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.

Lesson Recap 6/9/14

I just returned from a good jazz guitar lesson with Dave Frackenpohl at GSU. I was ultra-prepared for this one. I wish I could say that about every lesson.

Dave gave me a lot to work on for this lesson, which included:

• Satin Doll: 3-note comping exercise. This was pretty simple, and it was a good warm-up. These 3-note voicings are a good reminder that there is power in simplicity. I don't have to try to play every note of every chord. Even in a setting where the guitar is the only instrument, simple 3-note voicings often sound best.
• Joy Spring: This is a workout! The melody is challenging on guitar (at least for me), and the chords are a little tricky to improvise over (at least for me), but I love this tune. It sounds so happy! Dave clued me into a simple Coltrane approach for when the chords come at you two to a bar. If you can't think of anything else to do, it's quite effective to outline the chords with a 1-2-3-5 pattern. That's an idea I'll be incorporating into other songs. Next assignment: Continue this song to build speed and work out some 1-2-3-5 Coltrane patterns.
• Body and Soul: I did pretty well at this playing in the key in which I sing it (Bb). I've been singing it in this key so long that I had forgotten that the stock key is Db. Next assignment: Learn it in Db.
• Bernie's Tune: This is a fairly easy song to learn, but it highlights my lack of dexterity. I can play pretty stuff all day long, but my fingers aren't very nimble. Next assignment: Dave gave me some scale patterns to practice. Over the D minor, I'll be practicing a D dorian bebop scale, and over the Bb7, I'll be practicing F dorian bebop and F melodic minor. It'll sound like mindless scale practice for a while, but it'll help speed up my technique.
• Saint Thomas: I transcribed the classic Jim Hall solo, from his duet with Ron Carter. Aside from being a terrific solo, this is a great exercise in using voicings with octaves and 6ths. Next assignment: Memorize the solo and work it up to speed.

In addition to the assignments listed above, I am to memorize Angel Eyes, Bésame Mucho, and Song for My Father. 

Despite playing well today, most of my next assignment is a reassignment of the tunes I just played, but I don't mind. In repeating these songs, Dave is prodding me to dig deeper into the music and improve my technique. The work I put into these songs directly affects my understanding of the rest of my repertoire. I'm looking forward to further exploration in a couple weeks.

Got Rhythm?

Every morning, I spend about 20 minutes playing scales and arpeggios to warm up my fingers. Guitar is a little different from most instruments in that there are several ways to play any given scale. For example, on the piano, there is only one middle C. On the guitar, there are several middle C's sprinkled around the fretboard. Similarly, there are several different fingerings for a C major scale on the guitar, depending on where you start on the neck. I use 5 basic patterns to play any given scale. If I were to play all my scales and arpeggios in all 12 keys, I'd be worn out by the time I finished warming up, so I warm up in a different key every day, moving my way through the circle of 4ths. Today happened to be my "C" day. It'll be F tomorrow and B-flat the next day, etc.

I recently began to apply this "key of the day" concept to I Got Rhythm, by George and Ira Gershwin. The melody isn't the most fascinating string of notes you'll ever hear, but the chord changes are extremely important in the jazz world. There are many variations on "Rhythm changes," and there are several tunes based on Rhythm changes. (By the way, a new melody written over a set of chord changes to a previously written song is called a contrafaction. Now you know.)

Since I play my warm-ups in a different key every day, I've also begun playing I Got Rhythm in the key of the day. I'll play the melody, play the chord changes, outline the chord changes as arpeggios, and then improvise. When I began this little adventure, the key of the day was G-flat, so it got off to a slow start!

I'm already finding this to be a tremendously valuable exercise. My transposition skills are improving. The song is filled with ii7-V7 progressions to work through. Some keys force me to find licks in chord shapes in which I'm less than comfortable. Just as with scales and arpeggios, I plan on working through Rhythm changes for a long, long, long time.

The Next 10 Years

I started playing guitar 10 years ago. To make a long story short, I was a professional trombonist until an overuse injury ended my brass playing career. After a hiatus from any kind of performing, my wife (now my ex) gave me a guitar for Christmas, and I was immediately hooked. Even as I was struggling with my first chords, I was planning a new career as a guitarist. I originally intended to play folk and Celtic music, but I drifted toward jazz, which is my main focus.

When I decided I was going to become a professional guitarist, I drew up a list of goals for the first 10 years. My overall goal was to become an "entry level" professional. To me, this meant attaining a skill level that was high enough that I could do a good job at gigs. It also meant that, while I wouldn't necessarily be the first call player in Atlanta, I would develop enough connections to keep me gigging on a fairly regular basis.

I'm rarely satisfied with my playing, but I would like to pause for a moment and be grateful that I met my 10 year goal. I'm not a world beater on guitar, but I'm pretty good. I sight-read extremely well. I gig steadily.

Okay, the moment is over, and it's time to look at the next 10 years. This is my overall goal: To become a well established freelance musician making a comfortable living as a performer, teacher, and church musician.

That's a pretty broad goal. Maybe it's more of a mission statement, but it can be broken down into several goals. To be a well established performer implies an increasingly higher level of musicianship, so the most important goals to me are in the area of musical development.

These are my goals for 2024:

• Play an average of 2-3 good paying gigs per week.
• Maintain a roster of 30 students.
• Increase the NWUUC Music Director job to 20 hours per week.
• Memorize 100+ jazz standards.
• Comfortably improvise guitar solos in the style of Joe Pass.
• Become a good scat singer.
• Become a competent piano player.
• Become a competent ukulele player.
• Be financially stable enough to take 1-2 yearly vacations.
• Live in a rented house, big enough for a studio space, in a quiet, safe neighborhood.
• Comfortably maintain a healthy weight of 190-200 pounds.

