2016 will go down in the books for a lot of reasons, luckily for me I will get to take away good memories in regards to my focus for the year - Music Mastery. This will go down for me as the first full year that I devoted 90% or more of my "practice time" to actual learning vs just playing or learning a few tunes. My practice times were in sessions of 30 minutes to an hour on average which doesn't sound like much to the classical musician but when you consider that this is a "daily" activity in which there are no segments of "just playing to play" but rather focus on exercises, fretboard navigation, rhythm and sight reading.
So where am I now and how did it go overall using this strategy? I think the best way to address this is to split it up into "Expectations" vs "Outcome". So let me start with my expectations.
Expectations
Material (Literature)
1. Complete the Frank Gambale Technique book 1 and book 2
2. Master the Jamey Aebersold II/V7/I book
3. Learn several more classics from the Real Book
4. Learn some transcribed solos
Improvisation
1. Gain a good foundation for basic improvisation over whatever piece I was learning.
2. Focus on improvisation by constricting my note selection to whatever scale or mode I was
practicing.
3. Continue work on walking basslines.
Comfort level with 2 hand tapping
No bullet points here, this was a "Huge" one for me! So what did this mean? This was from something I noticed last year, in regards to when I played Guitar. Although I never claimed to be a great Guitar player I did in fact have a good working knowledge of Guitar and could rise to whatever occasion came my way when I used to play in Praise and Worship groups. There was a level of confidence and "comfort" whenever I picked up the Guitar.
On 2 hand tapping however from my first experiences with the Chapman Stick, I found myself often times struggling to get started on pieces not because of unfamiliarity but rather that the "comfort" level just wasn't there. I can't call it Mastery, but I think there's a level of knowledge of ones instrument that allows them to operate. A baseline of skills and techniques and all the physical aspects involved with said instrument.
Videos
One video per month if possible.
Outcome
Material
1. Got thru chapter 2 of Frank Gambale Technique book 1 -never touched book 2
2. Completed 72 exercises in all keys for Jamey Aebersold II/V7/I
3. Added one more song from Real Book
4. Didn't happen
5. Picked up 2 additional books, "Ramon Ricker -Penatonics" and "Jerry Coker - Patterns for Jazz"
6. Began focus on "Bass instruction" - Scott Bass Lessons
Improvisation
1. Put in a lot of work soloing on my song "Safe Harbor" and "Red Clay" for the video
performances.
2. Applied this to #1 above.
3. Started working more on basslines using various online tutorials etc..
Comfort level with 2 hand tapping
After I got thru the Jamey Aebersold II/V7/I exercises I did notice that my approach when picking up the instrument "cold" has gotten much better although I'm still not "there" yet.
Videos
Produced 3 videos
Reflection
So looking at my Expectations vs Outcome one could say I really MISSED IT!
However the reality is, that I most likely skyrocketed past my normal mode of operation where I probably only learned a handful of "New" things to add to my toolbox! In fact the comfort level improvements alone were worth the effort. Additionally, I took on the bass anthem of "Teen Town" with rather surprising support from many people including a very prominent "Chapman Stick Master"!
The issues that I now see with executing my plans were distractions and a reality check on what is feasible in regards to learning "New" material.
Another benefit of this approach was in regards to composition! It makes sense that as one becomes more comfortable with Improvisation that ideas for compositions should flow! I've been able to come up with several potential pieces in just the very few minutes I've allowed myself to do so. However, I'm purposely not going down that road because my progress has been very good towards mastery that to start composing and recording would definitely eat up way too much time and my actual "progress" would be slowed. One could argue this point but I feel it is the right track for me!
So here's to another year gone and a New Year around the corner. I hope that you have a Productive and Blessed New Year!!
