Five Stages of Jazz Guitar Arranging

Writing arrangements for solo jazz guitar is a special joy of mine. Some of my arrangements are purely instrumentals, while most of them are written as solo choruses to vocal arrangements for myself or for Godfrey and Guy. Arranging for solo guitar is challenging and rewarding. I always learn something in the process. These are my five stages of jazz guitar arranging:

1. Glee – I like a song so much that I can't wait to arrange it for solo guitar. Or Lori, my music partner, likes a song so much that I am required to write an arrangement.
2. Despair – After sitting down with the new song and trying different approaches, I realize this is harder than I thought it would be. In fact, I can't think of a way to make it work. If it's my own song, I might find it difficult to find chord forms that will allow me to highlight the melody. If it's a Godfrey and Guy song for Lori, it's a sure bet that she sings it in a key that is too high or too low for the guitar, forcing me to get creative with octave displacement.
3. Hope – After fiddling with the song for a couple days, or even a week, I figure out a good way to play a phrase. If I've figured out how I can play one phrase, I know I can write the rest.
4. Determination – After a week, or possibly a month, I've written the entire arrangement. The end is in sight. Now I have to learn how to play what I wrote. This can take a while. Sometimes I can play my arrangement right away, and sometimes I need to spend a lot of time playing it in super slow motion before working it up to speed.
5. Pride – Finally, I can play my new creation at a gig – usually a background gig where people are more worried about getting refills than whether or not I'm debuting a shiny new song. That doesn't matter to me, though. I mostly care that I took the time to write a new arrangement for a song that I like, and that now I have a new song in my repertoire.

New Teaching Situation

A few weeks ago, my friend Lynnette, who owns the Tessitura studio where I teach, told me that she is going to be renting her space to a personal trainer, who will convert Tessitura into a personal training gym. This is an opportunity Lynnette couldn't pass up. She had been advertising Tessitura as a place to rent space for office use, yoga, or whatever when she wasn't teaching. She was hoping for some extra income from some smaller renters, but instead, she was contacted by someone who wants to rent out the space full time. It's a win/win situation for Lynnette. She's leasing her space to the personal trainer and then paying some rent to another landlord two doors away so she can continue her music classes.

While I understood that Lynnette took advantage of a good opportunity, I was a little bummed at the change in my teaching situation. Fortunately, Lynnette gave me plenty warning, so it wasn't like I had to find another place to teach the next day. Being right smack in the middle of the Oakhurst neighborhood, Tessitura has been a good home base. I searched for another neighborhood spot to teach. It looked like I was going to be able to teach at a local church. The music director was excited about the prospect, but it turned out that they have a policy of only renting to non-profits. I suppose it could be argued that, being a musician, I am automatically non-profit.

After the church location fell through, I realized that, since almost all of my Tessitura students live in Oakhurst, I can come to them. Starting in mid-May, I'm going to teach in my students' homes. The reaction from the parents has been unanimously positive – no driving to the studio and sitting around waiting while their kid takes a lesson. On top of that, I'm not increasing the lesson fee. Lessons at Tessitura are higher than my normal rate so I can cover the rental cost. I charge more for home visits, but that price is offset by the fact that I will no longer be paying rent. Even with the cost of driving and the extra buffer time between lessons for travel, I'll be earning half again what I earn at Tessitura. Parents pay exactly the same. I earn more money per lesson. Win/win.

To be honest, I've been lazy about recruiting students at Tessitura. I hate the marketing aspect of the music teaching business. I've been relying on Tessitura's great location, waiting for students to drift in. With no central location, I'm going to have to be more proactive about recruiting students. I've ordered some postcards to sprinkle around the neighborhood. I'll also encourage word of mouth by giving parents some incentive to spread my name around. For example, if a new student comes to me because of a referral from one of my students, that student gets a free lesson. I've managed to build up a respectable roster at Tessitura without trying very hard. Imagine what I can do if I put some effort into it! At first, Lynnette's news about renting her space threw me for a loop, but now it's starting to look like a blessing in disguise.

Starting around the middle of May, I'll be zipping around Oakhurst and the surrounding area, teaching guitar, ukulele, and piano to students of all ages. Have guitar, will travel.

Seven String Hobby

I bought a seven-string guitar a few months ago with the intention of using it for solo and Godfrey and Guy gigs when we don't have a bass player (which is most of our gigs). I knew it would take some getting used to, but was even more challenging than I expected. I lost interest in it and gave it up…or so I thought. I was considering selling it, but I hung onto it. I'm glad I kept it, because I've started playing it again.

When I first bought the seven-string guitar, I figured that maybe three months would give me time to adjust. It's just one more string! Silly me. I put too much pressure on myself to get good at it right away, and I became frustrated when I realized that it would take more time to sound halfway decent on it than I thought.

Now I'm thinking of the seven-string guitar as a hobby. Of course I would like to eventually be comfortable enough with it to play in public, but I'm enjoying the low pressure approach. Each night, before I go to bed, I pull out the seven-string guitar and play it for around 30 minutes. I'm not doing anything fancy with it. I'll play a few ii-V-I sequences and then play with a handful of songs that are in my repertoire, figuring out how to take advantage of the low A string. I enjoy puzzles, and this is a kind of musical puzzle.

