Christmas, 2019

My dad:

Songs To Learn

Learning how to play Jazz standards on piano. It’d be cool to follow some recent teaching I got on line and go for learning them in steps. I revisited a couple old posts of mind, and here’s some songs that I’d like to learn step by step:

MISTY

AS TIME GOES BY

DANNY BOY

OVER THE RAINBOW

SOMEWHERE

SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME

WHAT CHILD IS THIS

I'VE GOT A CRUSH ON YOU

SEND IN THE CLOWNS

YESTERDAY

WICHITA LINEMAN

I LOVES YOU PORGY 

WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD

THE CHRISTMAS SONG

THE NEARNESS OF YOU 

JUST THE WAY YOU ARE 

WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR 

THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD

AUTUMN LEAVES

BLACKBIRD 

POLKA DOTS AND MOONBEAMS 

WHEN I FALL IN LOVE

IF

I WILL

SOMETHING

IN MY LIFE

AND SO IT GOES

GEORGIA

MY FUNNY VALENTINE 

CAN YOU FEEL THE LIVE TONIGHT

MY HEART WILL GO ON

GODFATHER THEME

A DREAM IS A WISH UR HEART MAKES

YOU ARE THE SUNSHINE OF MY LIFE

UNFORGETTABLE 

ALL MY LOVIN

TILL THERE WAS YOU

UNCHAINED MELODY 

I’LL BE THERE

NEVER MY LOVE

GOD ONLY KNOWS

GOODNIGHT

BLUE EYES

DON’T LET THE SUN GO DOWN ON ME

I’VE LOVED THESE DAYS

SHE’S GOT A WAY

NEW YORK STATE OF MIND

IF I ONLY HAD THE WORDS 2 TELL YOU

IF I FELL

IT NEVER ENTERED MY MIND (George

                    Shearing version)

HERE, THERE, AND EVERYWHERE

HAVE URSELF A VERY MERRY XMAS

WILLOW WEEP FOR ME

MOON RIVER

I’LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS 

BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER

MUSIC FROM “ROCKY” SOUNDTRACK

SHE’S LEAVING HOME 

WHITE CHRISTMAS 

December

Workin’ along with the Essentials course. Still want to learn piano...

Thanksgiving Eve

Joined Greg O’Rourke’s course titled “Jazz Guitar Improvisation Essentials” and I’m really learning cool stuff. Working on arpeggios is pretty interesting! Not too easy, but not way over my head, either. 

Would still like to do the piano but really doubt my ability to get to where I would like to be on the piano.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING !

Happy Halloween !!

Brothers

Working on the whole Oh Christmas Tree tune. My son and I are both reading “The Brothers Karamazov.”

Susman

On lesson 3 (of 4) of Susman’s arrangement of Oh Christmas Tree. Sounding good.

On practicing.....

Interesting thing happened tonight. I’m back working on the Bill Susman piano stuff...starting a few days ago. I wasn’t in the mood to practice today...perfects felt some ‘I’m not getting it so quit the piano’ stuff. But then it happened....I sat down at the piano and practiced anyway. And it went well. 

As I sat down to play I had some thoughts...included was: It’s not that I fear success.....it’s that I fear the confrontation of possibly failing ..... a later thought was it’s also that I fear the hard work also because I doubt that I’m getting it, so why keep trying so hard to learn the piano? But.....

ALL THOSE QUESTIONS!!!!!

ALL THAT THINKING!!!!!!!

Wouldn’t it be great to just refuse to give in to dopey questions and dopey thoughts and dopey self criticism and dopey score keeping about progress and just:

PRACTICE FOR EVEN A LITTLE EACH DAY LIKE I’M TEACHING MYSELF (with weekly goals as if I saw a teacher weekly) AND JUST TRUST THE PROCESS???? 

Bruce Springsteen

Leaving the Band

Today was my last gig with the five piece band. Told them a little while ago, and today was it. I’ll continue to play in the trio, though. 

