100th post of the year

happy new year, people!

Charlie Christian is the guy now...

sorry, BB, but there's a new guy in town.  Another one-note wonder.  Charlie Christian.  Now that I'm moving towards jazz he's the one I'll be studying outside of the lessons.  Single note leads are always my main interest, and he's the jazz guy for that.  My objective during the break is to buy a book of transcriptions to study.  tally ho!

251 jazz back track -- nice!

so in the afternoon i tried out a 2-5-1 backing track with the ipod touch through the amp.  plugged in the vg strat and had some fun.  played major scale.  nice!  gonna add it to my list of stuff to do.  the "set list" for the imaginary gig.  also gonna transfer a back track to garage band and record an improv with it.  jazz videos!

thurs. morn vid

ok, here's my thurs. morn vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt4Wi5qaRS4

this one is special.  better than my previous.  i felt more comfortable, more confident.  finally got moving between minor and major pentatonic.  really started working those positions.  I like fifth position minor and major to mess around in.  those two shapes really work for me.  gonna focus on that for improving major/minor soloing.

also in this one i'm better at holding back, letting the backing track breathe a little.  stopped myself from just doing a flurry of notes.  more of a phrase pause phrase pause thing going on here.  enjoy!

wednesday morning blues improv

ok, a little thing after breakfast:

wed. morn. blues improv

the blues forever!

more vids

check my youtube channel.  more vids.  one with day tripper chords.  one a test of octaves ala wes but with way too much signal.  like metal octaves for the sound windy, from the 60s, by the association.  i tried to upload another video of hotel california with a piano rhythm section, but youtube keep deleting the audio -- it was a copyright violation!  yet there are many covers of hotel california, including my first one, that aren't deleted or silenced.  what gives?  GONNA try and upload it tomorrow.  weird!

windy ala wes & octaves

working on Windy with octaves like Wes does.  fun fun fun!  Also, figured out how to use my keyboard with garage band, so i can really expand my backing tracks.  gonna make my own.  already did "hotel california" and am now working on Day Tripper.  and the wes thing.  onward!

first video of xmas break 2011

ok, here's my video:

improv over hotel california chords

so, gonna use chords of rock songs to improv over.  so the listener has something familiar to grasp onto.  hope to make more over the break!

great lesson on jazz octaves ala benson

ok, here's the link to the lesson:

george benson style octaves

the dude looks like a convict, but he knows his stuff!  this is one technique I'm gonna practice during the break.  octaves!  sound great with vg strat in humbuck 12 string mode!  also i like how he plays minor pent and natural minor together for improvs.  cool!

semester of lessons is over

ok, the semester is over for lessons.  started with spike drivers blues and delta fingerstyle gittar, and ended with "first solo" from a Berklee book and a move towards jazz, with no delta blues in sight.  still playin' blues at home.  also learned to read notes finally, so tabs are long gone.  yesterday i got out my bb king book, covered up the tabs, and learned the first page of a song.  not so hard, now.

not so sure about the roland pickup on humbucker for the vg strat.  felt my ears were ringing a little.  gotta use another modeling for that gittar, or the normal single coils.  they still sound good in pairs, like bridge and middle.

hope to make some videos during the break.  blues stuff.  and wanna get a set up for my new strat, "surfy".

I'm off of tabs!

yeah, no more tabs for me!  I can work on this new piece and just read the dang notes, like Tom would say.  I'm not going back!  At least for the first position on the neck i'm fine.  Later I'll learn more.

working with my new fender has been great.  I really like the humbuckers on it.  in fact, fender is pretty good at hb pups.  Now, in comparison, I think I'm really an hb guy.  the single coils are just a little too sharp for my ears.  luckily both my fenders can do humbucks -- the vg strat has a great humbuck mode. i can even do 12 string humbuck with the roland pickup!  super cool.  i'm humbuckin' all the way!

chord melody solo piece

So, Tom gave me a chord melody solo piece from his big book of guitar stuff.  no tabs -- standard notation only.  well, it's not too bad so far; i'm taking it slowly and getting the hang of reading staff (is that what to call it? staff instead of tabs?).  the piece is mellow, a little jazzy at the end with an 11th chord i think.  we're moving away from the blues, it seems, towards a more jazz oriented playing.  good.  i can do my bb king back track stuff at home on my own and study the solos in my book.  tom's stuff will get me into staff reading, theory, jazz directions, etc.

also, got a new guitar!!! a fender pawn shop 72 -- surf green body, mint pickguard, rosewood fret board.  you can see it at my youtube channel.  two humbuckers, semi hollow like a tele thinline, hard tail, tele headstock, p-bass pickguard.  a real monster!  sounds great -- the humbucker at the neck is airy and jazzy.  a good change from the woody sound of my 339.  and different from the roland synth humbucker on my vg strat.  i'm turning into a humbucker guy -- fender single coils are just too sharp for me.  i prefer the humbuck warmth and thickness.  so this is the last fender i'm gonna buy.  it fits the old case, so now my fender collection is complete.  i got a 15% black friday discount at GC, and ordered it online.  it arrived in great shape, with a gig bag.  needs a little set up, but not much, so no rush on that. the stock strings even sound good!