Having all these goals without devising a way to meet them is no good. I've broken each of these goals down into separate steps, but I won't include them here, otherwise, this would be a really, really long article. I'll break down a few choice goals into steps in future articles.

Getting this far was a blast. It was 10 years well spent. Time to get busy and make the next 10 years even better.

Lesson #16

This is a recap of my latest jazz guitar lesson with Dave Frackenpohl, who teaches at Georgia State University. This helps me wrap my head around the new assignment, and I hope it also helps others who may be on the same path.

We started with a series of 7th chord arpeggios over the melodic minor scale…1 going up, 2 down, 3 up, etc., and then working our way back down. Dave showed me a more useful fingering for a form that starts on the 6th string, but otherwise, these went pretty smoothly. Then we played through Four. He showed me some different chords to use in the B sections. I've been starting the B section on an E-flat, but Dave told me that it's more common to start on G minor. Next, we moved on to Old Devil Moon. I mainly wanted to work on this so that I could work up a good accompaniment and a chord melody solo. Dave was pleased with the chord melody solo, but noticed that I tended to rush the B section, when I switch from Latin to swing. He also questioned the lead sheet and asked me to double check other sources for the melody and changes in the last 4 measures. Finally, we started looking at When Sunny Gets Blue for the next lesson assignment.

The new assignment:

• Continue Diatonic Arpeggios. I've worked on a series of 7th chord arpeggios over the major, harmonic minor, and melodic minor scales. Now I just need to keep at it until I can play them without having to think about them.
• Excerpt from Perpetual Motion. This general technique exercise is from a Paganini piece. To strengthen my up-picking, I'm supposed to play the 8th notes up/down/up/down in addition to the usual down/up/down/up pattern.
• You Took Advantage of Me. This was part of today's assignment, but I didn't work on it. I've had several gigs to prepare, and something had to go! The assignment is to listen to the Joe Pass/Ella Fitgerald recording of this song and steal as many comping licks and ideas as I can. I would eventually like to transcribe the guitar solo, too.
• Four. I had a feeling I'd be working on this one again. I learned the basic melody and chords last time. Now, my assignment is to transcribe a chorus of either Miles Davis or Horace Silver from their recording of the tune.
• Old Devil Moon. There's not much more to do with this song, at least as far as lessons go. I just need to check on the chords and melody at the end and put myself on a metronome to resist the tendency to rush the B section.
• When Sunny Gets Blue. Memorize it.

As usual, I have a mix of old and new assignments to practice for the next lesson. We're getting deeper into the arpeggios and a couple songs, and I have newer material to learn. All of these lessons are paying off. It's nearing Christmas time. I find that holiday music is a good measure stick of yearly progress. You play them for about a month and then put them away until next year. This year, I'm finding many of the Christmas songs easier to play, and I've discovered that I can improvise over several of them unaccompanied, when last year I had to use a looper for nearly everything when I played solo.

Lesson #15

This is my usual recap following a jazz guitar lesson with Dave Frackenpohl of GSU.

We started off sight-reading from some books that Hal Leonard had sent to Dave. I was interested in perusing the Hal Leonard Jazz Guitar method, which looks like a very useful book for a couple students of mine.

After that little warm-up, we dove right into Blues for Alice. I played the melody in two different registers, played the piano solo I had transcribed, and then improvised. No problems here. Then we moved on to the Joe Pass solo from his recording of 'Tis Autumn with Ella Fitzgerald. I got through it okay, which is the best result I could have expected. My assignment was to finish the transcription and then start learning it. At this point, I have the solo memorized. It's just a matter of woodshedding until it's under my fingers. We followed this with an arpeggio exercise over a harmonic minor scale. No problems. Then we worked on There Will Never Be Another You, starting with an arpeggio exercise that I had created for over the chord changes and then improvising. Again, this went well, and we ended the lesson with a page from the Blues in All Keys study from Galbraith's Guitar Comping book.

The new assignment.

• Learn Four. I played this tune a long time ago, but it's time to get it going again. It's one of those bebop standards that you just have to know…plus it's fun. I'll be refreshing myself on the melody and changes this week. I predict that, at the next lesson, Dave will tell me transcribe a solo from a recording of Four. Dave is beginning to consistently assign bebop tunes. These are great for my technique.
• More Joe Pass! I had started to transcribe Joe's ending in his recording with Ella. Part of my Joe Pass assignment is to finish that. Then I'm supposed to pick out a medium tempo Joe and Ella song, begin a new solo transcription, and pick out devices that Joe uses when he's comping for Ella. I've selected You Took Advantage of Me for this part of the assignment.
• Arpeggio Exercise over Melodic Minor. I've worked up arpeggio exercises for major and harmonic minor, in which I outline 7th chords, ascending on the 1 chord, descending on 2, etc. This is the same exercise using the melodic minor scale. (For non-jazz players…In jazz theory, the melodic minor has the same raised 6th and 7th both ascending and descending. In classical theory, the melodic minor reverts to natural minor descending.)
• Old Devil Moon. When asked which jazz standard I'd like to work on next, I asked for Old Devil Moon. I like this song, but it's awkward, and I'd like to play it better.
• Galbraith's Guitar Comping. I'll be working on the next page of the Blues in All Keys study. I just finished the page that covers G-flat and B, which aren't exactly the most common blues keys! Next up are the keys of E and A – much more guitar friendly.

As usual, Dave has given me a challenging assignment. I discovered a while ago that jazz guitar lessons are quite different from the classical trombone lessons of my younger days. In classical trombone lessons, there were few long term projects except for solo and recital material. I was assigned a set of etudes, I learned them, and then I was assigned yet another set of etudes. The "long term" assignment was really to apply the fundamentals of good tone and articulation to each new set of exercises.

