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ooops..triple posts. There is no way to delete our own posts eh?

OK gang, my head-solo-head recording:
<a href=http://www.box.net/shared/qz0uiz74sk>MIDI</a>
<a href=http://www.box.net/shared/njkrolnkgw>MP3</a>

For the solo, I tried to focus on arpeggiation throughout. Apologies for the mix. Must have hit the volume slider for the drums as they came out way softer than they should have.

Edit: oh yeah, and I was trying to drag the melody in the head both times. I think all I managed was to shorten a few notes though...

Deeluk, that was so clean sounding! The playing was very much in the pocket and it felt very good.

Couple of things.

One the melody, I would suggest that you turn the 3rd note into a quarter note instead of an eighth note. That would be more in keeping with the original melody. Stylistically, many will make the 1st note and eighth (which you do), but will retain the rest of the melody pace as quarter notes.

The solo itself was fine but I'm trying to get you guys to really not be afraid of a continous stream of eighth notes.

I should see these exact notes on Am7 - (up) C E G B (down) G E C A

D7 - (Up) F# A C E (down) C A F# D

I get the impression that when I say arpeggiate that you get to choose some of the chord tones. That's not what I mean. I really want you to arpeggiate ALL. From the 3rd of the chord up to the 9th and then back down. None of you are arpeggiating so I want to break this habit off fast.

Let's consider this Bill Evans style training...

Way to go Deeluk!!! I like your relaxing style. You make it sound very EASY and EFFORTLESS. Can tell you are really enjoying your solo.

Rosa

Good job Deeluk!!! It looks like I have a bunch of catching up to do after listening to your work!

Jazzwee, when doing the arpeggiating exercise do you want the 9th's automatically included in addition to the usual notes of the chord itself? Also, it looks like I have some major catching up to do over the weekend. I'm only page 20 with my work and the discussions up here at page 40 are way past what I'm working on. Before I start asking silly and redundant questions I need to get though all of the lessons in between page 20 and 40. For example, if we are going to bridge into another song, the choice of that song is dependant on what we are trying to do with it. Is it a break? Is it an amusing antedote? No replies needed yet - I need to find out from the previous lessons.

One final thing, I should have spent a lot more time posting to this thread instead of just working of it. Listening to Deeluk's recording makes me realize the potential of the lessons we are receiving and what can be acheived with hard work.

Deeluk - Way to go! That in the pocket, relaxed style of yours is so very nice and natural sounding.

You will enjoy the Bill Evans arpeggiating exercise.
I started work on it this morning. I had to set the quarter note to 40 bpm in order to keep it all legato, even eighths, with a strong off beat accent. This is going to be one of those exercises where I increase the tempo ever so slightly. Working my way up to 140 bpm will be fun.

Keep up the good work

Jazzwee - You guessed it. I never thought of strict up and down arpeggiation. I was just playing chord tones with the added ninth. This Bill Evans exercise is just what the doctor ordered. I've said it before, I'll say it again - You are a GREAT mentor


Woody - You can join us in this Bill Evans exercise. Just play the right hand in the way Jazzwee suggests in his comments to Deeluk above. This really does come before soloing, so, you are ready for it now.

Thanks guys. I have my next mission. All eighths. All arps. In the pattern jw has laid out. I had a bit of trouble playing the arpeggios. Definitely felt like I needed to play quarters there for some reason. Felt constricting. Thanks for the direction. I think that will really help and get me past this arpeggio hurdle. Bill Evans training, I like that.

Barb, 40bpm???? I just set it at that now and it is very very very slow.

Can you send me a midi so I see how you are practising this? Maybe that's what I need to do to accent the offbeat. I've been setting mine at 110 bpm to practise. No wonder I am not getting it.

Rosa, the accenting of off beats has always been difficult for me. I have to go slowly - - yes 40 bpm to the quarter note - which means I'm doing 2 eighth notes in that space.

For me, I'm training my finger muscles to do something. When I train, slow is the way to go.

Here it is:

http://www.box.net/shared/pk49tpn484

I'm glad you had me do this. It is hard to play slowly and keep on the beat. I noticed on playback that I tend to rush at times.

Since it's midi, listen again at a fast speed. It gives you more of an idea of how it would sound in the real world.

Rosa - I just thought of something. I wasn't using a metronome -- just band in the box. To make things easier, when you do it with the metronome, set it to click on eighth notes. You will set the metronome to 80 and you can keep very strict time by striking each note on a click!

Great guys, I'm glad you're getting me here. I'll basically focus on a weakness and herd everyone in that direction. The arpeggio exercise is good for everyone. Once I start seeing arpeggios in actual solos, then we'll move on to another way of adding streams of notes.

It's really good to be armed with some standard vocabulary like this as it gives you time to think of other things. A whole measure filled with an arpeggio is just a single decision, like picking one note. And don't ever feel that this is hokey in some way as Charlie Parker and Bill Evans used chord arpeggiation a lot.

There are some other arpeggiated patterns you will hear that are repeats of two notes in the arpeggio. Here's an example for Am7:

(up) E C E G B
(down) B G E C E

These are good variants as well and you should hear these in Bill Evans' version of AL.

It's good to have the ability to integrate arpeggios be an automatic skill.

What would Fur Elise or Claire De Lune sound like without arpeggios? If it works for classical, it will work for Jazz.

Barb, that's perfect. Exactly what I meant. But I had to listen at 200% so I wouldn't get too bored Articulation and time (at 200%) sounded awesome.

I think your slow metronome practice is really helpful. I haven't done much of that myself. There is really technique to be developed and it does take a little time to build the skill.

Yes. That is correct. By doing an arpeggio of 4 notes starting on the 3rd, you will end up on the 9th (3,5,7,9).

On bridging songs, if it is important for you not to stop playing, that empty space is filled with tricks like iii-vi-ii-V-I progressions and some way to modulate to the next key. Modulating is done with a series of dominant chords where you can move along the circle of fifths or chromatically.

What do I do? I stop and then start the new tune Or I'll pedal to 1st chord of the next tune.

YES, YES, YES - that's the Bill Evans sound! That's what I want to learn. I am so glad you have taken us to this path

For the 5 note tempo above do I do the E C E as a triplet and put in a rest before the G B ?

No Woody, these are all eight notes. These exercises are intended to give everyone the ability to pull out a sream of eighth notes with running out.

There's another Bill Evans stylistic thing BTW to do triad arpeggios in triplet eighths as follows:

1 3 5
9 11 13
3 5 7
...

Easy to see on white notes.

Woody, I didn't mean to stop you at 5 notes, that's just the motif, obviously you would either extend it to the length of the measure either with other note choices, a rest or longer length notes. I was just describing a motif snippet that can be heard in Bill Evans playing, proving that arpeggios are in fact a solid piece.

For exercise purposes, I would stick to the up down exercise I described earlier. The one that Barb did so well.

Gotcha', picture a light bulb clicking on above my head!