I have been writing a lot about coding lately and I feel like I need to get back to writing about musical practice. Of course, I’ve been coding a lot and not practicing music. I need to re-start my musical practice before I take too long of a hiatus.

Guitar: The guitar is a multi-faceted instrument for me, so let me break it down into a few sub-categories.

  • Solo Jazz Guitar: This is where I have been putting most of my effort lately. My goal with this is to build a repertoire I can use to play at parties and in restaurants and bars. This is where I am most likely to find gigs based on my guitar playing, though it would be cool to get back to the kind of jazz I played with the Upper Structures Jazz Ensemble. I felt frustrated with my own playing while I was with that group - and I was frustrated with other people’s playing, truth be told - but it really was great for my reading and improv chops. For now, though, let me stick to the solo jazz repertoire, though with an ear toward being able to play these tunes with a group.
  • Bottleneck Blues: This is another solo repertoire, though it would be cool to play with a small group or a duo. I already have an extensive repertoire of tunes I can either play or I am working on. I need to put more effort into singing the tunes
  • Electric Blues: I think of this as where I should be able to improvise and play by ear. More than just blues, I want to be able to play funk, R&B, Afrobeat, and any other popular form of music. All I really need to do is to play along with CDs. There is no need to write down transcriptions, unless I, of course, I want to publish them or share them with students. But really, all I need to do is to play along with Hubert Sumlin, Freddie King, B.B. King, Magic Sam, etc. No pressure, just play.
  • Guitar as a Compositional Instrument: This is where I could be using the guitar to help me read scores and try out ideas. Really, I just need to read more notation on the guitar, working on stuff like the Omnibook and a few scores by Wagner, Stravinsky, etc. I should also be able to play compositional sketches on the guitar as well as the piano. In fact, let me write a separate section on piano.

Piano: This is the uber-instrument for composition and for other aspects of musicianship, so I really need to be better at it. Let me focus on Bartok’s Mikrokosmos and Haerle’s book on jazz chords. I just need to practice this fucking instrument. If I had extra money I would take piano lessons at the Community Music School of Springfield. But all of this reminds me…

Composition: This is where I put a lot of effort in music school, so I should be doing it regularly. Just fucking write something. Set up a permanent recording and compositional rig so I don’t have to fuck around with cables and gear when I feel like writing something. I need to get a drafting table so I can write on large score paper. I need to get back to working my way through Schoenberg’s Theory of Harmony. In fact, at this point I really need to start all over again with that book. Re-do all of the exercises, and play them at the piano and on the guitar. Just fucking do it.