Sunday

Continue to practice chord inversions as well as 3 - 7 voicings. Much more work to do. Piano Lesson #2 tomorrow night. Some questions for him:

1) Should I be knowing this matetial better than what I know it now?

2) Instead of focusing on pop and jazz, should I focus on just one?

Guitar Piano Shack

Went to a talk yesterday about Spiritualty as well as Forgiveness, then I saw the movie "The Shack" last night. An interesting day of spirituality...

Asked the speaker for two book recommendations:

1) An intellectually honest book that talks about why Christianity should be believed over other beliefs or even over atheism

2) An intellectually honest book that discusses Catholicism vs other Christian denominations.

Played the guitar at Mass tonight and it went well. Was thinking of writing some Christian songs or at least acoustic guitar songs. Seems a monumental thing to do, though, and insecurity intrudes. And maybe laziness.

Came home and practiced piano. What piano stuff? Inversions, of course!!

Ordered a pop fakebook and a jazz fakebook which were recommended by my teacher. Next lesson will be Monday.

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11:22 PM

Worked a bit on major chord inversions as well as 3 7 voicings. Working. May order a couple of fake books soon.

 

    

Memorizing!

Got two new piano methodology books delivered today that my teacher suggested. So that makes three that I'll be using: one for learning popular songs, one for learning jazz type songs, and one to help with technique. Also need to get a pop fake book and a jazz fakebook.

Continued to work on the first inversions of major chords, and started to work on 3-7 voicings of major chords. A lot of memorizing going on +  a lot of potential for frustration to be met by me with patience and just putting the work in.

Perfectionism

I guess it's ok to want to sound really good. However, I may have work to do when it comes to expecting perfectionistic learning. 

What I mean is that it is too easy for me to respond to a mistake made while practicing with a judgement that I'll never remember what I need to. But the progress I'm making (admittedly slow) is proof that I'm getting somewhere.

Piano / Guitar / PIANO

Waiting for piano books to come in the mail, it's probably good that they haven't come in yet. Giving me more time to work on chord inversions work.

Tried learning and applying chord Melody stuff to guitar; I got that out of my system; it didn't go too well! 

Proceeded to get back on the piano and I'm finding that  I am actually making progress with the first major chord inversions. 

Jazz Tea

Played guitar and sang a little for a Jazz Tea get together. It was actually a paying gig ($40 each!) and it went well. 

Practiced my major chord piano voicings, and got intrigued with some stuff I read about chord melody guitar playing. Enjoyed a friend's recording of Handel's "Gavotte."

Piano

Worked on major chord inversions today.

So what's it going to be? Am I in the long haul with these lessons or what? I think so. Still get that mental block of 'I'm never going to get thIs," or "stick to guitar and just have fun with it." So the piano learning is yes, work work, wirk. What if I give the lessons a year and assess where I am then? I'll have less money, but I'll have more knowledge of where I am musically. Now I can leave the lessons and buy another toy (an acoustic guitar) with the money I would have spent on lessons, but I don't think that would help me progress musically. I already have an acoustic guitar! It may not be anywhere near a Martin, but what skills will I have on a Martin that I wouldn't have with the guitar I have now??

I'm sticking with the piano lessons and I'm just going to try to trust the process while I just focus on the work.

Piano Lesson I

Went really well! I got my work cut out for me. Learning about voicings and that different ones go with what the player decides. Work to do.

Tomorrow

This is it. Piano Eve. The evening before my first piano lesson with my new Skype teacher. Here we go!

Hoping that the Skype system works well. I have a feeling that for this to work, I need to be ready to not only put in the work, but also be ready to put in the work when the honeymoon is over and frustration might kick in. 

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

BLAST OFF!

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Easter

My wife, your's truely, and our youngest after I played guitar and sang some at the Easter Mass yesterday:

 

Tick Tock Tick Tock

Setting up out instruments tomorrow morning to get ready to play two Easter Sunday Masses. Then we'll have a rehearsal.

Tick Tock; a week from today will be my first piano lesson. Ordered two books per my teacher's suggestion. 

Watched "The Fellowship of the Ring" tonight with my son who is home for Easter. Enjoyed it, but my son is Really into it. I felt like someone who probably is watching The Godfather for the first time; confused, but liking it. 

 

Huge Step Taken

Decided to study piano via Skype. This is my last shot at piano. Been messing around trying to teach myself using various methods, and this time I'm going to surrender the method to the teacher, and just focus on what he wants me to do. Highlights of tonight's talk with him: 

• Told him my goals are to play jazz and pop from fakebooks with some improvisation.

