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Fighting the myth.
There's a myth that a great solo is something that drops into the hands of genius. But for the most part, the genius is making it seem easy.
Lots of people have very different things they think of when and while they make a solo. I've known people who are inspired by creating a variation of the head; their internal book is filled with ways to shade, frame and develop what's there from the composer.
I've known soloists who see soloing as a contrafact or re-writing the head completely, composing a whole new head on the spot.
I've known soloists for whom it's a collage of textures, each reflecting a mood of the moment as they take the journey through their solo space.
I've even known soloists who see things you and I can't imagine...and play them. A friend has synesthesia, he plays colours in a tone poem. Another sees a literal story with characters and these characters have themes as they are guided by the tonal areas and forms of the tune.
Most everyone who has found their voice uses a wide combination of the above elements.
So the "easy solo" or magic is part myth. You have to work hard, develop tools and boring building blocks, and learn to grab them quickly and imaginatively, and fit them together...that's the craft. Then you need to work with the form to place those elements into ways that make a dramatic or narrative sense when you look back on it...that's the art.
Keep this in mind as you build the musician in you. It won't come without mastering the building blocks. That's what our 20 weeks is about.
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12-11-2020 05:15 AM
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Day 5 50 bpm. Continuing to work with the ireal pro to keep focused on the single line task at hand. Still working on mixing and matching the arps and scales bits and trying to integrate more positions on the neck. Still fighting the lapses and making the recoveries as clean as possible. One more day...
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I'm not using HR's voicings, opting instead for shell voicings, but I took a gander again today just hear some of the more complex harmonies. What in the heck is going on with that B7b9 voicing in bar 16? The little 5 seems to imply a 5th string B root fingered with finger 2, so I am thinking this:
x2121x
with fingers:
x1231x
or:
x3142x
I can't fathom how or why you'd finger a first-fret C on string 2 with your pinky. Unless that weird •X• means something....open B string? But then...wha?
Here's a weird one:
x0150x with fingers x0140x
This is going to keep me up all night I'm afraid.Last edited by wzpgsr; 12-12-2020 at 12:32 AM.
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I'm on day 5. 65 bpm. I actually went through the whole thing twice. Once this afternoon as I had a rare break from work. Then I tackled it again this evening. I have to admit, I'm getting a little tired of Cherokee. It was never my favorite song to begin with. And I realize next week we have to do it all over again, but in in a different key. Some of Howard's harmony continues to make the tune a bit nebulous for me. I've contemplated going back to the simpler/straight changes and embellishing those chords with my own lines. Bars 9-12 and both turnarounds lack definition to my ears. Once we get to the bridge my interest picks back up. Probably because the harmony moves better, for me anyway. Part of me keeps questioning if I'm doing this whole program correctly. There are some nice moments, but I feel like I'm being awfully repetitive night in and night out. Oh, and I also have to really focus on sticking to steady 8ths. I keep wanting to do triplets or syncopate. Okay, enough for my evening confessional!
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Originally Posted by wzpgsr
For the purpose of eighth note work, I'd say do what ever it takes, and don't get hung up on the chord voicings (but DO keep them essentially simple, don't use fancy grabs just because your hand defaults to them).
I like putting down my own chord track because it puts me in touch with the form and because recording a good rhythm track is a really useful skill. But it's a skillset unto itself.
Use modern technology if that gets you going, use your own voicings if that gets you going, or do what ever is necessary. It's also something that can evolve during the weeks that we'll be working on this. ex: you may start with an app and somewhere decide at week 3 that "Hey, I really can get something from finally confronting my comping skills" and start recording at that point. Lots of ways to get there, but the eighth note practice, that's sacred here. Have fun!
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Originally Posted by D'Aquisto Fan
For example, different phrases in different positions can be achieved through traveling up one string, or by arpeggiating through a position change, or a complete position shift to an adjacent position, or complete position shift to a distant position, or taking an idea from one change and moving that same idea to a new position in a different chord (motiv), or taking one note and using it as a pivot note for different changes and tonal centres... all those are excellent skills you'll want to have in your fingertips when the speed picks up.
As far as the weird changes and passages you don't connect with, you might try working with those passages as chordal (comping) passages. TRy different voicings and inversions to see if you can bring out a quality in those areas you may have not heard or felt before. And do try exploring these changes with a note pedal. Triads over bass notes are good ways to find new ways to play and hear elusive changes.
