my ukulele progress

I messed around with E enigmatic (EFG#A#CDD#E) because it has all the chord tones of E+. My aim was to pivot between augmented chords and the Enigmatic. It needs some work.

Contributed to a thread where I said if i had to do over again, I would just get an excellent uke and cut out all the static. Simplify. Fret less in my mind and fret more on the neck. No more debating which bracing to get, which tonewood to get, what width to make the neck. Just play. However I must have misspoke because reasonable people seemed to be a bit shirty.

Oh well. Another day, another faux pas.

Yesterday I went back to basics in food. I roasted potatoes and carrots and then mixed them up in a sauce of black strap molasses, cinnamon, and a chive-based seasoning mixture. I also made some millet which I coated with egg and stir fried with collard greens. It doesn't get much better than that.

I don't know how to follow that up tonight. All I know is that I have some swordfish and mushrooms...the rest shall be an improv.

What I have been doing on the uke is trying to combine the augmented chord with the enigmatic scale. I realized that if I just skipped the B in my Harmonic Minor scales, it would also work. However that screwed with my head too much. It was easier to stick with the enigmatic scale which never had a B and never will.

I was working on a progression of B+, B7, Em, and then something with F# which I hadn't settled upon. What I would do, would be to stop the progession and then jump into the enigmatic scale with whatever tonic made musical sense at that moment. It sounded pretty good but not immune to improvements.

I see there's been a few vacation threads. I'll just say there's nothing more annoying than ukulele players or people who workout. They cannot just leave their impedimenta behind and unwind for a week.

However, that's them and here's me. I'm pressure cooking a pound of beans. I did buy 2 pounds of trout at the store because it had the impossibly low price of $3/pound. Aside from the fish, I'll just be enjoying some beans and greens this week.

While the beans are cooking and emitting that earthy smell that I've always liked about beans, I have been playing around with a progression that has a lot of downward movement.

1. play around with the E Enigmatic between frets 9 and 15.
2. from the E on the 12th fret form Em
3. move down to E+
4. move down to F#ø
5. move down to Em
6. from that E on the 7th fret, descend to the E on the 4th fret by means of the E Enigmatic once again.

That was the basic outline of where I was going. I did mix in some other minor pentatonic and harmonic minor scales, and imbricated a B or A chord into the progression. But that was the basic strategy.

Haven't played the Kamaka in a while, so I pulled out that 3 string wonder to see what I could do with it.

First of all, augmented chords weren't very comfortable with the upper bout of Kamaka, so I went down low.

I started a progression with the Em on the 2nd fret. It went:

Em
E+
Am9
DΔ
Dm
E7
E7+5
Am
Am11

Interwoven with this I play the E Enigmatic on the 4th fret as well as the tonic shape of the E minor pentatonic as well as the C Lydian #2.

Ripock, why has the Kamaka only got three strings?

That sounds a bit like the riddle of the Sphinx. In this case the riddle is what instrument has four strings but only three can be played. The answer, of course, is the re-entrant uke!

Ha! Amazing! I actually understand your answer! Will wonders never cease.

I don't usually eat pastries like bread, but for some reason I bought some flour tortillas. Of course they are addicting and of course I feel like crap. Every once in a while I need a reminder why those kcals are never worth it.

After I made a week's allotment of porridge for my wife, I was just easy strumming a D+ and intercalating with a lot of the notes from FΔ, ending on Bb which is also a constituent member of the D+.

I mentioned a few posts ago that it seemed like the Harmonic Minor and the augmented chord didn't seem to play well together. I thought a bit about that and the problem isn't intervallic. After all, the Harmonic Minor does have a tonic and augmented dominant. The problem is much more an issue of timbre with the Harmonic Minor being a rather flamboyant middle-eastern vibe whereas the augmented is a bit more subdued

Haven't played much. No real reason, just I haven't chosen to play much. Maybe the weather's a factor. We've had a cold spell which isn't really that cold: high around freezing. However in the highlands of New Mexico, people don't take precautions because the problem doesn't justify the resources. It is cold for so little of the time, why build a home to withstand the winter. This only applies to traditional homes. If you live in one of those pre-fab, climate-controlled, soulless tract homes, I don't suppose it matters. But in those traditional, more authentic domiciles, there isn't much padding: mud walls and planks sitting atop bigas for roofs. They serve their purpose of a desert dwelling and yes they are drafty and chilly for a few weeks a year. We are in those weeks, so I sit by the hearth and read and when I go to bed I put an extra blanket across my legs.

