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Thanks for all the good commentary....
Since I introduced the topic of using the RH little finger, I'll share this additional info from the lesson sequence. I snuck ahead a bit and noticed that towards the end of Section 2 there is a chapter called "Right Hand Considerations." In that chapter, Tim shares the following thoughts, in his typical non-doctrinaire fashion:
--"And yes, I'm using my little finger on a lot of these examples, to be able to have melodic distinction."
--"It might take you a little while to get your little finger going, but I highly recommend using it."
--"So if I'm playing a melody note on the high E string while I'm playing a chord, I'm almost always using my little finger for that."
There's lots of other useful information there about related topics.
So I think I'd be well advised to go into "a little while" mode and get that thing going. Besides, with all the social distancing I'm committed to these days, I really have no excuses...
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03-13-2020 07:55 PM
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Listened and worked on the "Add a Melody" lesson again today. I'll move on now to the next video lesson.
Here is a short sample of what I'm practicing:
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You're on the pathway, Frank!
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That's lovely Frank. I need to use space more and the walking bass is a cool idea too.
In my example I was playing 8th notes already but instead of practising ex 4 & 5 I will move on to the latin grooves. If I could do a short improv over a bossa beat that would be super cool. Plenty to practise so.
With regards to pinky I only use it when playing 4 notes chords. For the melody on the high E string I use a.
Would love to see some more videos from everyone else. Don't be shy, were all learning.
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Originally Posted by Liarspoker
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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There is much unspoken information in watching a master play.
This morning I watched the "Using Chromaticism ii V I in C Demo" and two things stuck me. First, notice how Tim is thinking ahead by watching his left hand fingers. 1:43-1:46, for example - while our attention is on the rising chromatic melody, Tim is moving his index finger into place for the bass G note well before the downbeat occurs. Second, hang onto what you can... in the same clip, and by contrast, the second and third fingers hang onto that D-7 root and 7th until the very last moment before the finger configuration changes to the 3rd and 7th of the dominant chord. This "hang on" also results in the "backward fingering" at 1:59.
That's quite a little, as and old professor of mine used to say. Enough nutrition in those ideas to fuel some practice.
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I play a bit a bass and wanted to share a lesson from Scott's Bass Lessons on walking bass lines. For me this is a great start for putting bass lines into my guitar playing. (I'm not sure if Tim covers this somewhere in his course)
To sum up the video, to start with walking bass lines it's chord tones plus 1/2 step approach tones to the next chord. So Dm7 to G7, three chord tones then the 1/2 step might look like: D F A Ab - G or D A F F# - G. And you don't have to always put in the 1/2 step approach, you actually probably don't want to be that repetitive. And, you don't have to play only quarter notes, pretty tough to do continous quarter note walking bass when also playing melody and chords at the same time.
Skip to the 9 minute mark if you want to skip to the meat of the lesson:
Last edited by fep; 03-14-2020 at 03:24 PM.
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To motivate/encourage you guys to develop your right hand pinky (and if you think of when you’ll be using it, it doesn’t need to be very developed), think of what you can do with hybrid picking.
You can pinch all your 4 note chords while holding the pick.
I play this stuff all different ways (hybrid, all pick, all fingers) and one isn’t better than the other, just different.
Can’t go wrong just copying guys like Tim though.
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Just watched Melody in 8th Notes... With my guitar in hand and pausing here and there to give the material a try.
I'm going to break this into two parts and will spend as long as it takes to get some facility with these ideas.
Part 1 - Eight note melody with the chords, and then with half note bass, and then quarter note bass
Part 2 - The bossa rhythm with bass and chords, then bossa rhythm bass, chords melody. This is my current roadblock and I see that I'll have to spend some extra time on this.
I like the linear nature of the course and as such I'm reluctant to look ahead to other videos.
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Originally Posted by corpse
Another guitarist I admire said that the left hand is like your brain and the right hand is like your personality. Gary Davis, Merle Travis, Ernie Hawkins... those guys used/use one finger and thumb which contributes significantly to their personality.
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Originally Posted by fep
Also I want to practise improvising more with the bass in half notes while I'm trying to play what I hear on top.
I'm happy to stay here for a while.Last edited by Liarspoker; 03-14-2020 at 05:52 PM.
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Did a little practise this morning before the family got up and applied a simple melody and alternating bass on 1 & 3 over the first few bars of Misty.
