Author: Jan

Je suis cool.

Bass day (1h 30m)

  • Walking bass / chord tones
    • Major ii — V7 — I in all keys with 5-1-3-7 permutation
  • Reading
    • The Beatles — All My Loving, Got To Get You Into My Life, I Wanna Hold Your Hand

Next time: seems like I’m a little bit stuck with my bass routine (while piano is thriving) — think about adding some new topics!

Piano day (1h 30m)

  • Technical
    • Hanon
      • Book 1: 5, 6, 7
      • Book 2: 26
  • Modal studies + left hand
    • 2-octave arpeggios + voice leading in F Mixo
  • Comping
    • Worth The Wait using A—B voicings in RH and walking bass based on 7th chord arpeggios in LH
  • Aeolian scales in all keys over minor shells around the cycle of 4ths

Next time: recap some jazz voicings, repeat harmonisation and review harmonic minor modes

Piano day (1h 30m)

  • Technical
    • A Dozen A Day
      • “Stretching” — in C, F and Bb
      • “Flinging Arms” in all keys
    • Hanon
      • No. 26 (full)
  • Modal studies + left hand
    • 2-octave Mixo 7th arpeggios in LH, voice leading with shells in RH, e. g. (KILLER EXERCISE!!!)
      • I7 arpeggio going to ii arpeggio with I7 chord in 7-3-5 (A) voicing going to ii chord in 7-3-5 voicing (A)
      • I7 arpeggio going to IV△7 arpeggio with I7 chord in 7-3-5 (A) voicing going to IV△ chord in 3-7-9 voicing (B)
      • Repeat with all movements (I7 — ii7, I7 — iii⌀, etc.)
    • Harmonising Dorian mode with 7-3-5 shells (in all keys)

Observations

Just as Rick Beato says — any practice should be musical, never boring. Yes, you do need to spend some time just playing arpeggios, but after you’re somewhat familiar with them, you should immediately start introducing musical context, otherwise you’ll either be stuck or just eventually grow tired of perfecting your 2-octave runs and forget about them. Combining 2-octave arpeggios with voice leading and A-B voicings did the trick for me! The moment I felt the thought “Oh, those boring Mixolydian arpeggios—” creeping in, I knew I needed to change something. So I did, and it was a success, I literally couldn’t stop playing these combinations (although they sounded like crap at first). So yeah — whenever you can, add context. Even if your academic self tell you “it’s too early”. Sum hooligan advice here! :D