But, yeah, I hear you. Sometimes something takes time to "click", and when they do, you hear them in different ways. Hunt through YouTube and see if somebody playing Cherokee, or Koko or some related contrafact doesn't make you see the tune in a new way. For me it was hearing Lee Konitz playing it. Lyrical, thoughtful and then I said AHA! THAT's what Cherokee is about.
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Hey I just found this. Has anyone else watched this? Great to get some kind of overview.
It looks like he's got other ones too. Nice to have this as "another member of the class" if you want
Last edited by Jimmy blue note; 12-12-2020 at 12:13 PM.
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Originally Posted by Jimmy blue note
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Originally Posted by wzpgsr
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I just realized this is day 6. I guess that means the last day for Cherokee in Bb. Because it's Saturday and I have more free time, I've done the exercises twice so far. I may do it a third time this evening. On my second pass today I decided to really try and focus on starting from the third of most chords to get more intentional upper structure. Perhaps this evening I'll start on the fifth. I probably should've done this earlier in the week when the tempos were slower. I'm up to 70 bpm. My mind is working a bit feverishly at times to play Dmin7 over Bb, Fmaj7 over D minor 7, etc. Some of this I do normally on my own, but the discipline of trying to do it over almost every chord seems like a good exercise. Although it's impeding some of the natural flow and creativity I was feeling prior to doing this. Hopefully targeting the upper structures a bit laboriously now will help burn those shapes and sounds into my playing for future fun and exploration.
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Originally Posted by D'Aquisto Fan
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Originally Posted by wzpgsr
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Originally Posted by D'Aquisto Fan
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Originally Posted by wzpgsr
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Originally Posted by wzpgsr
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Originally Posted by D'Aquisto Fan
GarageBand for iOS might provide a better solution for sharing audio then Voice Memos.
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Day 6 50BPM. I could have jumped to 60 but felt that there was more to learn by keeping it slower for now. Continued to use the ireal pro backing. Continued very much as yesterday, arps and scales, ascending and descending reversing direction at tonal centers. At the end of the session my brain was fogged. It will be good to working on something entirely different tomorrow before enjoying the transition to Db on monday.
I definitely made progress this week. The world was not set afire, but improvement has been spotted.
Thanks JBN for starting this and for all of your encouragement!
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Originally Posted by wzpgsr
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I’m noticing that long lines of chromatic 8th notes that I associate with bebop don’t sound very good played at super slow tempos. The brain has too much time to hear the dissonance. Or maybe I just suck
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Okay. I think I finally figured this out. Here is a take on Cherokee at 70 bpm. Hope it doesn't suck too much! Hitting the record button certainly
adds additional pressure! Thanks for listening.
Michael
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Originally Posted by D'Aquisto Fan
Thanks for posting this.
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Originally Posted by wzpgsr
And yeah, being able to feel frustrated with where you are (DO I suck?) and build your options out of that...that's what we're doing. Every solo by any player is filled with places that will lead to traps, cliches or uninspired endings. You'll soon learn that making a solo is partly finding an inspired line, but equally, or more important is the ability to spot the easy path to what's too comfortable, and pick the raw ground you can build on.
You can work on hearing at slow speed and you'll find the music.
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The end of the first week! This week has been full of revelations for me. Slowing down has allowed me to really move around the fingerboard in ways I wouldn't dare before, and when I get back to playing at speed when I'm playing, those new connections are leading to new and fresh ideas. Overall, my time is getting really solid at faster speeds.
I'm so pleased we're all doing this. I have lots of friends that are now considered some of the top players in the field, and I've known many of them as they were starting out. They're ordinary people, and at one time they all really struggled with their instruments. The difference that made them who they are is a simple one: They loved playing enough that they never gave up-then they got good enough that they couldn't put it down.
So great to be on the road that is constantly moving, constantly getting harder and easier at the same time.
Have a good resting day and we hit with the key of Db on Monday.
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Originally Posted by D'Aquisto Fan
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Originally Posted by Jimmy blue note
Further dialing in the Ibanez AF95 ... I do like...
Today, 05:44 PM in Guitar, Amps & Gizmos