First thing's first, excuses! February was busy, I started work with Wakefield Music Services, joined a Motown/Northern Soul covers band and started work on composing for film. This meant that writing what I'd practiced during the day fell down my list of priorities (not that I had a list to start with). Any road I've (hopefully) settled in with all that now and feel motivated to get back to this blogging lark.

Scales/Arpeggios
30 mins. Went through the usual stuff.

Rhythm
2hrs (Split into 3x40 min sessions). Studied from the Jerry Bergonzi book on rhythm, note limitation per bar stuff and the 22 rhythms section (including rhythmic displacement). Doing this consistently now I think/hope is starting to have a positive impact on my time. In particular I feel it has opened up my phrasing possibilities. I can see a lot that still needs to be done however. Also like starting a practice session with this as I feel kind of more solid in my time for the rest of the day.

Transcript Study
2hrs (Split into 2x1hr sessions). Studied a transcription of Pat Martino's solo on Blue Bossa from his album Exit. Loved doing this today, took a lot from the 'flow' of his lines. Also interesting to see what substitutions he used. Rhythmic displacement becomes very obvious when written too. Felt like I took a lot from this today!

Wednesday

Usual scales and arpeggios to warm up, about 30mins.

Rhythm/Time
1hr 30. Usual subdivision exercises. Did the 22 rhythms stuff from the Bergonzi book and looked at moving the rhythms about so I'm playing over bar lines, enjoyed this and hopefully will be a good tool in helping me to play naturally in this manner.

Chops practice/Improvisation
1hr. Around Blue Bossa arpeggios and substitutions. Worked on phrasing and in particular articulation (mainly slides)

Creative Practice
1hr.Studied the Melodic minor scale, especially lydian dominant. Looked at using the arpeggios from the scale, from 4th and 5th degrees especially.

Harmony
30 mins. Continuation of the slash chord stuff from advancing guitarist. Compositionally this stuff could be a great tool.


Thursday

Very busy today did about an hour and a half. Scales, arpeggios and chops practice.

Friday

Set up my recording gear in the morning and have spent pretty much the rest of the day writing. Few notes...
Very linear, a bit like running down a corridor in the pitch black. Need to take a step back and plan pieces properly if I want to get the sounds and ideas out that I want. Saying that I have a few strong ideas just need refining and then planning out.

So, not been so hot at keeping up to this over the past few days, here's what's happened...

Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday were spent practicing the same material I have been doing for a while now. I have however been filming improvisations based upon the material I have been looking at (I will put it up on here when I figure out a way that doesn't take hours on end) and this has brought up some things worth noting...

• Articulations: need to look at how I'm playing the notes. In particular I'm playing a lot of staccato, look at the length I hold notes for more. 
• Phrasing: I often carry on a phrase for a few notes too long. Also look at the impact of phrases, particularly with regards to rhythm and how different articulations change the feel.
• Always make sure the head is controlling the fingers.

On a general note I have been quite down on my playing over the past few days, again. I have a tendency to focus on the negatives. This in one regard is good as at least I know where my weaknesses lay, however it can make practicing daunting and an undesirable task. As I'm finding continually addressing my flaws can be a bit disheartening. Which is why it was quite nice today to stumble upon some old recordings of my playing from 2010, I could hear improvement in just about every aspect (facility, rhythm, note choice etc). This gave me heart and perspective. I'm practicing to improve, simple. However I may feel about my playing, is how I feel, I'm not sure I can change that. But if I practice objectively and honestly I can improve. Which is all I can do.

(Quite tired now so will write up today's practice tomorrow at some point)

Warm up
5 mins. Pumping Nylon exercises.

Scales/Arpeggios
25 mins. Maj, min, mel and harm through cycle of 5ths all over neck. Dom 7, maj 7, min 7 and min7b5 arpeggios. Major scale and melodic minor scale modes.

Rhythm/Time
1hr 10. Usual subdivision and broken meter stuff at 40 bpm and 60 bpm. Moved on through the '22 rhythms' section of the jerry bergonzi book as well. When I do this prior to improvising I feel I gain a lot more control rhythmically, think this comes from the broken meter stuff in particular.

Chops practice and Improvisation
1hr 30. Did the usual arpeggios with substitutions, could have concentrated a great deal better! Improvised a lot however after a while I grew unhappy with how I was playing, took a brake and came back to it and played much better.

Harmony
1hr. Continued study of triads over bass notes, enjoying this and it is opening up some new sounds to me. Making good progress on this front however to be able to use all this material freely will take a very long time I fear!

Tuesday

Usual warm up with scales and arpeggios.
Chops practice.
Despite my promise to get a lot done today I didn't! Oh well.

Wednesday

30 mins. Warm up, scales and arpeggios

1hr 30. Rhythm and time. Did the subdivision stuff at 40bpm and 60 bpm, note limitation stuff and '22 rhythms' from Jerry Bergonzi book. Really felt the benefit of this stuff today!

