Routine Monday

Went over repertoire and some of Aebersold book. Continue to walk one hour a day and continue to eat more healthy. Placed a bid on a guitar on eBay.

Blues Brothers

Practiced repertoire; and I'm up to page 6 of the Aebersold book, getting into the Dorian Minor scale. Next song to add to repertoire will be "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)," and started digging into it tonight. I worked it up before, but I need to work on it again as I forgot it. 

Walked an hour with my son, trying to get healthier. Was the first time I walked for an hour and needed to take a break. Trying to eat better, too. Will continue to read "Kingdom Man" tonight.

Watched the Blues Brothers movie. Merry Christmas. In June.

A Good Practice

Went over repertoire and almost done with page 5 in the Aebersold book. 

Went on about an hour walk with my son in the attempt to try to get healthier.

Reading "Kingdom Man" by Tony Evans and I'm thinking the author will be challenging me to live a life more in accordance with God. 

All the Mistakes You Are

Learned some more of the major scale stuff from the Aebersold book. Went over repertoire, and had a big struggle with "All the Things You Are." Couldn't remember a part. Got out my references for it and still struggled. Struggled some more. Then realized that in learning the song, I mistakingly learned a section an octave too high. Fixed it up, and it's sounding nice.

A Good Tuesday

My son suggested that I take walks with him in order to help my health. What a guy! We took a walk for for about an hour and ten minutes.

Went over repertoire, added a new scale from the Aebersold book, and made a recording (sorry, but you may need to copy and past the link below):

http://soundcloud.com/guitarjazz/suzie-q/s-O6cav

Young Elvis

Sunday And a Change

Played repertoire. Trying to figure out the best avenue to learn improv. Did a little improv today and was dissatisfied with the results. At this point, I think I'm going to try to work through Jamie Aebersold's Volume One: How to Play Jazz and Improvise (the edition which was specialized for guitar, by Corey Christiansen). Learned some major scale stuff today.

Saturday Trek

Went on a long trip today with my wife and 2/3 of my kids to see my dad today. It was a nice trip. On the way, read a bit of Jamie Aebersold's first volume (but the one adapted for guitar). Interesting stuff.

Started a little self care. Ordered "The Starch Solution" book (regarding dietary change) as well as Dr. Tony Evans' "Kingdom Man" to try to reawaken some spirituality.

Draggin'

Did some practice of some repertoire and perhaps kind of ready to move on to the next part of the Fewell book. Dragging on; tired.

Life and Music

Good day of practice. Went through repertoire, and continue to work on the Fewell material. Not sure where I'm going but I keep doing this! 

May get a book tomorrow. Maybe yet another guitar book. May not. Been really not feeling good about my spiritual life and for some reason the book "Kingdom Man" by Tony Evans keeps calling me. I need more faith.

Really been slacking with taking care of my physical well being and my body is feeling the consequences. Diet, exercise, and self-care need to be addressed.

Tempted to go back to the piano with the Sudnow Method. Loved those sounds!

Feels good that tomorrow is Friday.

Wrist

Went through repertoire. Unfortunately, the back of my left wrist is hurting, and I think it's due to my guitar playing. Hopefully it will heal! 

Went over some stuff from the Fewell improvisation book and taking it slow. Liking it.

Difficult

Ok let's face it. Learning this improv stuff is difficult. Looking for the "magic bullet easy technique" for guitar improv isn't yet on the market, just as I found a similar product not on the market with regards to playing cocktail piano. It's going to take some time figuring things out AS WELL AS applying these things. So the impatience settles in. 

But for some reason, I just can't give up on this music stuff. I guess it's the thought of making these sounds and expressing myself with them is so appealing. But there's such a tension between wanting to do it, and being frustrated at my current limitations and realities. 

The realities are: 

1. I have limited time to practice.

2. I can't use #1 as an excuse

Monday Monday Monday

Organized some stuff from the Fewell book; went over repertoire. 

Father's Day / 2014

Happy Fathers' Day to all the dads who might be reading this.

An interesting day of practice, again. Went over repertoire, and get into the Garrison Fewell book again: "Jazz Improvisation for Guitar: A Melodic Approach." Putting the pieces together with the book, and finding out that I may be learning more than I am giving myself credit. Need to take more notes from the book as I'm reading. From here-on-in I'll refer to this book as "the Fewell book" in this blog.

