It’s a while since I posted on this thread. This is to let anyone who’s interested know how I’m getting on.
I now sit-in regularly with two local jazz bands. Everyone, the bands, the audiences and most of all I, know I’m nowhere near good enough but I’m keen to improve and trying hard so they encourage me. With one band, the Forest New Orleans Jazz Band, I simply sit in on a couple of numbers from their set list. I never know in advance what I’ll be playing and quite often it’s a tune I’ve never heard before. I listen to what’s going on and try to play something that fits.
For the other band, the Pendle Jazzmen, we agree in advance on one number that I’ll practice. Usually the result on the night is dreadful, because no matter how much effort I’ve put into learning a number, when I stand up to play I’ve forgotten it. "Up a Lazy River" was a disaster because I'd learned it in Bb, only to find that the band played it in F. One ray of hope was when I tried "St. James’ Infirmary" and used the blues scale in E (as my teacher advised) and the result wasn’t all that bad, but it seemed to come together last week when I played “Georgia On My Mind”. Not the least pleasing aspect of my effort was that, as usual, my memory failed at the beginning and for the first 8 bars of my solo I found myself going somewhere that I hadn’t intended but I followed my instinct and the result could have been worse. Then I picked up the tune and played the rest of it properly and, most importantly, in time.
Several factors contributed to this success. First of all, “Georgia On My Mind” is one of my favourites and I’ve been playing it for years, on my own without much regard to timing. I have a lead sheet which shows me the time value for each note for me to memorise. One innovation is IReel Pro, for which I bought a tablet computer from ASDA at the price of £60 plus the program which cost £10.50. “Georgia” was the first number I practised using IReel Pro for the backing track and the result was very encouraging. Finally, a bit of good luck: the regular guitar/banjo man for the Pendle Jazzmen was away on holiday and Ronnie, the banjoist from The Forest New Orleans band, stood in. Ronnie plays very loudly, so I could hear him clearly above the rest of the band and that carried me through.
This week I’m going to have a go at “Bill Bailey”, another number that I know well, but this time I don’t have the benefit of a lead sheet, so I’ve got to work out from the backing track on IReel Pro what the values of the longer notes and rests are. (Please don’t send me a lead sheet – I’ve very nearly got it and in the process I’m beginning to recognise the bar structure as I play, all necessary learning.)
I’ve known for a very long time that timing is my weakest area and I’m putting most of my effort into improving in this direction. I’m very conscious of the fact that my playing is poor in every other respect as well but I’ll be able to concentrate on other things when timing comes naturally.
One final point for
@tenorviol : to my dismay I find that my reading’s improving as well.
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