Oh man, if I could just teach them to play footprints!!!!

Wow. Am I right?

This is a sample of something I recorded today. It's a short sample of me playing along for a demo, but I noticed something that John Piper mentioned after one of my earier recordings. There is a low thumping noise coming from the pedal.In the second sample I did some EQ, and it kind of worked...

I'm using a Zoom H4 that goes into an EMU soundcard that goes to my laptop.(you might also hear some laptop noise...)

I'd like to talk a little about categorizing the material you are practicing.

Maybe it's easier said than done, but pick something and practice it.

Ok, that's the smart ass answer. There's a TON of stuff here and more is going up all the time. 100's of posts to help you become better.

So the answer is to make a commitment to something and work on it.

The trick is to go through the online books. That's where all the lessons get moved to. Think of the books like any other lessons and method books you have at home. When posts get put in there they don't move. So look through there and find things to work on.

Here is an option that can be used over certain ii-V-I progressions.
We will concentrate on the V7 chord for our alteration here.

Example in Eb Major:

Step one:
Play minor chord: F-
(or ignore this chord and jump right to step 2)

Step two:
Take the Root, 3rd, and 7th. (Bb, D, Ab)
Stack on top of that a triad built from the 6. (G, B, D)
Stack within the same octave a triad built off of the b6. (Gb, Bb, Db)

we get some nice extensions by doing this. (b9, b13, and #9.)

Step three:
Resolve to the Major chord (Eb).

Methods of use:

Dorian is the mode that starts on the second scale degree of the major scale. So in the key of C play D to D.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chinese Translation for Chinese students.
Dorian和 Ionian 的不同是，Dorian 降3音降7音
Dorian是最常在爵士樂中在小調和弦(Minor chord)中用到調式。II-V-I的和聲進行，II級幾乎都是用到Dorian。
（Tony示範各種不同爵士標準曲中（Standards）出現各種不同的Dorian聲音）

The major scale is the Ionian mode.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chinese translation for Chinese students.
今天要講Ionian,
就是大調音階，如果你還不熟悉，要先把每個調的大調練好再來看這支影片。
（Tony示範Ionian出現在生活中的各種聲音）
練習各種不同調式，可以用左手開始，或是右手開始，熟悉棒法。

My office got wind of me taking vibraphone lessons and asked if I was interested in getting together with some colleagues to play our company's annual Christmas party cocktail hour.

It might end up with just vibes and bass but possibly also with sax.

What tunes would you play at a Christmas cocktail hour?

Thanks,
Barry

Another excerpt from the recent online concert with Diane Monroe Quartet

Diane Monroe - violin
Tony Miceli - vibes
Madison Rast - bass
James Shipp - percussion