Bass day (1h 20m)

  • Inversions
    • Major, minor & dominant 7th chords chromatically up the neck in all inversions
    • Same, starting every subsequent inversion on a new string to force “intervalic thinking” over “patternistic thinking”
    • Applying inversion against jazz standard (1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 1st descending)

Observations

Although it is always a hassle, it’s actually super helpful to spell out loud the notes you play (especially not looking at the fretboard). It might slow you down, but in fact, it really helps to break out of patternistic approach where you think shape first. Also, starting each inversion on a new string helps to focus more on intervals that make up the chord (instead of notes), so you could see many ways of playing it on the fretboard. E. g. Gmaj7: G — B — D — F#, then starting on A string: B — D — F# — G, then on D string (starting on open): D — F# — G — B, and on G string: F# — G — B — D. It feels a little uncommon, but you really start thinking about 3rds and seconds that make up the chord instead of trying to get the spelling right and not mess it up (which happens very often especially in the keys with a lot of accidentals).

Piano day (2h)

  • Improvisation (Dan Haerle — Jazz Improvisation for Keyboard Players)
    • Lesson 11: Blues progressions
      • C blues scale over 3 classic progressions (I — IV — V, 12-bar major and minor), shell voicings with LH
      • C blues scale + corresponding Dorian / Mixo / Harmonic minor scales over the same three (with click)
      • F blues scale + passing scales over same progressions in the key of F

Observations

Next time, make sure to run through all Harmonic minor, Mixo and Dorian scales with right hand prior to improvising. Also play some exercises from “Jazz Piano Voicing Skills” book, maybe try improvising over them.

Bass day (1h 40m)

  • Latin rhythms & walking bass
    • Cha-cha-cha in G & E
    • Walking bass practice with Nashville number notation (keys of G, E, C, Bb)
  • Chord tones
    • Recap all 7th chords in all inversions around the cycle of 4ths
    • In context of the song (very briefly)
  • Tons of Runs (Andy Laverne book) — reading in treble + learning licks for soloing: dominant 7th run in 3 keys

Observations

OMG! I don’t know if it’s just a recent update or was always there, but I have just discovered that you can display chord charts in iReal Pro in NUMBER NOTATION!!! YAAAAAY!!! That’s an absolute killer. Keep improving walking bass line skills and at the same time finally internalise all scale degrees relationships (even though the app is not smart enough to detect mode mixing and modulations to other keys, but still!). Priceless.

Piano day (1h 30m)

  • Improvisation (Dan Haerle — Jazz Improvisation for Keyboard Players)
    • Improv over major II — V — I in C, F, Bb, G and D
    • Left hand voicings:
      • 3-7-9 — 7-3-6 — 3-6-9
      • 7-1-3-5 — 3-6-7-9 (yes, not 3-5-7-9!) — 7-1-3-5
    • Improv over minor ii — V — i in C- and F-
    • Left hand voicings:
      • 3-b5-7-9 — 7-b6-3-5 — 3-5-#7-9
      • 7-1-3-b5 — 3-5-7-b9 — #7-1-3-5

Observations

I’m so glad that I spent some time with Mr. Haerle’s other book “Jazz piano voicings” before staring with this one. He’s using shell voicings all the time, and I’m already somewhat familiar with them, so that helps me adopt the improvisation concepts much quicker.

Bass day (1h)

  • II — V — I — IVs with 7th chords (all inversions and all keys)

Observations

It may look like I’m cutting on my bass practice, but it’s not true — well, not entirely, lol — I just got the enormous amount of jazz piano books and I’m so excited to update my routine that I allow myself to bail on bass a little bit 😆 But iI promise it’s temporary!