Simon
Recommended practice time: 15 minutes daily
What to practice: Autumn Leaves, Ain’t Misbehavin’ – chords, arpeggios, improvising
Keys to effective practice: There are 2 main things that I believe you should focus on that will help you greatly: listening to and recreating/mimicking the melodies, rhythms, solos, etc… of recordings, and getting the arpeggio, chord shapes, and scales under your fingers. It will probably be best to first review the chords, arpeggios, etc… first so they are fresh in your mind as a bit of a road map, then once you’re comfortable with that and have them down to a reasonable degree pop on some versions of the songs we’re tackling to get an idea for how the best of the best approached these tunes.
Some good takes of Autumn Leaves to check out:
- Chet Baker & Paul Desmond
- Miles Davis with Cannonball Adderley & crew (one of my all time favourites)
- Bill Evans
- Frank Sinatra
We will similarly be checking out how to play a traditional 12 bar blues in the nearing lessons to use as a springboard for improvising, but, learning some language over these current tunes will also help in the long run, and vice-versa!
Good work Simon!