What Are You Practising Now?

[AllanAllen]

Here's a video of the scale in root position, followed by pivot 13th arpeggio. I repeat this exercise starting on each note of the fingering I'm in, scale up, scale down, then arpeggio. Then move to another fingering position.

I have a metronome going to work on time and once I can get through them all without stopping I'll change the scale. Goal being Major, Minor, Melodic Minor, Whole Tone, Diminished, and Augmented. Worked out on paper and familiar enough to start something like Barry Harris mapping of tunes, but with the pivot 13th arpeggios instead of scale up scale down.

[AllanAllen]

Trying to get Milestones(New) into my groups repertoire.

Really funny that there are 2 Miles Davis compositions called Milestones.

[GuyBoden]

Trying to get Milestones(New) into my groups repertoire.

Really funny that there are 2 Miles Davis compositions called Milestones.

Careful, you don't play the modal Milestones.

[James W]

Trying to get Milestones(New) into my groups repertoire.

Really funny that there are 2 Miles Davis compositions called Milestones.

Except the old one is by John Lewis I think?

[AllanAllen]

Except the old one is by John Lewis I think?

Miles is listed as the composer on Spotify. But other places say John Lewis. Probably John Lewis.

[pamosmusic]

Careful, you don't play the modal Milestones.

New milestones is the modal one

[AllanAllen]

Careful, you don't play the modal Milestones.

That’s the one we are playing it’s cool.

I just don’t think beginners should start by learning all the modes without a goal. If OP in the other thread said “I’m working on So What, can someone explain modes?” That’s a whole different situation than what was happening in the thread.

I’m literally working on MM modes a few posts above this. They have a place, but it’s not step 1. I think Step 1 is pick out a song.

[GuyBoden]

I'm practicing playing within a "Chromatic Area".

What this simply means is a Chromatic Area of notes on the fretboard.

The main point is knowing all the intervals within a Chromatic area.

(Example below)



(Warning P4 tuning: I've spent nearly 50 years playing scales; including Major modes, Melodic minor modes, Bebop scales. All these scales are within the "Chromatic Area" too. )

[brent.h]

(long comment)

I've been revisiting some tunes and re-learning just the melodies in a strummy percussive banjo style.

I've said elsewhere before that I like to think of the elements of music as the points of a triangle - one point melody, one point rhythm, one point harmony. Each point can be best represented by an instrument - drums do the best kinds of rhythm, pianos do the best kinds of harmony, and horns do the best kinds of melody.

In my opinion, the guitar (and banjo) seems to be dead centre of that triangle.

Guitarists don't have to play complex rhythms like drummers because we can play harmony and melody. We can convey with pitch what rhythm cannot.

Guitarists don't have to play complex harmony like pianists because we have that percussiveness built into our instrument. We can also play melodies in a way that hits microtones and have access to all kinds of inflections that mimic the human voice, something that pianists can't do easily.

Guitarists don't have to play melodies or solos like horn players because we can have polyphony. I once lamented to a jam session member of mine about how slow and clumsy I, the guitarist, sounded in comparison to a sax player. He said something I will never forget: "Nothing is faster than a chord," and he's right. The horn player needs to hit all the notes to spell out the changes, but guitarists have the advantage of playing more than one note at a time. Need an E7b9? Done. No complicated fingering for arpeggios needed. No picking mechanism need. Use that familiar grip and strum, and we've produced the sound.

I'm coming to the conclusion that the guitar, when played in a banjo-like fashion (simple chords, high percussiveness, with slides & slurs), can become a powerful musical force to be reckoned with. One good example of this was when Jonathan Stout played for the first time at Birdland on Guitar Night. Check out that opening tune. Granted, his acoustic guitar was very well mic-ed but the sheer combination of percussion and harmony was so powerful that it kinda overshadowed the pianist and drummer and even Frank Vignola himself.

So, to me, maybe instead of picking lines, which always sounds thin in comparison to a piano or sax, I could be strumming a whole lot more.

These days, I focus on melodies and no longer practise lines/improvisation. In the past two weeks of trying to incorporate some banjoish elements, it dawned on me that all the random percussive ghost notes I added to the melody (from adopting a strumming approach) sounded... exciting! It's not super-sophisticated or lick heavy like how Jonathan Stout's Allan Reuss chord melody playing was, but the energy sounded good.

I dunno where this'll take me, but this is where I'm at.

[James W]

[StormyMonday]

My teacher pointed out that when I play with fingers I don't use my I. I'm thinking it's a hangover from when I used to do the hybrid pick thing, but I want to correct it so I'm just playing things I already know but with different technique. Once I get that down I want to start working on Brazilian style music. That will keep me busy for a while!

[frabarmus]

Still at it with Very Early. Now I've also added Eighty One to the log, as I need a simpler, blues-based tune as well for more relaxing practice sessions...

[Bob_Ross]

Well, I was supposed to start playing in a new R&B/Soul band, and so I'd been practicing the first half dozen tunes we said we'd play at the first rehearsal:

- Chameleon
- Cissy Strut
- Mister Magic
- Watermelon Man
- The Chicken
- I Shot The Sheriff

...but then last week the bandleader flaked ...er, I mean, had to move out of town unexpectedly, and so it looks like I won't be playing in an R&B/Soul band!