As I continue to dabble in the seven-string guitar, it'll feel more and more natural to use the low A string, and eventually I won't have to think about it very much. At some point, I'll realize that I'm ready to play it in public. I'm not putting the pressure of a deadline on myself. It might be a year from now; it might be two years. Meanwhile, I'm enjoying my new "hobby."

Looper Practice

I set up my own practice room a few days ago. Since this spot in my apartment is dedicated to guitar and only guitar, I can leave my essential practice tools set up and ready to be used at any time, including the small pedal in front of the chair in the picture. This is a looper, which records what I play and then plays it back through the amp. I use a bigger version of this looper for some gigs. I'll record the chords while I'm accompanying myself or someone else, and then I'll improvise solos while the chords play back. This is a fun way to use the looper, but it's also an amazing practice tool.

Now that I have this little looper permanently set up at home, I use it a lot. In practice sessions, I use it mainly as a super fast, easy way to record myself and listen to the playback. Have you ever heard a recording of yourself talking and thought, "That doesn't sound like me?" The same goes for playing an instrument. Your own perception of your sound as you play is usually quite different from the way it actually sounds.

I have recently begun using the looper to listen to my improvised solos. (I can't believe I haven't thought of this before.) Improvisation is such a fleeting thing. When I improvise, I rarely remember much about what I played 10 seconds ago, let alone an entire solo. Up until now, I would improvise to Band-in-a-Box tracks and congratulate myself when I played over the changes comfortably. I never thought too much about my style and delivery.

Say hello to my little friend.
Almost as good as a teacher.

With the looper, I can play through the chord changes once. After that, I can add layers to the loop, which enables me to record an improvised solo over the changes I just played. What an eye opener! In some respects, I was pleasantly surprised at what I heard. In general, I tend to play lines that are melodic and singable, which is exactly what I'm going for. Sometimes there are licks that surprise me. I'll hear the playback and think, "Wow! Did I play that?" On the other hand, my relative youth as a guitar player shows through, especially in my timing. When I'm navigating through tricky chord changes or I'm just not quite sure what to play next, I'll start playing ahead of the beat, as if I can't wait to get through some challenging measures. Being made aware of this tendency, I'll take another crack and the solo, and 9 times out of 10, I'll sound more comfortable the second time. It'll be easy to forget to play more deliberately in performance situations, because there are other things that demand your attention, but the more I focus on improvising with a more relaxed feel at home, the more it will become a habit in the real world.

If you own a looper, I highly recommend using it as a practice tool. If you sing or play an acoustic instrument, you can record with a voice memo app on a smartphone or with an inexpensive digital recorder. After the initial shock of really hearing yourself for the first time, you'll be amazed at how quickly you can improve your playing or singing. It's almost as good as having a teacher in the room. In some ways, it may be better, because you can hear for yourself what needs to be fixed.

The Power of Slow

My young guitar and piano students believe everything I tell them…almost. The one thing they never seem to believe is that their playing will improve immensely if they practice slowly. They want to play fast right away.

One of my brightest students is an 8 year old piano player. I lost count of how many times I told her to slow down today, especially when she was sight-reading. I actually got her to slow down once, and – surprise! – she played more accurately. It didn't matter. She just played faster again. I can certainly understand an 8 year old's impatience, so I don't take her resistance personally. I'll just keep reminding her to slow down over and over until I eventually wear her down. In a few years, she'll have progressed enough that I'll have to hand her off to a more advanced piano teacher, and then the new teacher can tell her the same thing.

If there are any young musicians out there reading this (or parents of young musicians), here are some reasons to practice slowly.

• Playing slowly improves accuracy. If you are having trouble playing something quickly, and you continue practicing it that way over and over, you are going to get really good at making the same mistakes. If you slow down, you can pinpoint where you are having problems. Play at a tempo in which it is almost impossible for you to make a mistake, and then gradually speed it up.
• Playing helps you play more relaxed. If you are playing too fast, you build up tension in your fingers, arms, shoulders, and the rest of your body. If you are tense, your body tends to lock up, and you can't play as fast. If you start slowly, within your comfort zone, you will be learn to be more relaxed as you build up speed.
• Playing slowly helps you learn to play expressively. Playing fast is impressive, but if all you can do is play fast, listeners will soon get bored with your playing. You also need to learn how to play with good phrasing, dynamics, and nuance. In playing slowly, you'll learn to develop the power of expression.
• The pros all practice slowly and build up speed. That's one of our big "secrets." If the pros practice slowly, why not you?

I hope that all of my students will be turned on to the power of slow at some point in their development. Until then, I'll keep saying the same things over and over in my lessons…"slow down!"

