Cherokee - this morning's practice focusing on playing 8th note lines using mostly alternate sticking.
One of my favorite songs from Pat Metheny. A lovely song beautifully played by Pat. The album "Letter From Home" is also one of my favorites from Pat and his group. Here's my take on it. I was going for a subtle version with restraint and a focus on playing counterpoint using dampening. When Pat was playing with Gary in the 70s, I remember going to Gary's office at Berklee and many times seeing Pat dabbling on the vibes. He sounded good too!
Fairly easy drive into Boston this morning so I had some practice time before class. Warming up with a bluesy version of Duke Ellington's "Don't Get Around Much Anymore".
A brief snippet of Chord Tone Soloing over "The Days of Wine and Roses". One of the first topics that my students and I work on in my Berklee improv class. It's a basic but important and fundamental technique to have down. Some of the things we focus on include connecting the chords, use of motives, phrasing, feel and sound. All crucial musical elements needed to make it work. All of this is addressed in Volume 1 of my improv series The Complete Guide to Improvisation.
“ALFIE” – composed in 1966 (for the movie of the same title) with lyrics by Hal David and music by Burt Bacharach. I’ve always been a fan of Burt Bacharach’s composing and of this song which has a beautiful and memorable melody, poignant lyrics, unusual and interesting harmony and an odd bar form. There are many fantastic versions of this song recorded by vocalists. From pianists, one of my favorite version is from Bill Evans. Bill’s lush voicings, sense of harmony and touch is impeccable. Brad Mehldau’s version with his trio is also excellent.
"Everything Happens To Me" - a beautiful song written by Tom Adair (lyrics) and Matt Dennis (music). At Berklee this morning squeezing in a little practice time before heading to some presentations for the 5 Week Program. Playing one of the school's Yamaha vibraphone. I like how my Vic Firth mallets (M39) sound on it.
"Poinciana" - In the home music studio today playing the classic song from 1936. Two of my favorite versions are from great pianists Ahmad Jamal and Keith Jarrett.
drill no.2
Here's a play along I made for a student.
We are working on moving 2 5's through the keys. So the Progression is:
C | C | Gmin7 | C7 | Fmaj7 | Fmaj7 | Cmin7 | F7 | Bbmaj7 etc. get it?
i wrote out voicings and i played a solo where I just play the chord tones to make the solo.
So check it out.
I don't put the chords in, you have to write them him. the are chords WITH roots, so you should be able to figure them out.