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Wednesday Blues: Morning Jam

I've decided to have themes for each day on this blog. I probably won't stick to them religiously, but I think it will help keep me from posting on Bare Necessities every single day. It should also help me to remember to practice other things.

So for now, I'm thinking ...

  • Monday: Mozart
  • Tuesday: Technique (or Foundations)
  • Wednesday: Blues
  • Thursday: Ragtime
  • Friday: Weekend Goals

Since today is Wednesday, I'll share a little bit of my blues progress. I've made it through Lesson 8 of the Piano With Jonny 10-Lesson Blues Challenge, and I'll likely start Lesson 9 this weekend. My goal has been to spend at least 15 minutes a day on the blues, either working on licks (Lesson 8), or just jamming, practicing coming up with lines and working all of the different blues elements (slides, turns, rolls, and licks) into is, all while playing the 12-bar blues shuffle.

Some days I sound great. Some days I crash and burn. But I know that if I keep showing up, I'll just get better and better at this.

I've come up with a little tune that I'm using as my "baseline" line, and I've been building around that baseline. Here is an example of this. It's not perfect; sometimes I forget where I am in the blues shuffle, and sometimes, as in this video, I try something new with the right hand (the tremolo at around 1:23), which throws off my left hand.

But still, I'm happy with my progress here, particularly considering that I haven't stuck to my minimum-15-minutes-a-day plan the way I wanted to. I'm looking forward to diving into Lesson 9 (runs) and probably finishing up the 10-Lesson Challenge by the end of the month.

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