1hr. Chops practice and substitutions through Blue Bossa. Feel fluent with this now, more can be done still"

40 mins. Creative Practice. Imrovised with the diminished scale from the perspective of the four relevant dominant arpeggios. Like doing it from this perspective. Might say perspective a few more times...

1hr. Harmony. Studied from the triads over bass notes stuff from 'The Advancing Guitarist'. Want to use some of it as the basis for a composition.

Thursday

Busy day. Learnt a song by a metal band called Testament in the morning, standard fare E harmonic minor stuff. Mullets, leather and biblical references mandatory. Afternoon nipped on M1 down to Sheff to rehearse with Bridie, discussed that I should probably consider including our repertoire in my practice haha. Taught in the evening.

Saturday

Spent the daytime mainly with family then went out in the evening for a meal and a drink to celebrate a friend leaving to go live in Australia. I did practice on Saturday but I can't for the life of me remember what.

Sunday

Mainly spent bleary eyed and hungover. Had a jam with Danny B though writing some tunes which was good.

Today

Not felt 100% and have no motivation to practice. Teaching in the evening. Will practice like a fruit loop tomorrow to compensate!

Watched the documentary made on Bill Cuningham the other night, inspiring bloke.  

Today I practiced Mediterranean Sundance and sight reading. Was pleased with the sight reading after not doing much for such a long time. MS sounded fine and the interview/audition went well. I was particularly happy with some of the stuff I was doing in the right hand, must try and maintain this kind of disciplined approach with my right hand in all scenarios, gives me great control. Also felt well cool playing in a suit. It's the little things.

Thursday 10th of January
Yesterday was very busy when I could have done with it being quiet. Managed to get an hour and a half done on Mediterranean Sundance, as long as I hold my nerve today it should be ok. Back to the woodshed...

Right so today started off well enough...

Usual scales and arpeggios to start. (30 mins)

Harmony
2hrs. Worked through the inversion (drop 2 and drop 3) stuff in the advancing guitarist book. On a side note this is the best bit of literature I have come across for the guitar, I both love it and hate it. Every time I pick it up I feel, on one hand, enthused that I could study from it all day and also daunted by how much there is to be done.

I also looked at the symmetrical diminished scale stuff in the book, really getting to grips with this stuff now, I think.

Chops Practice
30 mins. Arpeggios and substitute arpeggios through Blue Bossa.

Then I got a phone call saying I've got an interview/audition on Friday. BALLS! Spent the next 2hrs practicing Mediterranean Sundance for a performance piece. It's sketchy as I haven't played it in ages but it will get there, hopefully.

Scales/Arpeggios
30 mins. Same as yesterday.

Chops Practice
1hr 20. Arpeggios and substitutions round Blue Bossa. Liking the diminished stuff, would be a good idea to record this stuff in the next couple of days and put it on here!

Rhythm/Time
1hr 15. Same stuff from yesterday but I moved on to the '22 rhythms' section of the Bergonzi book. Good for rhythmic displacement and what not

Creative Practice
1hr. Practiced intertwining the chromatic stuff with the intervallic stuff. Love the effect this has, don't be afraid of slipping in the odd 'out' arpeggio when doing this. Studied a transcription of Pat Martino's solo over Blue Bossa on 'Exit', he does this stuff quite a bit, not sure how he does it at those tempos though!

Whatever happens tomorrow I need t change it up a little! Felt a bit stale today.

Scales/Arpeggios
Maj, Min, Harmonic, Melodic and Diminished scales. Maj 7, Min 7, Dom 7, Min 7b5 arpeggios. Modes of Major and Melodic Minor also.

Chops Practice
Arpeggios and substitutions through Blue Bossa again. Getting good results from doing this now, spent a lot of time doing this today finding I prefer to stay focused on one or two things in a day than spending shorter amounts of time on lots of things. If this is the case I need to start planning my weeks out so that I'm covering all bases.

Time/Rhythm
Usual note limitation and subdivision stuff. MOVE ON THROUGH THE BOOK NOW MATE!!

Creative Practice
Looked at some of the Benson-esque stuff I came up with yesterday, I could really expand this stuff

Harmony
Short recap over voicings, must devote much more time to harmony and rhythm playing!

Warm up
Usual stuff.

Scales/Arpeggios
Did the normal stuff but added all major scale modes and melodic minor scale modes. Also played through all twelve major keys using quaver notes without any pauses to get me concentrating.

Chops Practice
Arpeggios through Blue Bossa with substitutions. Listened to Pat Martino a lot today, one thing I gleaned from his playing in particular is I could maybe think about being a bit more adventurous with my substitutions haha. Trust my creativity and go nuts.

Creative Practice
Returned to double chromatic embellishments of major and minor arpeggios and improvised afterwards. Getting there!

