Monthly Livestream #40!

Thanks for tuning in to today's livestream! Here's the recording.

I started off with a few tunes: "Miyako" by Wayne Shorter, and "Four" by Miles Davis. I played Four because I had a question about the chord changes, which are notoriously wrong in the old Real Book editions!

Then had a question about hearing root notes: why that might be harder than hearing melodies, and some ways we might practice getting better at it.

Then a question about Barry Harris' 6th diminished scale, and how to use it on a ii m7 chord, which led to a (pretty quick) breakdown of how these scales work, and why strictly diatonic playing is impossible with them.

Then a question about using dotted quarter notes in our playing, particularly in our left hands. Being fluent with dotted quarters is one of the best ways to start getting comfortable playing over the barline, and a great way to build rhythmic energy in our playing.

And finally we ended up talking at length about our LH - different ways to improve it, hear it, and also understanding how much power it really has in our whole playing. Actually, what we play in our left hand dictates much of the overall character of our playing - much more so than our right hand lines! - and it's wise to decide what you are going to play in your left hand before you play anything else.

Thanks again for tuning in, and see you next month!

Glenn