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I know its kind of a silly questions to ask in this forum but....


Mark Wein

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What music are you guys working on/playing on your guitars (see, I tried to make it "on topic") lately?

 

Even though I make a living playing blues and rock music I am back in school finishing up a degree in Jazz Performance. That mean at this very moment in time I am cramming jazz standards into my brain-hole Below is my study guide for the next few weeks...its the list of material for my first Jury (in which I am actually doing the first three juries in one sitting this semester to get ahead). I'm also working on music for a guitar combo (nine guitarists playing jazz arranged for ensemble), a standard jazz combo, my piano class and...wait for it....Mens Chorus! I have four choir concerts next week where I am singing everything from Broadway show tunes to art music in French and Latin. My head is spinning at the moment.

 

1st Semester Jury

 

 

 

Scales and chords:

 

 

· Major

 

· Major and Minor Pentatonic

 

· Blues

 

· Chromatic Scales.

 

· Natural, Harmonic, Melodic minor (including Jazz Melodic minor)

 

· Whole Tone scales.

 

· Dorian & Mixolydian Modes of Major.

 

· Major, Minor Triads. Major, Dominant and Minor Seventh chords.

 

· All scales learned to date in 3rds and 4ths.

 

· Diatonic triads from scales

 

 

Transcription – Have You Met Miss Jones?

 

 

1st Semester

 

 

Now’s the Time

 

Doxy

 

Autumn Leaves

 

So What/Impressions

 

Take the “A” Train

 

Mack the Knife

 

 

2nd Semester

 

 

I Got Rhythm

 

Beautiful Love

 

All Of Me

 

Summertime

 

My Funny Valentine

 

 

1st Semester

 

 

Blue Bossa

 

There Will Never Be Another You

 

All Blues

 

Tenor Madness

 

Satin Doll

 

Misty

 

 

 

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What? No bebop scales? ;)

 

I assume there's a more proper term for the half-whole-half-whole. One of my favorites (blame Robben Ford).

Those are for later juries. I already know them but I don't need to play them for this jury...a "bebop scale' can be major, minor or dominant...essentially you're putting an extra passing tone in the scale so that as you go up and down the scale the chord tones end up on downbeats and not all over the place so that they better define the harmony. In a dominant sound you'd play a mixolydian but also add the major 7th in and so on....The half step/whole step scale is diminished and can be considered starting on either the half or the whole step.

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Cool! With me the connection between what I'm playing and the underlying chords is a loose one that I have to use my instincts to navigate. Sometimes I have enough o if the underlying theory to guide me through relatively diatonic stuff, but mostly I'm playing melodies that I'm composing in real time in my head.

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Cool! With me the connection between what I'm playing and the underlying chords is a loose one that I have to use my instincts to navigate. Sometimes I have enough o if the underlying theory to guide me through relatively diatonic stuff, but mostly I'm playing melodies that I'm composing in real time in my head.

I think that we learn theory so that our brain (or our "minds ear") can better identify sounds and how to organzie them on the fretboard. The old adage "learning theory so that you can forget it all and just play" is very much about this. For me, if I have to think about what I'm playing I'm pretty dead in the water creatively. The time I've spent learning new theoretical concepts and then working with them until they are at my fingers in an "unconscious" way is probably the best use of my practice time. For me it is about learning the rules, using them to inform your ears and then forgetting about most of it.

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I play out about once a month with my old band doing covers. The Female vocalist and I are very tight singing together and we make a few bucks and have fun doing it. We've played together on and off for 20 years so its not like I have to learn new material.

 

After 50 years of playing in bands of all types I do more writing and recording then anything else now. I usually have 20~30 songs going in various stages of development at ant one time. I been into the recording of my own music for over 45 years now and even had a couple of bands that played nothing but original music.

 

Playing covers is too darn boring for me. You can only play those songs so many times before you begin to hate them. I do it playing live but I dont need to rehearse them any more. I usually do my own versions of the songs too by spicing things up and adding surprise changes and breaks, the kind of stuff the original artists might do in a live show. At least that keeps me interested in playing them and the public likes it better then hearing an exact clone of a song. They can get that anytime by simply popping quarters in a Juke Box.

 

Live music to me is more about putting on a good live show. I grew up near NY so I spent allot of time seeing Broadway musicals. Like many bands back then they incorporated stage shows with the music. I put on a few killer shows in my time. We did the whole gambit form using stage props, light shows, comedy and dialogue that had been worked up to finite details.

 

You really have to have your stuff wrapped tight to do it well but I always wound up playing with pros who know how to do it. Made us allot of money too. We used to pack them in so tigh we used to have to be hoisted over people heads just to get out of the building. Plus I lived by the shore where people came to vacation so they were into having a good time.

 

So few bands do any of that any more. Even the major stars don't do it much. I get to see many of the biggest bands here in Houston and the stage shows are pretty minimal now. Local bands are ultra boring. They play the notes but they stand around like zombies when they play, absolutely no show and no charisma.

 

Anyway, I prefer to write and record more then anything else. I must have close to 7000 originals recorded now. Too bad the record business is bust, I could retire on doing nothing but selling songs for the rest of my life.

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i try to practice every day for an hour and having once a week practice with the band

my practice routine starts with some pentatonic scale up and down the fretboard and than some extensive fretting execerise.

then i play a blues shuffle and ghostriders in the sky in dick dale style to train picking speed

 

once done with the excerise a jam to myself whatever comes in my mind, lately its mostly some hendrix riffs and blues..

 

thats actually the boring part lately, cause i'm stuck always playing the same stuff and not much new will is added to my repertoire...

but i'm also lazy to learn some new "hard" stuff and most simple stuff i know too easy and bores again...

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I practice with the band once/twice a week, same set at least once, then on to new material for a few hours. Myself- I try to practice at least an hour a day either improving techniques or learning the scales. (I never actually just sat down and learned them), plus unplugged 'memory' building while watching TV or whatever. (Finger building exercises, arpeggio runs, sweep building runs, etc, things that dont require either an amp or full concentration, lots of repetitive motion that I can replicate over and over and still carry on a conversation.)

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