In addition to that I'm also studying music from scores, playing the same jazz standards I play on guitar on electronic keyboard (sometimes with just the right hand), and I've even begun experimenting with classical guitar. I went to University of Wisconsin Parkside for a year and they didn't have a jazz guitar teacher there so I had to learn classical stuff. Unfortunately I didn't stay long enough to gain anything from that-until now. I still have all my classical guitar sheet music in my folder from all those years ago, so I took it out, looked at things, and started working on some of the easier pieces. The classical guitar stuff gives me more of a disciplined outlook on the music and my practice routine. I like the sound of the classical guitar but I don't know if I will ever truly have "correct" technique. But that's not what I'm going for anyways. I'm playing it for the challenge, discipline, and beautiful sound of the classical guitar repertoire. A good a reason(s) as any. Also, I found that if I comp jazz chords with the pick and fingers the way a classical guitarist would play without a pick, the comping style becomes more pianistic-a revelation that occurred to me through practicing simple classical tunes (and also dropping my pick into the acoustic!)
With the keyboard my sound will take months to develop. I'm starting to get the hang of some dense Monk comping and chords but my single note improvisations with the right hand don't really go anywhere yet. I have to experiment more with my improvising abilities and come up with more musical stuff rather than just comping chromatic chord clusters. It will take time and I know I can't expect to become a piano virtuoso overnight.
Also, I've been reading about Zen Buddhism. Zen teaches you to let go. I particularly enjoy the history of Zen in China and Japan, especially how the samurai created Rinzai zen and used it to overcome their fear of death in battle. I was initially reading about it because some of my favorite jazz musicians (Herbie, Shorter, Trane, Pat Martino, countless others) are into it and I thought that if I understood Zen it would help me understand the music and also myself, because as young person I'm still searching spiritually. I think that a lot of the important parts of Zen are ideas that we are initially born with and don't think about, but I would have to research the subject more to confirm this.
I've been occasionally reading some heavy science fiction on the side too. Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age Or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer is a dense hard to read book with heavy detail and big words in nearly every sentence. Yet its also entertaining and fun in a cosmic cyberpunk way. I've owned the book for years but I've got this far in the book before.
Lastly, there's my band. The band is going really well. We know about 6 songs together, most of which are classic rock covers. We're doing a trio of guitar, bass, and drums with myself and the bass player on vocals. The drummer is becoming a good friend of mine and he's asking me for advice on how to get better (after I showed him some jazz stuff) and he's actually listening. I turned him onto Elvin Jones from the Coltrane Quartet and sent him a how to read drum music page, and the drum music score for Smoke on the Water, a cover song we're working on. My singing is getting better, the songs are getting tighter, and the sound is evolving into great real rock and roll, as well as a harmonious trio.
If I didn't stop playing so much video games none of this stuff would be possible. Now that I'm learning a lot more about my favorite subjects gaming just doesn't seem as engaging.
Thanks for reading
Peace and Love,
Orlando Figueroa
No comments:
Post a Comment