Monday

Just trying to figure out a practice regimine that would work for me. 

Sunday

Up to page 40 in the first Swain book and I'm up for the challenge. Here's a battle plan:

mindset. 

Practice Time:

1) page 40. in all keys.

2) continue to review, add to, and keep note of, chords memorized

3) start learning songs

Today I started p. 40 in key of C. May learn a Christmas song.

Saturday

Band practice this morning; doing a cool medley of a couple of songs done by Fats Domino.

Up to page 40 in the Swain book, and I just might be hanging out on this page for awhile. It's an important learning page that I gather is to be used mostly to memorize chords for each key. 

Some important concepts learned today include diminished chords and Blocked (George Shearing) chords.

Here are some pictures taken on a boat ride today:

Friday

I am writing this at 2:07 AM. Heard of the meteor shower that was going to happen; went outside, and saw two!

Feeling like I caught a cold. Yuck. But practiced page 33 of the Swain book. Doing fairly well. Those Dbmaj7 /  Abmaj7 / and F#7 chords are stubbornly not easily staying in my brain! But I think I am getting a handle on them (finally).

I really don't intend on stopping the Swain material and I continue to like the challenge.

Thursday

Here is what I sent my piano buddy today in terms of my weekly progress:

FOUR THINGS:

1) Well I remember hearing that in piano learning, sometimes the learning kind of goes slow. Well that's ok. I continue to practice daily with varying amount of minutes put in. But that's key: some quality practice daily, even if very little. I'm progressing, but slowly at this point. And that's ok! The piano is a long term thing, and it'll be worth it to hang in there. I'm up to page 33 in the first Swain book, and I continue to try to get those open chords in my hands memorized. He has some pieces to play in which the new chords are used with melody notes and instead of memorizing the pieces, I think I have a fairly good idea when it's time to move on. Here's the chords I know now (some better than others!): 
Ab7, F#7, Cmaj7, Dm7, Em7, G7, C6, Fmaj7, Cm7, C7, C, Am, Ebmaj7, Gm7, Fm7, F7, Ab, Bbmaj7, Bb7.
Just trying to implant them in my hands and fingers.

2) This week I played around with the saxophone. Was toying with maybe buying a sax and taking it more seriously but decided to just let it go. Can't really do sax AND piano with my limited time, and the piano wins. I can always borrow (a friend's) sax if the urge strikes again.

3) Was briefly toying around with getting into fingerstyle guitar (again). But as with the sax, piano wins again.

4) This one should take a LONG TIME: Trying to save money for a really quality acoustic guitar. I know how to play guitar ok, and this will be more for just enjoyment, and who knows what else?!

Addendum: For a long time, I've wanted to make an album of just me and an acoustic guitar. Think Nick Drake's "Pink Moon" album and Bruce Springsteen's "Nebraska" album. 

Wednesday

Very very very little piano practice time put in today but did manage to review some chords. I think I may retain more than I give myself credit even though repetition is important.

Tuesday

Working on page 33 of the first Swain book. Learning the F#7 and Db7 chords. 

Have been thinking a little about using some supplemental material like maybe my boogie piano book, a jazz method, or a pop method. But I think that will just muddy things up, and that doing what I'm doing with the Swain material is challenging enough. I'm getting some good traction with this method, and I want to keep it up. Everything else (like left hand bass note playing) might probably be learned in due time; no need to cram everything. Song playing from fakebooks on the fly is my ultimate goal.

"....psychology is a secular science, while care of the soul is a sacred art." - Thomas Moore (in "The Care of the Soul).

Monday

Trying to be healthier. Walked in segments today for a total of an hour. 

Practiced piano; up to page 33 in the first Swain book. Can get frustrating if I go and try to play a piece that I'm unfamiliar with and I expect too much too soon. The moral is to go at my own pace! I am definitely making progress!

Sunday

Looks I'll spend most of my musical time today in the shed trying to burn chords into my memory. F#7 and Ab7 are currently getting on my nerves, but I'll get there.

Learning the piano will take a long term commitment from me.

Using Swain's ideas, I worked on those two chords throughout the day. Used them in the context of a melody in his book. Also played Danny Boy. 

Yes learning the piano will take a long term commitment from me, and some days there will be little to show for my efforts. However, I see my knowledge of just those two chords today as a pretty cool accomplishment. 

Saturday

1) Had band practice today that went well. Our next gig is coming up soon. I play guitar and sing. Songs we did today that I sung whole or parts of were: "Heard it Through the Grapevine (CCR version)," "Let it Be Me," Bye Bye Love," "Country Roads." Also sang some background to "Love Letters in the Sand."

2) Borrowed my friend's alto sax. Recorded this version of "Summertime:"

https://soundcloud.com/user-860420366/summertime-cover

It's a cool alto sax with the finish all messed up, but I like it. Here's a picture of it:

3) Worked on piano some too. Moving on in the Swain book. Also tried to play "Oh Cristmas Tree" from "A Charlie Brown Christmas," using sheet music. Interesting how I was actually able to play some if it but how easily I got frustrated. Not really being fair with myself there! 

Up to page 31 of the first Swain book. 

Friday

Up to page 30 in the first Swain book. Looks like it's time to memorize more chords. Let's see....here's a list of the ones I know now: Cmaj7, Cmin7, C6, C, Dm7, Emaj7, Emin7, Fmaj7, Fmin7, F7, Gmin7, Amaj7, Bbmaj7, Bb7, and maybe A. 

Looking around on the Internet for saxophones.

Thursday

Interesting music day. Continue to be moved towards the saxophone. Here's a recording of me playing my friend's tenor sax along with a backing track to the Beatles' "All My Loving." :

https://soundcloud.com/user-860420366/all-my-loving-cover

It sounds better than the version I recorded yesterday because I changed the key of the backing track so I can play the sax in the key of "C." I thought I was playing in the key of C yesterday, but because the saxophone is in Bb, the chords were in C, but I wasn't playing in C. Still wondering if I should get a sax.

Here's my friend's tenor saxophone:

Went back on piano and continued with my Swain material. Definitely time to move on to page 27 in his first book.

Wednesday

Marathon piano day. Time to move on (soon) in the first Swain book. This is where the honeymoon is over and it's time to buckle down and learn.

Tuesday

Well I had an interesting musical diversion tonight. My friend let me borrow his tenor sax, and I had some fun playing along to a backing track of the Beatles' "All My Loving." Of course I made a ton of mistakes, but it was fun! I had the backing track set to the key of "C" to make things easier.

Then back to the piano. Continue learning chords and my new tune from the first Swain book. Added Bbmaj7 and F7 to my chord knowledge.

Monday

Started page 26 of the first Swain book. Trying to add Ebmaj7, Fm7, and Cm7 to my chord bank knowledge.