With my jazz guitar studies, the individual assignments are often long term. I'll work on the same song or transcription for 2, 3, or even 4 lessons in a row. With lessons spaced every other week, that means that I will sometimes be working on the same song for two months. Learning to play jazz and improvise is such an internal process that it often takes a long time for new concepts to settle in and become a natural part of your playing. Often, learning to play a particular song or transcription is almost a byproduct. The real payoff is internalizing new ideas that you can apply to everything else you play.

Lesson 13

As usual, I'm summarizing my latest jazz guitar lesson with Dave Frackenpohl, who teaches at Georgia State University. This helps me process each new assignment, and I hope it helps others who are on a similar path.

We started off with an arpeggio exercise based on the major scale, outlining the I–maj7 going up, the ii–m7 going down, etc., and we followed that with the drop 2 chord exercise on a Maj7 chord, playing all four drop 2 voicings ascending, then taking it through the cycle of 4ths, ascending in one key, descending in the next, etc. Those went well. Dave suggested some more efficient fingerings for the arpeggio exercise.

We then played through the changes and soloed over Blues for Alice. I never got very creative with this part of my assignment. With so many 2-5's, I treated this more as a chance to practice various 2-5 licks. After Blues for Alice, we played through There Will Never Be Another You. I was pretty comfortable with this. Dave suggested exploring the Lydian Dominant scale over the Db9 chord. I also played through the classic Kenny Burrell Chitlins con Carne solo, playing all five choruses from memory and adding the guitar self-comping between phrases that Kenny does so well.

The new assignment:

• Harmonic Minor Arpeggio Exercise: The same arpeggio pattern as before…outlining 7th chords, ascending on I, descending on iim7b5, etc. There are some tricky fingerings to work out here!
• Drop 2 Exercise on 7 and m7: Use the same approach as we did with Maj7 drop 2's. Follow the cycle of fourths. Play through all four drop 2 forms in one key, ascending, descend on the next key in the cycle, wash, rinse, repeat.
• Galbraith's Guitar Comping: Add another page from the Blues in 12 Keys exercise. We didn't get to this book in today's lesson, but I'll add another page anyway.
• 'Tis Autumn: Transcribe the Joe Pass solo from the classic recording on the Fitzgerald and Pass…Again album. I'm super excited about this assignment! I love this version, and the guitar solo seems very approachable. I also plan to steal as many of Joe's comping ideas as possible.
• Blues for Alice: I've learned the changes. Now I need to learn this awkward melody.
• There Will Never Be Another You: Continue working on this song, and focus especially on using the Lydian Dominant scale over the Db9 chord. As a bonus, Dave showed me an exercise I can use to develop ideas from the Lydian Dominant scale. Using F7 as an example, he's having me outline F and G major triads in different inversions.

I'm very grateful for these lessons with Dave, and they're really paying off. I have a solo guitar gig next weekend. I haven't played pure solo guitar in quite a while, so I've been brushing up on my old arrangements, adding new ones, and improvising (unaccompanied) for a chorus or two. I've been pleasantly surprised at how much I've progressed since I last played so much solo guitar. My old arrangements sound better, I've been able to add several new songs that I couldn't play before, and I'm holding my own as I improvise unaccompanied. I spend most of my practice time pushing myself to work on new things. I rarely look back, but it's kind of nice to look back and compare myself to the player I was a couple years ago. My nose will soon be to the grindstone again as I work on my new lesson assignment, so my self-congratulation won't last long. Still, I've enjoyed looking back, and it makes me wish I could look ahead to see the player I will be in another 5-10 years.

Lesson #12

Continuing the practice of reviewing each jazz guitar lesson with David Frackenpohl at GSU to wrap my head around the new material and help others who may be on the same path.

Dave took a teaching break over the summer, so it's been a couple months since my last lesson. I've been getting a lot out of our sessions, and I've been looking forward to starting up again.

We began by looking at a new arpeggio exercise and a series of inversions to enhance fretboard knowledge (more on these later). We then played through Smoke Gets in Your Eyes. This went pretty well, since I've been working on the song for two months! I was glad for the extra time on it. I play with a quartet, and I've always cringed when the leader calls Smoke Gets in Your Eyes. The bridge is tricky to improvise over. I can certainly navigate the changes now! Ironically, the quartet leader hasn't called this tune since I began working on it.

Next, I played through two pages of Blues in 12 Keys from Galbraith's Guitar Comping book. My original assignment was from the Brazilian Guitar book, but I was getting burned out on samba, so I assigned this exercise to myself instead. I love this Guitar Comping book. The etudes are challenging, but it's a terrific book for expanding your chord knowledge. After I played the blues comping study, Dave suggested I look at Charlie Parker's Blues for Alice.

Then I played my transcription of Kenny Burrell's classic Chitlins con Carne solo. Dave told me I sounded like Kenny Burrell when I played it. I don't begin to approach the level of a Kenny Burrell, but I was grateful for the compliment. I played along with the recording many times and worked hard to match Burrell's inflections. I love the soul jazz style, and I want to keep studying Kenny Burrell and other soul jazz guitarists.

Dave offered plenty of new challenges for the next lesson.

