Just got back from New Orleans where I had to days of good lessons with jazz mandolin master John Eubanks. He gave me some really good things to work on…mostly playing scales over chords and playing in different positions…similiar stuff to “Getting Into Jazz Mandolin”.
Last night I got a good hour of practice in. I mainly work on bluegrass speed. I played Ark Trav from the tabedit file at different speeds. 180>190>200>210>220. I think I have gotten pretty comfortable with 200bpm.
But I wanted to take John’s exercise idea and play scales over the chord changes. This proved to be much more difficult than simply playing the melody. I was only able to do this at 160bpm…and that’s only playing the D scale. I think I got up to 180 by the end of the night. But it was definately a good exercise.
I am excited because I think I have a good plan and approach for developing my bluegrass speed.
But I say “Bluegrass Speed” because I think that there is a difference between bluegrass playing andjazz playing. Bluegrass embraces the open strings…jazz does not. “Getting Into Jazz Mandolin” developes this jazzy/no open strings approach. I want to learn this, but I think that I have to keep it seperate from Bluegrass.
The thing is that right now bluegrass is a priority for me. 1) I feel that I am very close to getting quite good; and 2) There are many more bluegrass jams that I participate in than jazz.
But I want to practice a little of everything…and I think that a little of everything helps everything. I just wish that I had more time.
Filed under: My Journal, Practice Session Notes
