The
dust has settled on Christmas, and as I write this straining to see
the laptop screen over a belly filled to bursting with turkey,
chocolate and Bailey's, it's time to say goodbye to 2018 with a look
back at a very busy year..
First
off, mega thank yous to everyone involved with and who supported this
years' TUNEICEF effort – Phil Matthews, Beth Hartshorne, Guilty
Pleasures and Dave The Rock Band, along with 13 year old whizkid
Daniel Pook who showed us that the future of guitar is in very safe
hands, as well of course all my students who worked so hard writing
and recording their tracks, and not forgetting Ian and Sharon for
letting us use The Beacon again, and of course Matt Chubb for not
just contributing his peerless vocals but lending us his PA –
without which the whole thing would not have been possible!
So
time to look back over a busy year – I posted my planned practice/
recording schedule in January, and have stuck to it as faithfully as
possible, covering a variety of themes – chords, arpeggios,
pentatonic and diatonic scales and have delved into some weird and
wonderful tonalities – the diminished, whole tone, Kumoi and
Hirajoshi scales have come under the spotlight, along with inversions
and arpeggios stretching all the way to 13th
chords – next year, I'll start altering them (sharpening 5ths,
flattening 9ths etc)... that should get spicy.
In
terms of repertoire, the big piece has been Paul Gilbert's take on
Bach's Prelude & Fugue No. 5 in D Major:
This
was a BIG undertaking – without any discernable repetitive
structure, this was a case of learn two bars, practice, learn the
next two bars, practice, add together, practice... rinse and repeat,
for eight months or so. This really stretched my cognitive, let alone
technical facility about as far as anything has – so alongside it,
I ran the blues classic “Hideaway”, as well as some Satriani and
the beautiful SRV ballad “Lenny” as almost light relief. But, I
DID manage it!
So
next year – Paganini. Caprice No. 24. Oh yes, I'm coming for
you.... just as soon as I finish digesting the hundredweight of mince
pies I've consumed over the last few days....
In the
meantime, what have you been working on this year? And any specific
goals for 2019?
And
let me leave you with the TUNEICEF album itself – remember, all
proceeds straight to UNICEF themselves, so treat yourself!
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