• Diatonic Arpeggio Exercise: In every major key, outline the Imaj7 up, the iim7, iiim7 up, etc., and then reverse that going down. Use strict alternate picking. Do this in all major keys, as well as harmonic and melodic minor. Maybe I'm a glutton for punishment, but I love doing these sorts of exercises. I've been wanting to change up my arpeggio routine, so this exercise comes at a good time.
• Inversion Exercise: Play through each inversion of a Maj7 chord using drop 2 voicings. Do this in all 12 keys in the cycle of 4ths. Start by playing up the neck in one key, then move to the next next key and play down the neck. For example, start ascending on Cmaj7 inversions. When you reach the top of the neck, find the nearest drop 2 voicing of Fmaj7 and descend, ascend on Bbmaj7, etc. Jazz guitar is like an endless puzzle, and I enjoy exploring the fretboard and unlocking its mysteries.
• Galbraith's Guitar Comping: Learn the next 1-2 pages of the Blues in 12 Keys study.
• Blues for Alice: Learn this standard. The melody is good for single line technique, and I need to have this particular set of changes under my fingers in all keys. This particular variation of blues changes is called "Bird Blues."
• Chitlins con Carne: I've transcribed the Kenny Burrell solo, but I haven't memorized it yet. I need to memorize it for next time. Also, I need to add some Kenny Burrell style "self comping" in the spaces between the single line licks. I'm more than happy to keep working on this solo. As I mentioned before, I love the soul jazz style, and in my book, Kenny Burrell is the man.
• There Will Never Be Another You: Learn this standard. Memorize the melody and chord changes and be ready to improvise. I requested this one, because I've always felt awkward improvising over some of the changes. With a couple weeks of focused work, I should be as comfortable with this one as I am now with Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.

Whew, that's a lot to work on, but I'm glad to get these lessons going again. I've learned a lot from Dave, and the hard work is beginning to show in my playing. Even though we only work on a few songs at a time, I am learning concepts that apply to my playing in general. I find that I'm able to navigate chord changes to new songs more easily, and I feel like I have more command over my improvised solos. I still have a long way to go, and I'm glad to have Dave as a guide.

Lesson #11

I am continuing my practice of blogging about my jazz guitar lessons with Dave Frackenpohl, who teaches at Georgia State University. This helps me wrap my head around each new assignment, and I hope it helps others who may be on the same path.

I found parts my previous lesson assignment to be quite challenging. We started off playing my transcription of a Zoot Simms solo over It's Only a Paper Moon. The original solo was in C, and part of today's assignment was to play it in B-flat. This was one of the few things that I had an easy time with. After that, I played an arrangement of Triste from The Brazilian Guitar Book. This was a big challenge for me. I fumbled through a couple measures, but for the most part, I played it okay. Considering that I was struggling to just puzzle out the fingerings a couple weeks ago, I was satisfied with my progress on this song. It's a very nice arrangement, and after I get it under my fingers, I'll add it to my regular repertoire. I had also memorized the melody and chords for Triste. I was ready to comp or solo over the chord changes, but we didn't get to it today. We then played Autumn Leaves. My assignment was to find a solo in G minor and transcribe it. I fell in love with an absolutely gorgeous Paul Desmond solo in F# minor, so I transcribed it in F# minor and then learned it in G minor. We didn't get to the final part of my assignment, which was to take a Joe Pass solo (I'm Beginning to See the Light) that I had transcribed in C and then play it in B-flat. I was ready to play it, and I think I would have done a good job. Even though I only had to transpose it one step down, I found this part of my assignment to be a big challenge. It's one thing to transpose a single note sax solo down a step. It's quite another to transpose a Joe Pass chord/melody solo! Even though we didn't get to it, I'm glad Dave made me transpose that solo. Every big challenge takes me one step closer to being the guitar player I want to be.

The new assignment:

1. Transcribe the Kenny Burrell solo from his classic recording of Chitlins con Carne. I requested this assignment, and I'm super excited about it! I love Kenny Burrell's playing, I love this tune, and I love this solo! I really enjoy soul jazz, and it's hard to pick a better guitarist than Kenny Burrell to dive into the style. The terrific thing about soul jazz, which has a heavy jazz/blues vibe, is that it can help add a touch of blues to anything else you play. I've been learning from a TrueFire.com CD called 50 Soul Jazz Licks You Must Know. I'm only on lick #4, and I'm already starting to find places to infuse bluesy licks into other jazz standards. I'm looking forward to seeing what I can come up with after studying Kenny Burrell and working my way through the soul jazz licks CD. 
2. Transpose the Zoot Simms Paper Moon to F. Just when I thought I was finished with It's Only a Paper Moon! I had already spent two weeks transcribing the original solo, and then we had to skip a lesson, so I spent four more weeks playing the same solo in B-flat! The purpose of transposing the solo to F is to force me to learn it in a different area of the fretboard. I'm not sure how much I'll enjoy playing the solo for another month, but it has some cool licks, and it's good to know how to play those licks using different fingerings. Paper Moon used to be one of the weaker songs in my repertoire, but not anymore!
3. Keep working on the Triste arrangement. There are a couple spots to iron out. I was going to continue working on the solo on my own anyway, so I'm glad it's part of my next assignment. I'm looking forward to being able to include this arrangement in my own repertoire.
4. Learn Smoke Gets in Your Eyes. I requested this song specifically because I'm terrible at it! I play a couple times a month with a quartet. The leader usually calls this song, and it trips me up every time. With some intense practice, I will no longer need to fear soloing over these chord changes!

Whenever it comes up, Dave likes to show me what he calls "trick guitar fingerings." These are just little tricks that are unique to guitar players that are easy and sound really cool. In this case, the trick guitar fingering was inspired by some chord changes in Autumn Leaves. This is over a 2-5-1 in minor. We were in G minor, so I'll use Am7b5 to D7 to Gm. If you play an Am7b5 (the "2" of Gm), then move that same fingering up three frets (a minor 3rd), you get a D7alt (the "5" of Gm). Move that same fingering up another four frets (a major 3rd), and you get a Gm6. It only sounds good in the middle or upper register, and you want to play voicings that use either the middle 4 strings or the highest 4 strings. Some of the voicings only sound right if there is a bass player. I'll be working on this "trick fingering," and I'm looking forward to being able to use it on a gig.

