I just picked a few notes out of a solo by John Coltrane from If I Were a Bell. I love when folks play descending watefalls of appregios. Mr. Coltrane plays a series of descending appregios on probably a bunch of stuff, but I always think about how he does it on Milestones. On Milestones, […]
So this was something I was doing recently. It’s based on using the omnibook (though I guess you could use other folk’s solos) and then David Baker’s books about learning bebop. Anyways, here’s what it was… Just read through Charlie Parker’s solo at a pace that you can get a bunch of the notes and […]
Here’s some cool songs that I’ve been working on or would like to work on. Just started playing with the Omnibook again. I learn a lot just sight reading his solos. Once i get some worked up to speed, I’ll play along with the record. I’ve been waiting for my ear to catch up but […]
What is musical courage? Consider these possibilities: You want to play something, no one seems interested, but you play it anyways You want to impress someone, but you play what is best for the music You choose to play something that might sound bad or crass and burn You take the time to practice new […]
Well I’ve been wanting to learn Black Market by Weather Report for a long time… I am almost there, I just got to figure out a few more parts where the song goes to the bridge in C minor. To do my routine every day. Playing with a drum machine that does clave, super fast […]
I have been learning bits and pieces of arabic over the years. During the month of June, I am going to spend maybe 20 minutes per day on learning how to speak, read and write. The main tools to learn arabic that I hope to use are Rosetta Stone and a few books. Also, I […]
drinking fresh juice drinking fruit shakes sleeping enough eating at least 3 good meals a day drinking enough water relaxing eating organic getting exercise staying flexible getting fresh air being outside in nature if you’ve ever had an injury, do daily exercises to strengthen the area
Besides learning what folks are playing on instruments, I love playing along with people’s voices. It’s a great aspect of playing that some may overlook. In general, it’s great to imagine the guitar as many different instruments. In other words, I try to imitate/incorporate things a drummer, dancer, bassist, rapper, dj, painter, t a player, […]
Man, a lot of great local musicians forget to get to the gig on time, let alone early. They spend so much of their time focusing on the art of music that they forget to learn the art of getting to the gig on time! I am still learning both art forms! Once you get […]
You know how a lot of people have that page that shows how they’ve been doing with Google adsense and affiliate programs. I thought I might have a page like that. ‘The experiment’. Anyways, it’ll be cool. Hopefully it will help me to go surfing and see friends around the world and to invest in […]