Here's part 1 of a series of lessons helping you understand the tune Giant Steps.
part 2
blackbird and bluesette
On this video, I'm playing the melody along with any bits of accompaniment that I can attempt to fit in without taking away from the clarity of the melody.
It's a good way to work on the left hand in terms of getting it to focus on melody and accompaniment at the same time.
Pat Metheny once said in an interview that playing arpeggios is great for your technique because they make you move quickly up and down your instrument. This etude gets you playing over the entire three octaves and will sharpen your accuracy. Choose your sticking carefully. Try out different combinations until you find the one that works for you.
I like to play it "dry" so I can hear each note separately, but you can add some pedaling if you like. Doing that will make the piece sound fuller.
"Within a Page" is one of my favorites. I wrote it while working on a page out of my sight reading book called "Shapes and Patterns of Music". The title comes after spending weeks on a single line trying to develop it into a song. When I finally came up with a "song" (that I really love), I realized that there was SO MUCH music and work that went into this small page of music. So I titled it "Within A Page". After coming up with the arrangement for solo vibes, I thought I'd offer it along with a lesson on how to play it. So, here it is in PDF download form. I hope you enjoy it.
Check out this etude. Study the chords and write in the names with the alterations. Then play the etude. It will get you moving around and weaving through the changes. Work up the speed a little bit, and transposing in one other key will go along way.
The etude PDF is attached.
DISCLAIMER: I use the F word at the end of this video, so don't watch if you're going to be offended.
But you should watch because at the end of the video, Marie gives me a quick vibe lesson.
She's a pretty hip chick.
A lesson on 1-2-3-5 based patterns I use for technique building and warmups. Refer to the pdf for a copy of the patterns.
Rusty
Here's a 4 part lesson talking about scales and modes. Some introductory stuff with a little depth.