Posted On July 11, 2021

Hope you had a great weekend and the first part of your summer has been all that you wanted it to be.

We’re enjoying a a beautiful, yet warm one here in Palm Springs. As I write this at 6:18 Pacific time on Saturday evening the temperature outside is 111(F) degrees! Strangely, I kinda love it.

One of my favorite things about this summer house has been that I’ve had both space and time to regularly practice for longer stretches of time. After three years of full-time RV living, it feels good to be back in the shed consistently.

My first personal practice project was to spend a week focusing on our bebop language on the blues in all 12 keys.

But rather than hack away at all the keys everyday, I decided to break them into chunks. The plan was to spend one day focusing solely on [C-Db-D-Eb], one day on [E-F-F#-G], and one day on [Ab-A-Bb-B]. Then I’d put them all together.

Here’s what I learned:

Day One - [C-Db-D-Eb]

* This session went well. Definitely spent more time in Db than the other three keys.

Day Two / Three - [E-F-F#-G]

* This workout renewed my already healthy respect for F# Blues! So much so that I revisited this entire group of keys the next day instead of moving on. Felt much better at the end of the second session on these keys.

Day Four - [Ab-A-Bb-B]

* Even though Ab and B blues have always intimidated me a bit, this workout really felt good. I love feeling the benefits on a several day long practice streak, don’t you?

Day Five - ALL 12!
* Believe it or not the challenge is not playing in those “hard keys.” It was that anytime I let my mind wander AT ALL, I’d lose track of what key I was in for a moment. Definitely encouraged me to stay focused…

This is most certainly not the first take I recorded and it’s not perfect, but I’m happy with the progress made over the course of the week. I’m sharing in hopes you’ll share what you’re working on too. Shedding together is more fun!

Here’s the video I originally shared in our members private Facebook group.

What are you working on? Let us know in the comment section.

Have a great week,
Kenyon

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