Time: 1 hour

Comments: I hate to say it, but I was struggling through my practice session today. First, I practiced out of order, so I immediate went to my arpeggio (three-octave Maj6) instead of warming up with gymnastics first. That immediately tired my hand out and set the stage for a rather lax session.

Here is what I worked on:

• Gymnastics
• Three-octave Maj6 arpeggio from The Guitar Arpeggio Compendium by Scott McGill (using a metronome)
• Wolfhart #5
• Bona #82 and #83 (up one octave)
• Modus Novus
• Open voiced Major, melodic minor, and harmonic minor triads on string groups 124, 235, and 346 – all in ‘C’.
• Bebop lines from David Baker’s Bebop Volume 1

The sight reading and Modus Novus sight singing went very well, which was surprising; those are usually the two I struggle to get through. As you can see, I didn’t even get to Linear Expressions, improvisation, or working on any jazz standards.

I also decided to use Howard Morgen’s Solo Guitar: Insights, Arranging Techniques & Classic Jazz Standards (Jazz Masters Series) as my chord melody reference. But, I didn’t get to start on it today, unfortunately.

Today was, as my martial arts teacher often says, a “Ganbatte” (Keep Going!) day. Often these days, where you’re just not feeling it and it’s a struggle, are the best days because it helps to break down plateaus and certainly prevents complacency.

Tomorrow is another day, and another practice session. I’m confident it will be more productive than today.