my ukulele progress

I forgot to mention I have my Dunlop crybaby pedal, but I forgot to get a power supply. Once that arrives, I have to figure out how to use it in terms of my wife. She is rather dense or unobservant when it comes to my music, but I think she'd have to notice the wah wah. Of course I am not going to use it like a funk bassist. I'll be using it more of just a modulation used in conjunction with some fuzz. Maybe she won't notice. I was just reading a post about someone not being able to rock out. I would suggest getting a few accessories (with the spouse's approval) to rock out. Even "Three Blind Mice" rocks with a 75 watt amp and flanger. But I received the impression that electronics were precluded from the conversation.

I'm finally getting the first six bars to my liking. Here's what I'm doing right now.

1. 9988
2. 7767 | 6767
3. 5555 | 4535
4. 3333 | 2313 going to 2310
5. 1211
6. 1111 | 3334

I like the descending movement of that. I haven't listen to Charlie Parker, so I don't know how he makes it sound in the recording. For the second half of the progression I would like to see if I can make it ascend again.

I have been working more on the bird blues.

I'm starting to get some phrasing. The latter half of the progression often has split bars: half go with a G-rooted m7 and half go with a C rooted dominant. So it is possible to get a rhythm going. I of course have taken a few liberties. The tenth bar calls for a V7 chord. However that's a bit boring. So I squeezed a I chord in there. I selected a Fadd9#5 and it sounds pretty good.

In bar eleven, there is a VI chord and it is often altered, so I just made it a D13--that's nice and altered and sets up the final 2-5-1 turnaround.

I just re-read the previous post and I don't remember doing any of that. I'm going to have to read that stuff again and try to re-create what I was doing. In the meanwhile, I was working on something entirely different. I was working on the underlying chords for the first few chords. The first chord is a Fmaj7 and the fingerpicking is a no-brainer. With that chord the obvious accompaniment is the major pentatonic or the Lydian mode. The second chord is an Em7b5 and I read that someone no less than Bud Powell used the Lokrian13 scale with that chord. So who am I to argue? Luckily the Lokrian13 is something I had been working on since it is the second mode of the Harmonic Minor.

so, true to form, I've been playing unmetered doggerel. I play the chords and then improvise without regard for musicality. Eventually, I will land upon a phrase that I like and I'll then make it metronome-friendly.

I've been thinking about how things are getting away from simplicity. People driving around in their tinted windowed coffin-like cars instead of having their windows down. And I heard people saying that it was too hot to eat on patios (the only way we're currently allowed to attend restaurants/pubs. I am perfectly comfortable if I'm in shade and it is 100. And I have never had air-conditioning. All I need is a swamp cooler when things get really hot. I've been wondering if I could apply this to music. I'm still thinking.

I'm also thinking of guitarists. Why are they so prescriptive? Of course, this is an inductive fallacy and many aren't, but the ones I've run across lately are very dogmatic and very much thinkers within the box. I'm not going to name names, but around here I've run across some guitarists turned ukulele players and they are very snotty. They seem to think that the guitar is the standard and ukuleles are a derivative therefrom. I don't really have time for them and there attitude. I have too much to do.

Speaking of which, I was trying to codify what I've been doing with my Bird blues. Here's what I'm doing

01. IΔ7 (FΔ7)(EΔ7) Lydian
02a. VIIø (Eø) (D#ø) Lokrian13
02b. III7 (A7b9) (G#7b9) Dominant Diminished
03a. vi7 (Dm7) (C#m7) Dorian
03b. II7 (G7) (F#7) Mixolydian
04a. v7 (Cm7) (Bm7) Dorian
04b. I7 (F7) (E7) Phrygian Dominant
05. IV7 (Bb7) (A7) Mixolydian
06a. iv7 (Bbm7) (Am7) Dorian
06b. bVII7 (Eb7) (Am7) Mixolydian
07a. iii7 (Am7) (G#m7) Dorian
07b. VI7 (D7) (C#7) Mixolydian
08a. biii (Abm7) (Gm7) Dorian
08b. bVI7 (Db7) (C7) Mixolydian
09. ii7 (Gm7) (F#m7) Dorian
10. V7 (C7) (B7) Phrygian Dominant
11a. iii7 (Am7) (G#m7) Dorian
11b. VI7 (D13) (C#13) Lydian Dominant
12a. ii7 (Gm7) (F#m7) Dorian
12b. V7 (C7) (B7) Phrygian Dominant


Just to explain that: The chords in parentheses are the chord in F and the chord in E (my preferred key). The scale to the right is what I use to play over the chord.