Smoothing Out Your Guitar Chords

Perhaps the biggest frustration my beginning guitar students experience is not being able to move from chord to chord as quickly as they would like. All guitarists go through this phase. If I had an easy way to get over this rough patch, I could sell my secret and be rich. The truth is that it takes practice – lots and lots of practice.

When you practice guitar chords, you are training your motor skills. Your goal is to think about a chord and have your fingers form it automatically. This takes time to develop, and it involves a lot of repetition. The only way to develop your chord-forming skill is to – wait for it – practice forming chords. Let's use a sports analogy to illustrate the point. If you are a basketball player and you want to improve your free throws, you're going to have to shoot a lot of free throws. If you miss your first four attempts and then make your free throw on the fifth try, you don't stop. You keep shooting free throws so you can teach your body how a successful free throw attempt feels. The same goes with chords. You don't just play a few chords and stop. You play them over and over until you can practically play them in your sleep.

Here's one exercise you can use for practicing chords. Let's say you are learning a song in D, and it has the chords D, G, and A7. First, pick two chords, and practice switching back and forth between them over and over. Then pick another pair. Try all the possible two-chord combinations.  So:

• Alternate between D and A7 for a while.
• Alternate between D and G for a while.
• Alternate between G and A7 for a while.
• Try a longer combination. Cycle through D – G – A7 – D.

Some general tips as you practice switching from chord to chord:

• Don't worry about trying to play a fancy strumming pattern. You are working on your fretting hand, not your strumming hand. Simply strum each chord once. You can add strumming patterns another time.
• Start slowly so that your fretting hand is relaxed. As you get more comfortable with the chords, see if you can gradually pick up the pace, but never play so fast that your fretting hand becomes tense.
• Keep your fingers as close to the strings as possible as you switch chords. The closer you keep your fingers to the strings, the faster you'll eventually be able to play.
• Study the fingering for each chord. Do the chords have any common fingers or similar shapes? For example, when moving back and forth between D and A7, if you play the A7 with fingers 1 and 2, you'll find that you can easily keep those two fingers in the same formation, move them to strings 1 and 3, and you're in perfect position to play the D chord.

Finally, while I don't generally recommend practicing in front of the TV, this is what I call a "TV" exercise. With the sheer repetition, this type of chord practice can be mind numbing. When I practiced chords in this way, I would plant myself in front of a TV, picked a handful of chords to practice, and watch a show while I played the chords over and over and over.

If you practice your chords like this, you won't sound better instantly, but if you do this consistently, you'll experience noticeable improvement in just a few weeks.

Seven String Transfer

Tonight, I began the slow process of learning to play my Godfrey and Guy duo material on the 7-string guitar. I came up with a great sounding accompaniment for Take Five. I patted myself on the back before reminding myself that I have well over one hundred more songs to relearn! I also spent time working up Black Coffee and I'm Beginning to See the Light, and I'll start in on Girl from Ipanema tomorrow.

Funny how just one more string can change the landscape. I love the extended bass notes that the low A string offers, but taking advantage of those notes often requires rethinking a chord voicing or comping in a different area of the neck than I have been using for a particular song. The new chord voicings that I'm learning aren't that difficult, but the little changes start to add up, and my brain eventually overloads.

When I play the traditional 6-string guitar, there are certain devices that are burned into my muscle memory so completely that I can play them without a second thought. Those devices transfer to the 7-string, but I have to think about them again as I learn to incorporate the 7th string into the mix.

With this first set of songs, I'm starting the process of reprogramming my muscle memory. As I work through a mix of swing, blues, and bossa songs, I'll gradually get comfortable with the 7th string and the possibilities it opens up. The process won't take quite as long with the next set of songs. By the time I've worked my way through a couple dozen songs, I'll have worked up a handful of useful licks and tricks, and things will get easier and easier…or at least that's what I keep telling myself.

Comping is one thing. Then there is solo playing. I've worked up a lot of solo arrangements. I'm going to have to totally relearn those solos. That'll be interesting.

Fortunate One

At last night's weekly Godfrey and Guy gig at Noosh, a customer asked the manager to ask us to turn down the music. I don't believe that the customer is always right. We use the volume knob judiciously, and as a guitar/voice jazz duo, our music tends to be gentle, with a lot of space. The rest of the customers were so loud that we could barely hear ourselves. Maybe the customer felt like the only thing she could possibly control was the music, because she certainly couldn't tell the other customers to be quiet. We grumbled through the rest of the night about this.

As I woke up this morning, I reminded myself that, despite the occasional annoyance, I'm very fortunate to be doing what I'm doing. As a matter of fact, things are really coming together this summer, and I find myself doing exactly what I want to be doing. I teach private guitar lessons three days a week, hold down two weekly gigs, and work part time as a church music director.

Am I satisfied? Well, not really. There is always another hill to climb. I'd like to find another weekly Godfrey and Guy gig. I'd like round out my student roster by filling in the remaining slots on the days I teach. I'd like to land a few more corporate and wedding gigs. I'd like to build the Godfrey and Guy duo into a full fledged jazz band. But honestly, things are humming along. It feels like the pieces of my life's puzzle are finally coming together. I'm lucky to be doing what I'm doing, even if I have to turn to volume down sometimes.