I’m not sure if  the five piece band was really getting anywhere. It is kind of like I had enough.

I had a good time at the gig, though; I played around with settings on my guitar amp, and I was getting some really nice tones. Was playing with more gusto than usual....I knew this was the last gig for me with this band and perhaps with this music, and I wanted to really have a chance to let loose with some rock & roll. Won’t be playing anymore Christmas gigs with them either. 

Here’s a picture from the gig today. My guitar is the one that is mostly white:

Killer Joe

https://app.box.com/s/ysxnluupppwm18czp7j4afy4st0fswz5

Avalon, New Jersey; 25th Wedding Anniversary

30 Day Jazz Guitar Challenge

Ok so I’m working on the first module of the Jazz Guitar Challenge course that I recently purchased. It was only $15, and I’m sure getting my money’s worth. Been working mostly daily on the course. Learning some jazz comping chords, but closer to my heart, I’m learning some Improvisation stuff. It takes practice, but that’s ok. 

One thing I like about taking lessons (for me)  is that there is a certain push to learn material. There is a need to stay focused and not wander into guitar-noodling-land. There’s a healthy pressure to learn.  Without that push, I can take forever to move on.

I want to look back after a period of time and tell myself that I’ve actually learned and improvesd.

Stay tuned.

Move in Day!

Jazz Guitar

Signed up online for an instructional thirty day jazz guitar challenge. Looking forward to it!

Piano Buddy!

Finally got to meet my piano buddy, also known as my music encourager, also known as “Swingin’ Barb!” We met online and she is a great friend. Here are some pictures from the visit:

Here’s me and Barb:

Here’s Barb and her husband Tom (who is a cool jazzman himself). You can tell that Florida State University is another common thread between us:

A really nice day 🎹 🎸 🎶 

What a Wonderful World

Here’s my version of this great song that I recorded yesterday:

https://app.box.com/s/arjvmzt0fh5n9yfu1cn7uwwwymgqx6vw

Vacation Travels

In traveling to and from vacation, here are the albums that me and my son listened to:

The Wall

Moving Pictures

Quadrophenia

The White Album

Smile (recent BeachBoys one)

Pet Sounds

Abbey Road

Sgt Pepper 

OK Computer

Dark Side of the Moon

Station to station 

Living in the material world

More Blood More Tracks

Turn Turn Turn 

Another green world (Eno)

Future days (can) 

Maggot Brain

London calling

circle game (Tom Rush)

hemispheres (Rush)

Vacation Day One

Vacation Day One

Vacation Day One

Vacation

Vacation, first full day

Cool book

Getting some good mileage from this book:

Happy Birthday!

Happy 22nd birthday to my son! 

Rolling Stones

After some time, I finished listening to all of The Rolling Stones American studio albums. I compiled a list of how I liked them in order of preference:

Exile on Main St

Sticky Fingers

Let it Bleed

Aftermath 

Some Girls

Tattoo You

Beggars Banquet

Goats Head Soup

Black and Blue

Out of Our Heads

12X5

Newest Hit Makers

Rolling Stones Now

Voodoo Lounge

It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll

Blue & Lonesome 

December’s Children

Between the Buttons

Emotional Rescue

Undercover 

Steel Wheels 

Satanic Majesties 

Bridges to Babylon

A Bigger Bang

Dirty Work

Chord Tone Soloing

I am not accomplishing too much regarding music. Need to stay committed to a Method. Started this guitar book today: “Chord Tone Soloing” by Barrett Tagliarino. Have been listening to The Rolling Stones American studio album releases in chronological order, and I’m up to “Tattoo You.” Ranking them in order of how I like them; “Exile on Main Street” is my #1.

Guitar

Here’s a recording I made today:

https://soundcloud.com/angelo-fiordimondo/can-you-feel-the-love-tonight-cover

Listened to a friend’s guitar stuff and it was really nspiting!

