Hi Guys!

I was just unpacking some boxes from a crosstown move and came across my Greg Howard Songbook and remembered how helpful "Del Mar" was and I had to share ! Having realized that I also found an old image of my Stick to help visualize all the notes in the key of the tune to help me understand the scale shapes better!



I think it's very interesting to note that the way Greg talks about visualizing notes as part of a great scale network of tonal centers is almost dead on with what Allan Holdsworth talks about in the REH video!

I have to be honest, after two lessons with Greg and working out of his Stick Book, the songbook was really a great tool for me! I find I can really learn concepts when I have tunes to apply directly to and having the songbook at my fingertips allowed me to do just that! I feel like I can shift my hand and improvise much easier after putting the time in on "Del Mar". I will try to put a video of it up as soon as I can!

I hope this helps turn few lightblubs on like it did me!

Thanks Greg the Book is amazing and helpful!

Thanks, Steve,

I don't see my name and Holdsworth's together very often. It's an honor!

I'm glad the book is working so well for you. You're getting out of it exactly what I had hoped when I wrote it,
applied technique and a clearer understanding of
how to navigate the whole fretboard.



I want to suggest an addition to your graphic that will coincide with a more thorough understanding of each key.
I think you should label the 3rds, 7ths, etc with their appropriate M, m, # or b symbols, too.

This might make it easier for you to incorporate OMS alterations, etc, and will show correspondences between modally related
keys as well.

See you in Gabriola?

Is the Space Pope reptilian?

Seriously Greg, Allan Holdsworth explains the exact thing in his 10 useful scales section of his REH video, I'll tell you what I told Emmett,
"You really need to check it out!"

Yo!

Fellow Stickist!

Who else found Greg's book helpful?

Hi Steve,

Dont worry, you didn't buy the only copy....

It's slowly trickling out there...

Well...

Greg, what tune would you recommend from your book to really get the left hand grooving?

Hi Steve,

"Quince Street", "El Chicle", "Cross Country", and "Blues for Ayman" are all good choices. "Cross Country" is probably the easiest.

Looking forward to hearing how they work out for you.

Cool!

Having learned the first three tunes from the book, I felt it was time to move on too something a little more up which is why I asked!

It's really cool Greg, I find that learning your tunes allows for a direct application to my own tunes and arrangement which I may never of had had I not got a hodl of our book!

Upon your suggestion I started on "Cross Country" which is by the way is a really smashing tune! I polished off the first 8 bars but I had a question!

Keeping in mind your need to move the arms while playing (always) I have found that with this tune and others, like "Taxman" for instance that if I am faced with an ostinato
bass figure I had nail it in a matter of minutes by:

1.Learning the left and right hand parts separately till I don't have to think about them.

2.Play said parts with both a slowed down recording (Transcribe!) and a metronome.

3.Studying where both hands interact at difficult passages, which I find in essence is like one big hand.

4. Slowly go bar to bar and nail each hand together with recording and click till it's up to speed!

I find that once I learned it this way I can solo over it in much less time because I can feel the movements in my arm without having to really think about it.
I remember what you said at Interlochen and lessons about the Independent/Interdependent continuum and I want to make sure I was learning this the "correct" way!
Also can you tell me more about the tune, what you where listing to when you wrote it and anything else you can remember, i love the chord progression!

Thanks again!

Hi Steve,

You are really on the right track, and I'm glad the book is helping. It's as much a method book as it is a songbook (perhaps more).

The only way to play parts independently is to work them out independently. So your approach makes complete sencse to me. The only thing I would watch out for is your #3.
Working through difficult passages with both hands together is fine for preparing a piece for performance or recording, but make sure you ask yourself why the
passage is particularly difficult? It could be that there is vestigial two-handed interdependence that is encouraging you to move things together in a way that's not what's called for.

About Cross Country. That tune really grew out of the bassline, and it's quite similar to the Dave Matthews track I played on on Before These Crowded Streets
called "The Dreaming Tree" which is also in 7/4. So there was certainly a subconscious influence at work there. The "B section" melody reminds me of part of the theme from
the old Avengers TV show.

It's a fun progression to solo over, no doubt, especially with the 10-bar form, (which is confusing as hell when you lose count of how many times you played the D->Bb)

Maybe we can jam on this in Gabriola.

Oh I forgot to ask!

A week from Saturday I'm performing on Cable Access in Portland and was wondering what I would need to do if I wanted to perform "Cross Country"
live on TV?

Oh and where did the title come from?