Friday, February 26, 2010

Moondance guitar solo!

Local guitar hero Colin Reeves, of local band MoodSwingz, creating a tidy arrangement of notes over the Moondance changes.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

More jazz piano resources!

Following on from the previous post, II V I left-hand voicings in both "A" & "B" positions around the cycle of fifths. Enjoy!

Monday, February 15, 2010

The Jazz Piano Book extra resources

I have been working through the beginning of Mark Levine's "The Jazz Piano Book" and to assist with my learning, I have created myself some useful extra resources using Sibelius. Yes, I know jazz piano playing is primarily an aural art but, being a reader, I find it useful to have the dots in front of me initially to find the notes I need and then work towards internalising them from there.
1. Notated Cycle of Fifths - II V I - 3 note chords starting with the 3rd on top.
2. Notated Cycle of Fifths - II V I - 3 note chords starting with the 7th on top.
3. Notated Cycle of Fifths - II V I - Substituting the II V with a Sus chord
4. Notated Cycle of Fifths - II V I - Substituting the II V with a Phrygian chord
I am happy to share these for free and have published them on my webpage at Sibelius Music.
Double click on the Jazz folder and then the Jazz Learning Resources folder and either download or print them off for yourself.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

The Guitar Wall!

So yes, I have been concentrating my musical efforts on the piano for the last few months but the guitar still plays a role in my life and here they all are including a couple that Michelle owns. They look pretty good up on the wall and it is a great way to store them as they are always immediately ready for action.
Starting from the left:
1. Michelle's Yamaha G-225 classical that a friend gave to her
2. My Regal Square-neck dobro
3. My Simon Rovis-Hermann concert classical
4. My Line 6 Variax 600
5. My Tanglewood TW170AS-CE cutaway electric acoustic
6. Michelle's Washburn bass
There is one other that is not functional but decorative and is stored high up on the adjacent wall.
Michelle painted it for a guitar related exhibition and, as nobody bought it, adds excellently to the ambience of my studio.

Monday, February 8, 2010

And yesterday I received..................

............Mark Levine's "The Jazz Piano Book" and the two other books that I mentioned I had also ordered in this post.
Jazz Piano Masterclass with Mark Levine - The Drop 2 BookThe Drop 2 Book








The Jazz Theory BookThe Jazz Theory Book








Having spent all of last year building our new home, I have dedicated this year specifically to the piano, composition, performance and surfing!
Bring it on!