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Tim would be a great asset to the forum. I post a fair bit of his stuff in the piano bar. I can only hope I do it justice. I also have some of his recordings, and he is a fantastic jazzer!

ten left thumbs: So I went back and compared your E is flat solo with aimless noodle a few posts earlier. Your phrases are longer, you have more legato and variety of texture in the flat e solo. Nice!. And this shift occurred in a couple of days. So much for your earlier post that everything grinds to a halt when you improvise. Please change your mind about that.

I start my students with the pentatonic scale so that there is almost instant success. Frame of mind has to be positive or this will never take.

If you take your 5 Stars solo efforts (C pentatonic) and slam them over the chord changes of Onion Soup (A minor pentatonic) you may notice that the licks and tricks work in either piece. For the Right Hand, there is very little difference between the two. To the ears, the same licks are higher in the extensions so you might think you are jazzier than thought you were on the last piece.:)

Thanks for your comments Pete!

Now, I tried Onion Soup and just didn't get on well with the RH. I know you're suggesting putting the 5 starts RH over the onion soup changes, but I tried that too, and got some very strange results. The slash chord progression is OK, depending on what RH notes I use, but I can't get anything to work with the E min.

Here is a piece that I am working on from Take the Lead, book 1. I was having a hard time getting both hands to work together, and this one seems to be helping me with that. Far from perfect, but it is the best recording I could get so far. Seems hard to get all the way thru when the mic is on.

5 finger blues


Dale

If you are planning to improvise the chord changes in the second section, you will have to be careful playing a C in the RH against the Em chord. One way around it is to change from scalar thinking to chordal thnking. So hammer ons in G will take care of that: http://www.box.net/shared/k0j2v5203s
If you use a B instead of C,for the Em bar, you will be playing Em pentatonic which would also work. Change back to Am pentatonic over the Am chord.
Here is avoiding the C on a strong beat by using quartals off E http://www.box.net/shared/q02xyoij9u

Nice going Dale! You manage to keep the rhythm steady. I have the same trouble with the mike.

Pete - I'm afraid you've gone a couple of steps beyond me. You started off by suggesting putting the 5 stars RH over the LH onion soup. Strange. I think probably I need to stick with 5 stars till I'm more comfortable and in control of what I'm doing.

I see what you're saying about the E min chord and G pent, I'm just not sure I'm doing myself any favours with it.

What are quartals?

Ten left thumbs: What I am suggesting is that the licks and tricks on 5 Stars will work on Onion Soup. The waterfall licks and hammer ons that were used in C major work over the first section even though it is in Am. Here is a sample: http://www.box.net/shared/57gmvgj2cf
I start with C hammer ons for 2 bars, messing around with single note pentatonic scale for 2 bars and then waterfalls for 2 bars and take the melody out for the last 2 bars.
Quartals are stacks for perfect 4ths. I was running an arpeggio E-A-D up the keyboard over the Em chord.

Dale: Putting the HT on the boogie stuff is a tricky business! You did a great job. I second the motion. Your sense of the beat is solid as a rock. I do not sense any gaps between the chord changes either. Thanks for the post.

Sounds good Pete! I'm going to be travelling over the next few days, but will let you know when I get a chance to try this out.

I have updated the last download. I got files mixed up trying to get this done in a hurry.

mucking about when I have a train to catch:
http://www.box.net/shared/nvc2t04ksc

Thank You Ten Left Thumbs and Pete. The work you are doing in this thread is sounding very nice Ten Left Thumbs !!!
The tips you are giving are fantastic too Pete.
Working on Baby Boom from Take The Lead Book One and hope to record it over the weekend.

Dale

Thanks for the compliment Dale - I look forward to hearing these numbers!

ten left thumbs: Here are some suggestions for improv on the Red Sky Romp: http://www.box.net/shared/8sti8na1ap

Thanks Pete, I am back from my trip and will take a look at this over the next few days.

Staying with Five stars, I thought I would do a copy of one of your solos. Here's what you played:



And this is my copy:
http://www.box.net/shared/msiyi66d7k

I couldn't entirely hear the LH part at the end, so I just made something up.

It made me realise how, when I improvise, I can try to pack too much in, too fast and too frantic. I can go into panic mode. This is a good one for slowing me down.

I was also thinking I should do this in a few other keys. Not much point in just being able to play in C.

ten left thumbs: Nice solo. Relaxed and controlled.

Putting the scale in other keys is a good idea. Take a few at a time or you may find yourself in overwhelm mode.

A few at a time? lol That might be a bit over-ambitious. This is in G:

http://www.box.net/shared/d1psezud2y

I then did a little test - can I still play in C? Yep, I just about managed C. I've also done some improvising - just not managed it with the red dot lately.

ten left thumbs:You keep getting better with every post. Keep this up for a much longer and I will start asking you for tips! Here is another idea: http://www.box.net/shared/9eryd8g52d
This is playing the RH using G pentatonic and keeping the LH in the key of C, as arranged. This gives a more dreamy sound because now there is a Maj 7 involved.

Now that is interesting. Two things change when I use G pent, rather than C pent.

1. I'm no longer allowed C. This is fine because C sounds fairly boring in C major. Safe, yes, but boring.

2. Now I get to play a B, which was an avoid note before. So over chord I, that's a major 7th, nice. Over vii, it's a 9th, also juicy. It's in chord V, so no problems there. Over chord ii it makes a 6th, nice. If I put it over chord IV, it's going to give me a 4th. Er - um - ouch. *Can* sound OK if is resolves. Do you avoid the B over IV?

I'll study what you played more carefully.

ten left thumbs: If you are playing the note B over the F chord and park, it would likely be a little on the spicy side.

http://www.box.net/shared/4avb2skps5
In this example I am using B against an F major chord in a G arpeggio. The first time beginning on B and going up B-E-A (quartal) and the second time just the major chord with an add 9 GABD. You could analyze this as Lydian.
A good exercise using G pentatonic is to try make use of the extensions so over C major start the phrase on B or D. On G major -E or A. Am try B or D. F major try G B or D or E.
The flavor of the improv is quite different using the G pentatonic. Not quite so sweet as C pentatonic.