Saturday Pre-Fathers Day

No time to practice yesterday. Went with my son to see the band Andrew Jackson Jihad and it was interesting!

Today went over repertoire, added a new measure to the Satin Doll solo, and started learning a new Charlie Christian shape.

Epiphone

Trying to sell my Joe Pass Emperor, but I might miss it. Not in a rush to sell it. Tried out some Epiphone Dots and I liked them. It'd be nice to have a Dot and keep the Emperor.

Played repertoire, went over a Charlie Christian guitar shape, and went over the Satin Doll stuff I know.

Zoey

Wait and See

Played repertoire. Tried to go over what I learned of the Satin Doll improv., and realized I forgot stuff. Then out of no where, it came back!

Worked on a Charlie Christian shape; using the book, I tried consolidating the patterns into a smaller amount. 

Interesting, not sure if I would actually call these Charlie Christian guitar shapes "arpeggios," but I guess that's technically what they are. 

Waiting to see where I'll go using the Charlie Christian book with the Conti "Ticket to Improv." stuff.

Robert Conti meets Joe Doctermann meets Charlie Christian meets Me

An interesting day. Went over repertoire. Continue to add more to the Satin Doll Conti improv. But here it gets a little interesting:

I like Conti's ideas of how a person learns to play guitar. I decided to use Conti's approach (which apparently had a connection to Wes Montgomery) and merge it with the Dochtermann book. I like the Doctermann stuff and I think if I utilize it with Conti's approach to learning, it will be a good thing. 

I don't think there's any way around memorizing. So I'll work on memorizing lead stuff.

So there I go. Here's what I'm working on:

1) Continuing to build my chord melody repertoire

2) Using Robert Conti's "Ticket to Improv., Volume 1."

3) Memorizing some stuff from the Dochtermann book.

Robert Conti

Quick but good practice. Went through repertoire, and restarted work on Conti's "Ticket to Improv. Volume 1." Worked on the first couple measures of the "Satin Doll" improv.

My guitar is getting on my nerves. The buzz has come back and I don't feel like taking it to a shop. I put it up for sale. Would like a thinner bodied hollow body.

Rober Conti

Decided to make a change with regards to learning improvisation. Going to utilize Robert Conti material. I like the ideas he utilizes. Next chord melody song will be "Satin Doll" which will nicely match what I'll be doing with the Conti improv material.

Sunday Stuff

Went over repertoire and practiced some improv stuff.

Carry

Felt good after last night's gig someone said something that I carried the band.

Back from the gig

An ok gig. Sound was sometimes a problem. I enjoy playing when people dance; when they do not, it's not as rewarding. This gig was mostly one in which we were background music. I think to play rock and roll I need a guitar that is more appropriate.

Pre-Gig

Friday Fumble

Fingers weren't cooperating too much tonight but got through repertoire and some Fewell stuff. 

Tomorrow will be playing a mostly rock and roll gig with a band. Will be singing most of the songs, too.

Good Practice

Went over repertoire; figured out I was playing a couple things wrong in one song. Continued working on Fewell's stuff; almost done chapter two.

Not Much

Not much practice at all today, but I'm proud that I did get some time in. Went over some repertoire stuff and went over some Fewell stuff. A little practice is indeed better than none.

Comeback Tuesday

A good comeback day. Was frustrated. Didn't practice yesterday, and I knew I'd have consequences today. Plodded on with my repertoire; messing up the new song. Didn't give up and ended up feeling good about repertoire.

Regarding improv., went back to the Fewell material today and am making progress.

Change

I think I'm going to be revisiting the Herb Ellis "All the Shapes a You Are" book to learn lines, but within the context of shapes. 

All the Things You Are

Nice practice day. Worked in my arpeggios in the Alexander book; I'm getting there. Went through repertoire too. Recorded how "All the Things You Are" sounded today. I wasn't in the mood to make a copy of the guitar plugged in; it's just my Epiphone Joe Pass guitar recorded right into the external microphone of an iPad. You can hear someone texting my phone in the middle of the recording! Here it is:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dwy1liwel28blzq/AllThings.m4a