New Solo Gig

I'm thrilled to add a new weekly gig to my schedule. There are two L'Thai restaurants in Atlanta – one in Tucker and one in Smyrna. Both places have music Friday through Sunday. There are a few musicians who rotate. I'll mostly be playing at the one in Tucker, and mostly on Sundays, except when I'm not. Clear as mud? If you live in Atlanta and would like to drop in and say hello on one of my nights, the best thing to do is check my Facebook page, where I'll be announcing when and where I'll be playing from week to week.

This is solo guitar, no singing. This gig is going to be good for me in many ways. First, it's a gig! We musicians like to collect and keep them. Second, it's always good to be out in public. I have a website, a profile on Gig Salad, and I keep things up to date on Facebook, but there's nothing like being out in public where you can meet potential clients face to face. As a matter of fact, on my first night, I was approached by a guy who produces music for a local recording studio. He really liked my playing, took my card, etc. I looked up the studio, and they record commercials for some impressive clients, Indie films, and documentaries. It's not like I'm expecting a call tomorrow, but you never know where these kinds of contacts will lead.

While the L'Thai gig is great for publicity and gig hunting, I'm mostly excited because it gives me an outlet for developing my solo guitar chops. Performing with Godfrey and Guy every Friday at Noosh Persian Bistro already provides a good opportunity to bring up my solo guitar playing, but sitting down and playing solo in public for a couple hours each week will help me bring that aspect of my playing to a new level.

Next up, I'd like to find an additional weekly gig for Godfrey and Guy. I have the solo gig – great for solo chops. We have the duo gig – great for duo chops. I'd love to find a place where we can field a small combo to develop a group.

Seven String Guitar Book

The 7-string guitar adventure continues. I've been messing around with the 7-string guitar for a couple weeks. I figured out a few things, but it quickly became apparent that I needed some direction. My teacher suggested Mel Bay's Complete 7-String Guitar Method. A quote from the introduction reads "[This book] is geared toward the intermediate to advanced student. Those who already have an understanding of scale and chord construction, and other basics of jazz guitar playing, will probably benefit most from this book." Perfect! That description sounds an awful lot like me.

This isn't a book you'll typically find at your local music store, so I ordered a used copy online. Returning from a late rehearsal, I found my new (to me) book waiting for me in the mailbox last night. I started working through it today, and it's just what I need to help me tackle this beast.

The book is organized into three sections: Scales, Arpeggios, and Chord Voicings. It's set up so that you can work through each section independently. I'm spending most of my time on the scales and chord voicings. I'll start working through the arpeggio section after I'm familiar with the major scale patterns.

The material in the book is both new and familiar. Let's take scales as an example. The 7-string guitar is tuned exactly like a 6-string guitar, with a low A string added. So really, the scales are all patterns that I already know, but there is another string that extends the low range. It won't be long before the extended scale patterns are ingrained – same with chords and arpeggios.

The chord section is written with the assumption that you already know 6-string jazz chords, so the author concentrates on chords that are unique to the 7-string guitar. The chord exercises are pretty simple. They are all written in the key of C, with the assumption that you'll learn to play them in all keys. As simple as the chord exercises are, it's thrilling to hear those low notes.

If you are a jazz guitarist exploring the 7-string guitar, I highly recommend Mel Bay's Complete 7-String Guitar Method.

Seven String Transition

I've been playing the new 7-string guitar for about four days. It's a challenge, but it's fun. I brought the 7-string to a Godfrey and Guy rehearsal after exactly one day of owning the instrument. I could practically feel the smoke coming out of my ears as my brain went into overdrive. To make a long story short, it'll be a while before I debut the new instrument in a performance.

While I expected the transition to 7-string guitar to be tricky, I was surprised at some initial awkwardness when picking up the 6-string again, although it didn't take long to readjust. Last night's performance at Noosh suffered a bit after focusing on the 7-string earlier in the week. I play as many songs as possible from memory. Memory slips are inevitable in a three hour gig, but I had more than my share last night.

Going forward, I'll spend equal time on the 6- and 7-string guitars. At some point, I may have to decide whether to continue playing both instruments in performance or switch permanently to a 7-string, but based on the way things are going, I'm not going to have to make that decision any time soon!

One More String

After saving my pennies, I bought a 7-string guitar. At $800, the Ibanez Artcore isn't exactly cheap, but it's the closest thing to an entry level price I could find for a 7-string archtop. It's a beautiful looking guitar. I prefer the tone of my Heritage 575, but still, this Ibanez has a pretty sound.

So why spring for a 7-string guitar when I haven't come close to mastering six strings? I've been fascinated by jazz guitarists who play 7-string instruments. In particular, I've been watching videos of Bucky Pizzarelli, Howard Alden, and Charlie Hunter. You can do a lot with a guitar, but if you are playing solo, or if the guitar is the only accompanying instrument, I find that even the best players lack a certain depth of sound. The extra string adds that depth.