• He said I'm not too old to do this.

• Even told him my big goal is to be able to play in restaurants.

• He wants the learning of some music reading to be part of the process.

Let's do this.

Huge Step

Pursuing piano lessons using skype. Stay tuned. 

Yea, so . . .

Yea so it's like this. Not giving up on piano. However, may be going a different route. Maybe jazz piano isn't my thing. Maybe more of a pop approach? May use Mark Harrison material?

Me & Zoey on her 8th Birthday

Zoey had seen better days. She has cancer, and having trouble using her front right paw. Here we are on her eighth birthday today:

 

 

Piano

Practiced improv book and "What Child is This." Is there a better way of learning??????

Me, 1978

 

My Dad, His Mom, His 8 Siblings with the 8 Spouses

Again, I believe that this picture was taken in 1978:

 

My Dad, His Mom, and His 8 Siblings

I believe this picture was taken in 1978:

 

All This in a Day?

Well looking back at this blog, just yesterday I posted that I'm stopping the piano learning. And then I came home from a gig, and what did I do? Played piano.

And you know what I did today? Practiced the piano.

It looks like I will stay with it. Up to "What Childvis This?" in the Susman material, and continue to work in the improvisation book.

Getting ready to play for Easter Mass where my big (mostly) solo contribution will again be Springsteen's version of "Oh Mary Don't You Weep."

Looks like I may be able to get a guitar, but I'm not quite sure why I would do so at this point.

Piano

 

Piano

Played gig with the band tonight.

Came home and played

PIANO

Guitar

I suspect that really isn't Lennon's grandfather in the post below. But I digress.

This is the post that I maybe been putting off. But here it goes. I am stopping piano. Gonna stay with guitar and maybe songwriting. The guitar is my natural instrument, and in sticking with it. I may someday go back to learning piano. But not now.

All that being said, we should have a good time playing a full band gig tonight for a local private dinner.

Lennon

I think this is John Lennon's grandfather:

 

Music

Played some nice stuff in the car tonight. Springsteen rarities: "Sad Eyes," "The Iceman." Also heard Elton John's "Levon" and loved it: imagery of a father and a son :::: me and my dad; me and my son....

Thinking my dad was thinking of me, that I "shall be a good man." 

Practiced a little piano tonight. Surprised I practiced at all. I originally was going to skip it, but found some enjoyment there.

Listening to songs makes me want to create my own. 

A friend may sell me his Martin guitar. We'll see. It's a D35. Probably way out of my price range but I really don't care that much. If I love it I just might get it. This being the friend who sold me his Les Paul, I bet he'd accept the 'extended payment plan' that I used in buying the Gibson.

Practice tomorrow night for Easter Masses. My big song will be the Springsteen version of "Oh Mary Don't You Weep," with singers, a sax player, and other band members. Playing a country club gig this Saturday.

Oh Christmas Tree

So I'm just about done with 2/3 of the "Oh Christmas Tree" lessons. Don't want to move on yet; I want to play in cleaner and possibly at a faster speed before moving on.

Worked on adding another measure to my improvisation study. 

             .Want a Martin Guitar.

                     .Want a Really Good Martin Guitar.

                          .Tired of settling in my guitar choices.

Still also interested in the sounds of an electric guitar. Made a recording the other day of me wailing away on a very distorted (and convoluted!) blues thing.

A Good Piano Day

Lazy day. Got in some good piano practice using my two materials (the improvisation book, and Bill Susman stuff). It's going to be a long haul, but there is little else that I can do with my time that interests me as much. 

Still interested in getting a really good acoustic guitar.

Wondering if my time spent learning music takes a way from me creating it.

Reading "It" by Stephen King.

Here We Go!

• Restarted the Bill Susman material and I started working on "Oh Christmas Tree." It feels good.

• •  Learning about progressions, its interesting how things fit together. Was learning from one piano book how to figure out what keys go with what chords, but then I realized that I already learned that in a guitar book in a different way (when I expanded on my own how to do it).

••• For now, I'm still working with the piano improvisation book to.....learn improvisation. So what I'm doing is using the Susman material primarily to learn how to play the heads of songs, and using the improvisation book to hopefully someday improvise over the chords in songs. So I'm not doing everything the improv book covers (it covers chord inversions, and other material). I'm simply picking and choosing in it to learn mostly just improvisation. On page 75 in the book.

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