Author: Jan

Je suis cool.

Piano day (1h)

  • Improvisation
    • Major blues scales in all keys (over dominant chords in shell voicings)
    • Cycling 5ths: Lesson 12 / Exercise 1 from “Jazz Improvisation for Keyboard Players” (Mixo scales over dominant chords)
  • Left hand
    • Stride bass (exercise + analysis) — from “Jazz Piano — The Left Hand” by Riccardo Scivales

Bass day (1h 30m)

  • Walking bass / chord tones
    • 1-* & 3-* permutations of root inversion & 1st inversion (harmonising C Mixolydian)
    • Applying over All of Me in G-
  • Piano routine sync
    • Minor blues scale “inversions” (starting on 1 and running octave up, b3 and up to b3 octave above, same from 4, from #4, etc.) — in all keys cycling in 4ths
  • Chords
    • Triads recap
    • 7th chords 1st inversion w/o 5th

Piano day (1h)

  • Improvisation
    • Minor blues scale in all keys over minor 7th chords in shell voicings
    • Major blues scale in all keys over dominant chords
    • Alternating minor & major blues scales
  • Jazz voicings
    • Dominant to minor (quick recap)
    • Dominant to major (quick recap)
  • Comping
    • Mixo & minor blues over dominant to minor transition (I — IV)

Piano day (1h 20m)

Took a little break in practice because of o lot of production tasks going on, now back again.

  • Improvisation
    • Minor blues scale over minor chords (shell voicings) in all keys
    • Major blues scales over dominant chords in all keys
    • Alternating minor and major
  • Jazz voicings
    • Recap: minor to dominant, dominant to major

Observations

Even 2-day break feels hard. Although I do play piano a lot during my production and recording sessions, stopping to practice the new theory material results in losing momentum, and this is not cool. So, the takeaway here is to practice no matter what, even if there are only 30 minutes.