I think I have quite a bit to chew on in terms of jazz with the Bird Blues, the Rhythm Changes, and a bunch of jazzy blues progressions that I culled from an old jazz book that I bought. I'm definitely going to keep on with those studies. I am confident that eventually the principles learnt will impact my style. I don't think I'll ever be considered a jazzman but I will certainly retain a lot of it in my own work.

I have sufficiently paid my respects to the ukulele gods by playing the re-entrant tuning. It was with a sense of relief that I pulled my Low G back out and slid that walnut neck into my hand. I did notice something. The ukulele is much more resonant when notes are higher on the fret board. For example the E on the 4th fret and the E on the 10th fret are the same note, E4, but the 10th fret version re-echoes much more.

Anyway, back to "Blues for Alice"--I finally remembered what i was doing in bar eleven. I had substituted an Fadd9#5 for the more traditional Am7. The progression ends with two ii-V progressions separated by a bar of other stuff. It was the other stuff I was trying to fix. I just didn't like the sound of the Am7. First of all, I tend to not play the 0000 version of it; I don't care for open strings. If I play my preferred shape, it is too similar to the C7 that precedes it. So I need to do something. Looking at the situation, A minor is the iii of the key. The iii is the secondary relative minor used as a substitution for the I. So I could just straight-up use the I chord, the F, but make it tastier--viz., an Fadd9#5. Alternatively I could use Eb, the tritone substitution of A.

I'm still having some problems with that C7. I suppose it is natural because it is arguably the most important chord being the dominant chord of the progression. I find that which C7 I use affects how well I like the chord that follows. It all depends on what vibe I'm looking for. The Fadd9#5 and the Ebm7 (maybe I should add a b9) have a different feel and a different pitch. So it all depends on what I'm wanting for that particular iteration of the progression. I was hoping to codify it but I now see that that is impossible and indeed unwanted since once it is set in stone it is dead.

I stumbled across a turnaround that I like for my "Blues for Alice."

Okay, so following a run of altering dom7's and minor 7's, we get to the dominant chord of the progression, the C7. This signals the end of the progression and the need for resolution. Instead of getting that, we receive a stutter step moving away from the dominant chord and then going back to it and, then, finally doing the expected thing and resolve. Here's what I'm doing with it:

bar 10: C7
bar 11a: Eb13 (Eb being my tritone substituion of A which is Charlie Parker's substitution for F)
bar 11b: D13
bar 12a: Gm7
bar 12b: C7

Gm7 to C7 is a no-brainer; that is just the ii-V movement that anticipates the I chord, F. Bar 11 just walks down the fretboard in triplets from the third to the first fret. That combines a traditional blues technique with a more jazzy progressive choice of chords. Going from dom13 chords to a m7 is a bit of a stretch, literally, but it is what I'm going with right now.

I've been in a holding-pattern in terms of the ukulele. I've been working a lot of overtime. I'm not complaining when so many people are out of work. And I'm slated to start teaching three college classes in ten days. I haven't even started on those curricula. So things are starting to get a bit hairy. How did I rise to meet the challenge. I went, of course, and got some beer! I bought two parcels from my favorite pub, one from another I admire, and even bought a single sour red ale from a local albeit artisan brewer. That is meant to last me over the three day weekend. So don't worry; I'm not about to turn dipsomaniacal.

My short term intention is to continue with my Bird blues and get it tighter, but my heart is starting to pine for my harmonic minor modes. It will only be a matter of time before that re-asserts itself. I think I will probably be updating this journal with notes on phrasing in the "Blues for Alice" because that seems to be where I'm tending.

I became aware that someone requested tabs for Bach. That just seems strange to me. I would think that if someone cared enough to play Bach, they'd care enough to read music. But I'm probably in the minority here.

