Author: Jan

Je suis cool.

Bass day (1h 40m)

  • Chord Tones (Phil Mann) — 30m
    • Major triads in all inversions without stopping around the cycle, saying all notes out loud (44bpm eighth triplets), silently (80bpm eighth triplets)
    • Minor triads in all inversions — same
  • Break
  • Walking bass lines (Scott Devine) — 1h
    • Recap all major and minor ii — V — I patters and shapes in G-
    • Applying them to Autumn Leaves in G-
    • Same in Eb-
    • Also occasionally throwing in ghost notes (didn’t really work all the time, must practice them separately)
  • Soloing over Autumn Leaves in Eb-

Observations

If you’re frustrated with something (like transposing all ii — V — I shapes from G- to Eb-), sometimes the (pretty counterintuitive) way to overcome frustration is actually to keep doing this thing with an extra effort, but try to look at it from a different perspective for a moment (for example, in my case I stopped thinking how to move the shape and thought about the scale degrees that it comprises) — and then suddenly it might start to work.

Piano day (1h 25m)

  • Blues pentatonic scale in C-, F- and Bb- in RH over 12-bar blues chord progression in LH — 30m
    • 2-octave runs
    • 1 — 6, 1 — 5, 1 — 4, 1 — 3
    • Intervals
    • Improvisation
  • Dorian scales around the circle of 5ths (starting on D) — 20m
    • At 60bpm with stops after each key
    • Same without stopping
  • Phrygian scales around the circle of 5ths (starting on D) — 20m
    • At 60bpm with stops after each key
    • Same without stopping
  • Harmonising Phrygian scale with 7th chords (pattern: i7 — bII▵7, i7 — bIII7, i7 — iv7 etc.) — E to C# — 15m

Observations

Took some notes on mode relationships to ease #’s / b’s memorisation (e. g. Phryigian sharp keys are -1# from Aeolian, etc.)

Bass day (1h 30m)

  • Chord tones (Phil Mann) — 40m
    • Major triads in all inversions without stopping around the cycle, saying all notes out loud (44bpm eighth triplets), silently (70bpm eighth triplets)
    • Minor triads in all inversions — same, slightly slower
  • Walking bass lines (Scott Devine) — 50m
    • Ghost notes (above, below, open string upright style)
    • Break
    • Major & minor ii — V — I patterns recap: all major and all minor shapes over Autumn Leaves in G-
    • Trying out ghost notes in context

Observations

For the first time in a long while I had the same degree of engagement while practicing as I have when I’m producing music or playing bass or piano in a band. When the timer went off, I was like, NO, DUDE, I want more! I haven’t yet played Autumn Leaves in D-! You know what I mean? For the most part, my bass routine (piano is the different story) was like that: play the scales, walk over jazz standard, do some modal exercises, okay, time’s up, done. It was good, but not as engaging as creative processes are when you get in the state of flow and forget about time completely. This is what happened to me today although I was doing something that I would normally consider “boring” (arpeggios / shapes). So, I guess, I have to thank Mr. Devine for helping me focus and find fun in practice (a. k. a. get in the shed)! Apart from that, I also found that I particularly like the upright-style plucking around 18th fret (not above the pickup.

Evening piano session (30m)

  • Inversions & 7-3-5 shell voicings over pop song in iReal Pro
  • Studying chord chart (“Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps” in E-) and applying 7-3-5, 3-7-9, 3-6-9 and other voicings from Haerle book to find the minimum movement fingering — successfully played the whole thing after 3 slow passes

Piano day (1h 30m)

  • Blues pentatonic scale in C- & F- in RH over 12-bar blues chord progression in LH
    • 2 octaves ↑, 2 octaves ↓, 1 octave ↑, 1 octave ↓ x 2 + fills
    • 1 — 6, 1 — 5, 1 — 4, 1 — 3 on i & iv, scale on iiº & V7
  • Cycle progressions in shell voicings (Dan Haerle) — Minor to Dominant
    • Skills 37c & 37d without click, then at 60bpm
    • Skills 37a & 37b at 84bpm

Observations

Slowing down almost to the point where it feels ridiculous actually helps get to the desired speed much quicker! Weird, but that’s so true. Play the figure 5 times super slow, then turn the click on, and suddenly you are able to play it perfectly in time! (As opposed to just endlessly trying to do it at higher tempos.)

Bass day (1h 30m)

  • Chord tones (Phil Mann) — 50m
    • Major triads in all inversions around the cycle of 4ths, note names out loud (40bpm), silently (60bpm)
    • Minor triads in all inversions around the cycle of 4ths, same. Playing enharmonic sharp keys instead of Ab-, Db- and Gb-
  • Break
  • Walking bass lines (Scott Devine) — 30m
    • Static dominant chord lines (two octave major scales with b7, ascending on one chord and descending on the next one), around the cycle of 4ths
    • Major & minor ii — V — I patterns in G- recap
    • Autumn Leaves in D- — adapting ii — V — I patterns from G-

Observations

Because Phil in his lessons always emphasises the importance of “not viewing chord tones as shapes”, I was having hard time accepting Scott’s patternistic approach to ii — V — I patterns that are transposed very easily if you remember the shape & fingering. I had to somehow reconcile these two approaches (i. e. viewing arpeggio as a stack of intervals and viewing a walking line pattern as a shape), but at the end I think I’ve found the balance: when taking the ii — V — I shape to another key, first think about how it is constructed in terms of scale degrees / chords tones, and then apply the usual fingering. Also using open strings helps to get of out comfort zone (i. e. G- major ii — V — I pattern in D-).