Time: 1 hour

Material:

• 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)
• Open voiced Major, melodic minor, and harmonic minor triads on string groups 124, 235, and 346 – all in ‘C’.
• Harmonic Gypsy Minor scale, every string every finger exercise (e.s.e.f.)
• Bebop lines from David Baker’s Bebop Volume 1
• “It Don’t Mean a Thing” chord melody arrangement by Howard Morgen
• Modus Novus
• Improvisation over ii-V-I in Ab.

Comments:

Had an interesting observation during the gymnastics and arpeggios parts of my session last night. Working with the metronome at a relatively low tempo (100 bpm) I discovered that I play very much right on top of the beat and have a tendency to shorten the note values. Once I figured out that I was doing this I realized (a) I do it all the time, and (b) it makes my playing and my lines sound rushed.

So what did I do? I relaxed! Lengthened each note a bit to fill the entire beat more and things sounded so much better! The notes flowed together so much nicer, and it allowed me to lay back in the metronome’s pocket more. I’m very glad that I had this observation because now I want to start thinking about playing with the pocket in my improvisation.

Good thing this is a guitar blog and not one drummers and bassists are likely to see much. Otherwise, I’m going to be inundated with “No S*@&!” in my comments.

Practice Journal: Josh (02/19/2010) is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

Time: 1.5 hours

Material:

• 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)
• Open voiced Major, melodic minor, and harmonic minor triads on string groups 124, 235, and 346 – all in ‘C’.
• Harmonic Gypsy Minor scale, every string every finger exercise (e.s.e.f.)
• Bebop lines from David Baker’s Bebop Volume 1
• “It Don’t Mean a Thing” chord melody arrangement by Howard Morgen
• Modus Novus
• Improvisation over ii-V-I in Ab.
• Comping over All the Things You Are

Comments: Today was MUCH better than yesterday’s session. There is definitely something to be said for not only practicing in general, but also practicing in the right order! I think I’m going to stick with this routine order as well; the Modus Novus sight singing is a nice break in the routine, which gives my fingers a quick rest and also breaks up the session nicely.

The ii-V-I is feeling good. Been targeting b9 triads over the V7 a lot lately, and the lines are starting to come together well.

The comping for ATTYA came out by accident. I just started playing the chords and before I knew it I was working out some inner-voice lines and alterations/extensions. I videotaped what I came up with to see if I can get back to it later and flesh it out a bit more.

Overall, I’m very pleased. These are the kind of practice sessions I should have on a regular basis.

Practice Journal: Josh (02/18/2010) is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

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.

Practice Journal: Josh (02/17/2010) is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

The goal for my new routine is to cover several areas and have a well-rounded regimen rather than concentrate on a specific area. I will certainly add extra-curricular pieces on an as-needed basis, but for now my routine will consist of the following:

• Finger Gymnastics (Warm-Up)
• Sight Reading
• Ear Training
• Arpeggios
• Scale Exercises
• Chord Studies/Comping
• Learning Jazz Standards
• Improvisation
• Chord Melody/Solo Guitar

Though this ends up looking jazz-focused, the idea is to become a better technician and improve my ear. I feel that jazz is the best vehicle to do so, but by no means the only way to do it.

The Sight Reading and Ear Training portions will not be memorized, hence I will only do them once or twice each day. The idea is to not rely on memorization for these exercises.

I do not have a specific resource in mind for Chord Melody/Solo Guitar. I will be both creating my own and learning from the masters that have come before me. I would like to build up a repertoire of material that I can use to play solo guitar gigs.

Here are some of the resources I’m using:

Guitar Lore (Dennis Sandole) for Gymnastics
Rhythmical Articulation (Bona) for Sight Reading
60 Studies, Op. 45 Complete: Books 1 and 2 for Violin (Franz Wohlfahrt) for Sight Reading
Two-Part Inventions (J.S. Bach) for Sight Reading
The Guitar Arpeggio Compendium (Scott McGill) for Arpeggios
How to Play Bebop (David Baker; Volumes 2 and 3 also available) for Improvisation
Linear Expressions (Pat Martino) for Improvisation
Modus Novus for Sight Singing
Howard Morgen’s Solo Guitar: Insights, Arranging Techniques & Classic Jazz Standards (Jazz Masters Series) for Chord Melody

You can keep track of my progress by following my practice reports here on Fretterverse.com.

My New Practice Routine (2/2010) is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

It would be safe to say that the Mechanisms series is the definitive chord study for guitar. It would also be safe to say that “daunting” is somewhat of an understatement. Well, perhaps “comprehensive” is a better adverb, but both are applicable. I suspect by the time you’ve worked through all three volumes you will be a master of chord theory and harmonization.

What’s In the Books?

Major, melodic minor and harmonic minor are the focus of his book series. What I particularly like about this method is that neighbor tones and some melodic cells between chord voicings are described in detail, which really helps with chord melody and comping. Wide-interval dyads are also explained here, which helps us guitarists break out of the barre chord and typical, stock chords mold.

All of your fingers get a workout as well, with methods that create finger independence and more control over your lines. Fingering diagrams are also extensively shown to aid in your progress. Seventh chords are shown a little bit in Volume One, and more extensively in Volumes Two and Three.

I highly recommend these volumes to anyone looking for inspiration and ways to break out of their comfort zones. Though it will take a significant amount of time to work through these tomes, the payoff is well worth the effort.

For Your Enjoyment

I figured you appreciate seeing and hearing the genius of George Van Eps:

George Van Eps’ Harmonic Mechanisms Series (Books) is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

I’ll have to see if I can dig up the sheet music arrangement I did for it. If I find it, I’ll certainly post it.

I’ll Remember April Chord Melody is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

Consider, as a standard practice, that you have four fretting fingers available when playing. Without the use of barring or double-fretting, you can play one note on any one of the six strings on the guitar, which means you can play four strings simultaneously. This seems rather obvious, but many people overlook the fact that playing four strings simultaneously doesn’t mean that all four strings need to be adjacent to each other.

On a six-string guitar there are 15 possible four-string string groups available to use at any given time. For the sake of clarity, each string is assigned a number:

1 – high E string
2 – B string
3 – G string
4 – D string
5 – A string
6 – low E string

So, for example, when you say you are using the 1235 string group, you are talking about playing with the high E, B, G, and A strings.

Simple enough, right? With those string numbers in mind, here are the 15 string groups:

For now, if you are interested in toying around with the different string groups, I suggest you take something simple like a standard min7 chord from the 2345 string group and see what chord shapes you come up with to play those same notes on the different string groups.

In the next lesson we’ll be applying this idea to a jazz standard.

The 15 String Groups is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.