Hi gang and welcome to the third weekly improvement megathread!

I'm gonna copy the ideas for discussion from the previous threads but these are just my suggestions, feel free to discuss whatever you wish.

  • Do you want to share something you've done in the previous week? Everything counts, nothing is too small.
  • What would you like to do next week?
  • What aspect of life would you like to improve?
  • Do you have any streaks? For example, "sober for one day." Feel free to post your streak every day in this thread.
  • If you don't have a continuous streak, did you manage to abstain from something for a day or more?
  • Did you come across some useful information or resource that might help others?

I'm wishing everybody a great week! unity

  • Mokey [none/use name]
    ·
    5 months ago

    Mokey Practice List. Need another lesson with the teacher I found but he forgot about me and I'm going to get really busy this week. So instead of waiting for him I'm just going to work the logical next step.

    Arm Technique:

    Full Stroke 70BPM each arm. Goal is 80 BPM.

    Rebound Stroke 100BPM in right arm/90 BPM in left arm. Will likely drop right arm and double down on my left.

    Next up: Tap Strokes and Doubles with only forearm.

    Feet Technique

    Left Foot, Heel Down 50-60. Quarter/Eighth/Triplets. Keep the pedal with the foot. Initiate stroke with an upstroke. I think my left foot is locked at 70 because my upstroke isn't engrained enough and nor is my foot staying with the pedal enough. I really want to stop shedding left foot technique, I need more time for more important things.

    Ankle Technique 120-130. Do three or five strokes. Don't try to do consistent eighth notes. This way is better for building muscle.

    Ankle Technique 175-165. Do three or five strokes. Don't try to do consistent eighth notes.

    Next up: Will be working on this for awhile. Once I can play consistent eighth notes between 100-200 BPM I'll stop working on this and probably put the time into traditional grip.

    Groove Studies

    Jazz Ride Pattern with bass drum permutations. 1, a of 1, + of 1. Really focusing on my ride has been helpful and I feel like getting my bass drum clean is a good use of my time while I flesh out more details of my ride beat. Sometimes I play heavier on 1 and 3 than I like.

    Rhythmic Pyramid with Benny Greb App. 60 BPM. This is something I'll be shedding for awhile. I noticed today that sometimes I can sense that my quarter note is wrong in the silence and I think that extrasensory feeling might be what I'm chasing.

    Rhythmic Pyramid 40 BPM. Play quarter notes, two bars of subdividing as triplets and two bars of subdividing as eigth notes. I notice how hard it is to subdivide back and forth for these more sparse subdivisions, so I'm just going to shed that. It's very hard to not rush/drag, happy to work it out.

    Transcribing

    Minority - Bill Evans, Philly Joe Jones Trading Fours

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yevo49R1o4I

    Listen

    Oscar Peterson's Blues Etude Album, particularly If I Were A Bell.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q-HoOgiz3Q