Recent gig

More Piano

A little frustrated at the piano today. Frustrated looking ahead asking myself - how am I supposed to memorize a bunch of songs and here I am struggling to remember just two songs while struggling to learn a third. Will this pay off with regards to a goal of playing more quickly from a Fakebook? Looked at another method (Piano-For-All) to see if it might suit my aforementioned goal better. 

Sudnow / Improvisation

Day two of relearning the Louis Armstrong “What a Wonderful World” song. 

Just not getting into guitar these days. 

Was wondering about learning piano improvisation from a cool book I have on that topic. But I’m wondering if by doing that as well as learning piano songplayong with the Sudnow Method If I’d be trying to bite off more than I can chew.

When I start new musical projects (like my latest resurgence with the Sudnow Method) I can get a jolt of enthusiasm. But I hope I can stay committed to it. I’m somewhat intimidated by the improvisation material because of doubts of my willingness to stick with it. 

But wouldn’t it be cool to improvise on piano as part of the performance of a song arranged in the Sudnow Method way? Wouldn’t that be a cool expression of adding my personal feelings to someone else’s song?

Sudnow / key centers

Started relearning a third piano song (“What a Wonderful World” [the one Louis Armstrong sings]) using the Sudnow Method. Like “Over the Rainbow” I learned this song in the past, and I now want to get it in my hands. 

I find that I best learn using the Sudnow Method when I am able to quiet my ego and harsh self-criticisms and learn slowly. Focus on the task in the here and now rather than grading myself every other 15 seconds.

In my quest to learn more about guitar improvising, I’ve read some material recently that was very helpful. It helped me learn how to better recognize when songs change keys so that I can better shift to an appropriate scale.

For the first time in awhile I posted a song (“Over the Rainbow”) on a forum on the Sudnow Method’s website.

The more I keep getting piano clusters in my hands and the more I keep pushing myself to learn more of them (rather than stay with what I know) I think I have a better chance of learning this stuff more and more. The ultimate goal would be to play relatively quickly songs presented in fakebooks. 

Sudnow Method, Over the Rainbow, 2019

Finished learning Over the Rainbow and man it is beautiful... What a great song and using it with the Sudnow Method sounds wonderful. Stepped up my recording abilities by using Audacity, a real microphone, and my lap top to record it  as taught to me by my son. Usually I would record on my phone using my phone’s microphone. Glad that I didn’t quite rush this recording out to people....waited until I got a fairly good “take.” It wasn’t perfect, but it was ok. 

Not sure where to go from here.  

More Sudnow arranged songs? I’m thinking of making  a list of songs that I want to learn on the piano and going for them. I made the list in the past, and as I remember it, it was not really that long. Wouldn’t it be great to just have those songs in my hand? I liked “Over the Rainbow” in that I made it my own with my particular arrangement of it. It would be cool to do other songs just as thoughtfully.

Wrestling a little with old questions like: “How are you going to actually memorize a number of songs?” And old criticisms like, “You won’t be able to keep this momentum (with the Sudnow Method).” 

But I guess just taking it a moment at a time enjoying making “music from the heart” is what ultimately matters. 

Rainbow

Look at me, trying to relearn “Over the Rainbow” using the Sudnow Method. Also played acoustic guitar in a duo today; went ok.

Thinking of trying out New Age Piano playing. Hmmmm.

Music

Read about conveying love or beauty or something like that in music. I liked that. Figuring out “Over the Rainbow” using the Sudnow Method. It’d be nice to just focus on one song at a time, taking my time, and arranging it in a way that conveys love and beauty. I’ll just keep this up for now.

Getting together with a friend tomorrow to play some acoustic guitar duo music; he’s in our rock and roll band; maybe we’ll play an open mic.

Bought a guitar today, a really nice Fender Carbonita Telecaster. I like it’s sound. It’s got a cool bite to that is meaner than my Casino Coupe. Makes me want to play the blues!