I continue to be happy with these guitar lessons. We work on specific songs, but we use these songs to study concepts and develop skills that I can transfer to other songs. I find that the more deeply I study the material that Dave assigns, the more comfortable and confident I am in my overall playing.

Memory Work

I've been spending a lot of time memorizing music lately. It's assumed that I'll have my music memorized for my own guitar lessons, and I've been memorizing my own performance repertoire.

There are three main reasons I'm memorizing the music I perform most frequently:

1. To connect more deeply with my audience and with the other musicians.
2. To develop a deeper understanding of the music.
3. To set up less equipment! I'm all for minimizing my gear. It will be a great day when I don't have to set up a stand and a big book for a gig.

Most of my repertoire consists of jazz standards, which means that I have a lot of chords to memorize…a LOT of chords! Some songs come more easily because I've either played them for a long time or because they follow a common format.

Here's my standard routine for memorizing a song. This prepares me to sing, comp, or solo over the chord changes. I follow this routine even with songs I've played a long time. I've found that, while I've memorized some chord changes through sheer repetition over the course time, I can get lost when I have to improvise a solo without a lead sheet, because I've been relying on muscle memory rather than a better understanding of the chord structure.

1. Learn the melody and the words. Sing and play the melody over and over again. Sing it in the car or on a walk. Sing it to your dog. It should be stuck in your head so much that it drives you a little crazy. Even if you don't think you'll ever sing the lead in a performance, sing the melody when you practice. The melody is your guiding light when you're comping or soloing.
2. Then learn the chord structure. Although jazz songs typically have more complicated chords than blues, rock, or folk songs, there is always a form. Find sections that are the same or similar, so that you can understand the overall form of the song. If you've learned the melody, then you are already familiar with the structure of the song. Have I mentioned that you should learn the melody?
3. Outline the chords. So you think you've memorized the chords? Think again! Now try going through the song, outlining each chord. I'm not talking about arpeggiating the chords using whatever chord shape you want. For each chord, play the root, 3rd, 5th, and 7th in time. If the chord lasts 4 beats, then you can play R357 as quarter notes. If the chord is a half note, then you'll have to double that up and play R357 as 8th notes. Once you can play R357, reverse it. Start from the 7th and play downward 753R in time. Bonus points if you can sing the song while you do this. This will not only deepen your knowledge of the chords, but it is a HUGE help in learning to improvise over difficult chord changes.
4. Improvise over the chord changes. You can practice improvising to a track or to Band in a Box. If you really want a challenge, improvise unaccompanied, with a metronome clicking on beats 2 and 4 to keep you honest (or clicking only on beat 4 to really test your sense of time). If you can improvise without accompaniment and keep a tempo, it's going to be a breeze when you play with accompaniment.

If you think this sounds time consuming, you are correct! Yes, it takes a lot of time, but this is some serious quality time with the music. It'll take me a while to go through my repertoire like this, but it'll be worth the effort. I've found this approach to be very satisfying. I'm learning my music more thoroughly, and I'm able to close the songbook a little more often when performing.

I don't want to minimize the ability to read music. Any guitarist who plays in a big band or a pit orchestra will tell you how important it is to be able to sight-read. I will continue to keep up my reading skills, but I'll deepen my understanding of music through memorization.

Oh, and learn the melody.

Lesson #10

Another lesson with Dave Frackenpohl, another lesson summary. This helps me wrap my head around each new assignment, and I hope these summaries will also help others who are on the same path.

We started off playing my transcription of a Zoot Simms solo from It's Only a Paper Moon, recorded with Count Basie. It went pretty well. Dave suggested a different fingering for a lick I had been having problems with. After that, I played a Samba accompaniment etude from The Brazilian Guitar Book. Again, I played pretty well. He turned on the metronome and had me play. Overall, my time was pretty solid. I noticed a few spots where I was playing the bass note on beat 1 slightly early, but I managed to correct myself the next time the same rhythm appeared. After the etude, we read through Triste, which is part of my next assignment. Next, I played my transcription of Joe Pass' solo from I'm Beginning to See the Light, recorded with Ella Fitzgerald. I could have played this one better, but I did alright. Next, we began working on Autumn Leaves. We played it in the standard key of E minor, and then we played in it B minor, since I play it in that key with my duo partner, Lori. Then we played it in G minor, since that's the key most horn players will want to play it in.

My next assignment:

• It's Only a Paper Moon. I thought I was done with the Zoot Simms solo transcription, but no! The solo is in C. Now I'm supposed to transpose that solo to B-flat.
• Triste. In The Brazilian Guitar Book, there is a chord-melody arrangement of Triste in A for me to learn. I also will be memorizing the melody and chord changes in B-flat.
• I'm Beginning to See the Light. Just like Paper Moon, I thought I was finally done with the Joe Pass solo transcription, but no! The solo is in C. Now I'm supposed to transpose it to B-flat.
• Autumn Leaves. Depending on which group I'm with, I usually play this in E minor (the standard key) or B minor. Now I will be learning it in G minor, and I'll be finding another solo to transcribe. Dave wants me to find a solo in G minor, but I suspect I'll be learning that solo in another key at some point.

