Before I go any further I want to take a minute to say a word about Ray Charles. The man will be remembered as a musical legend who was successful in music no matter what genre he performed. His talent knew no bounds and guess what? He played trumpet (among several other instruments)! Rest in peace Brother Ray. We love and miss you.

The master class went well. We worked on 4 tunes and I did well on 2 of them. The other 2 were complete disasters for me. The songs I did well on were “Sonny Moon for Two” and “So What.” The songs that I completely bombed on were “All of Me” and “Up Jumped Spring.” Actually — I didn’t even attempt to solo on “Up Jumped Spring” because I struggled so terribly with the former. “Sonny Moon for Two” was easier because it was a Bb blues and “So What” is similar to the exercises I play on the Aebersold Volume 1. I’ve to got to expand my ear and I must get more comfortable navigating new tunes.

There are some huge holes in my music theory and that is probably why I’m struggling like I do. For the next two weeks I will focus on working on Dominant 7th scales around the Circle of Fourths and also the II-V7-I progression. I don’t expect immediately results but perhaps if I do this I will at least hear something when I work with new tunes like the ones I struggled with. I may start with triads first and then add the complete scale. I just need to get the sounds in my ear and under my fingers.  I also brought a book to study AWAY from the horn called “Edly’s Music Theory for Practical People.”

A few months ago a read a great article about playing note limiting solos.  It is a great way to enhance rhythmic development and improve creativity.  I made an attempt to do this today and it was an excellent exercise.  Click here to check it out.  I used Aebersold Vol. 1 – track 7 (Bb Blues).  I used C, E, F, G – including octaves.

Update (Later Today) I just did an exercise using the Circle of Fourths and I can see why a lot people stress becoming familiar with using scales, patterns and licks around it.  I used my Aebersold Vol. 87 (Dominant 7th Workout) and I played along with track 13.  I just played the first 5 notes of the scale along with the rhythm section and it amazed me how natural and “good” it sounded.  The changes sounded extremely familiar to me.  I think that if I can feel comfortable running scales, chords, licks and eventually improv along with these changes — I will really improve.

Interesting enough I have problems with three keys…  Ab, Db and F#.  Interesting enough — I don’t know those major scales by heart.  Hmmm…  must be something to that.  Duh!!