-
Week 4, Day 2: Yeah, I'm not in that "advanced" category either, though I'd like to be some day. In playing through these progressions, I've been relying mostly on scales and arpeggios so far, i.e., notes "in a row," but last night I began to use some wider-ranging interval "jumps" and they sounded good at times
-
03-21-2023 08:25 AM
-
Wk4 Baubles in Bb 96bpm accomplished (many times).
This is getting easier, I must have found my old Jazz legs at last.
I think I'll spend the rest of the week being more creative and musical with my improv lines.
I can play the changes on the whole fretboard, now that I'm getting more familiar with the extra low 7 string.
I play finger picking, so It will be interesting to see the highest tempo I can play using fingers and all picked notes. Normally, I usually cheat and play lots of Legato lines, which is much easier.
Very pleased, enjoying the course, many thanks.
-
I am up to 95 bpm. I am starting to struggle playing a continuous stream of eighth notes at that tempo. I felt I was good up to about 90 bpm, but now I am struggling to keep my place in the form and to find the shapes on the guitar that I use as reference points as I make it through the tune. I am still trying to make sure I play mostly eighth notes but the cost is that sometimes I am lost and playing "random" stuff. I am trying to be free with the process though and not over intellectualize what I am playing, just play eighth notes and hope for the best. It's kind of fun to to throw caution to the wind and I wonder if better players ever do that.
-
Congratulations! You've arrived at an important gateway where every great improvisor is stopped and must break through in your head: Looking ahead.
Originally Posted by charlieparker
Don't push beyond your own personal goal, and that means work at the edge of what you can actually hear and know.
You're at the point where many players can break through the speed wall, but at the cost of control, or more importantly, knowing where you are.
So daily persistence will train your fingers but your hands need to have a driver at the wheel.
This is a slow and steady process. Are you off book when you solo? Can you hear the form? Do you know the form well enough so you're anticipating what's coming up, and projecting your lines towards that? A common pitfall is learning habits (licks, scales and set arpeggios) that take you blindly through a form without being aware of where you are and where you're going. You'll break that habit with things that you don't usually associate with speed: awareness, navigation, options.
The more you play, the more confident you'll get. Slowly introduce awareness of the form and what it sounds like (this is why the daily ritual of putting down your own backing track is important). SEE the piece as specific areas that you know well, and be ready to meet the changes by not letting them surprise you. Most times you'll lose your pace or time won't be because your fingers can't move, they can, but because they're tripping over where to go. The speed of thought is something to be developed through practice. Once you have those, you develop your set of options, or things you can play.
Options can include: Picking out a melodic shape (like a quote from a song, or an identifiable 1 bar melody you play WITH INTENTION, and then follow your ear for as long as you're in that tonal area. This process is the REAL way you'll develop your skills as an improvisor.
Don't blame your fingers. Give them the guidance and you can play anything!
Practice this at your speed limit, once you get the hang of this, it's a whole new world.
-
Week 5
Angel-esqe in D minor
Minor tonalities in AABA form
Attachment 100200
Reduction of the chords
Diatonic areas
Dominant movement areas
Integrated tonal and dominant areasLast edited by Jimmy blue note; 03-27-2023 at 10:39 AM.
-
This week's project will give us an excellent opportunity to work with lines, paying attention to just what abilities and skills we have making melodies without too many complicated changes.
The piece is in D minor
Then it shifts to Bb major in the B section
The B section then changes to A major
and then a transition back to the A section in D minor.
Get to know the feel of the changes and the piece, get to know the chords involved, the weight of each section and work on getting off book, into the ear and have fun.
You can get some idea of the form of the project by listening to this Jim Hall version. It's in A minor and it's not the same as Project 3A but it'll give you some leg up on hearing the form in your ear. Use the changes from Superchops when you're actually working through this week's work.
-
In the spirit of transparency, I thought I would post one of my recordings from week 3 at 90 bpm. There are parts I like in there but a lot of meandering and repetitive stuff and plain wrong notes. Anyways, I am trying to just not worry about the warts and just commit to this project. Now that the tempos are in the 100bpm range I am really scuffling.
