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Originally Posted by Bobby Timmons
I’ve been playing my bebop heads with the metronome on 40 … so playing them at 160bpm with the metronome clicking on beat two only. Thats been kind of awkward
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11-07-2024 11:26 PM
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That's what I'm talking about Pete. I hate the sound of clicks at 160 and higher. It bugs. I'd rather play 32nd's at 40 than 8th's at 160. Wait... did I get the math right? You know what I'm saying.
And you're working on bigger cycles of phrasing. Instead of hearing 4 beats you're hearing 4 bars, or something.
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Faster is harder for me focusing on solo piano. I really like playing slow and slow med and I feel I'm pretty good at it. Although slow has its own unique challenges. Med and med up are more challenging for me but I'm going to get them together eventually.
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Originally Posted by Bobby Timmons
This is a real challenge... e.g. the drummer hits too fast a tempo....
Team playing is the essence of jazz.
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I'm not sure I can get along with people well enough to be in a band, otherwise I would. I'll just get the solo together for now.
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Originally Posted by Bobby Timmons
I ask for opinions, but only on stuff I want advice on. Part of being the boss is sometimes you have to be their boss, not their friend.
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Haha that is good advice.
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My plan is to take 120. Then 160. Then I'll be good. I'm already happy with my slow and slow med playing. I love chilling in tempos where I can BH 6th/dim out. I realized when I just play it's always slower than 120, and picking 120 puts me out of my comfort zone. But it is a normal tempo for group playing and not that fast so I will target that.
Celia in 120.
Last edited by Bobby Timmons; 11-10-2024 at 12:06 PM.
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Originally Posted by Bobby Timmons
What are you doing to work on it?
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My bottleneck is technical skills. So what I mean by targeting is being able to play solo fluently in med and med up tempos without my hands seizing up. I've found that your advice I think you said a while ago of putting the metronome on every beat is really helping, especially specifically for solo. That had never occurred to me. Other time keeping methods wouldn't make my time solidify as well. Drum track, backing track, met on 2 and 4 etc. The nazi click on every beat solidifies the time but without any other cushion. Drum track and backing track make it too easy, and met on 2 and 4 is too sparse.
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Originally Posted by Bobby Timmons
2 and 4 is cool but doesn’t really help you feel in bigger chunks because that 1 is always implied.
I don’t doubt that I said to put the click on every beat but that’s I think just the starting point and you should get to where there’s less metronome as quickly as possible.
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Originally Posted by pamosmusic
The 1 & 3 click is a good idea for high tempos. When I hear Bird play over fast tempos it's almost like he's floating above (might be where he got his name), so I don't think he's sweating every beat.
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Met on every beat is the ticket for me right now, so that's what I'm doing. Up tempos aren't a goal of mine for playing solo piano, only medium up. No more than upper 100s.
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Originally Posted by AllanAllen
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Appreciate you putting yourself out there. I listened to Celia twice. But you’re right, your left hand needs work. Have you watched any Peter Martin videos on Open Studio?
Another one for solo piano is Kent Hewitt on YouTube, who is a NY player with videos on your left hand. Check him out.
A walking bass line would have been very appropriate to add variety for Celia, rather than simple left hand voicings. But until you make your left hand a priority, it won’t get better.
You’re fluent in the right hand, but I’d not even consider doing a lot of practice time on improvising, until I worked on my left hand and developing some fluency.
Perhaps that’s not what you want to hear. But every tune, for piano, begins and ends with integrating rhythm of the left hand. You’re telling a story. You can’t leave out the most important part of the story without a left hand. I know you can do this if you apply yourself.
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Something else. Are you having difficulty developing hand independence? Perhaps you can return to playing a simple blues and developing some independence between your hands. Take it as slow as you need.
Concept number 6 in the below video provides ideas of integrating and developing rhythms with the left hand. With practice these same concepts will carry over to practicing standards.
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Are you able to play these concepts for the left hand?
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Yes, I can play most of those concepts. I was just playing sparsely in the LH because it's a Bud Powell tune and he does that. Here is some of my more pianistic playing at a slower tempo. Working on getting fuller LH in faster tempos.
Last edited by Bobby Timmons; 11-21-2024 at 04:02 PM.
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Very good. Not knowing where you were just trying to be helpful.
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Thx. I do like your educational materials.
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I'm un-mad at rhythm. Metronome on every beat at 120 was the ticket. I'm bringing in some faster tempos now too and it's going well. Worked SNC at 140, 160, 180, and 200 today. Wasn't perfect, but the facility is finally taking. Had to deal with sucking for a while there.
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(Whispers) “now put it on 1 and 3”
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Originally Posted by Bobby Timmons
My favorite show on youtube
Yesterday, 07:14 PM in The Players