Time: 2 hours

Comments: So nice to be practicing tonight. Had a very good session. I was hoping to go for three hours, but my fingers started to hurt a bit and I didn’t want to push it.

Started out with three-octave Maj6 arpeggios in all 12 keys. I really like the sound of this arp; should find a way to integrate it into my improvisation.

Worked through some Hungarian Gypsy Minor ideas that my teacher Scott McGill wrote for me oh so long ago. Played this in different positions and messed with accenting different notes. This scale has always sounded a little “off” to me, so I need to work with it more.

Violin studies from Wolfhart and Bona are great for sight reading. Worked on Wolfhart #5, Bona #82, and Bona #82 (up an octave). As stupid as it sounds, I always have a problem reading the note ‘B’ on the middle staff line. I have no idea why this is, but it very often screws me up. I need to figure out a solution to this.

Open voice triads in C – major, harmonic minor, melodic minor. Worked in different string groups all over the neck. Note to self: move to key of F during next practice session.

Improvisation over All the Things You Are. Nothing special worked on here, just set the track up in Band In A Box and went to town for a while.

Overall I’m very pleased with the session. I still don’t have a formalized practice routine down yet, but I do know before sitting down what I want to work out. Half-way there, I guess.