Practice+Journal

September 21

Today I ran through natural minor, major, blues, and major pentatonic scales in all twelve keys in the order of the circle of fourths. I also did the major chords by number in the keys C, G, D, and A.

September 22

Today I played natural minor, blues, major pentatonic, and major scales through all twelve keys in the circle of fourths. I completed the chords by number for the keys A, C, D, G in two different forms. I also played the chords from those four keys with the diatonic circle. I completed one exercise from my ultimate guitar sheet and 5 exercises from the PDF file: Why Warm Up on Guitar?

September 23

Today I was able to play all of the elements of my practice. I played the diatonic circle, chords by number, 4 different scales in the circle of fourths. I also exercises from the pdf file and the ultimate guitar sheet. I worked on the song "Brown Eyed Girl" and did some sight reading from Matteo Carcassi.

September 25

Today I played the major and natural minor scales through the circle of fourths.

September 28

Today I ran through 4 different scales through the whole circle of fourths, played the chords by number in four keys, played the diatonic circle in four keys, and played some exercises from the ultimate guitar sheet and the pdf file sheet. I also practiced "Brown Eyed Girl", did some sight reading from the book Mrs. Freebern let me use, worked on some things by Mattio Carcasi, and jammed during some free time.

September 29

Today I played 4 different scales through the circle of fourths, worked on the diatonic circle in 4 keys, worked on the chords by number in 4 keys, and worked on some exercises from the ultimate guitar sheet and the pdf file sheet. I also practiced some 25 studies for guitar op. 60 number 1 by Mattio Carcassi as my songs along with Brown Eyed Girl. I used Eythorrson sheets as my sight reading and then jammed at the end.

September 30

Today I played the diatonic circle in 4 different keys, played the chords by number in 4 different keys, played 4 types of scales through the circle of fourths, and worked on some exercises from the pdf file and the ultimate guitar sheet. I also worked on the Mattio Carcassi song and used Eythorsson as my reading and jammed when I was all finished.

October 5

Today I worked on four different scales through the circle of fourths, the diatonic circle in four keys, the chords by number in four keys, and the pdf file and ultimate guitar sheet exercises. I also did some sight reading from Eythorsson and and "Put It There" by Paul Mccartney and some Mattio Carcasi stuff. I jammed when I was finished.

October 6

Today I played the chords by number in four keys, four different scales through the circle of fourths, and the diatonic circle in four keys. I also played the exercise in the ultimate guitar sheet and played the exercises in the pdf file.

October 7

Today Mr. Grigsby helped Steven and I with fingerpicking and songs. He showed us the proper way to pick with our fingers for different songs and gave us some exercises and songs to work on for next time. We ran through the songs and exercises together and he showed us how to play them properly. Mr. Grigsby also showed us some different techniques that going along with guitar playing, such as hitting the strings with our fist after certain chords. I found this session very helped and it increased my understanding of classical playing and fingerpicking.

October 8

Today, I worked with Mr. Grigsby and Steven again. We practiced some ensemble fingerpicking pieces with different leads and rhythms. We worked on some of the same technques as yesterday and applied them more to songs.

October 9 Today I played the diatonic circle in four keys, the chords by number in four keys, and 4 different scales through the circle of fourths. I also did some Eythorsson sigh reading and exercises from the ultimate guitar sheet and pdf file. I jammed during free time and worked on "Wild Night" as my song.

October 13

Today I played the chords by number in four keys and played the diatonic circle in a few keys. I also played 4 different scales through the circle of fourths.

October 14

Today I worked with Brett and Steven on BHG. We improved are skills on both the rhythm and the melodies of the tune.

October 15

Today I played three different scales throught the circle of fourths. Then I worked with Brett and Steven on BHG and we were able to work on the progression and melody together so much that we both can play them very well. Brett helped us with the tune by telling us what we could do to improve our classical playing, like keeping are wrist more out.

October 16

Today I worked with Steven on BHG. We practiced the rythm and the melodies at the same time, ussally each of us were playing different parts though. We also did some blues work.

October 19

Today I ran through four different scales in the circle of fourths and played the chords by number in four different keys. I than worked with Steven on rhythm and melody for BHG. We played both the same parts and different parts After that we played some blues.