It reminds me of hearing back in the 90's of a project where a group of people were getting together to translate the Suidas, a mediaeval Greek lexicon. I thought it would be pointless because a Greek dictionary which isn't in Greek is worthless. However, the project went on and now a lot of people can misunderstand the Suidas' entries.

It is the sense of futility that connects these two things in my mind. Playing Bach is actually fairly easy.

You just get any sheet music for any instrument (usually free or at least super cheap) and play what you see. It is easier if you use sheet music that is written with the treble clef. Here's the hardest thing I have found: sometimes the music, as written, requires more notes than the two and a half octaves (mine have three) that the uke possesses. In that case, you need to transpose the Bach so that the lowest note of the song is the lowest note of the ukulele. The gives you as much space as possible up the neck. The arrangement is trickier than the music itself.

The last thing I remember playing this way was something from St. Colombe. I remember that the challenge was how relentless the notes were. You just played and played and played notes. They were usually chromatic or at least I don't remember any big jumps. There is a pride and a sense of freedom approaching the classics this way which I don't think tabs yield. But different strokes for different folks.

Speaking of different, I was exposed to the idea of using m11 chords with minor pentatonics because they share all the same scale degrees. But...they don't sound right to my ear. They are discordant in dissimilar ways. I could probably get used to that. The bigger hurdle, for me, is the pitch difference. I don't know what it is, maybe it is because the 4th of the pentatonic scale and the 11th of the chord are an octave apart although they're the same note. Whatever it is, I don't like it. I have only tried using the Em11 with the blues in E. Maybe I should use a different scale degree like B, for instance--which is the fifth.

I did a little experimentation, but just a little. I had been playing youtube videos for hours and it didn't awaken my wife, but 30 seconds or so of playing ukulele she was up and asking if I were actually trying to rouse her. I was even playing softly. I don't know it if it because the instruments are rather elite or if it applies to all instruments, but it appears that real instruments really resonate.

Anyway, here's what I found: it was quite a match to use the Bm11 and the dominant shape of the E minor pentatonic. They seemed to fit together. I haven't had the same impression with the Em11 and the tonic shapes of the pentatonic.

well the vacation is almost over. I suppose you would call it a vacation. In reality it was only working one job. Now that my university teaching to starting up, I'm going to be busy. During this relatively relaxed atmosphere I had been plugging away at "Blues for Alice." So now I am aware of (but not yet conversant) of Bird Changes and Rhythm Changes. I have absorbed some of the concepts, but they still aren't as natural to me as, for example, a blues progression. These progressions have a lot of ii-V movements. For me, whose sonic demesne is the key of E, that means going from F# to B. At this point, that isn't a natural gimme. The other thing is all the substitutions. There's the relative minor and the secondary relative and the V of the V.

Right now, I seem to be more curious with playing over the chords. In the Bird Changes, there is the opportunity of playing the D#m7b5 with the D# Lokrian 13 and the G#7b9 with the G# Dominant Diminished. Right now, I'm concerned with making some melodic lines over these chords. That's probably where I'm going musically once the work starts rolling in. Obviously, I will also work on my other long term goals such as pentatonic mastery, Harmonic Minor modes, and Dim7 arpeggios.

I have been rather remiss domestically. The floors need mopping and the larder is barren.To remedy the latter, I've boiled some turnip greens, made habichuelas, carne adovada, porridge, kiwis, steamed potatoes. My wife shouldn't go hungry anytime soon.

For myself, I made some mustard. Using Dijon mustard as a model, I took and ground some black mustard seeds. Instead of white wine, I added Laphroaig scotch and instead of vinegar I used lime juice.

While sitting here waiting for my wife's porridge to pressure cook to completion. I briefly looked up Coltrane changes. It is confusing; people don't seem to agree on how to present it. Here's what I think I understand it to be.

first of all the basic unit is the four bar block:

iim7 + bIII7

bVI + VII7

III + V7

I

To turn it into twelve bars, you repeat it for the three keys which are a perfect third apart. Since I work in E, my three keys would be E, C, Ab.