The 7th string adds a bass note below the low E string. From what I understand, guitarists will either tune it to a low B or A. Like most jazz 7-string players, I've tuned mine to an A. Any note that I play on the 5th string can be played an octave below on the 7th string. I discovered right away that this adds a lot of body to chords with 5th string roots.

With the 7th string tuned an octave below the 5th string, I find the new landscape easy to understand intellectually. Physically, it's going to take a lot of adjustment. The guitar is tuned the same way with just one more string added. How tricky can that be? Plenty tricky! I'm so used to navigating from the 6th string, that I constantly find myself playing on the wrong group of strings. On the other hand, I find that the extra string doesn't affect my single note playing all that much, probably because I play most of my single note lines on strings 1 through 4.

This is not an instrument I would use while playing with a bassist. I'll continue playing my Heritage in the Sentimental Journey Orchestra and my church band. When I begin to feel comfortable with the Ibanez, I'll use it for Godfrey and Guy and solo playing.

The only way I'm going to learn to play this instrument is to simply play it as often as possible (which is obvious – this isn't rocket science). I spent quite a bit of time with the Ibanez today, mostly experimenting with different chord voicings. I'll also explore the 7th string in a more methodical way. I learned basic jazz guitar chord forms from the Mel Bay Rhythm Guitar Chord System. I've already taken myself through the book three times. I guess it's time to play through it a fourth time, adapting the chord forms for seven strings. I'll bring the Ibanez to my next lesson, too. Although he doesn't play a 7-string guitar himself, my teacher may have some suggestions for getting to know the Ibanez.

I already knew it would be challenging to learn the 7-string guitar, but all I had to do was play an "A" chord, and I was hooked. Even with the little experimenting I've done, I find that I love the depth of sound that the extra bass string offers. I'm looking forward to exploring and discovering new sounds and possibilities.

Ella's Poem

Today, I said goodbye to a delightful young guitar student, Ella, who is moving in a few weeks. I've lost track of time, but I think I've been teaching Ella for two years or so. The thing that makes Ella a joy to teach is her personality: part rock star, part comedian. In her first lesson, Ella was sizing me up and didn't say much. In her second lesson, she opened up right away about school, guitar, and life in general. From that point on, Ella has made me laugh out loud in nearly every guitar lesson.

Although Ella is moving to a different state, we are going to continue lessons through either Skype or Google Hangouts. I'll miss seeing Ella in person, but I'm glad that we'll continue lessons online.

Instead of having a lesson today, I went out for frozen yogurt with Ella and her mom. As a parting gift, I gave Ella a Snark tuner and a chord book. Ella gave me a card and a poem she had written. I was really touched by the poem. Here is Ella's poem:

"Guitar"

Strum, strum, strum.
Light sound, hard beat
Makes me want to move my feet.

Tap, tap, tap.
Guitar resting on my lap.

Bump, bump, bump.
Made from a tree stump.

You may like the sound
That comes from the amp on the ground,
But the acoustic guitar is for me
You see.

Simple Is Good

"Less is more." It's a cliché, but it's true. It's a lesson I find myself learning over and over again. Examples:

I lead a band at Northwest Unitarian Universalist Congregation, made up of two singers, two guitars, piano, bass, and percussion. When I begin learning a song for the band, I tend to play very rhythmically and with full chords. With two guitars and a piano, there is a lot of overlap in comping, so this full out approach usually doesn't work when I play with the band. As I listen to what the other players are doing, I invariably find myself playing less and less. I'll just play offbeats or some other simple rhythm, and I'll play 3- or 4-note chords instead of full guitar chords. On hymns, which tend to be simpler than the band songs, I sometimes find that it sounds best if I don't play at all. It's humbling to find the band sometimes sounds better when I lay out. On the other hand, it frees me up to be a more effective song leader for the congregation.

The larger the group, the less you have to do. I play guitar in the Sentimental Journey Orchestra, a 17-piece big band. My role as a rhythm guitarist is to help keep time and to outline the basic harmonic movement. Rhythmically, my job couldn't be simpler. I'm playing quarter notes 95% of the time. (Notice I said that my job is simple…not easy. Believe it or not, there is an art to playing quarter notes.) Harmonically, the less I play, the better it sounds. The bass player covers the root notes, so I leave those out. The piano player plays all the extensions (9ths, 11ths, 13ths), so I leave those out. That leaves me with the guide tones, sometimes called shell voicings. Unless I have a solo, which is rare for a guitarist in a big band setting, I usually play 2-note chords. By themselves, those shell voicings don't sound like much, but they're wonderfully effective in a big band.

Being the sole instrumentalist in the Godfrey and Guy duo, you'd think I could play all sorts of crazy stuff, but no. As much as I'd like to think otherwise, the main focus of the listener is on the vocals. If I get overly fancy with my guitar accompaniment, I get in the way of the singer. I have more freedom to branch out in Godfrey and Guy than I do with the church band or the SJO, but I still find that a strong basic groove sounds best…a walking bass with rhythmic stabs, simple quarter notes, a basic Bossa beat, all in support of the song. And if I feel like throwing in a little lick now and then, it's more effective when it jumps out of a simple texture. As a bonus, when I'm playing a 3+ hour gig, my hands get less fatigued if I keep it simple.