It's certainly not natural for me to improvise freely over changes like this yet. This video is half composed and half improvised as I did a few takes and had a road map in place.
Edit: In hindsight I'm struggling through this a bit so that's another area of practise for me.
Last edited by Liarspoker; 03-15-2020 at 06:36 AM.
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Here's another video from this morning. Thought I'd post it here to preserve it as I'm deleting it from my phone as I do with all my practise videos.
Do you all record all or part of your practise sessions? I find it very beneficial to record things after I have practised them to see progress etc.
Anyhow this is the melody from Lesson 2 8th Note melody over ii V I in C with a variation added on.
Btw I think that Tim's fretboard looks awesome
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So I worked on the Latin thing in lesson 2 yesterday and today.
Here's a little progress video. Lots to work on still and I certainly can't improvise in this feel yet. I need to play it another 1,000 times.
Regarding bass lines just before this course came out I purchased Martin Taylor's Beyond Chord Melody book. It's very good and I envisage using it in conjunction with the material in this course in my playing. There's a whole chapter on bass line approaches.
Anyhow I'll stick to this course and will keep on practising Tim's exercises as well as applying them to standards that I know.
How are you all doing with this course?
Edit: Lol, just realised that I uploaded the wrong video from my phone and the other is deleted. Nevermind.
Last edited by Liarspoker; 03-16-2020 at 06:07 PM.
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Ok, progress video, 1 minute improv over ii V I re lessons 1 & 2.
Tried to slow it down, bass on 1 & 3 though not always.
Didn't warm up, straight improv.
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Originally Posted by fep
Wow, that sounds great. Can't wait until I'm at your level of learning. I've been a guitarist for a long time and have "played jazz" in a jump blues/swing band. But I want to be a real deal jazz player. I'm especially interested in being able to competently play chord melodies. My close friend, who is now deceased, was a great chord melody player. I want to be able to play like him.
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Tim,
Is the enhanced harmony course a continuation of this course? Any teasers as to what we might see? Any info on the other one?
I know they are months away, but I’m curious because I had a blast playing through this course. I love Can I Get an Amen; so much fun.
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Just got this course. Looks great.
I'm going to dig out my Tele.
Seems like the right thing to do.
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Originally Posted by corpse
all the best
Tim
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My approach to this course is to go slowly and get some licks under my fingers. Learning Tim's first improvised solo reveals quite a bit to me. I see how ideas are reused and modified and I find some grips I've never used before. And fingerings... keep that pinky untethered! Check out Tim's Art of Two Note Accompaniment for a companion to this course.
This is a progress report, shameless plagiarism, but my fingers are learning to move in new ways and that's progress in my book! I'll try improvising new lines with these ideas for a while next
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Originally Posted by Michael Neverisky
Looking forward to seeing you use these ideas in your improvisations.
I skipped ahead slightly to the altered and chromatic sections which in turn lead me to the melodic minor scale in which I have been writing a few progressions. This coupled with playing rock with my 12 year old on bass, and practising my chord melody tunes as kept me somewhat away from this course though I have been practising bits and pieces from it. So thanks to this study group I'll get back to it today. Let's support and encourage each other to practise more.
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Originally Posted by Michael Neverisky
I agree that learning this solo has already taught me a lot. I'm starting to see the scales and melodies inside familiar chord shapes.
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Originally Posted by Michael Neverisky
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Thanks Michael Neverisky for your video. It re-inspired me to finish picking out Tim's Pathway Improv #1 and today after much scratching and re-scratching my head, I finally got it under my finders. Still sloppy but all the parts are there. And thanks Tim for the great lessons! I agree with Michael and I think I'll stay here for a bit and try improvising new lines with these ideas.
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A busy weekend here, my dog had foot surgery on Friday and attending to her has taken up most of my time. But that's what we do for our best friends.
What time I have had has been wood shedding this bass note rhythmic thing. Mostly (always?) a hammer-on from the 5th below, conveniently an open string. Maybe Tim covers it in detail later in the course, but in the ii-V-I-VI in D section he makes it a part of the final improvisation and subtle as it is, I think the technique is a big part of the swing I hear in Tim's playing. Annotated from the transcription:
I've spent the better part of my life coordinating my thumb with the beat... Chet, Merle Travis, etc. I can almost feel the new pathways being carved in my brain.
RIP Nick Gravenites
Yesterday, 05:48 PM in The Players