recently on assembling material for our acoustic Beatles duo.

Theory + The Duet + The Beatles

Worked on some of the Barrett book today. Also working on getting songs ready for an acoustic duo I'm in focusing on Beatles songs and songs from that time period. Got an interesting Rolling Stone magazine yesterday focusing on the 100 best guitarists. I don't understand how Lennon and Harrison were included but McCartney wasn't. I could maybe excuse them for only including Harrison, but if you include Lennon, McCartney better be there too.

Theory

Contemplating seeing The Who perform ""Quadrophenia."Still trying to learn more theory work using the "Guitar Fretboard Workbook" by Barrett Tagliarino. Currently on page 20. So much to learn: not only general music theory but also fretboard knowledge...

Theory

While on vacation, I'm learning and soaking up all I can about music theory in theory in a great little book, "Pocket Music Theory," by Keith Wyatt and Carl Schroeder. They really give an easy way of learning the different sharps and flats of each key; I guess some call it the circle of 5ths or something like that - I never understood it until I saw it presented in this book, and they don't even use the term "circle." I anticipate that things will get more and more complicated as the book goes on, but I also anticipate it will be quite helpful stuff, too. On page 24 of about 172 pages. From my experience, too many music books just leave me lost in the wilderness of confusion. This book intends to keep it practical, and that's what I need.

GarageBand

Amazed by technology.... Recorded this by plugging my guitar into the iPad (using the iRig)and using GarageBand. https://www.box.com/shared/035e04e66f7888916776