October 20

Today I worked on the rhythm and lead of BHG with Steve. We also worked on some blues technics

Rob Eaton:

Today Rob Eaton came and talked to us about music. He explained to us the proper way to practice with a group, which was to work on the whole and rather than individual parts. He explained how he practiced as a musician and how some of the stuff he was taught earlier on, he didn't understand until years later. He also said that sometimes we play the things we do well instead of practicing the things we need work on, which should be the opposite.

October 27

Today I played the circle of fourths in the keys G and A. I also played "Here comes the Sun" by George Harrison and some blues.

November 2

Today I worked on BHG and "Cheesy Little Love Song" with Steve. We played both parts (rhythm and lead) during BHG and just the rhythm in Cheesy Little Love Song. We also played some improvisation.

November 3

Today I worked with Steve on "Cheesy Little Love Song" (just rhythm) and BHG (both parts). We also worked on some improvisation.

November 16

Today I worked on some music from eythorsson. I was trying to improve my melody-sight reading.

November 17

Today I worked on some of Mr. Freebern's jazz music from his Duke Ellington book to work on my melody playing. I also used eythorsson.

November 23

Today I worked on some of Mr. Freebern's jazz band music. I focused on reading the melodies for Blue Bossa and Blue Moon. I used Mr. Freebern's idea of first learning the rhythm, then playing the notes in quarter notes, and finally, putting the two concepts together. This helped me learn the melodies much quicker.

November 30

Today I used Mr. Freebern's jazz exercises CD on the computer. I read the information about each exercise, than played the exercise, first without the music then with the music. I ran through exercises 0, 1, 2, and 3. Once I played each exercises with and without the music, I continued to play them both ways.

December 1

Today I used Mr. Freebern's jazz exercises CD on the computer again. I read of the information about each exercise, and than I played the exercise both with and without the music. I ran through many exercises today, finishing up chapter 2 and well into chapter 3. In chapter 3 I worked on songs in Am and Cmaj. I also soloed of the Cmaj backing track at the end.

December 7

Today I tried to use Mr. Freebern's method for melody reading on some of the jazz band music, but I had some trouble with the rhythm. At the end of the period I used an notation rhythm program on the computer called Ear Master Pro to work on my rhythm.

December 14

Today I used Mr. Freebern's method (on note reading) on a progression from one of his jazz song books. His system on note reading helped me learn part of the melody to the tune well and much faster than I used to learn melodies.

December 15

Today I used Mr. Freebern's method (on note reading) on the same progression as yesterday from one of his jazz song books. His system helped me learn more of the melody of the tune faster then when I used to learn melodies.

December 16

Today I used Mr. Freebern's method (on note reading) on different progressions from a different one of his jazz song books (this one was a Duke Ellington book). His system helped me learn more of the melody of the tune faster then when I used to learn melodies. I than did some rhythm exercises using the single beat drills.

January 4

Today I used Mr. Freebern's method (on note reading) on different progressions from a different one of his jazz song books. I also did some chord reading and ran through the circle of fourths using major scales. I also played some free time.

January 5

Today I used Mr. Freebern's method (on note reading) on different progressions from a different one of his jazz song books.

January 6

Today I used Mr. Freebern's jazz books to work on chord reading.

January 7

Today I ran through some of the jazz band songs with Mr. Freebern. He showed me how to improve my playing on each song and we played each part until it sounded right.

January 8

Today I did some chord reading from some of Mr. Freebern's jazz books.

January 11

Today I worked on coming up with a song to play for finals. I was trying to come up with chord melody for the song "Dindi" as a possibility.

January 12

Today I worked on song possibilities for finals. I worked on writing a chord melody arrangement for "Dindi". I also worked on playing "Have yourself a merry little Christmas" as a chord melody, which could be a possibility for finals.

January 13

Today I worked on song possibilities for finals. I worked on playing "Have yourself a merry little Christmas" as a chord melody, which could be a possibility for finals.

January 14

Today I worked on song possibilities for finals. I worked on playing "Have yourself a merry little Christmas" as a chord melody, which could be a possibility for finals. I also tried to figure out how to economy pick and play ascending arpeggios through youtube videos.