-
Here is a pdf of a cleaned up chord chart: Box
-
Jimmy I don't think you pulled the right page for the fist image.
-
That's what I get for late night groggy posting. Thanks! Originally Posted by AllanAllen
-
Good going Charlie! I can hear your ideas strong and on target at the start, then I can hear where you get tripped up with even a moment of indecision, and then the sound of your hands searching for 'home plate' and then standing aside and searching for a place to catch the train again. Originally Posted by charlieparker
All the time you played on. Yeah! So what I hear is your hands panicking as the ear gets lost in the confusion of the fingers.
The moment you lose track of your ear, your (mine too) hands go into scramble mode and that causes a cascade. We all do this.
This is the point in your musical journey when you start hearing and trusting that.
Try this: Play in conscious 4 note phrases, each group anticipating the chord coming up. Try not to catch the train after it's passed. In other words, hear a chord movement and go for it on the FIRST beat of your 4 note phrase.
It'll be rough around the edges at first, but this is where you start to imagine the form as you're playing it. Your hands will soon learn who's boss and there's your huge breakthrough.
The places where you get thrown are when the key changes, or there's a switch from a safe tonal area to an area of movement (dominant chords or something associated). If you knew that was coming, you'd be on top of it and you'd nail the change.
Practice this. It'll change your life!
You can do it!
-
Jimmy for bar 1 and 2.... lets see if I can type this. Originally Posted by Jimmy blue note
| C A F D C# A F D|
where the C to C# is changing from D- to D-(maj7) anticipating the next chord. Then a bar of half C# and half C for the next change?
Am I getting the general idea?
I've been trying for a chord tone on the one. Basically hitting the changes as they happen.
-
For each of those measures you have 8 notes, but dividing them into groups of 4, you can have a better chance at keeping the speed of thought and the focus of your fingers intact.
So, for example, your first measure, you've got D natural minor:
D E F G A Bb C D
The notes your ear can use as strong would likely be D or F or A.
So a 4 note little phrase might be D E F D, or D F A C if you wanted to arpeggiate and move your line through space quicker, or starting your phrase from the 3rd of the chord, F G A Bb or F G A F,
Those are little note groupings, each of which will help you keep the sound of the supporting chord in your ear.
Now since you've SO much space to focus on just one tonality in this project, it does make it easier to think of ideas and not worry about changes in tonality.
I'll talk a little about ways you can make your lines interesting as you introduce different implied chords but for now do you see how you can learn to control your lines by having some idea of the shapes you're trying to create?
D F A A Bb C D is an idea that has a chord type line at the start, then a scale kinda thing that goes to the root. See how that's clearer and more interesting than just moving your fingers one note at a time? 4 note groups can also sharpen your practice time so you can THINK in a four note group, and then a measure of 8 notes becomes just 2 thought groups.
Does this make any sense?
-
I don't think I asked my question right. Are you suggesting to hit the change 2 beats before it comes? on the 3? I used an arpeggio as the phrase in my suggestion to illustrate the chord change. Having the important note change on the beat I think you are saying to change on.
-
Honestly I wasn't prescribing anything that specific, just to have an aural awareness of the change and to be solidly "inside" the chord on beat one and three, yes. Originally Posted by AllanAllen
The only point I'm solidly suggesting is to "be there" harmonically as you pass the bar line. Anything is between your ear and you.
That may seem like a cop out non teaching thing to say but I feel so much genre trapping comes from options coming from other sources than our own self discovery.
This is advice for the crucial transition from finger driven playing to ear inspired playing.
That would mean yes, hit the tonality at the 3rd beat... at first. Just because it's an exercise to find short focused tonal statements and learn to create a pulse every two beats rather than risk meandering off into a directionless obligation of notes.
Once one gets the hang of this, the actual proficiency of these 4 note "cells" is the start of one's personal vocabulary, and can even be substituted out to create reharmonizations of a long tonal line like this piece provides.
