ELECTRIC LOVE

Hour 100

I lifted and practiced the first 24 bars of Miles Davis’ solo in “Right Off”, from the album A Tribute To Jack Johnson.  A few observations:

Miles famously said, “It’s not the notes you play; it’s the notes you don't play.”  This solo perfectly backs up this claim with bars of whole rests that leave room for the rhythm section to interact in a big way.  The space provides support for the coolest lines with maximum impact.  This is the first solo I’ve transcribed by a trumpet player and probably one of the most spacious solos I’ve ever lifted.  The takeaway: even though, by nature of my instrument, I don’t need to stop playing to take a breath, I’ll give it a try more often.  

The range of a trumpet is higher than that of a guitar’s.  I’ll need to use a whammy pedal set to an octave above to emulate Mile’s line at 3:01. 

Hour 97 - 99

Hour 94 - 96

Hour 66 - 93

The FUNKLOPEDIA is pretty self explanatory:  it’s an encyclopedia of funk!  I compiled all of the funk riffs I’ve learned over the past 3 years into one concise document for regular review.  Benefits of going through this process with any style of music are:

1) Riffs and rhythms become second nature.

2) An improved ability to improvise in the idiom.

3) A stronger feel by reiterating the nuances that make funk funky, or blues bluesy, etc.

Hi @bh6277!  If you learn something - even 1 small thing - every time you pick up the guitar, whether it’s for 5 minutes or 5 hours, you can trust you are making progress. :) As a place to start, I would recommend learning songs or parts of songs that you really love.  You can gain so much from doing that.  You may learn new techniques, chord voicings and/or melodies while improving your ear and musical feel.  There’s a ton of information you can pull out of songs if you dissect everything and ask questions like: How can I reproduce the guitar tone on the record?  What are the names of the chords used in the song?  Can I play those chords in other places on the guitar? What key is the song in?  What scales are being used?  How can I improvise over this song?  Can I play any of the melodies in the song in other places on the guitar? Can I play the vocal melody by ear?  What do I like most about the song and why?  What elements in this song would I like to incorporate in my own compositions?  Thinking about this kind of stuff can open a lot of doors and lead to exciting revelations.  

The main thing I did when I was first learning how to play, that I think is the best way to improve as efficiently as possible (it’s also extremely fun), was jamming along with albums that inspired me.  I’d crank up the stereo (usually with a blues album) crank up my amp, find the key, and then improvise and try to copy by ear what my guitar heroes were playing.  I still do this today (all the time).  It could be helpful to work with a teacher to understand the theory behind it - what notes are played and why, where to find them on the fretboard, learn how to identify specific notes that stick out to you as being particularly cool, etc.   

Thanks @haraldnowak!  I was playing a variation of chord changes loosely based on the song Georgia On My Mind (Ray Charles).  Here’s a breakdown of the changes played in the Dark Horse video:

|Gmaj7 / / / | F#min7b5 / B7#9#5 / | Emin7 / Cmin7 G13 | Cmaj7 / Cmin7 F13 |

Hour 60

I’ve been listening to this album on repeat for days.  Featuring an all-star lineup: Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, John McLaughlin, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Joe Zawinul, Dave Holland and Tony Williams, In A Silent Way is regarded by music writers as Miles’ first fusion recording and the beginning of his ‘electric’ period.  It has been regarded by fans and critics as one of Davis's greatest and most influential works.  During hour 60, I jammed along and had 2 main observations:

- In the song “Shhh /Peaceful”, Miles beautifully introduces a b9 over a predominantly D7sus vamp at the 16:21 minute mark and it fits perfectly.  

Hour 58 - 59

These are notes I made while watching the instructional video “John Scofield On Improvisation”.  Lots to practice... 

- all modes from major, melodic minor, harmonic minor, diminished and whole tone scales; 2 to 7 notes per string in all keys played in all intervals, with a metronome.

- 4 note arpeggios; all modes and keys.

- chords in 4ths; 4 to 6 string groupings of all modes and keys.

- jam and play chromatic passing tones a semitone higher and lower than target notes.

- chords voiced a 2nd and 5th away (ex. C D G in C major) moved throughout all modes and keys in 4 groups of 3 strings.

Hour 57

I checked out a few instructional videos from Sco this morning on YouTube.  In the video above, at the 2:30 mark, he plays 5ths in C major: C, G, D, A and E notes which imply a C6/9 sound.  It sounds fresh!  I like to play these notes over strings 6, 5, 4, and then jump to 2 and 1.  In moving this sequence of notes up and down the neck throughout the major scale, I noticed that I gravitate towards the sound of perfect 5ths over voicings with b5ths - so I, IV and V chords work best:

Cmaj - C G D A E = C6/9

Fmaj - F C G D  A = F6/9

Gmaj - G D A E B = G6/9

Hour 55 - 56

Hour 54

I revisited Oz Noy’s “Guitar Improvisation Workout” and was inspired by Exercise 2.1  - Jumping in 3rds in Minor Pentatonics.  Skipping a note in this scale (aka “jumping in 3rds”) creates mostly intervals of a 4th and it reminded me of the song “Blues For Herb” as performed by the great Emily Remler.  At the 0:14 second mark you can hear how she uses 4ths and then takes the phrase outside for a split second by moving up a 1/2 step.  I zeroed in on this for a while - improvising lines and moving them in and “out”.  This led to a new composition in the works with the following chord progression:

|D/E / / / | C/D / / / | Bb/C / / / | Bb/C / / / |

Hour 53

Jammed along to “Soul Serenade/Rasta Man Chant” and “Bock To Bock” from the album Soul Serenade by The Derek Trucks Band.  2 observations:

1) In trying to mimic Derek’s slide playing without a slide myself, I was reminded how interesting the effect can be.  I slid in and out of notes quickly from above and below and exaggerated the technique by using it way more than I normally would.  I’ve been listening to classical Indian music lately, and this fit right in with that vibe.

Practiced playing the melody of Charlie Parker's "Now's The Time" in two places on the fretboard with a metronome at 90-100bpm on 2 and 4.  Observations:  Revisiting bebop heads is a great exercise for improving funk phrasing.  A lot of emphasis is placed on the upbeats and notes are often played short in both styles.  A lot of information is lost in reading transcriptions... always check out the audio recordings!

Jammed over an F blues exploring F7alt to Bb7 by thinking of:

F whole tone (F, G, A, B, C#, Eb = R, 2, 3, b5, #5, b7)

minor pentatonic scale up a b3rd

Hour 50 - 51

Messed around with 5 and 6 note groupings of 16th notes, mostly in pentatonics, mixed in with improv.  I'm working on internalizing where the accents are placed.  Check out what this sounds like just over a single bar.  It's an exciting way to tie ideas together, or to kickstart a new concept.  

Hour 48