OK cool. I will learn A Time for Love and at the same time will arrange Never Let Me Go.

Cus,

About the chord analysis. I'm not really into that kind of thing because too me, it's a bit subjective. I would personally say that the tune modulates a lot more than you write, but if for you, it stays in the key, then so be it.

Probably more important are the preferred scales, chords and extensions.

Hi Knots, what do you think about my attempt at determining scales ?

http://www.box.net/shared/fq9c80l2cr

Cheers and have a nice weekend
cus

>>Thanks for your guidance Knotty.
>>I’m on Lesson 16 Hanons at 120 bpm and singing Charlie Christian.

sounds great. Try to gradually increase the tempo on those hanons. Once in a while, increase by a notch (124, then 128, etc...). Assuming you are playing 120 quarter notes.
When you get to Bird and anthropoly, even slowing down to 60% will be a solid 200bpm, and it won't be scales no more . Although, very similar to the hanons you're doing now.

Are you doing the hanons 2 handed or one?

>>Hi Knots, what do you think about my attempt at determining scales ?

I never got so detailed about it. This is what I would do, very simple:

Cmaj for 2 bars
Amaj for 2 bars
A lydian dom for 1 bar
D harm minor for 3
A harm minor for 4
G maj for 2
C maj for 2

Then repeat until the last 2 lines
Fmaj for 1
F harm minor for 1
D for 1
C for 4

This is the simplistic approach I take on every new tune. No need to make things complicated. Later for that. For now, it's much better to focus on solid solos that make a lot of sense. Take the time to really dig in the sound of each chord and scale tone.

++

So right Knotty, it’s great you’ve simplified it for me so that I can focus on being more idea oriented.
Thanks for introducing me to the Lydian dom scale, the A Lydian dom you suggested sounds good, D# G A C# works well.

yeah, it's simply a very consant scale over a dom chord. Works great when a V is by itself, or seems out of place.
In a 2-5, just stick to the major scale, since it's simpler, but at least on the 5, there's always tons you can do. Like I said, later for that.

Hey Cus,

how are you doing the hanons?

Thanks for asking Knotty. I'm trying to over-accent one every four 8th notes to help me to count in 4s. Maybe I will record for your feedback.

Hello Knotty
Am I actually counting in 4s or not ????
Here I record the Lesson 16 Hanon for C maj and F maj.

http://www.box.net/shared/apjreuf5ej

Apologies Knotty. For some reason I missed your previous post. I only do the Hanons single handed. I’m not very good at LH Hanons. Did you do them double handed ?

As you’ve suggested, I should be increasing beyond 120bpm by now, firstly because I’m on Lesson 16 and secondly because I started at the end of March at 92bpm. Although I reached 120bpm by Lesson 8, I haven’t increased my Hanon speed for 2 main reasons:

1. I’m learning the tunes quite quickly and always want to move onto the next lesson.

2. I usually find Ab maj and E maj the most difficult. They become almost impossible for my left hand.

Sunday I plan to nail 120 bpm and I promise to go onto 124 bpm on Monday !

Cus, that sounds great. Be sure to keep an even feel on the triplets, that's the tricky part.
Bump it up a little bit at a time whenever you feel comfortable. The point of this is to get speed and develop technique.
It sounded great, your swing is very good.
RH only is fine, it really is the most important. Someone who has a lot of time might do them both handed, or separate, so you could play RH at one challenge tempo and LH at another.
I would try to spend time each day on those. I usually do it first thing in the morning, to get it out of the way. If you can spend 10 minutes on it, that's good. If you have more practice time, then do it twice a day.
Also, you don't have to move through the hanons at the same pace as the tunes. It's all up to you, they get harder.

Hi Knotty
Thanks very much for confirming I’m on the right track. When you said to keep an even feel on triplets, do you mean that none of the notes within the triplet should be accented at all when a triplet is amongst 8th notes ?

I mean they should be played evenly spaced. It's typical to speed them up. As things get faster, it's common to rush a bit. With triplets particularly. Simply keeping in mind to keep them even will help you.

OK I’ll be attentive to my spacing when I play a triplet. So:
a) Only the 8th note should swing whereas the triplet should not swing ?
b) You’re fine with me accenting the first note of the triplet ?

a) yes
b) yes, you played those hanons really good. I just felt like I had to be picky

hehe you're funny

Hi Knotty
Three weeks ago I recorded Hanons for you from Lesson 16 @ 120 bpm.
Here is Lesson 17 @ 132 bpm. I chose Ab maj and E maj to record as these are the most difficult keys for me. What do you think of my attempt ?
Sorry about the shockingly loud 1st note on the E maj one; I’m still learning how to consistently control my Zoom Q3 recorder.

