Practice log 11-21-2022

@Robert, you recommended practicing the Autumn Leaves Melody too, to learn playing over the chord changes ……. and now I’m in the middle of practicing a very beginner friendly version of the chord melody.

It’s not all that clean, the chord shapes are very challenging for me, takes a while for the fingers to be in the right position. And there are small stutters.

My question, before I continue practicing: What should I do with my strumming hand when the chord goes over a whole bar?

I struck the chord once and then I did 3 more airstrikes.  Is that ok or should I keep my hand calm after the first strike?

Thanks a lot, Birgit

That is great! I think you should keep your hand still, and count out the beats with your mouth or in your head. 

Listen to many version of the melody, and sing along! It really helps to get that melody in your head and fingers. 

@bluesiline Wow, I see a steady foot tapping, and a hand anchored on a beautiful guitar, and a substantial improvement in your performance.  Seems like you crossed a significant line in your approach to playing!

RR's advice, to truly internalize the song and then bring it back out of your head and onto your performance is spot on.  "Listen to many version of the melody, and sing along! It really helps to get that melody in your head and fingers."

Let yourself get caught up in the song; physically feel the music and swing with the groove.

Kudos to you!

Practice log 21-10-2022

Last week, when Robert published his new lesson „Minor Blues Boxes Solo – YL43“, I was very impressed, how he created this beautiful solo and started practicing right away. It’s so much fun to practice 😊, but also very challenging for me, string skipping included.

I had to start with 100 bpm, though, I doubt if I’ll ever make it to 150 bpm.

I can play the trill, but in bar 10, 11 and 12 I left out the double stops, for now, and made the end a little bit easier for me – and I only played one round.

Robert, thank you so much for this beautiful solo

Birgit

You definitely have the Trill- nice work. 

I can't imagine that at 150 bpm.  Keep going, Birgit.

Nice work! You are doing great. Have you tried playing with pulloffs and hammerons? That makes it so much easier for me to play more legato style, and it is overall a technique that simplifies my playing. I have some lessons and exercises on https://www.masterguitaracademy.com/course/hammer-ons/ and https://www.masterguitaracademy.com/course/pull-offs/

Thanks, Robert!

One of my weaknesses are the pull-offs. I’ve already started several times, but I’ve always given up and put the matter aside, although I can hear that the legato technique sounds much better.

Hammer-ons are a bit easier for me, but I didn’t use them in this solo either, in order to keep the rhythm better. I still have to work on that too.

So I’m going to put a little pressure on myself 😊 and study your courses on hammer-ons and pull-offs diligently and I will report my experiences.

Birgit

Practice log 01-03-2023

In my last post I promised to report my experiences with hammer-ons and pull-offs. I focused on pull-offs studying Robert’s course. The course is great, Robert,  and working with the Soundslice exercises helps me a lot 👍.

At the beginning I overdid it a bit and had a slight callus formation on my pinky!

It’s getting better now, but it still needs a lot of practice and I’m still faster with alternate picking.

During the Christmas season I came to Charlie Christian, the father of Jazz, through a George Benson interview and I fell in love with Christian‘s solo „Grand Slam“, a 12 bar blues in the key of F recorded by the Benny Goodman sextet in 1940. Great swing rhythm and some early bebop lines.

At a short notice, I dedided to tackle this solo. Even if it’s difficult for a player like me, I’d like to at least try!

After internalizing the melody and the rhythm and before using a backing track in F,  I made a first recording only with a Jazz Drum Brushes Backing track, at 110 bpm, to get the lines under my fingers. Some transitions, especially at the end, don’t fit properly. I still have to work on that.

What I can hear from my rudimentary recording is that I definitely need to hold the notes longer.

Before I continue practicing, Robert, I would be very grateful for tips on what I still have to pay attention to from your point of view.

Thank you,

Birgit

Addendum :

I’ve just found out, why I got out of rhythm a bit at the penultimate bar: My Jazz Drums Brushes backing track starts all over again at the end and then has a small offset.