So that would be:

F#m7 + G7
C + D#7
G# + B7
E

Dm7 + Eb7
Ab + B7
E + G7
C

Bbm7 + B7
E + G7
C + Eb7
Ab

As luck would have it, I arrived home early from work. So I sat down and played those Coltrane changes. Just to keep it simple, I stuck to low fret voicings. There sure is a lot of finger movement. I was having some trouble pulling a melody out of the chords. However I think I could make that work. I could improvise between the iterations of the progression. Since there doesn't seem to be much of a melody to the progression, I wouldn't be upsetting the flow of things by interposing myself in there.

Today I was enjoying combining four bars of the Coltrane changes:

Bbm7 + B7b9
Em6 + G7
C + Eb7
Ab

with the Ab Phrygian.

I did something similar with the four bars that are in the key of C, combining them with the C Lydian #2. Since that scale employs three notes from open strings, it was possible to employ double pull-offs for such festooning.

Life has been a bit hectic lately. I actually had to re-read this thread to remember what I had been doing. I haven't really touched my uke in a week. Now that I can sit down I think I am going back to my Bird Changes. I feel I have some unfinished business there which is a natural feeling since real jazz musicians can spend years studying Rhythm Changes and Bird Changes. So I'll be re-acquainting myself with those changes as well as practice my Harmonic Minor modes. I'll update later on today with my trenchant observations.

I ran across another reference to negative harmony and I decided to test it out for myself. My main interest is how as a musician I can employ negative harmony. The consensus seems to be that you use negative harmony as a colorful variation on the main harmony of a song. So I just took that most trite and hackneyed progression, the 1-6-4-5, and I played it straight with E-C#m-A-B. I iterated that for a while to get it implanted in my ear. Then I switched to the negative harmony: Em-G-Bm-Am.

I can sort of appreciate where people are coming from. The negative harmony is the same but different. However I think for me it is a bit pointless because I am rather Aiolian by nature. I believe the guitar and ukulele are designed to play the Aiolian. My default chord structure is the minor chord and I conceive of the major chord as a minor chord with a raised third. So the harmony in my head is already negative.

Therefore, in order for me to take advantage of the negative harmony, I would need to unnaturally compose something in the Ionian so that I could then deviate from it. As I said, it just seems pointless to affect this musical structure when I could just use the negative harmony as I always do.

Oh well. Not all experiments yield successes.

In reference to negative harmony, I forgot to mention one lesson learnt--or rather, remembered. In this day and age when everyone is trying so hard to stand out and be a individual, the best way to be egregious is to not stand out. Not being different can make you different. For example, with everyone trying to dress in a casual and "natural" way, wearing a suit and tie makes you stick out like a sore thumb. Or take eye glasses. Everyone is trying to be innovative with the frames and materials. I just received some new glasses and I got a pair of big black horn-rimmed glasses. Instead of trying to be different I completely embraced the standard from which everyone else is repelling. When I enter a room, I am going to have these 1950's nerd glasses and I am going to be standing out.

How does this relate to negative harmony, I was just noticing that G chord. When all the chords around it are minor, that G major really is different although it is one of the most banal chords to think of.

With teaching and my day job and my wife's health issues, I've been away from myself for a while. But I picked up Yorkie and was reminded why negative harmony is wasted on me. My harmonies are just negative by nature. Maybe I should look into positive harmonies. Anyway retrospectively I analyzed what I was doing and here it was:

1. started with a combination of B Phrygian minor and filled it out with D# Super Lokrian bb7 so that I ended up on the A string. However stopping on the D# of the Super Lokrian was unsatisfying so I just went up a half step to the E.
2. I constructed the F# Lokrian 13 around the E which is the penultimate note of that scale. I descended down to the A
3. From the A I had some options. There was something special about the A. I don't know if it is because A is the subdominant of the key, but it sounded significant--kind of like a turning point. So I took a few paths to get back to an E.
4. path #1: treat the A as the first note of the A Dorian #11 and end on the E 12th fret
5. path #2: treat the A as part of the D# Super Lokrian bb7 (rooted this time on the low G string) and ending on the E on the 10th fret
6. path #3: from the A transition G two steps down and then, being in the C Lydian #2 shape, end up on the E on the 4th fret.