Ab maj
http://www.box.net/shared/5rnnvgkio1

E maj
http://www.box.net/shared/4ufobzutos

This is very nice. I'm very impressed by the quality of the recording. I gotta get one of those zooms. What kind of piano is that? Sounds terrific.

You got this hanon nailed.
Every so often, sneak in a notch up the metronome (form 132 to 136 etc...). Just stretch is like this.

Hey ! You are a hard taskmaster but thanks a lot for keeping an eye on my progress.
So you like my triplets now ? I’ve tried to keep them even, especially for the descending triplets which I’ve tended to rush.

I can’t wait to start Lesson 18 tomorrow.

My piano is a Yamaha upright, I’ve opened the lid to create a more grand piano sound. It is an Eterna piano, my piano tuner thinks that my particular Eterna sounds even better than the Yamahas made in Japan. He said mine was most likely made in Indonesia in 1995 the same serial number corresponds to year 1971 in Yamaha pianos.
It is now over 6 months since he’s tuned it and it’s retained its tuning despite the great weather fluctuations here.

I’ve decided not to get a grand piano. Even with a muffler it will still be too loud for my two very quiet neighbours. If my neighbours were noisy, I would definitely get a grand over 160cm.

How is your piano search going ?

I use the Zoom Q3 that came out earlier in the year. Its audio is much better than the video which I haven’t even tried.
In the US one of the retailers already has the new Zoom Q3 HD out. I think the video for this HD version is better but still not awesome.

Have you played in the IMF gig yet ?

>> So you like my triplets now ?
yes

>> Have you played in the IMF gig yet ?
Thursday.

and playing recitals with my son Wed and Sat.

Playing with bands twice a week. I will soon know all jazz musicians in the DC area . Recording studio owner coming out to tape us on Monday.
Lots happening.

Cheers ++

sounds awesome Knotty

hello. Im back at the JOI joint. I want to work on my second composition now. The one from Lullaby of the leaves. my one issue though is that i cant write music. it just takes me hours to write it down and i don't want this to hold me back from composing. what do you guys suggest i do?

Welcome back Simon.
I had a lot of fun doing the composition for Lesson 2 Lullaby of the Leaves, I wasn’t too cerebral back then lol.
You did a great job with your composition for Lesson 1. I’m surprised that you remembered what to play without writing it down ?
If you can’t read music, it’s fine to write down A C E G etc when you are composing. And continue to record for us to listen to, whether you can read music or not.

When you are rocking up to a gig, you might get sheets put in front of you of songs you are not familiar with – in that case it will be helpful for you to sight-read the right hand. I’m thinking that you could spend 10 min a day with some fun software which will teach and test your RH reading.

But I would wait for expert advice from le Knotty

thanks custard that's some good encouragement i will try notate it with some software. this will make the writing much easier. Its good to be back. Wish I didnt take such a long break

Saiman,

If you really don't want to write, you can just record yourself every time you find something you like. This will probably also take a while, but that's the idea of the composition, take time to find the perfect line, then listen, change it, listen, change it until you're really happy with it.

That said, I have found that the best way to learn how to read music is to write it. so spending a bit of time on it might pay off. But like many, I had lessons as a little kid so I already had the baggage. The difficult part about reading music btw, isn't ABCD, but the rhythms. At least to me. They can be tricky to write. When you write arrangements, voices are very hard to write, I just gave up on tricky rhythms and voices myself... Most people write them wrong anyway.

Don't make it a pain.

I see you guys are smoking on this thread a lot...

Hey Saiman
As Knotty said:
1. Don’t make it a pain. You have to enjoy the process. So don’t worry about the software.
2. Change is the luxury that composition offers. You would not believe how many times I’ve changed my A section for Lesson 6 All of Me.

Hey Cus,

How's that arrangement coming ?

hehe Knots, I TOLD you that you were a hard taskmaster !
I’m up to Section C for Never Let Me Go. As soon as I have it ready, I will post for your comment.
I think I’m spread out kinda thin but at least I have a lot of variety.
I’m trying to get my rhythm for A Time for Love right.
I’ve finished Lesson 6 All of Me composition but am still not happy with Section A, that’s why I haven’t posted it yet.
I’ve finished Lesson 18 for dim chords, blues tune, jazz tune but am still only on 120bpm for Hanons. For tunes, should I go onto Lesson 19 or keep on revising the old tunes ?

I think I forgot to ask - how did your gig on Thurs night go ?