Posted by: @bluesiline

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After internalizing the melody and the rhythm and before using a backing track in F,  I made a first recording only with a Jazz Drum Brushes Backing track, at 110 bpm, to get the lines under my fingers.

That's the foundation that must be laid- and I can see you moving to the groove, and definitely hear the difference that comes with working the fundamentals of time, feel and swing.  Great start to a New Year, and a testament to all that you learned through persistence in 2022.

The main thing is that I can't hear the drums. What's important to remember is that we need a track with chords so that we can hear how the notes relate to them. This sounds like a jazz blues, yeah? Can you play it again over a track? I can send you one too. Just tell me the temp you want.

EDIT - I have now listened to the original. Super cool! 

I think you did a great job, but in order to give you better feedback I recommend you record it again with a jam track.

Robert, you couldn’t hear drums, because there are no drums in my recording. The backing track I used is called „Jazz drum brushes play-along – medium swing“ and has only brushes to play along with.

I used this type of backing track for only getting the melody of the song under my fingers.

Charlie Christian’s Grand Slam is a Jazz Blues but in the freely accessible tabs I downloaded from the Internet, there is no Jazz Blues progression indicated but only a normal blues progression in F.

F7   F7   F7  F7

Bb7 Bb7 F7 F7

C7  C7  F7  F7

So today I made my own medium swing backing track with this blues progression in iReal Pro and made a huge step:

I tried to play the solo over the chord changes. Hard work for me: One of 15 recordings was usable, but not perfect: Bars 1 - 20 are in time with the chord changes (😊), but from bar  21 – 24 I was no longer in tune with the original melody because in bar 21 I played downbeats instead of upbeats and I had a little lag when playing to the end.

Sorry but it’s hard work for me, and I need a lot more practice!

But made a lot of fun 😊.

I know I must hold the notes longer and I hope you can give me some tips on what I still need to work on

Birgit

It is really fun to hear you play jazz! Jazz is very hard but I commend you on a fantastic effort. I think you are on the right track. Longer notes is a matter of preference. In this jazz tune, most of the lines use short notes I think. 

My recommendation is to to sing the solo with a backing track. You need to know exactly where to play the lines/licks. That you will know if you can sing/hum the solo. Then you sing AND play. Let your fingers follow your voice. That's the best way to get it right.

I believe that only a track with jazz drum brushes is not enough for you know where you are in the song. That is of the GREATEST importance. It doesn't matter how great you play a lick/line if you play it the wrong spot in time. You need a backing track where you can hear the chords. What you have is ok but I will send you a better one that sounds more realistic and less stiff. It's important to have good sounding jam tracks so that you get a better feel as you play along to it. So, try using your voice and repeat until you have it memorized. Only THEN, play it on the guitar as you sing along. 

Last thing - if you listen to Christian's solo you can write down of when he hold notes longer. Write down on a piece of paper which licks/lines end with holding the note. Then try to do the same, following your written notes (no pun intended).

@bluesiline I see you like jazz! You play very well! I enjoyed listening to your videos. Keep up the good work...you're well on your way and definitely going to get there!

Practice log 01-18-2023

Robert, I followed your recommendations and used my voice. I hummed the melody and repeated the solo until I had it memorized.

What I also have implemented is that my fingers follow my humming. I think that helped me a lot and with what I have learned, I was able to stay in the rhythm until the end of the solo.

I also used your jam track for the „F Jazz Blues & Tea“. A really good sounding jam track, no comparison to mine.

Furthermore, I made accents on the pdf of the solo where Charlie Christian holds the notes longer and I will try to adopt that step by step, as good as I can. Thanks for this tip too 👍.

This is a 3rd recording, but now with your jam track 😊.  There is still a lot to improve but I think it turned out a little bit better than the previous ones.

Birgit

By the way, my next step will be your lesson « Jazz Blues Guitar 1»  where I can learn the Jazz blues chord progression, shell voicings and Freddy Green comping. Well done, looking forward to working through the course!

Wow, this performance is so much more fluid. You should be so happy with your progress!