Week 5 - My Prospects of Success

There is some good news, and some bad news. 


Bad news: My chances of playing the Stellenbosch Big Band have slightly diminished (Yes, joke implied ha ha). I was under the impression that I could just audition for the role, and if I get it, great, if not, well that's fair, as it would be a reflection of my playing, and the better guitarist deserves it. It seems now that the Music department will favour its music students over non-music students. Now I am a Law student, and I wont have time nor money to become part of the music course next year. So, the way I understand it, is unless I am a champ at guitar, I will not be chosen due to administrative reasons. I will not let this get me down though, this was my goal, I will practice, and practice harder. I am going to try my utmost best to sight read (they really like that). I will make my presence known to the music faculty, and I will speak to the co-ordinator to see if any type of compromise can be made for a non-music student. I just want a fair chance.


Good news: I am going to be jamming at the Jazz jam on Monday! Quite scary. I have been practicing all week on a few standards that I'd like to give a go, namely: Blue Bossa, Satin Doll, Fly me to the moon, Beautiful love, Footprints etc. So this last week has just been a preparation for this.


 I have been improvising over some of these songs, and at first it was difficult, but I discovered I was going to fast for my own level. I need to slow it down so I can understand and appreciate what I am doing. I was once again dominating my arpeggio's, wow I cannot stress the importance of them. I transcribed a piece by Joe Pass and 92% of the notes he chose were chord tones. So I can definitely get away with just arpeggio's. Fortunately my prior practice of the major scales will come in handy so I will be sure to throw some major/minor licks into the work. I spoke to my mentor about everything and he said I should treat/practice arpeggio's like chords in the sense that when I see a chord symbol just play the arpeggio for it. View them like their own chords (which they are essentially). The thing that sucks is that I got a test on Monday (like a real one) so I have to study for that too, and I was hoping I could prepare for the Jam, but I guess it will be instinctive playing then. I will try remember to record it and post it up here.


I learnt "Fly me to the Moon" and the melody for "Nature Boy" the chords all seem different according to the different sheets. Perhaps I should try work them out myself, but I am not really good with chords yet.


That book of mine came, it looks great. Better than I imagined. I will read it and let you know if its worth its penny.

Some proof that I am actually playing. The bassist is my good friend Joshua. This was the informal jam I had last week with him.