As I delve deeper and deeper into jazz guitar, I'm constantly working to improve my technique, solidify my time, and open my ears. I'm not setting the world on fire, but my technique is far better than it was five years ago, and I'll keep working to improve. But even as I continue to stretch my own boundaries, I keep reminding myself of the basic rule that less is more. Simple is good.

Things I Didn't Expect as a Guitarist

When I started learning the guitar 10 years ago, I knew it would be different from classical trombone. Some of the differences surprised me.

Fingernails
I never dreamed I would give so much attention to my fingernails. I don't keep my nails extra long like some classical and fingerstyle guitar players do, but I file them every morning to maintain a certain length. If I chip a nail, it's a tragedy. On the plus side, I stopped biting my nails the day I picked up a guitar.

Numb Fingertips
When I first began playing the guitar, I could only play for a short length of time before the pain in my left hand fingertips grew too much to bear. I gradually developed callouses, and now my left hand fingertips are permanently numb. Interestingly, my fingertips will start to burn toward the end of a gig that lasts 3 or more hours. So my left hand fingertips either feel pain or nothing.

G.A.S.
Gear Acquisition Syndrome, or in some cases, Guitar Acquisition Syndrome. When I was a trombone player, my gear consisted of a trombone and mutes. As a trombone player, I would see someone on stage with an acoustic guitar and marvel at how simple it looked. Not until I started gigging did I realize that the guitar was just one piece of the puzzle. I also needed an amp and cables. Batteries. Effects pedals if I was playing a musical or in a rock band. For many venues and every wedding gig ever, you need to bring a PA system. And there are the guitars. I've owned several guitars over the past 10 years. Now I'm down to four that I play on a regular basis. The only things left on my wish list are an AER Compact 60 amp, and a wireless microphone. Once I get those two pieces of equipment, I'll finished buying new equipment. Really. I can stop any time I want.

Gig Hunting
As a trombonist, I never had to look for gigs. I was in an Air Force band. Someone else booked the gigs. My job was to go wherever someone pointed and play a show. As a freelancer, things are very different. I count myself very lucky to have found a steady Friday gig with Godfrey and Guy, but I'm still on the hunt for wedding gigs, dinner parties, and another steady gig on a different night. Who knew that looking for work would be more work than the actual work itself?

Diversification
As an Air Force trombone player, I didn't need to diversify. I was hired to play in the concert band, and I was a decent section player in the jazz band. That was about as diverse as I got. Today, I'm a guitar player, church music director, music engraver, and teacher.

Teaching
I never planned on being a guitar teacher. At the time I began learning guitar, I was music engraving full time. The plan was to engrave and practice during the day, and to gig on weekends. I didn't expect the guitar to take over as much as it did, to the point where I do very little music engraving. Somewhere along the way, I began teaching private lessons and discovered that I really enjoy it. I'm branching out as a teacher, too. I've begun teaching beginning piano lessons and exploring the possibility of teaching general music to youngsters. Teaching used to be "Plan B," but it has become one of my favorite things.

Being a Soloist
When I was a classical trombone player, it was intimidating to play a solo. Most of my playing was in bands and orchestras, where I was part of a section. As a guitarist, and particularly as a jazz musician, I am usually the only one playing a guitar. Unless I'm playing in a big band like the Sentimental Journey Orchestra, I'm going to be called upon to play a lot of solos. Playing a solo gets my adrenaline pumping a little bit, but it's not nearly as scary as it used to be.

Improvising
While it was rare for me to play a solo as a classical trombonist, it was rarer still that I had to improvise. If playing a solo intimidated me, then improvising was downright terrifying. When I first began playing guitar, I intended to be a folk player. The plan was to come up with some nice arrangements and interesting accompaniments, but never to improvise. Little did I know that I would meet up with a teacher who would get me hooked on jazz. I'm not the greatest improviser in the world, but I'm making progress and having fun with it.

Fun!
Classical trombone was fun in its own way. I enjoyed the music, and I was part of a small, quirky community of low brass players. As much as I enjoyed trombone, I enjoy the guitar even more. Part of it is the diversity of styles. Depending on the situation, I might be playing jazz, blues, rock, acoustic, or even faking my way as a classical player. As a jazz player, I enjoy being able to just show up and sit in with a group on a gig and hold my own. I've always been a music theory geek, and I find that jazz guitar to be an endlessly fascinating puzzle.

I knew that playing guitar would be fun, but I had no idea! My body is beginning to betray me as my knees and back are slowly giving out, but guitar is going to keep my spirit young for a long time.

