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10,

I'm like Cus, I also never really had that problem.
However, I don't know my minor scales as well as the major. And the main reason is that some almost never come up on the common tunes in the common keys.
For example, last Monday there was a C#-6, and to tell you the truth, I can't recall another tune with that key.
For the most part, you'll see C-, D-, E-, F- and G-

For C-, I don't think Ebmaj, I think C harmonic minor, which, as you know, has a b3, a b6 and a major 7.

Those scales have a particular shape that I think you will get used to.

Someone will more experience teaching might offer more help...

Hi Knots
I know you've got me thinking harm min, but don't you sometimes feel that mel min is more suitable depending on the voicing ?

No 10, I'm like Knotty. For C min, I think C harm min scale and C harm min arp. The extra "gap" from the harm min creates a more interesting sound to the melodic minor.

thanks. good to know.



Me too.

Will work at them some more.

>>I know you've got me thinking harm min, but don't you sometimes feel that mel min is more suitable depending on the voicing ?

You can always add extra elements of complexity as you get comfortable. It's up to you to decide how and when you want to add those elements.
Right now, it's good to focus on playing some tunes. When you get good at that, you'll decide what you want to do with those tunes. PLay them fast, use scales, use lots of LH movements. The options are endless.

But yes, the melodic minor sounds great too.

>>For the most part, you'll see C-, D-, E-, F- and G-
>>thanks. good to know.
I forgot A-, one of the most common.

You can figure it out since minor and major as linked by a minor 3rd.
So if F is the most common jazz key, then D- is the most common minor key
Then Bb -> G-
C -> A-
Eb --> C-
Ab -> F-
G --> E-

With major keys, you have common tunes that tend to modulate a lot. Like Cherokee, Moment's notice, giant step.
I haven't found the equivalent in minor.

Ah! lightbulb moment

wow Knotty you must be proud of yourself to solo over Moment's Notice which is Lesson 37.
There are consecutive modulations, a couple of which I keep on stuffing up, namely C# maj and F# maj. I think I've finally got it today, anyway it's the longest time I've taken to learn a JOI tune harmonically.

Hey Cus, I'm happy to be able to solo over Moment's Notice when it's called out. That doesn't mean I solo well over it
But to get to the survival part on those tunes, you basically need to work on speed, the rest is 2-5s, so if you don't hear the modulations well, your lines won't sound as fluid, but you'll manage.

In my mind, speed is the most important aspect after the foundation because that will allow you to play most standards with others.

Well, the left one was practically comatose. After 3 1/2 weeks of physical therapy, I'm more or less back. Fascinating procedure, it felt as if there was a guitar string stretching from my neck to my left thumb, tightened, loosened and tuned by a myriad of movements prescribed. Needless to say, I have a new-found appreciation of my cervical discs.

I'm easing back into my regular routine of JazzHanons and Voicings in the morning, and the Tunes at night. Here's one effort, displaying more enthusiasm than accuracy:

The Last Time

And here's another. It begins with a early flub, a panic, a pause, and a restart. My apologies for not erasing part one. Meanwhile, I'm still working to get the lead out of my hands, to relax, bend, loosen, flow, glide, and to quiet them. It's a journey:

The Joy of C

I greatly enjoyed Dave's Tristano treat. And given WMG's inclinations, it was a bit like "trying to get to heaven before they close the door."

Norm, great to hear from you, and at least it sounds like you're on the mend!

You're channelling Louis' spirit!

Nice work with Joy of C. Check out bar 8 first LH chord. Something sounds strange there. It's good you're going for accuracy, and it swings great. These tunes aren't easy at all.

I meant to say - are you aware of the breakthrough to improv DVD? It's a similar idea to this, but for improvising purely over a blues progression, so all in all much easier than improvising over jazz tunes. At risk of tempting you off the path, you could do this and be improvising blues quicker. Let me know if you want to know more.

That's what got me on the path to JOI. I started with the Breakthrough DVD. It was great fun, a structured, methodical, step by step process -- yet with ample room -- the blues scale offers infinite insanely cool possibilities. And at the end Dave said that if you want to learn more riffs check out JOI -- Well, at that point, I checked out JOI.

Two guys were in Dublin sitting and begging in the town square. One guy sat in front of a large crucifix with his bowl, and it was full of money. The other guy sat a short distance away, sitting in front of of a Jewish Star. He had almost nothing in his bowl. A priest walking nearby observed the situation, and went up to the Jewish Star guy and said "you know, Dublin is an extremely Catholic city, I suggest you rethink your idea of begging in front of a Jewish Star, especially with a guy sitting not far from you in front of a crucifix!". The Jewish Star fella turned to the Crucifix fella and said "Shlomo, look who's talking to us about marketing!"

Norm - glad to hear you're familiar with it.

Dave -

Hey Norm
Nice to hear from you again, I enjoyed your rendition of The Last Time a lot.

ha ha Dave, silly priest and clever brotherhood of Jews !

Ten
Looking forward to hearing your blues improv. Your last blues composition was wonderful so the blues must be in you.

Welcome back Norm. Glad to hear you're feeling better.

Some talks about coming to NYC this Sunday...

thought you'd give Dave warning before you turned up on his doorstep for your usual Skype lesson hey !

oops - better take a practice point! it feels dead easy until i fall asleep and forget to play the V chord.

OK I did some recordings tonight.

First I composed a bass line (after watching the bassline clinic). This is to Turvy (Topsy), chords in the RH. Chords were the hardest part. The bassline is easy. The problem is keeping going while thinking about the rh.

http://www.box.net/shared/0d47f18y00bfaxtps88o
(There's a mistake at around 57 sec, a flat note).

Improv C minor ii V i
http://www.box.net/shared/5z2vailar5b4tc1fb4o0

Not quite sure what I should do over the i chord - the chord tone would be A but the scale has Ab. Been doing a bit of both as I do practice the chord tones in rh.

Also Another Blue (lesson 22). I was surprised I managed to sing this one because it's quite dissonant. These tunes were much harder.

http://www.box.net/shared/1uq7hghsaiahfymsqhdz

thanks in advance for comments, as it's very useful to get feedback as I go along.

Bassline sounded good 10. Are you going to try the route of walking bass lines? I've been doing this for a little over 6 months now, and I can tell you that it's addictive. So be careful!

Improv sounded good to.You can play harm minor throughout.

Try to think, or say "Slice of pizza" as you play. And see how that feels

NYC is for next Saturday after all. Too much going on. Gig ending late tonight, and early bus to New York might be a bit much...