My Progress in Jazz Manouche

Hemert

Amund, my hat is off to you once again my man! Double Jeu is a tricky, tricky song to play and you handle it like a pro, unbelievable really! Both Stochelo's solo and the rhythm are almost flawless.

Soloing in 6/8 is indeed very difficult. I used to bow out of playing this with the Rosenberg Trio (on violin) for a couple of years because I always felt I couldn't play any lines that would fit in a 6/8 bar. Only recently it started to click after working at it thoroughly. Now it feels very natural but it took a lot of time to get there. On guitar I still have trouble with it!

Buco

Amund,
would it make any difference if you thought of it as waltz?
Great either way, you make that guitar sing.

Jim Kaznosky

First and foremost, you are an inspiration. I've had a couple dips into the RA pool and it's been a pleasure to watch this progression. Mind the fact that you were already a pretty great player before this.
Second, I really need to learn that rhythm. While I purchased the Nous'che course, I've honestly looked at it only a few times. Is this rhythm in that course?

Hemert

@Jim
That rhythm is not in the course. But if you can do the rumba rhythm convincingly (which is in the course), Double Jeu is an easier version of that!

Jim Kaznosky

Thanks Christian.

MattHenry

I haven't checked this thread in a while. Great stuff, Amund!

I'd like to respectfully request that you shoot your improv takes at a better angle for viewing the fretboard. I know it's an extra hassle to scoot the chair back but your solo ideas are worth transcribing on their own and it's harder to see your left hand at that angle.

I'm a RA member now myself and checking out all your progress of the past year is an inspiration. Thanks!

AmundLauritzen

Thanks for the nice words!

The angle I've used recently has been to try to fit the fretboard in and also get a shot of the right hand to have my technique critiqued.

Since nobody has shouted objections to my right hand technique, I take it as a confirmation that I am somewhat on the right track.
Right hand technique feels relaxed and natural now because my wrist is loose and the pick grip is also very loose. The timing issue in the beginning of "Double Jeu" is simply because I need more practice to play at Stochelos tempo without concentrating as much. The timing locks in better later in the video.

I'm going to try to get a better angle for the next update.

AmundLauritzen

Attempt at "Anniversary Song"



Stochelo plays some wild triplets in his solo, and this is one of the places where I messed up.

What I notice is that generally(that is, not counting the extremely technical passages like the one I mentioned) I can play the right notes with approximately the right timing and approximately the right feel and articulation.

That is, I can play the "meat and bones" of Stochelos solo, the 8th note lines. It is developing the effortless relaxation, confidence and power that characterises his playing all across the board that is the seemingly endless task so that I don't crash and burn when the flurries of triplets and other fast bursts happen, and to have a consistently confident sound. I don't ever expect to play anything like him, but I'm going to practice to the maximum of my motivation and capabilities.

For songs in A minor, I like to take advantage of open strings and I pick close to the bridge to get the "banjo-like growl" that characterises my favorite players in the Dutch style. Here is a challenging aspect of calibrating technique to achieve the desired sound without "overworking".

That is, when comparing my right hand to Stochelos, his is more relaxed and "fluid", almost like his wrist joint is like water or jelly and the hand moves without effort at all. It's really amazing and inspiring, especially when I compare to my own technique, which looks cumbersome in comparison.

The biggest part of practice I think is calibration. You get the basic technique down, you can play the passage of notes approximately right, and then it's endless repetition to calibrate and fine tune the technique so as to eliminate extraneous effort, movement and energy so as only to expel just the right amount of these to execute the musical passage. Those are my thoughts from self analysis.

It's funny how some people say that jazz music is "hard to play". Hard implies struggle. Look at Stochelo, he's not struggling! Bireli, Mozes, Angelo. It's not hard to them. It's time spent effectively on the instrument, concentration, a high standard and attention to detail that creates such players.

It's a test of will to consistently muster up the motivation and to trick your brain into thinking that the necessary things to practice are the fun things. It's not always so! Problem areas and weak areas don't feed the ego, because you have to listen to your mistakes. You want to play the things you can play well, without making a fool of yourself. But that's not where the growth happens. The growth happens when you practice the weak areas and pay attention to actively create new associations in your brain and strengthen neural connections. This is why I think the whole "practice guitar while watching TV" is a waste of time.
That's also why I put my mistakes up here. If I take myself too seriously, the mindset becomes counter productive. If mistakes matter too much, the playing becomes safe and contrived because the prospect of making a mistake or making a fool of myself keeps me from taking chances. It is the risk taking mindset where the best music happens. The "almost-accidents". The pure inspiration inbetween all the rote-licks.

I had times where I practiced countless hours in a day, sometimes 6-8 hours but the real growth has happened the last years when I practice on average 1-3 hours a day in 30,40 or 60 minute sessions where my brain is engaged 100% all the time and I spend every minute of that practice working on weak areas and learning new solos. After that I have ego-time where I just jam on tunes.

During my 6-8 hour marathons, my brain wasn't engaged on the same level and it was more like zombie practice where the fingers ran on auto-pilot. A lot of it was simply a waste of time. 90% of it was ego-time.

This is my update this month, and my thoughts around practice that I've been thinking about since last time.

I appreciate input, advice, suggestions and opinions around the playing or the topics I mentioned.

Jazzaferri

To be clear, @Amund Lauritzen one is not practicing guitar, when one is playing guitar while watching TV.

Working on another non technique part of the equation.

NylonDave

Hey seems like you are getting on terrifically.

I noticed looking over this that you complain (unjustly) about not being feeling confident about fast triplets.

A thing I have been trying and that really seems to work is to repeat one note of each triplet and play the phrase as a sixteenth note phrase at a medium/slow tempo as evenly as possible.

So if the first triplet was ABC that would become AABC,and so on for the rest of the line. Next ABBC and finally ABCC.

If the original RH was DUD for the first triplet than you need to be strict so that you use the same stroke on each note as before but repeat one note in three. IE the DUD would become DDUD, then DUUD and then DUDD.

I think you will notice really quickly where the weakness is when you practice like this. Having noticed just keep trying to play the phrase at a medium/slow tempo as evenly and musically as you can and your ear should fix the insecure parts for you. Practicing like this pretty much makes it impossible to hide from the weak spots, but they get fixed real quick with the repetition.

Because of the repeated strokes even though you are working slowly you will be working on your twitch responses so when you go back to playing the passage in triplets the speed and confidence should be there waiting for you.

You can do the same with any phrase in moto perpetuo style. So quavers go to triplets and semiquavers go to quintuplets. If you find you are improvising different RH patterns arbitrarily then the excercise probably wont be effective. You should use exactly the original stroke on each and just repeat one note in each group with the same stroke. It works great to strengthen hammerons and pull offs too (especially the repeated LH pluck).

I hope that made sense, it is really very very simple but I may not have explained very well.

D.