Marshall,
You are on the road to success. That road is paved
with many a good intention, and many a pot hole of bad
habits lay ahead, and repairs with good habits
(effective study skills, dedicated practice time,
etc..). But the road less traveled it seems is
disciplined dedication...this I sort of sense you
desire ... the desire to be the best players we can
lies in the disciplined dedication (...that is second
only to the desire to be the best player we can be
...)
I have found from experience that whenever there was a
lapse in my playing or practice, or quality time on
the instrument, my playing had seriously taken a step
back. That is because as musicians, we are exactly
like athletes in training. Like them, we have to keep
a regular schedule of disciplined practice in order
to stay in top speed. It has to do with muscle
training (Kinesthetics, etc...). I have seen this with
many musician friends also ...
Since my gigs now are mostly solo, I keep in (musical)
shape by laying down tracks on my computer and a Boss
digital recorder I purchased that was not too
expensive. This summer I completed a project I had
been longing to do for the longest time, I recorded 2
CDs of standards, originals, and covers tunes. I now I
am on the thrid CD. I placed a smaple of those CD on
my web page:
The point is this, as musicians, especially jazz
musicans, it is imperative that we play with
others...however, ithat is not always possible or
readily available. What I have found to be the next
best thing is laying down tracks -- it does wonders
for your time, your harmony, your sense of melody,
your solos, because almost every aspect of your
playing is affected by playing along with (others) or
yourself on tracks . . .
...if I can help in any way .., let me know ...
--- "Wm. Marshall Faircloth" <mfcpa1@...> wrote:
Reading these, especially Coker, has given me real
insight into how
the modes and scales are used in improvisation. I
found that I was
doing a lot of this intuitively already, except that
I was using
primarily the major and minor scales. As long as it
was a diatonic
progression, (see Clif and Pete, I'm a-larnin') my
solo notes sounded
pretty much 'in', provided I hit the notes I was
hearing in my head.
I can't wait to see where this leads!
Maintain
Marshall
John Amato
Music blows the dust off your soul...
Isa.55:11
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