Tag: learning pieces

Piano day (1h 30m)

Scale studies

  • All Phrygian scales

Preparing pieces

Practicing a piece that I’m going to record later. (Should’ve also practiced my Logic score exporting skills so it won’t look that terrible 😬). Just an intro from the thing I’m working on. It’s an F# piece occasionally slipping to B major.

Screenshot 2019-03-18 at 21.19.18.png

Piano day (2h)

Left hand + shells

  • Descending major 10ths workout (10-5-1 + 6-7)
    • Only LH
    • With RH: 7-3-5 shells
    • With RH: alternating shells of same chord (7-3-5 to 3-6-9 or 3-7-9) — octave jump
    • With RH: connecting descending shells (cycling 7-3-5 to 3-7-9)

Left hand + modal studies

  • Lydian DNA (Imaj7 — II7) in all keys
    • Blocks
    • LH: 1-5-10-6’-7’ | 1-1’, RH: 7-3-5 shell | 1 octave scale run

Left hand + scale studies

  • Major blues scale recap (LH: broken 10ths, harmonic 5ths and 6ths)

Reading + analysis

  • Fascinating Rhythm by George Gershwin  (first 4 bars, then quick improv over LH pattern) — Exercise #14 from Jazz Piano: The Left Hand book

Observations
I haven’t been practicing too much bass during the last months, as I’m trying to focus in on left hand on piano, but recently I picked it up late at night and simply did some walking over a jazz standard. Then some inversions. Some permutations. Some arpeggios. All that stuff that I though I’ve had enough of. One big takeaway from that? Wanna get excited about seemingly boring material like scales, arpeggios and reading on your instrument? Simply practice another one for a month or so (completely ignoring the first one), and I swear you’ll start CRAVING it! 😂

Bass day (1h 40m)

  • Chord tones — 1h 20m
    • 7th chord permutations (all starting on 1)
      • Harmonising C Dorian, F Dorian and Bb Dorian scales
    • Applying permutations over jazz standard (all starting on the root and then several starting on the 3rd)
  • Pick — 20m
    • Line from the “Famous Bass Lines” book by Larry McCabe (to be honest, most of them are pretty boring and just meandering around minor / major pentatonic, so I’ll probably get some new transcriptions for this part of my practice)

Bass day (1h 30m)

  • Chord tones
    • 7th chord permutations (all 6 starting on 1)
      • Harmonising C major & F major scales with all permutations without stopping
    • Applying inversions over jazz standard (1st & 2nd)
  • Pick practice
    • Jet — Are You Gonna Be My Girl?
    • Larry McCabe “Famous Blue Lines” — Lines 1 & 2 in E-