I helped my brother Beazle mix up some old spackle earlier today, so that’s whereI got the title for this post. I don’t really have anything so say about spackle, but I thought it would make a good title. Or, maybe not a good title, but funny. A bit funny.

Really, I like writing about my musical practice. It helps me to be reflective and to move it forward as I go along. Let me break it down today along instrumental lines.

  • Guitar: The guitar is a diverse instrument, and I have several ways that I approach it. In general, though, this is my primary instrument.

    • Jazz Guitar: This is where I put most of my musical effort these days. Currently I am focusing on learning chord solos, but I need to be able to work out duo, trio, small group, and big band arrangements. I need to focus on memorizing tunes and on sight reading lead sheets. Jazz guitar is my primary instrument as both a musician and an academic, so this is rightly where most of my effort should go. Focus on chords and melodies, but also work on counterpoint (Van Eps-style playing) and basic improv. Write out cadenzas and intros for tunes and practice them.

    • Blues Guitar: There are two basic areas of blues guitar that concern me.

      • Electric Blues Guitar: This is where I need to learn how to improvise on the guitar. I should be able to improvise jazz as well, but I really want my phrasing to be most closely related to blues phrasing. If I could play a jazz solo like B.B. King I would be most happy. A few of the guitarists I want to check out are Freddie Kind, B.B. King, Hubert Sumlin, and Magic Sam. «««< HEAD

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origin/master * Bottleneck Blues Guitar: This is the repertoire I have worked on using my National guitar. I have written quite a bit in the past about my bottleneck repertoire, so there is no need to elaborate here. Essentially, this is a solo repertoire that could be played with a small band.

  • Classical Guitar: Studying some more classical guitar would help me on several levels. It would help with my basic technique and musicianship, which would help to support my jazz fingerstyle playing.

  • Piano: There are a couple of different reasons to learn to be a better piano player.

    • Composition: In the past the things I have composed at the keyboard have been more interesting than things I have written with a guitar. I need to be able to read through composition exercises and scores. I need to be able to harmonize and reharmonize tunes at the piano.

    • Reading Lead Sheets: I want to be able to comp and play easy heads on the piano. I don’t necessarily want to be able to play the piano as a primary instrument, but playing from a lead sheet would help with jazz composition, arranging, and teaching.

    • General Musicianship: Here I’m thinking about ear training and score reading. Score reading is really related to composition, but it is broader than that. I need to be able to read through composition exercises I do, but also I need to be able to read various scores as I analyze them. And as for ear training, I could do it with guitar, but I want to be able to play some basic cadences on piano in all keys.

  • Percussion: I have a couple of different long term goals in mind where percussion is concerned. These are not pressing, but things to keep in mind for the future.

    • Drum Set: At some point I want to set up the drum set and really learn a few things. I could set up the snare, as it is, and work on rudiments. I want to be able to play with a traditional grip rather than a matched grip, especially getting a feel for the ghost notes played between backbeat strokes. Even just learning a few drum grooves would be cool at some point.

    • Djembe/Conga: I have a couple of books on djembe and conga playing that would be cool to practice at some point. At some point it would be good to be able to play guitar or hand percussion with a small group.

    • Cowbell/Timbales: I would like to learn a few legitimate rhythms for cowbell that I can play with a band as a supplement to guitar playing. Ultimately I would like to learn to play timbales, even more than conga.

    • Miscellaneous Hand Percussion: This is an easy one. I just need to get a few more things like a guiro, cowbells, a nicer set of claves, etc. I can easily learn some of these rhythms from YouTube videos.