Sentimental Journey Orchestra

After hanging around as a sub for several years, I finally became the regular guitarist for the Sentimental Journey Orchestra. I had been subbing for Jerry Aull, who has played guitar and sung with the SJO for a long time. Jerry recently moved far enough away that driving to the weekly Monday rehearsal would be too much of a haul. Jerry contacted me about six months ago to let me know that he would probably be moving, and he floated the idea switching roles. I would become the SJO's regular guitarist and he would sub for me when needed. Jerry remains as the male vocalist and will rehearse with the group once a month as a singer.

My years of hanging around like a vulture, waiting for something to happen paid off. In a group like this, the joke is that you have to wait for someone to die before you can officially join the group. Fortunately, all Jerry did was move.

Last night was my first official night rehearsing with the Sentimental Journey Orchestra. I've played as a sub on countless occasions, so it didn't exactly feel fresh and new. As a matter of fact, I knew I would be asked soon, and I had been debating whether to join the group or not. A couple years ago, I would have jumped at the chance without hesitation. Lately, though, I've been busy with plenty of projects. There is my part time job at Northwest Unitarian Universalist Congregation, a weekly gig and rehearsal with Godfrey and Guy, and an ever increasing roster of private guitar and piano students at Tessitura. With all of that going on (plus making sure I have the time to dedicate to practicing), I wasn't sure I wanted to take on the extra weekly rehearsal.

Upon reflection, playing with the SJO was too good to pass up. The group doesn't actually gig often, so it's not like I suddenly have a bunch of shows to play. What made me say "yes" to SJO was the opportunity to grow as a musician. I play most often in small group settings, where we are playing from lead sheets or from memory, and things are looser. I am usually the leader of whatever small group I'm playing in, and I will often change things on the fly…maybe try a different introduction, repeat back to the bridge instead of the beginning, etc. Playing in a big band is a completely different experience. As a guitarist, I may play a solo once in a blue moon, but I'm usually playing a set rhythm guitar part. There's nothing better for your rhythm guitar reading than playing through a bunch of big band charts.

I'm grateful for the opportunity to play with the SJO on a weekly basis, and I'm grateful for another opportunity to grow as a musician.

Luxury Practice Time

One of the nice things about my job at NWUUC (Northwest Unitarian Universalist Congregation) is that I have two months off during the summer. Some of this time will be spent in intense learning situations. I'll be attending the annual UUMN Conference in a couple weeks, and I'll be taking a weeklong workshop in teaching group piano to children the last week of July. By then, I'll be gearing up for another church year at NWUUC, planning for piano classes at Tessitura, and welcoming back some guitar students who were away for the summer.

For now, I've had a few weeks with nothing to do but practice guitar. This has been such a luxury! When I was in college, I practiced trombone for hours. Back then, I took it for granted that I would always have loads of time to practice. I assumed a professional musician would spend his time either practicing, rehearsing, or performing. Silly me.

I practice quite a bit, but I normally have to plan around music engraving, teaching private lessons, and my church music director job, not to mention chasing down gigs, keeping up a website, etc. Sometimes a big music engraving project or an obligation at NWUUC will eat into my practice time, and I'm lucky to be able to run through scales and arpeggios.

At present, I'm off for the summer, my teaching schedule is light due to summer schedules, and I don't have any music engraving projects to finish. I literally have all day to practice, and that's what I've been doing. I love it! When I have a totally free day, I'll play guitar in the morning, workout, play guitar after lunch, eat dinner, and play guitar in the evening. It's not often that I have a chance to practice this much, and I'm taking advantage of it while it lasts.

Most people would think it's crazy to spend most their summer holed up in their private studio, but I'm not most people.

Leaps and Bounds

I've been teaching a young guitar student named Ella for about a year and a half. Mostly because of her age, and partly because of some hand coordination issues her mother told me about, I've had to go very slowly with Ella. We've repeated several lessons and simplified others.

Over the past month, Ella has finally started to "get it." I can almost see the light bulb blinking above her head. She can read chord diagrams. She is playing her melody assignments almost perfectly. Her counting has improved by leaps and bounds. She is beginning to play chords more fluidly. Is there room for improvement? Always! But what a difference in her playing in the span of a month!

I can sum up Ella's recent improvement in one word: devotion. Ella absolutely loves the guitar, and even when she has struggled, she has a wonderful attitude about it. As a matter of fact, Ella is so fun and funny, that even a difficult lesson with her is a pleasure. Ella's parents are also devoted, making sure she practices regularly, and spending time with her at home to help her the best they can. Great parents, a strong desire to learn the instrument, and an upbeat attitude is a hard combination to beat.

On top of everything else, Ella wrote a song last week. She doesn't know how to write the notes or how to figure out what chords will go with it, but it's a good song. And I don't mean it's a good song for a young girl. I mean that it's really a good song, with a chorus, a rhyme scheme, an interesting melody, and thoughtful lyrics. Her mom is going to send me a voice recording so I can add some chords to it. It may not be long before she can figure out her own chords. I'll be happy to help her with that.

Ella started lessons at age 7. She'll be turning 9 in the fall. She's been begging and begging for an electric guitar. Her parents told her that if she sticks with guitar for two years, then she'll get an electric guitar for her birthday. She's earned it.

