Yesterday was Thanksgiving, so today I am recovering from the food coma. I just went for a walk on the beach with mom and Beazle and Brooke, and I’m about to go to the store with mom and a bunch of the kids. This year I made much more of an effort to socialize with people. only retreating for a nap after I made sure to make the rounds of just about everyone. I knew I needed to be more sociable this year, so I forced myself, although I have to say some of it was painful. I love my family, but I need small doses.

The problem is me, really. I’m the one who alienates myself from others. Yesterday, at least, I made an effort to come out of my shell for a few hours. Today has been slower and less energetic. Perfect day after Thanksgiving.

I didn’t bring a guitar with me so I can’t practice for a couple of days. I’m anxious to keep up with my practice, but I just didn’t feel like bringing a guitar on the bus. I have nearly memorized “Invitation” and “Bluesette,” and I’m getting more comfortable with “All of You” and a couple of other nice tunes. My goal is to have a ready-to-go repertoire of tunes I can play solo, but also perform with a group. Let me write for a bit about each stage of developing this repertoire.

  • Chord Solos: So far I have focused on learning these pieces as solos, thinking of being able to perform them at parties, for instance. Another goal I could have here would be to be able to perform on the street or in restaurants. I just want to be able to play the fucking instrument well enough to feel more confident as a musician.

  • Walking Basslines/Duo Arrangements: For this I would need to work on the basic comping and accompaniment for each of the tunes such that I could play in a duo situation with another instrument. Again, an ideal party or restaurant gig would be to perform with a singer or a flautist or some other subtle instrument - not a tuba, for instance. I would love to be able to perform with a singer, no matter how cheesy it may seem at first. A jazz singer, for sure.

  • Ensemble Arrangements: From the chord solos and duo arrangements it should be easy to work out arrangements for ensembles. I would need to pay attention to a trio situation where I would need to play the head in some sort of harmonized manner, as well as larger groups where I’m either playing the head unharmonized or comping for another instrument playing the head.

  • Improvisation: I need to work on my ability to improvise over these tunes. This is one of those areas where I feel relatively weak, though I know I could improve quite a bit with just a little bit of concentrated practice. Playing along with the Aebersold play-alongs would be great practice, as long as I memorize the chord changes and improvise by ear.