Memories Of Tomorrow ....Smooth Jazz Guitar

Hi Kenny, nice use of octaves but maybe not to start with, imho.  I like what you're playing from 0;49 onwards especially the end.   Are you free to do whatever you like or are there rules you have to stick to ?
 
Rik

This is in your wheelhouse. Very nice.

Rules or no rules Kenny, you have done a good thing here and it sounds really good too. Everything seems to meld right together and a good mix to boot. Should get an "A" for this one.
 
Peace and Blessings, John

One thing I've learned about music over the last 31 years is there are no rules, just guidelines.
 
Nice work!

Kenny,
I really like the tone you got on this one.  No pumping or click souind - just smooth tones.  Good job.

The Band19
This is in your wheelhouse. Very nice.

Hi Robbie , 
I'm thinking this song is a good tune for me to keep working on and developing ....
thanks for giving this a listen  
 
Kenny

Rikkie
"it sounds very easy to play over until you try to play it "  I know, I tried, I failed ; )

 
 
hey Rik ,
 
I know exactly how you feel 
 
Keith Jarrett is a very sophisticated composer and musician of the highest caliber , it's not supposed to be easy 
 
Kenny
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Noisy Neighbour
It sounds easy and relaxed. I hear more the guitar player than the student. Enjoyed it like a summer breeze!
 
Greetings from sunny Amsterdam, Daniel
 
 

Hi Daniel, 
 
Greetings from Vancouver  WA , a city less than 5 miles North of Portland OR  
 
for this recording my goal on the song was to go for a laid back relaxing sort of vibe 
 
I would Love to visit your country Amsterdam some day & I'm pleased my guitar playing was able to make the journey
 
I'm very happy you enjoyed my guitar playing on Memories Of Tomorrow 
 
Kenny

darylcrowley
Scales are the easy part of improvisation.... the magic is in the timing... and your timing is very good.
 
Nice octave work, and I know how much practice goes into fluent octaves!
 
Daryl

Hi Daryl, 
 
thank you for saying nice things about some of the elements and techniques that go into playing the guitar expressivley
 
here's what I do for achieving my timing ,
 
I generally always pick with my picking hand acting as a metronome ...
for all downbeats and subdivisions of downbeats I use a downstroke with my pick ...
for all upbeats and subdivisions of upbeats  , I use an upstroke with my pick ....
I know it sounds simple , yet it took a lot of work to get fluid and good at it enough to become second nature ...
 
a fun thing that has always helped w timing for me has been to transcribe / copy an instrumentalist solo or melody  and play along on my guitar w the recording ..
I like to loop sections and slow them down ...then I listen listen listen ...then i grab what i can and play along ...
interestingly  enough , I wind up starting on all different ends of the beat and when to loop restarts there ain't no such thing as a time signature any more  doing things like this really shakes things up 
 
I use a program called Transcribe which makes it pretty simple and intuitive to load up a song, set different tempos ,loop points or even change keys....
before that I used SONAR which can do most of that ....load a tune or section ...create a groove clip out of it and loop away and snag a few new lines to play ...
it's all good ...listening first and then playing is the key 
 
Kenny
 
 
 

Rimshot
Kenny,
I really like the tone you got on this one.  No pumping or click souind - just smooth tones.  Good job.

Hi Rimshot , 
 
I very happy you like the guitar tone on my clip  my guitar playing on this song was recorded direct .
 
Once recorded , I did use a touch of compression and reverb to help my sound gel w the backing track in the mix .
 
thanks for giving my playing a listen  
 
Kenny

notnat
Very good Kenny... great touch & tone... nice relaxed feel... oh yeah... well done... 

Hi Frank , thank you very much  Kenny

I missed this earlier. Great sound, time and ideas.

Some day I'm gonna have to do a collaboration with you. Although my writing does not reflect it, my piano playing is heavily influenced by Hank Jones.

I can only echo what has been said.  You are one of the people that keep raising the bar for the rest of us.

darylcrowley
I spent years, and still do, transposing songs into different keys when I was learning chord structures (I-9) and progressions.  Not 3 chord rock, but old standards with a ton of cool chords, changes and turnarounds.  I know what you mean.  Now, I can just hear the chords and substitutions in any key without having to think about it, So I like your picking suggestions.  I wish a great sense of timing was just memorization... but like all good things there is no easy path.   I did the same thing with octaves, I beat it to death until now the scales in octaves are just there.  Practice is like exercise.... it's when you get to the point that it starts to hurt (as well as starting to drive you nuts)... that's when you start to improve.
 
Thanks for the tip!
 
Daryl

Hi Daryl , 
Yes , I agree with a lot of what you have said .
for some odd reason ,  I find myself attempting to transcribe and play music that wasn't intended for the guitar ..
currently I'm working on learning sections of the Beethoven Piano Sonatas by ear  I'm laughing because it's true ...
it might take me hours and hours ,  I can grab some of that stuff and play along for about 20 or 30 seconds ..
I just wish I hadn't forgotten how to plat it the next day ...that's the part that seems to drive me nuts ...
it's like it all went poooffff and I got to start all over again 
 
have a good one 
 
Kenny
 

guitartrek
Nice job on this lesson Kenny.  Great guitar tones, and great phrasing.  I used to study Keith Jarret stuff in my jazz piano days.  

Hi Geno, 
 
Yes ,
learning this song and getting exposed to Keith Jarrett was an unexpected turn of events for me in my guitar playing 
I feel I've only scratched the surface with Keith Jarrett's music so far .... he is a very deep player that I will have to listen to much more if I ever want to get out of the kiddie section of the pool 
 
thank you for the kind words you have said 
 
Kenny