It seems like the word for the day was "transposition." I was pleased with the way I transposed today. That's something I've been working on, and my transposition skills are improving. Rather than thinking chord by chord, Dave has had me thinking of the function of each chord. When I am aware of the function of each upcoming chord, I'm able to transpose more easily. This sort of thinking has also been helpful with memorization. Lori and I are challenging ourselves to memorize a couple songs each week. When I focus on the function of each chord, it helps me view the song as a whole a little more easily.

Overall, these lessons with Dave have been very helpful. I have a long way to go, but I'm noticing progress in my playing. Jazz is a strange beast. As a classical player, I could measure my progress by the solos, etudes, and orchestral excerpts I was able to play. With a huge emphasis on improvisation, I find it more difficult to measure my progress as a jazz player. I just notice little things here and there that show improvement. A couple rehearsals ago, I found that I was able to improvise over some chord changes that gave me fits a year ago. It's becoming easier to memorize songs as I begin to be able to view the music as a whole. Transposing is getting easier. I can't point to any particular song as evidence. I'm just feeling more and more comfortable as a jazz musician, and I'm excited about the direction Dave is taking me.

Lesson #9

I'm continuing to summarize my lessons with Dave Frackenpohl at GSU to absorb the new lesson assignment and help others who may be on the same path.

After a short warm-up, Dave had me play Wes Montgomery's solo from his recording of Gone with the Wind. In our last lesson, I had to play it very slowly to get through it. Dave asked me to keep working on it and build up speed. I managed to increase the tempo from quarter = 80 to quarter = 110. I didn't play it well at this lesson. I probably counted it off too fast. Dave suggested some fingerings to help get through the more challenging licks.

Next, I requested that we work on It's Only a Paper Moon, specifically for unaccompanied improvisation. We worked through it, not just for soloing, but for comping styles. There's more on this below, where I write out my new assignment.

Then we turned to The Brazilian Guitar Book, where I'm working through the "Samba" chapter. We didn't do much with this. I'm learning the patterns pretty well, and he assigned a few more pages.

Toward the end of the lesson, I played Joe Pass' solo in the Ella/Joe Pass recording of I'm Beginning to See the Light. I had to play it very slowly, and so my next assignment is to work it up to speed.

The new assignment:

• Whole Tone Licks: Dave assigned three different whole tone scale fingers a few weeks ago, which I've been practicing daily. Now he's given me a sheet of whole tone licks to incorporate into my improvisation. Learning a scale is like learning the letters of the alphabet. Learning a lick is like forming those letters into a word. Incorporating that lick into your playing is like learning to use that word in a sentence. It takes time, but that lick eventually becomes part of your vocabulary. I'll focus two or three of these licks at a time.
• It's Only a Paper Moon: Part of this assignment is to find a solo that I like and to transcribe it. For unaccompanied soloing, Dave has given me a few options to try. There's his 2/2 plan, where you comp for two measures and then solo for two measures (or vice versa). Comping works particularly well in this song, because there are usually two chords in every measure. With so much harmonic activity, you can just comp and it still sounds like you're doing something. For soloing, he suggested arpeggiating chords. For comping behind a singer, he showed me a couple common Joe Pass arpeggio patterns, and then there's the classic Freddie Green comping that always works so well. Sometimes all you need to do is play quarter notes to lay down a nice groove for the singer.
• The Brazilian Guitar Book: I'm continuing to work through the "Samba" chapter. The last two assignments have been page after page of short samba patterns. Dave has given me a choice between a long comping etude or a chord/melody solo. I'll check them both out today to see which one seems more manageable.
• I'm Beginning to See the Light: I'll continue working on the Joe Pass solo, gradually bringing it up to speed.

As usual, I'm excited to be working on unaccompanied soloing. I'm also enjoying The Brazilian Guitar Book. I've worked through a lot of fun patterns. Now I need to start applying them to my own repertoire. To do this, I'll pull out some Latin songs in my book and sketch out some rhythmic patterns. Eventually, I'll be able to play these Latin grooves at will, but for now I need to write them out so that I can remember them.

Lesson #8

Continuing my practice of writing about each lesson with Dave Frackenpohl at GSU to help wrap my head around each new assignment and help other jazz guitarists who may be on the same path.

These past couple weeks have not been ideal for practicing my lesson material. I took a last minute gig a couple weeks ago, I've been doing the usual busywork that accompanies the end of a church year, and I've been preparing for a wedding gig by assembling a book for the bass player, writing up set lists, and a host of other niggling details that go into putting together a successful gig.

In spite of all that, I managed to make some progress on my lesson material. I didn't have time for every part of the assignments, but I worked up more than I thought I could.

We began with the three whole tone scale forms that Dave assigned and then went into the assignment from the new Brazilian Guitar Book. Then we played through I'm Beginning to See the Light. After that, we worked on Gone with the Wind, focusing especially on a Wes Montgomery solo that I just finished transcribing. That pretty much exhausted the material that I had prepared, but we still had plenty to work on.

We spent time talking about improvising without any back-up. It looks like we're going to be spending some lesson time on this for the foreseeable future, and I couldn't be happier! Dave gave me a sheet of ideas and strategies for pure solo improvising called Unaccompanied Jazz Guitar – Making It Manageable. This one page sheet is an absolute gold mine of ideas! We're going to focus on just one or two ideas at a time, which is good, because I think my brain would overload if I tried everything at once.

