I'm big on getting my time together. I have very little of it now and I must use it wisely. I need to practice 2 hours a day minimum, or I'd rather donate my body to science and spare a few bunnies what they have to go through. I can't stand when I don't practice.

I'm always checking out productivity business cats and learning from them. I also frequent the site Life Hacker. There are MANY great tips on there. This latest is a good one I think.

I know everyone is going to say play it slower and I do when practicing.
But this is about where I'd like it to be. It may be a few clicks to fast ....hmmm.... not sure yet. This is 158 BPM.

Figuring out solo vibes stuff is really challenging and fun!!!!

Anyway I had to post because we are moving on to Blue Bossa.

Be kind :)

I gave myself the Coffee Shop Test tonight. That is I'm playing solo in a coffee shop what would I play. Here's what I did.

I like coffee shops because if you play in them they're very low key. No one is walking expecting anything heavy. I always tell my students to go get a gig in a coffee shop. So when I do my imaginary gig at a coffee shop I feel pretty relaxed, as opposed to my pretend gig at Carnegie Hall.

Then I tried to get a little Mainieri sound happening with the EQ and modulation.

Yes Tony you're right, good question: who is Joe Porter? Huh?

Melody 12 Keys. Should be simple if you know your modes and know the tune.

Angelo, J, Vaglio

With Tony Miceli's help, I am trying to get my first blog video into this edition. The song is: "A Touchof Your Lips", that I used to play frequently, years ago when someone requested it. Please let me know if it came through okay.

Thanks, angelo. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0LDQzxYLvU

Kind of makes learning tunes a lot simpler doesn't it?

Oh man... I got this from Joe Locatelli on Face Book... I missed this program early September... though the gig is from 2007... Remember, that same gig when they did "Old Folks".

Enjoy!

- M

PS: I love Bobby's look when listening, the "duet tribute", and those beautiful solos: what a gang!! :o) More soon I'm sure! ;-)

This is another song from that same gig as mentioned previously.

Joe

I've been playing jazz vibes for about a year and a half now. This is from a recent gig. This was the first time I've ever played this song on vibes.

I'm posting it and maybe one more track. The reason I'm posting it, is because I'm trying to improve on improvising. I come from more of a drumset background and I find I often approach improvising more from a rhythmical background. My girlfriend told me I need to try to be more "melodic" tell me what you think,

thanks,

Joe