If the sun is out, there will be so more UV radiation that although the air temp is 32, I will be able to walk about with just a waist coat and sport jacket. So it isn't all that bad really. I haven't even put the windows on my jeep.

As I mentioned I haven't been doing much, just desultorily chasing a sound. I haven't quite caught it yet.

I start off with B+, the high note of which is the D#. From the chord I move to the D# and from there I have some options. I have been erecting the F# Lokrian 13 around that D# and improvise up to the A. From the A I slide horizontally to the E on the 9th fret. From that E I improvise in the E enigmatic and that's about as far as I got. I've done different things, like from that E on the 12th fret move up to the E on the 19th or descend back to the E on the 7th. I just haven't found the sound I want yet.

An adobe casa in Northern New Mexico, with an owner who drives a windowless Jeep In Winter? Ahhh, ripock, you are a truly interesting person.

It just seems like a waste of time to put the windows on the jeep when I'll probably have to take them off next week. It is more convenient just to leave them off and wear a scarf during the cold spell.

I was attracted by the D#. It may seem odd but I just played for about an hour playing in a semi-mesmerized state.

I can remember the general route I took.

I started out the same with B+, F# Lokrian 13, E Enigmatic...but then I branched off on sundry side-trips.

1. Sometimes the goal was to get back to the E on the 9th fret. I would do that with the minor pentatonic or the Hungarian Minor. Once I attained the E, then slide to the D#, arpeggiate through the B+ 'til I got back to the D# on the 6th fret and begin again.

2. Sometimes I would use the E on the 12th fret to move up the neck. I would transition to the C Lydian #2 and get to the D# on the 15th fret. Then ascend the neck via the D# Super Lokrian bb7 and from the D# on the 18th fret dive bomb down to the D# on the 8th fret by means of the D#°7 arpeggio.

That was my basic strategy. I didn't bother to write out the countless detours.

I mentioned at the beginning that this is odd. What makes it doubly odd is the fact that I am very happy in my music. This is exactly what I want to do. I like exploring. I suppose that is why I find playing other people's music so utterly boring. There is no searching and no serendipity. It is just a matter of following directions which is difficult but inevitable. There is really nothing stimulating about playing somebody else's song for me.

What's the deal with the Cocobolo uke people? I thought a Cocobolo was some special kind of ukulele because I frequently see threads like what strings should I use with Cocobolo or what kind of action, etc. etc. So I thought the Cocobolo was some special kind of instrument which requires special attention. But I found out today it is just a regular old ukulele made of a wood called Cocobolo. So which strings to use with Cocobolo? Any. What kind of action do you need with Cocobolo? Whatever you want.

I don't have a problem with cocobolo now that I know what it is. After all, my baritone is probably going to have a hardwood sound board such as blackwood. I'm just grousing a bit over the extravagant hyping of the wood.

I felt like making some noise today so I wound up my metronome and set it to allegro speed. Then I practiced keeping the G string droning while I played lead with the upper three strings. One of the various reasons why I practice the E Harmonic Minor so much is the fact that G is part of that scale so that I can drone the open G string and have it be in key. Droning is rather difficult. I'm starting slow and not playing the G string at all. Even though it could be used for the drone and with lead notes as well. And something to think about is a high G drone. That would be an instance of redeeming the worthless high G string.

I also practiced my percussive uke playing. I have two main percussions that I use. I like to flick the upper bout with my thumb, which is like my snare drum, and to thump my fingers down beside the sound hole, which is my kick drum. I like to incorporate these in my strum pattern to give it some variety.

made a mixture of foods into a stew (?). I had some habichuelas which were starting to turn. I added some lemon juice, two cans of skinless sardines and two eggs. Then I stir-fried cabbage, leeks, and garlic along with some garam marsala and a salt mixture (salt, pepper, tumeric, orange peel, and coriander). I mixed it all together and it was good.

I made melodies with the bottom of the E Enigmatic scale and the subdominant shape of the minor pentatonic which is adjacent and just below. Sometimes, if I found myself at the D# on the 6th fret, I would quickly transition back up to the pentatonic with a dim7 arpeggio. I would like to try this on the 16th fret. Those upper frets are very rich on Yorkie. I had to break up my session because of life but I will be back.

Made a heavy meal for fun. And it was rather local. Pinto beans from Estancia and green Chilis from Hatch. In a wok I made some hash browns around which I poured two eggs. Eggs were local but the potato I believe is from Colorado. I have never heard of potatoes from New Mexico.