Here's my new assignment:

• Continue the "Samba" section of The Brazilian Guitar Book, pages 30-36. These are all four-measure examples of samba groove variations.
• Finish the transcription of a Joe Pass solo over I'm Beginning to See the Light. I had started this for this week's lesson but hadn't had time to finish it.
• Increase the tempo of the Wes Montgomery Gone with the Wind solo that I transcribed. I was happy just to memorize it for today. Now I just need to get it closer to tempo.
• Memorize Summertime and Corcovado. I already have Summertime memorized. I kinda sorta know Corcovado by memory just because I've performed it a number of times. We are using these two practice unaccompanied improvising. I'll be using two strategies for this. One is what Dave called the "2+2" plan: 2 bars of comping/2 bars of soloing and vice versa. The other is also a "2+2" plan: 2 bars of comping or solo/2 bars of melody or vice versa. I thought I knew the melody of Fly Me to the Moon pretty well until Dave had me try this approach! It was awfully tricky to jump from comping or soloing and pick up the melody in the middle. Back to the woodshed!

Unaccompanied soloing is one of the major skills I want to possess, so I'm super excited about this new direction!

Lesson #7

Continuing the practice of writing about my jazz guitar lessons with Dave Frackenpohl at GSU to get a handle on my latest assignment and hopefully pass on some wisdom to other developing jazz guitarists.

We started off running through three different chromatic scale fingerings that Dave assigned last time. I played them easily enough, but Dave noticed that my left hand was tense. From now on, I'll be focusing more on relaxing my left hand.

Next, we looked at I'm Beginning to See the Light. This wasn't part of my assignment, but I wrote to Dave yesterday, asking that we begin working on this song. It's a well known standard, and I should be able to improvise on it more easily than I do. We worked through it, and by the time we were finished, I was feeling more more comfortable with the tune.

Then we played through Girl from Ipanema. Dave specifically suggested that I experiment with some Mixolydian #11 licks to fit over the dominant chords in the bridge. This went pretty well. I had stolen a lick from the classic Stan Getz solo, and Dave showed me a few more. With a little more practiced, I'll be well armed the next time I play this tune.

Finally, we played through Gone with the Wind. This tune offers plenty of chances to play ii-V licks, which I've been working on quite a bit. Part of my assignment was to transcribe the first chorus of Wes Montgomery's solo over these chord changes. This was a difficult assignment. I've completed most of the transcription, and I've learned the first half of the solo. This solo is loaded with tasty licks, and I'll steal as many as I can! One thing that strikes me about Wes Montgomery's solo playing is how bluesy everything sounds. Gone with the Wind isn't even close to being a blues tune, yet Wes manages to infuse his solos with blues sounds. It works so well! I'll be studying Wes for a long time to come.

Here's the new assignment:

• The "Samba Intro" from The Brazilian Guitar Book by Nelson Faria. We're going to be alternating between this book and Galbraith's Guitar Comping. I'm really looking forward to expanding my range of Brazilian guitar styles.
• Whole Tone Scales. Yes, another scale to learn. This is jazz, after all! Dave showed me three fingerings for a whole tone scale. I had already figured out two of them on my own, so it's just a matter of learning the third form. Again, we're also using scales to focus on relaxing my left hand.
• I'm Beginning to See the Light. In addition to learning the song in greater depth, I'll be transcribing a Joe Pass solo from an Ella Fitzgerald/Joe Pass duo. I'm very much looking forward to this part of the assignment. When I perform in a voice/guitar duo setting, I will often loop the chords and then solo over the looper. Sometimes I will get brave, skip the looper, and "solo out of thin air," as Dave puts it. It's much more difficult, but I think the solos "out of thin air" sound better than the solos with the looper. Someday, I would like to leave the looper at home and solo out of thin air all the time, a la Joe Pass.
• Gone with the Wind. I'll finish transcribing and learning the Wes Montgomery solo.

Toward the end of the lesson, I commented on an observation that I blogged about a few days ago. Through much of our lessons, we hardly ever take music out and read it. There's a big emphasis on memorizing and listening. As we worked through I'm Beginning to See the Light, I improvised better than I ever have, mainly due to the fact that I wasn't reading music. I was listening very intently. When I'm reading chord changes and improvising, I tend to get too focused on the written chords, worrying about how I'm going to navigate from one chord to the next. When I take my attention away from the page, I play more musically. I still need to know the chord changes, but taking away the written music helps me calm my analytical voice and play more intuitively. I'm assigning myself is to memorize the repertoire for Tea for Two and Godfrey and Guy. This is going to be a major undertaking, but it's going to make me a better musician in so many ways. I'll have a host of standards in my head, I'll play more musically, and I'll be really good at memorizing!

Lesson #6

Continuing the practice of summarizing each lesson with Dave Frackenpohl and outlining each new assignment…

We usually start off playing whatever new scale has been assigned. This time, we skipped over the new scale (mixolydian bebop). I'll continue to practice this scale, along with the others Dave has assigned. We started off this lesson playing Jobim's Wave. I showed Dave an intro that he hadn't seen before. He's going to steal that from me. Dave showed me a way to play the bridge that I hadn't thought of. I'm going to steal that from him.

Then we moved on to The Girl from Ipanema. We first played it in the standard key of F, taking turns playing the melody, improvising, and comping for each other. Part of my assignment was to transcribe a solo from a recording of this tune. I had transcribed the classic Stan Getz solo, which was in the key of D-flat, which meant that I had to learn this tune in both F and D-flat. That was a good exercise!

We then went on to finish up the F Blues exercise in Barry Galbraith's Guitar Comping book. That was a long project. It took me six weeks to work my way through it, but the rewards were great. Thanks to this particular exercise, I have a lot of new chord voicings under my fingers.

