Sunday

Continue to work on "Willow Weep for Me" on piano as well as some material on guitar improvisation from the Negri book. Dabbled with the Reed material.

Willow

Really started digging into learning "Willow Weep For Me" on piano using the Sudnow Method.

Sudnow / Negri

Began piano work on "Willow Weep For Me" using the Sudnow Method. Worked on major and minor triads in the Joe Negri book, "A Common Sense Approach to Guitar Improvisation."

Ear

• Listened to my son DJing on the radio tonight. Cool! • Tried piano. Got nowhere! • Made a little recording of me experimenting a bit with adding little melody lines in the chord melody guitar version of "Over the Rainbow." • Was a little tempted to go back to a more traditional method guitar improvisation method, but went on instead to more of Reed's material and it's a good thing. Up to page 67 in his book, but need to get all previous material ingrained better.

Thursday

Continuing work with the Reed book. The major scale...

Tuesday

Continuing my journey with the Improvise For Real book.

Monday

Worked on "Improvise for Real" stuff and started the solo guitar section again of the Paul Howard book: "Guitar Roots: Swing."

Sunday

Continue to work with the "Improvise for Real" material. Up to page 49 in the book, and at the similar place in the video series.

Gibson Les Paul Studio

A new guitar day for me! Here is my Gibson Les Paul Studio with a great ebony fretboard: Had a great practice today too with three members of the band, going over mostly Christmas songs

You Were in a Car Crash and You Lost Your Hair

Was in a minor car accident on the way home from work today. I'm not really injured enough to seek medical care, but I think my body might be feeling it. Was stopped to make a left turn, and was rammed from behind. There was a witness who was very kind as well as a very professional and kind policeman (among others) who helped. Glad no one was seriously hurt.

Christmas, 1976

I'll never ever forget that Christmas. Was taking guitar lessons and I happened to offhandedly tell mom that the teacher was selling the kind of guitar that I wanted. Never had any idea that she would get it! She told me later that as soon as I told her that, she called up the teacher and ordered it, and he said he would like to see my face when I saw it. Was the Christmas of 1976. My brother, his girlfriend, and I slept on the floor Christmas Eve in front of the Christmas tree. On Christmas morning, my brother left the house and came in carrying the guitar. I remember that the guitar came wrapped in plastic inside it's hard shell case. It was a black Ibanez Les Paul copy that may have been about $350. (The same guitar is now on EBay for about double that price). That morning, my brother said (mimicking me), "look at the black next to the white on the frets." Was sad that night when he left to sleep at his girlfriend's. I remember he came to my room Christmas night before leaving and asked if I was happy (about the guitar). It was a sad feeling because the wonder of the day was over, and my brother and his girlfriend were leaving. I banged that guitar up pretty good (not sure how, but I managed to lose the white switch piece attached to the switch that changed the pickups) and ended up selling it for $50. A wonderful Christmas!

Thursday

A good guitar practice today; up to page 32 in the Reed book, but not quite ready to move on yet.

Wednesday

Still working on "Improvising For Real." Getting ready to practice Christmas music with the band. Reading Bruce Springsteen's autobiography, "Born to Run."

Improvise For Real

Will be working tonight more on David Reed's "Improvise for Real" material. May soon get a really nice Gibson Les Paul Studio. Watched part of the second Presidential debate last night between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. If it wasn't for Clinton's views on abortion, she might get my vote for sure. Trump's attitude is a disaster.

Old Pictures!

Friday

• Listened to my son's first broadcast as a DJ on his college radio station!

• Continued to work on David Reed's improv material.

• Continue to work on memorizing open piano chords.

• Worked on writing lyrics to a friend's blues song.

Thursday

• Working on my David Reed material.

• Got back to practicing piano (memorizing chords). 

Wednesday

Going to use David Reed's book: "Improvise for Real."

Tuesday

1) To practice piano again

2) To play songs on guitar (melody and improvisation).

3) To work out of the Swing Guitar book.

Saturday

My son is home for the weekend, and that is cool. Been back on guitar, wondering about improv., wondering about piano.