Listened to George Benson and was inspired to rip off the mega fast triplet stuff he does, again getting there!

Composition
Came up with the basis of a new idea for a tune. Now got three strong ideas and a standard for the album. This is motivating me to practice which is a good thing.

Time/Rhythm
Usual stuff from the Bergonzi book, I still lack discipline.

Felt good today and I think this blog is giving me the continuity I've been after. Need to learn more jokes also.

Did the usual warm-up scales and arpeggios. I really need to vary this now!

Chops Practice
Arpeggios round Blue Bossa ( the only song I know) and substitutions. Spent a lot of time on this today, think it went well. Like the substitutions on minor chords built from the 5th degree of the chord giving me 9ths and 11ths as extensions. Might be worth adding the chromatic embellishment ideas to the substitutions as well. Feel like I'm making good progress on this front now.

Time/Rhythm
Normal subdivision stuff, might be worth going back to looking at playing broken quintuplets?

Did the stuff from the Bergonzi book on rhythm with regards to note limitation. I struggle to maintain discipline doing this but feel it helps a lot particularly when I improvise freely afterwards. Think it gives me a good grounding. Must make a point of studying more of the stuff from this book!

On a general note I've done quite a bit of practice today but spent the time on only two significant areas of study. I'm torn a bit on this as I wanted to devote that time to them as I felt I was progressing however it has been at the expense of looking at a lot of other material. Also really really need to make more of my mornings when I get the opportunity!!

Warm-up
Same as usual

Scales/Arpeggios
Same as usual.

Chops Practice
Arpeggios round blue bossa. Added substitutions (arpeggios from third and dim. scale). Need to be braver and focus more on the substitutions now. Also when I feel comfortable in something I need to be braver in moving on. This applies to all areas of practice.

Time/Rhythm
Sub division exercises, practiced improvising freely and moving through them as well as a more dry approach.

Creative Practice/Composition
Worked on finger picking idea from before. Trying to work in a rhythmic modulation going from straight quavers to crotchet triplets and then taking the triplet and turning it into four straight crotchets. Want to "dive" straight into it but finding I need to set it up first. Hopefully it will come in time. Got another idea that incorporates a rest stroke in the thumb and free stoke in the fingers. Like it but can't quite get it up to the speed that I want yet.

As a general note I've been quite down on my playing today. Need to stop worrying!

Today has been spent mainly planning lessons and teaching, got a bit done...

Scales/Arpeggios
30 mins. Major, Minor, Harmonic, Melodic, Diminished. Maj 7, Min 7, Dom 7, Min 7b5. I'm not paying much attention when I'm doing this stuff now, like the grounding this gives me to a practice session but might have to change it up a bit.

Rhythm Guitar
1 hr. Inspired by Mike Outram, been looking at rhythms and applying them to guitar using plectrum style. Looked at Bossa rhythms from the rhythm bible book. Need to research this stuff a lot more!!!

Tarrega's Arpeggio Study
30 mins. I am no classical guitarist! Trying to get better continuity in my right hand finger style playing. Hopefully paying attention to detail will help. Playing rest strokes with the thumb and free strokes with the fingers is tricky but I'm getting there. Paying attention to what type of stroke I'm playing is slightly alien to me but it does seem to make a huge difference!

So, it's been Christmas and unfortunately I've been too fat and drunk to get to the computer to write blogs. However a new year is upon us and I'm going to try my best to give this blogging lark a good go...

Warm-up
5 mins. Pumping Nylon left hand exercises.

Scales/Arpeggios
35mins. Min, Maj, Harmonic, Melodic and Diminished scales. Min 7, Maj 7, Dom 7 and Min7b5 arpeggios.

Chops Practice
40 mins. Arpeggios round Blue Bossa all positions. Very fluid now, possibly time to move on to doing the same things with substitutions.

Time/Rhythm
2 hrs. Played through sub-divisions at 40 bpm and practiced going between broken demi-semiquavers to broken semiquaver triplets at 60 bpm. Been noticing sometimes in improvisations when I move triplets they can sometimes be slightly rushed, need to spend more time practicing improvising and changing between the two. I'm fine in 'dry' practice but sometimes when I'm 'playing' I rush them a bit like a div.

Played the note limiting stuff from the Bergonzi book, 3 and 4 notes. Then improvised freely through 'Blue Bossa' afterwards. Listened back and think that practicing in this manner, really counting every quaver beat, is having a good impact on my time whilst improvising. Especially accenting offbeat stuff.

Composition
30 mins. Got plans to try and put a solo album out this year, worked on some ideas over Christmas. Worked on a finger-picked idea today. I like it but its tricky to play, may be worth revisiting pumping nylon for some right hand exercises.

Harmony
30 mins. Recapped a lot of inversions. Realised I don't spend nearly enough time working on my rhythm playing as I should!!!