Mousai – Live Recording
Here’s a short tune of mine I recorded on Aug 3rd 2022. It based on an augmented major 7 melody. I wrote the melody from those four notes and harmonized it afterwards. Jeff Harshbarger plays bass and John Kizilarmut plays
Lesson 142: Dominant Shell add #11
The 4 note structure or tetrad made up of 1, 3, #11 and b7 is a very useful note set for voicings and improvising over all sorts of dominant 7th chords. These 4 notes are common tones from both lydian
135: Practicing Major Scale Melodies
In this short video I attempt to demonstrate how I like to practice Major Scale melodies. Often times we practice the same way we practiced when we where young, only faster. That is, instead of learning better melodic material as
134: Chet Baker – Just Friends
I took off a small phrase from a Chet solo today over just friends. This was a good period for Chet, he had gotten out of jail and although was still learning to play on fake teeth an addict he
132: Using Space
If you’re like me, you may often listen back to one of your solos and think, ” I am playing too much, I’m not leaving any space and I’m not listening to the band “. I think that the main
131 a: Have You Met Mrs. Jones – Natural 9
In this lesson I’m practicing playing the natural 9 on every chord of the standard Have you met Miss Jones?. I’m using a displaced quarter note triplet rhythm starting on the 2nd 8th note triplet of beat one. After being
128: C Major Triad add #11
You can use the major Triad add #11 tetrad or four Note cell in a variety of harmonic context. There are 96 ways to order any four notes within and octave and a half and so there are a lot
Lesson 150: Blues Etude – 4 note cell
Here’s a blues etude that uses some different 4 note cells (tetrads) and various scales. By writing an etude you can learn to hear melody that specifically reflects an underlying concept and later improvise using the concept alone. The original
~New Video Series~
111: 2nd Inv Triad
Working on triads is something I do frequently as I find it good for my ears, my mind, my technique and my basic understanding of one of the fundamental structures found in both melody and harmony. Strong melodies and voicings
110: Posture, Balance, Breath.
In this video I am practicing a Major 7 #5 chord while focusing on my posture, my balance and my breath. I’ll be descending by half step from concert Bb Major 7 #5. While doing this I’m focusing on balance
109: Relax, Wait, Listen.
In this video I’m working on developing or practicing what I consider to be good performance habits. These are the 3 habits I’m focusing on: relaxing, using space and listening. Staying relaxed helps you stay aware and helps you communicate
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