Here's the new assignment:

• Three different chromatic scale fingerings. I'm already familiar with one of them. The others aren't too tricky. These are great warm-up and technique exercises.
• The Girl from Ipanema: We will continue to work through this song, focusing heavily on the bridge so that I can try out yet another new scale.
• Mixolydian #11 scale: This is the new scale to try out in Girl from Ipanema's bridge. Dave gave me a sheet of different ways to use the melodic minor scale. One way to think of the myxolydian #11 is a melodic minor scale starting on the 4th scale degree. The easier way to think of it is as a myxolydian scale with a raised 4.
• Gone with the Wind: I'll be doing quite a bit with this song! I'll be learning the Gone with the Wind comping exercise in the Galbraith Jazz Comping book. I'm also supposed to learn the melody, memorize the chords, and be able to improvise over the changes. Finally, Dave wants me to transcribe a Wes Montgomery solo from his recording of the song. Whew!

Since we were working on some Latin songs, Dave recommended The Brazilian Guitar Book by Nelson Faria. This book outlines authentic guitar comps for several Latin styles. I just ordered it and can't wait to work through it and put it to use in my gigs!

Lesson #5

Continuing with my practice of summarizing my guitar lessons with Dave Frackenpohl and outlining my next assignment…

Today's lesson went well. We warmed up on the major bebop scale, and then we played Nostalgia, which is a bebop tuned based on the chord changes from Out of Nowhere. When it came time to improvise, I did a pretty decent job of throwing in some ii-V licks that I've been learning. I had some trouble improvising over these changes last week, but the new ii-V licks really helped out. I actually sounded like I knew what I was doing this time! Next, we played Bags' Groove, and before improvising my own solo, I played the two Miles Davis choruses that I had transcribed. Next, I played through my F Blues assignment from Galbraith's Guitar Comping. Finally, Dave had me sight-read Fools Rush In, which is a tasty standard that I hadn't played before.

Dave commented that my work with the Miles Davis transcription paid dividends, telling me that I was starting to phrase more like a jazz player…more laid back and in the pocket, even when I'm playing faster phrases. It felt really good to hear that from him. I've been working diligently on my time and feel. I have a long way to go, but it's nice to know that I'm making progress.

Here's my next assignment.

• Mixolydian Bebop Scale. Learn this scale, and also practice starting at the top of the scale and descending. We always practice our scales from bottom to top and then down again, but we need to be comfortable playing the other way. I'm going to apply this to my other scales, too.
• Diminished Scale. I already know one form of diminished scale. Dave showed me a very easy diminished form that I hadn't thought of before…and that's why I'm taking lessons!
• Girl from Ipanema. I kind of know this already, but this is a tune that I should have cemented in my memory. It will be by the next lesson! In addition to memorizing the melody and chords, I also will be transcribing a solo of my choice.
• Wave. Here's another great Jobim song. I know the melody quite well, but I'm iffy on the chords. Again, in another two weeks, the chords will be solid. I'm very happy to be working on this song. I find it difficult to solo over these chord changes, so it'll be good to focus on this one for a couple weeks.
• Galbraith Guitar Comping. I have the final two choruses from the F Blues exercise to learn. I've picked up a lot of useful ideas from this book. It's a tremendous resource.
• ii-V Project. Although Dave didn't give me an assignment, it is my assumption that I am supposed to continue learning ii-V licks from the the sheet he gave me last time. I'm not in a hurry to learn all of these at once. I'll pick one or two more licks and drill them to death so that I can incorporate them into my vocabulary.
• Bag's Groove. I'll be transcribing two more choruses from a Miles Davis solo. For learning good jazz phrasing, you can't do much better than play along with Miles Davis solos!

I'm enjoying my lessons. My favorite part is solo transcription. It's challenging, but it's incredibly rewarding. You get to see how the great players put their solos together, and you have the opportunity to steal some of their licks. In addition to the great ear training, it's beneficial to play along with the recording so that you not only learn the notes, but you get a real sense of style and phrasing.

Change of Pace

This weekend offered a nice change of pace. I normally perform jazz standards, but this weekend was quite different. Last night, I played around a campfire, and this morning I led a music service at my church.

Most beautiful gig site ever.

Last night, a friend from church hosted a small gathering at his home, offering dinner outside, followed by songs and stories around a fire pit. I didn't expect the setting to be so gorgeous. He and his wife own a large piece of property, and the "back yard" is essentially a large natural sanctuary. I led a variety of songs, mostly of the folk variety. When I first started playing guitar, I planned on being a folk musician, so it was a lot of fun to sing these songs. The song list included City of New Orleans, Me and Bobby McGee, some Bob Dylan songs, etc. My mom used to sing these songs professionally, and the music brought back a lot of good memories. On top of all that, the weather was gorgeous. Spring had finally sprung a day or two before, and we enjoyed pleasant evening under the sky.

This morning, I led a music service with the help of my choir and handful of musicians from the congregation. It was very well received, and it was a lot of fun for me. I had a chance to sing a lot of songs that have touched me through the years, and these songs seemed to resonate with a lot of the folks in the congregation. A partial song list includes Burgundy Heart Shaped Medallion (David Wilcox), Why Is Your Heaven So Small (Susan Werner), Holy Now (Peter Mayer), and Guitar Shopping (David Wilcox).

After the service, someone told me that she wished we could do this every Sunday. While this was flattering, the truth is that I wouldn't have enough energy to do this every Sunday unless it were my full time job! While music services are fun, I think the novelty would soon wear off. One reason music services are cathartic is because they are infrequent. As one of my friends pointed out when I was having trouble narrowing down song choices…"Always leave them wanting more." This is true for the service itself, and it's true for music services in general.

Next weekend, I'm back to performing jazz standards. I have a private gig with Godfrey and Guy on Friday, and I'll be playing with The Standard Quartet on Saturday and Sunday. I probably won't be singing any more folk songs for a while, and it'll be a while until my next music service, but this weekend was refreshingly different.