I have been wondering about adding Sus2 to my aug chords.

I have been trying to add sus chords to augmented chords. There's a lot to talk about.

First of all, it is hard. Augmented chord is so easy and so movable. The sus chords have certain shapes based in certain roots. It takes a bit more planning.

The first thing was which sus chord to use. I have a preference for the sus2. However I have a book by Abe Lagrimas. The book teaches how to play jazz standards or neo-standards written by Abe. I don't play other people's music, so I was reading the book just to glean what I could from it. I noticed in particular which chord qualities he used. He used sus4 and not sus2.

But here's the thing. I don't hear a lot of difference between the two sus chords. I mean...I can hear the difference but in a musical context each of them seems to do the same thing.

After playing E sus2 and E sus4 all over the fret board I have concluded that it is all about the voicing. The sus2 and the sus4 seem to have a different note on the A string, when using the same root, and that changes the vibe. But it seems that the appropriate chord shifts from circumstance to circumstance and that rather pisses me off. I was hoping to get a definitive answer or at least a definitive methodology, because I like to improvise. To improvise with these sus chords you really need to have a bit of knowledge in your head. You need to know the root and shape of the sus chord and then just go with the flow. None of the choices are bad; they're just idiosyncratic and you need to roll with the choice you make.

Haven't really ventured outside the house much since the pandemic. It hasn't bothered me as it has a large portion of our society because I am a homebody. I drove to do some shopping today. I forgot how annoying traffic is. I filled my car up for fun. It cost $50. I usually just put $10 and that lasts a few weeks. But we're getting an extra bonus (a bonus aside from our quarterly bonus), so I decided to throw some money around. I went and got a couple of pupusas. When opting for unhealthy Central American food I prefer a pupusa over something like a taco. I was recently told we are supposed to eat tacos on Tuesdays, however I've never eaten a taco. I was raised to believe that tacos weren't real Mexican food although I hear that nowadays that isn't the case in Mexico where it seems the natives have embraced the gentrified import.

It is odd, I took a trip last month and stayed with some people who just had a lot of candy and snacks and cookies. It wasn't for my benefit; that's how they live. I don't snack. I eat or I don't. I obviously have food that I prepare for meals, but I do not have thinks lying around on which to graze. To remedy that I bought a little keg of kalamata olives. Now I can have a fatty globe of saltiness whenever I want. I also bought a big container of olive oil and a jar of ghee for cooking; frozen chicken and lamb for meals; and a soujuk sausage and halloumi cheese for a heavy meal in the future.

I also bought 2 kilos of tobacco which has been scarce during the pandemic.

As for the sus chords, something that helps is to forget about the labels. Focusing on the shapes has helped out because more than once, the same shape is used for a sus4, a m11, and a sus2. So I'm improvising geometrically. I go from an augmented chord to a shape a few frets away. Maybe the actual chord is a 7sus4 or a m11, but I don't know. If I find something I like, I will surely stop and analyze what I'm playing so that I can re-create or manipulate the sound.

The geometric playing yields some nice results. Instead of making moves based on the key, you move in shapes or to physical points on the fret board. After I had made a few of these moves, I sat back to see what I had done. It was this:

E+
D# 7sus4
B7+5

A couple of things are interesting. First of all, I stayed in key. As I said, I was thinking spatially (i.e., thinking stuff like lets go down to frets and over a string.) but still stayed in key

I was playing a I II V, which is very close to a II V I, that chestnut of jazz

The E D# and B notes whose chords I happened upon are the notes of the sus2.

So it was a lot of serendipity

And, just like that, winter is over. Two days ago I was looking for some sun in which to read my book during lunch; now I'm looking for shade. Nine days ago it snowed and the sidewalk in front of my house is still icy because of the shadow and the way the sun moves. It is almost like being the recipient of an Old Testament scourge. As far as the eyes can see, all the sidewalk is clear but for the sheet of ice that is my sidewalk. But that is actually a boon. For the vast majority of the year it is hot and sunny, and having a caliginous domicile is beneficial.

I have been requested to make some rainbow trout, sweet potato, and bok choy. Then it will be time to pay some bills and then play my music

Your mention of caliginous domiciles reminded me of passing through a valley in North Wales (a very hilly area). There was a small group of buildings huddled in trees. It was obvious that the sun very seldom shone directly on that spot. There must have been several months when the place was in total shadow from the surrounding hills.

The trees didn't look healthy. Everything looked damp and was covered in green moss. I wondered why anyone would choose to build in such a place.