Here it is:

ThreeFold Attack

Going to try to divide practice time into:

1) Piano For All Program

2) The book “Beyond Chord Melody” by Martin Taylor (guitar)

3) The book “Chord Tone Soloing” by Barrett Tagliarino (guitar)

I’m thinking of doing just a little of each three at a time. 

Beard (Before):

Beard (After):

Piano For All / Book 1

Finished Book 1 in the series, and it’s on to Book 2!

Beard

On Recording

Just read on a YouTube comment that Tommy Emmanuel practices ten hours a day. TEN hours. And what do I do? Practice so much less. 

I think it would be beneficial for me to stop doing so many recordings of me playing and devote that time to practicing instead. Let’s face it: recording is a lot more fun than practicing. With recording, I get to add reverb, play with panning, and add numerous tracks. After I record, I then send it out to people waiting for feedback about how wonderful it is. But alas, the feedback isn’t always so great. So when it isn’t that great, of course I don’t like it.

So would it not be better if I just practiced more? Yes. I’m happy to be practicing the Piano For All Program in small bits. I hear that these small bits of practicing are good. But perhaps I’m getting lazy and can ramp it up more practice time.

More doing the difficult stuff like practicing the piano and guitar; less doing the stuff that doesn’t really add to my skills: recording. 

79

Up to page 79 of the first book in the Piano For All Program. Recorded “Popsicle Toes” with me playing solo.  

Piano For All / Book 1

Up to page 77 of the first book in the Piano For All  Program.

Piano For All

Up to page 72 of the first book in the Piano For All Program. I like it! Have been listening to The Who in mostly chronological order, and I’m up to “Live at Leeds.” Really really like it. Pete’s guitar work is quite cool. And Keith’s drumming is all over the place but in time ... awesome. Our trio rehearsed tonight and it went ok.

Piano For All / Book 1

Was tempted a little to get into early jazz guitar but decided not to for now. Up to page 67 in the Piano For All Book 1.

Continue to work on the Piano For All Book. Up to page 63 of book 1.

59

Up to page 59 in the Piano For All Book one.

Good jazz trio practice this morning. Working on a jazzy and vocally cool “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds.”

56

Up to page 56 (of 91) in the first Piano-For-All book.

Beatles

Continue to work on the Piano-For-All book 1. Tempted to also work with a Charlie Christian book I have. Worked on a jazzy version of “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds.” 

Watched Ron Howard’s movie about the touring years of the Beatles; a great film.

Snowing! 

Piano, Norwegian Wood Five, Michelle

Up to page 16 of 92 in the first Piano-For-All book.

Recorded a version of “Norwegian Wood” that might be modified for our trio.

Found a version of the Beatles’ song “Michelle” that I recorded some time ago. I played it in a back seat of our vehicle while my wife was driving me and the kids home from a vacation. You can hear the cars on the highway and our car in the background. One of the kids held the recorder as I played.

Piano

This is it. I’m tired of just meandering in music. It’s time to commit or shut up. Time to commit to losing weight, too. This is the year. 

Giving myself 2 years to progress satisfactorily on the piano or just going to stop it. Thought of different methods I might use. But without getting into all that, here’s the two year commitment:

1. Will finish the Piano-For-All Program by Robin Hall.

2. Use my Weight Watchers and common sense, will lose 100 pounds.

That’s the formal commitment.

Here’s the more relaxed goals of this year: 

Will also dabble in some quasi-Sudnow style piano play. Will also continue to play guitar in the two bands I’m in. Will engage in more spiritual reading and prayer. Will spend less time on my phone. Will read more challenging books, like the biography of Thelonious Monk. Will listen to more vinyl albums. 

This Year

I want this year to be different......actually lose weight.....actually memorizing about a song a month Sudnow style.....actually finishing the lead guitar section of the Swing Guitar book......