Lessons, Practice, & basic scales.

dklsplace

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HoboKen said:
The Yamaha AW16G has been just sitting around and maybe I ought to sell it now that I use the Roland all the time. I don't know what one is worth used in very good condition on the average on e-bay......but if anyone is interested, I could find out.

I may have some interest in that.
 

Jeff

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Here's the studio I go every other Monday morning for lessons. Quite the Taj, Actually Smitty rents a small room in this building on Monday's.The building was built in the 40's ? & hasn't seen soap & water, or paint for that matter, since. Despite the outward appearance, the interior is worse, I'm having some kind of fun here the last couple weeks .

Not only is blues being taught here, lately some of it's being learned as well. Much of the licks & scales I have been exposed to here came together, for me at least, the last couple weeks. Stevie Ray's legacy is in no imminent danger, I'm still having issues with resolution but I was told today by a grinning teacher: "You're getting it big time." I got an "A".

Practicing scales, patterns, (little boxes) whatever you choose to call them has done wonders. I'm hearing many of the exercises in the music I listen to and starting to remember where the roots are without thinking about it. The fleeting moments of magic are happening more regularly now. The stuff works in any key, Woo Hoo !!! this beats the snot out of working for a living.



[img:450:338]http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid225/p7aa5cb1c0405ab077a110026b7c04f16/e9ca66e0.jpg[/img] [img:450:338]http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid225/p454fb7fd90caea6aa5116462140b3fab/e9ca66e2.jpg[/img][/img]
 

Graham

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Good going Jeff. I look at that whole theory thing like this :shock:

Some of the jazz stuff that I've read is loaded with theory and scales and practice. Oohh I just got a shiver.

I know I should do some, but.....
 

Jeff

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Graham said:
Good going Jeff. I look at that whole theory thing like this :shock:

Some of the jazz stuff that I've read is loaded with theory and scales and practice. Oohh I just got a shiver.

I know I should do some, but.....

Graham,

Theory & all that techie talk makes it seems like more n it is. All boils down to there's only 7 notes in a scale. That's it, only 7. Blows me away, must be millions of variations.
 

iamru02

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doe, a dear, a female dear........., :D


your a lot further along than I am, good going Jeff, I'll find time some day.
Amazing how your hear the thing your learning. Kinda like buying a car that you didn't remember seeing too many of and then soon as ya get one, they are all over the place. I don't remember hearing too much dobro until I stared learning some slide, now I hear some sort of slide or dobro in just about everything, even stuff done back in the 60's.....imagin that.

nice shots of the studio, don't judge a book by it's cover, it's what inside that counts.....ok, I'll stop with the cliche's (?) :)
 

Jeff

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Best day I've ever had musically was today. Miles to go, but I showed up 45 minutes early for my lesson today, a beautiful day sun was shining nobody around but me so I took out my F 20 & started playing in the shade by the side of the building.

Blues progressions, real simple, 4 chords max, I finally got the 9th chords figured out so I can touch em pretty clean & clear & know where they are & it was working pretty darn well. It's taken me weeks to get 9th chords to play clean enough to pass, F20 makes a cool blues sound sliding 9ths around. (T5 does too !!)

Smitty says you fool more people with 9th chords.

Smitty shows up just as I'm getting a good groove & cracks a big grin, "You're gettin it" he says. I do practice & get better at every lesson, not necessarily better at what he taught me the session before but I'm learning from this man & he's getting a charge out watching me do it. Monday's are a good thing & the hour flys by.

Then we spend an hour Jammin & he keeps tellin me, "Stay in the box", "get back in the box" dammit "Pick a box & stay in it". Funny thing I knew this time what he was talking about could see it on the fret board & hear it, well more of it. Today I was catching on pretty darn fast for an old guy with short term memory issues. All these wonderful tones & the vast majority withiin 2 or 3 simple 5 note patterns.

Scale patterns. We've been working on only 2 or 3 scale patterns & we changed keys a couple times ,barre chords, & the patterns & roots are in the same places.

Found a little "Funk" in the bass today, just a little piece, been looking for it for a long time. Wasn't where I was previously strummin.

13 months till I'm 60, things are looking up. A good woman does no hurt.
 

Graham

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ThinkLogo.jpg


Great to hear it Jeff, sounds like a lot of fun. You have to post up some sound bites.
 

Jeff

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Graham said:
[IMG:400:299]http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r126/Graham_61/ThinkLogo.jpg[/img]

You have to post up some sound bites.

I'm intimidated by the pickers posting their stuff here. Lots of good pickers.

I'm not so proud of what I'm doing I feel driven to attack the learning curve involved posting sound. Tried it a couple times & got lost in the upload/conversion/whatever process involved posting music to the net.
 

doc

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Jeff nice posts. I enjoyed reading them. We all struggle with our playing, at least those that aren't afraid to admit it. So its just the space your are struggling with at the time. Time and practice will change that too and it never ends if you want to keep on learning. Enjoy the road, may it never end, road trips are so fun! :p

Peace
Doc
 

Guildmark

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Ah! I remember that now!

Maybe I can be buried in a big guitar case. Or an Anvil flight case.
Nah. I can prob'ly only afford a gig bag.
 

Jeff

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Freaking scales & patterns are amazing. I been playing E & Em blues stuff mainly, teacher kind of encouraged me to concentrate on one key.
Not playing any particulary tunes really, just experimenting around trying to remember roots & cool spots. I'm really clumsy & melodically challenged, still have to think about it a lot, but it's better'n it's ever been.


Starting to figure it out some & transposed some of the stuff to "C". Really cool, what was sounding Bluesy in E starts finding Country sounds in C. "G" is a different mood too. Mebbe a more melancholy key.

Where's John Kidder's chart?

Got so jacked up I called my instructor at work & played a couple riffs thru the phone, just to make sure, you know, needed verification I wasn't out to lunch.

I'm having some fun playing my F 20 all over the neck, right up past the 12th fret. Not easy to play clean chords up there, the neck is so small. Requires a delicate touch I haven't developed as yet. Stuff is lots easier on the T 5. I don't care, I love this little guitar, single note runs up there ring bright & true.

She's gettin new strings today.
 

Graham

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Good on ya Jeff.

Once I get up past the third fret I know I'm going to be in trouble. I can't always get a clear tone with these fingers I have on an A. :shock:

I know when I use a capo on the 3rd or 4th fret and play the A position it's a very tight fit. I've tried two fingers and I've tried to just barre it and hit three strings.

Lots more work.
 

JerryR

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Find my D35 lot easier to play A and F than the Epiphone - I reckon the action is just the right height, as inevitably with A uding 3 fingers some are going to be about half way between the frets - but it comes out OK with the Guild. With the Epi I had to stop firmly just above the fret on every string every time for a clean note.
 
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