But that's another discussion a few weeks away.
-
Oh, right. No, don't hit that C# until you pass the bar line. And that C# is there to create movement, it's not an obligation, so if you can ultimately learn to create chromatic movement within the grace of a line you create, that's the goal. Those three bars of D- are such a mouthful that you need to put some sense of purposeful movement in there so you don't wander into a coma. Originally Posted by AllanAllen
Having a measure of melodic minor is kinda cool to play with too.
D E F G A Bb C# D. That's a pretty cool scale that all sorts of stuff will spring from. If you have the time, it's an important world to introduce yourself to.
-
Thanks I get it now.
I like to hyper-focus on one specific example, then when I actually play I can mess around and explore and expand on things. Usually by trying to get the example into my line I mess it up, but if I can mess it up the right way it sounds good.... which is where all the scale practice comes in handy, for me at least, it gives me a map back from my flubs.
-
I have a Bergonzi book that emphasizes 4 note cells. Do you think it's worthwhile using some of my time to just work through these cells over the form? Originally Posted by Jimmy blue note
-
Yes. But know that Jerry assumes when you even pick up the book that you have enough ear/hand coordination that you are hearing and placing the notes of his examples in their recognizable patterns. Originally Posted by charlieparker
Each book on that level is addressing the questions and needs of the student who already has a skill set and is asking a question of expanding awareness based on a certain foundation.
I'd suggest that before you embrace Jerry's cells, which are exhaustive and exhausting, that you begin by creating your OWN vocabulary of 4 note cells based on the way you hear music, learn to create linear ideas on your ear and become solid in your ability to fit your ideas onto a chord based on your ear being able to hear the chord before you even play.
Play by ear. Teach yourself how.
If you can't do that, then the time spent assimilating Jerry's cells will be more finger exercises than ear exercises. That can take you down a dangerous path when you can learn to play complex lines with no logic to them. Eloquent gibberish: it's a frequent and unrecognized epidemic among those who learn to play without learning to hear.
This way, you can be guided to hear, to build your own vocabulary FROM THE START and all the options Jerry provides you with can be answers to questions you'll be ready to ask. Play what you hear. Go for it.
-
Here is the chord chart for next week's lesson 3-B (I'll be out of town for a bit): Box
-
Thanks fep! I hope it's a pleasant trip that takes you away. See you when you're back. Originally Posted by fep
-
I didn't have much problem playing Angel Eyes at 110bpm, because I already knew the song and had played it often many years ago, but this exercise had some interesting choices for changes/structure.
Again, I'm relying heavily on formulaic improvisations, so my ears are not really creative at higher tempo. Enjoying the exercises and I'm slowly improving.
Yes, Jim Hall, probably my fav version. Good stuff.
-
Playing melodies at the edge of your tempo zone is challenging and very daring, because it brings together all the SEPARATE elements of playing into the moment. It's a myth that playing fast is about the ways to move your fingers fast. Of course you need to address those things, how your picking technique keeps you from breaking the sound barrier, think about that. Can you economize on movement of your lines by learning how and when to best shift positions and can you find out what kinds of phrases slow you down by tripping you up? Originally Posted by GuyBoden
Formulaic improvisations aren't really a reflection of who you are as a person, they're ways of playing THINGS not IDEAS. If you can learn to create ideas faster, you'll have created a new landscape to hear, and play new things. If you can hear faster, you'll play faster.
Have you taken this into account with your practice time? Do you have things that can break you out of habitual playing? If you make this part of your practice mind set, you'll be growing and improving your entire life.
-
I've started Week 6 Exercise 3-B, it's Angel Eyes(ish) in A minor.
120bpm using my finger picking technique will be challenging.
Week 6 Exercise 3-B info below:
Here is Frank's chart below:
-
Thanks for sharing that - HR's sheets tend to be so busy as to be disorienting. For me, anyway ...
Reply With Quote
Nbiabd
Today, 08:41 AM in Recording & Music Software