Jazz Improv

This is short jazz solo I recorded at my producer friend's house. It got us warmed up to recording that day. I try to play bebop with a lot of modernism and some outside free jazz sort of stylings. 

https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/jazz-improv-1

Untitled Guitar Improvisation #1

Hey, whats up everybody? Me again, back with some more music. This time I have an improvised guitar solo I recorded at my friend Ash's studio. Its pretty basic, its just a solo guitar track (except for the drums in the beginning). There's a ton of reverb, chorus (mostly chorus), and delay on the guitar. I wanted to post this because I was going to start an improvisational set of music where I just improvise guitar solos and post them for fun. 

I'm looking for feedback from people but also just to listen back to myself and see what direction and sounds I was trying to achieve at the time. 

Here I was going for a few different kinds of things.  

For starters there's quite a few freak out free jazz moments. I'm trying to learn how to play a more free jazz style on guitar, like Derek Bailey or my modern free jazz guitar hero Mary Halvorson. I don't think I sound like them at all but it does sound different and interesting enough for me to keep exploring. 

Then there's the traditional post-bop licks (I reference Girl from Ipanema and Hendrix), shred licks, and there's that modern sense of harmony I've been working on. I notice the music sounds good when I blend the modern sense of harmony with the free jazz atonal sort of stuff. 

I think this is the direction I'm going to go in with my more improvisational music. 

However, I'm still a post-bop fan and player. Still exploring. 

Like I said I'm going to compile tons of solos and post them on Soundcloud for fun. 

Listen to the solo here  

https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/untitled-guitar-improvisation-1

Enjoy!

Should I start busking?

So today I went to work an hour early and just jammed outside as people walked by. I made progress towards another one of my new years resolutions which was to start busking. This was a very good experience. I ended up making 8 bucks and I received a lot of compliments. One lady said thank you when I finished playing. Another guy said I could be famous. A third lady said here's a little something for you till you get big. Talk about a great experience!

I was playing my classical nylon string Granada guitar and using my Fender medium picks. I can still pick super fast as though I'm shredding on electric guitar with this setup. I was mostly playing jazz standards as I brought the mini real book that I own and worked through a couple standards. People recognized tunes because I got comments about it inside the store from that guy who said I could be famous. He mentioned that he didn't know the tunes by name but he knew I was playing tunes. Cool right? I played on all my breaks as well but those were more just improvised jams rather than songs.

The compliments and tips made me feel so good! I was thinking I could find good places to do this and make it a somewhat regular thing. If I can make money and make people happy then this is something I should continue to do. At the same time I'm getting myself out there and known in the community musically.

I'm already thinking about modding my Granada to make it better for busking. The main thing I want is those things that make it possible to wear a strap. I need a strap if I'm going to stand up and play. That would be amazing. Eventually down the road I could get a pickup for it so I could hook it up to my portable Roland Micro Cube amp. Then I'll have a good busking setup. 

Tomorrow I'll leave the house early before work and find a good place to sit down and just play. I'll have somewhat of an idea for a set list sometime soon. I was thinking I should memorize the jazz tunes I play because I don't want to look down at sheet music forever. I remember all the classic rock tunes pretty well. Who knows, maybe I can make more money?

Money and happiness, what a great combination!