Jazz Guitar Lesson Recap 6/23/14

Today's lesson with Dave Frackenpohl was particularly good. I played well nearly everything really well, and Dave gave me good tips to help with the music that challenged me. This was one of those lessons that made me feel I was really getting somewhere. The glow will fade soon enough once I begin tackling my new assignment, so I'll enjoy it while it lasts.

Dave gave me a lot for today's lesson: Joy Spring, Body and Soul, Bernie's Tune, Angel Eyes, Bésame Mucho, Song for My Father, and my transcription of Jim Hall's Saint Thomas solo, which he played with Ron Carter.

We started off with Bernie's Tune, which I admitted to giving me problems. The chord changes themselves are quite easy, but I had trouble improvising at speed. Dave gave me a good exercise. More on this later.

We played Body and Soul and Joy Spring next. Dave was happy with how those went. I really like using Coltrane's 1235 approach for outlining chords. I used that so much in my practice sessions that my improvisations began to sound like etudes. That's okay, though. It helped me learn the changes thoroughly, and if you don't have any better ideas, it's a good way to make your way through the changes. I plan on using this idea as a way of learning songs in the future, and as a bonus, it's great for building technique.

We then played Angel Eyes, Bésame Mucho, and Song for My Father. All went well. Dave gave me some good substitute chords to play in the bridge. The progression, if you're curious, is in the second half of the bridge of Bésame Mucho. The stock key is D minor, but I play Bésame in A minor. In A minor, the first half of the bridge is Dm - - - | Am - - - | E7 - - - | Am - - - |. For the second half of the bridge, Dave suggested what amount to Autumn Leaves changes: Dm - G7 - | Cmaj7 - Fmaj7 - | Bm7b5 - - - | E7 - - - |, and then you're back to the A section. I'll look forward to using this in the near future.

Dave didn't give me as much music for my new assignment. After the way he piled it on for today's lesson, I'm not complaining! Here's the new assignment.

• Speed Building: This is what Dave suggested after I told him that I feel challenged in building speed. (And yes, I know speed takes time.) Take a scale and play it up to the 9th and back down in 8th notes. Start at quarter=70, or whatever feels comfortable. Then play it in triplets. (In triplets, you need to play it up to the 10th to make it work out evenly.) Then play 16ths up to the 9th and back. Pay very close attention to make sure you're playing solid time and not rushing. When playing triplets and 16ths, accent the first note of each group of 3 or 4, respectively. You can practice this for scales in general or use it as a warm-up before improvising. If you use it as a warm-up before improvising, play this exercise on the scales you plan on using in your improvisation. Do this scale exercise for at least 5 minutes.
• Sweet Georgia Brown: This is one of those "must know" standards, and it's well past time I learned it. This is also my new transcription assignment. It's up to me to pick the solo. Dave suggested I start by listening to Django Reinhardt. I suspect that my search will begin and end there.
• Well You Needn't: Learn it.
• A Day in the Life of a Fool: Memorize it. I already have this one pretty well learned, but when I perform it, I almost always sing it and then play it as a set solo arrangement. I rarely improvise on this one, so most of my practice on this song will simply be getting comfortable playing over the changes.

That seems like such a small assignment compared to my previous lesson, but there's plenty of good material to challenge me.

Classical and Jazz Guitar

Two months from today, I'm playing a wedding gig. For the cocktail hour, I'm performing jazz standards with Godfrey and Guy. For the pre-ceremony gathering music, the client wants some classical guitar. I have from now until then to work up 30 minutes of classical guitar music. The bride understands that I'm a jazz player, and that she's not getting Segovia. I'm going for easy material. My job is to play relaxing music before the ceremony. There's no need for technical wizardry. The hardest thing I'm playing is Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, which is a challenge for me, but is child's play for your average classical player.

Although I'm mainly a jazz guitarist, I find that I enjoy working on these classical pieces. My approach to learning this music is quite a contrast from my jazz guitar practice. In practicing jazz guitar, I never feel "done." Jazz is an improvisatory art. I spend a lot of time learning to navigate my way through chord changes while coming up with interesting melodies. The melodies I create are ephemeral. Sometimes they are sublime, sometimes they are iffy, and most of the time they are somewhere in between. My improvisations change depending on what licks I've been practicing, my mood, who I'm playing with, the feel of the room, which guitar I'm playing, and even the lighting.

While jazz guitar often feels like a moving target, classical guitar feels more stationary. You can always play more cleanly or with a difference nuance, but you at least know which notes you supposed to play. In general, there's little, if any, improvisation with classical guitar. If jazz guitar is like a free flowing conversation, then classical guitar is like the script of a play.

I've heard jazz guitarists disparage classical guitar, saying that it feels like paint by numbers, but that's not what it feels like to me. Even the limited selection of classical music that I'm able to tackle is gorgeous, and it fits in quite well with my mellow style of playing. I'm glad for this gig, because it has rekindled my love of classical guitar. I'll never be mistaken for a real classical guitarist, but I think I'll keep this music in my repertoire after the gig is over.