Performance Anxiety....

I feel anxious this morning about the debut performance with Scotty and the Soultones.  It's a big deal too with the added burden of performing at the commemorative ceremony for his own daughter.

Our manager had to bring in some top-tier industry ringers to fill out for people who are absent.  It brought in a new level of playing...an intimidating one.

I always like to play with players better than myself and these guys really push me to the edge.

I have to treat the exercise like a meditation and just not lose focus off the bass and kick drum for 5-6 minutes at a time...and not screw it up of course...which is easier if  you are just paying attentions.

The great improviser Stéphane Grappelli   (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St%C3%A9phane_Grappelli) famously said, "A great improviser is thinking only of his God"

Or, as the great drummer and lyricist Neil Peart once said when asked what he was thinking as he walked on stage,   the answer, "Don't fuck up, don't fuck up..etc."  So there's another angle  lol.

Ok - time to put the big boy pants on and let nature run it's course.

\m/

Cam

Mystery out of the Modes PT 2. Mixolydian and Dorian.

Right here is where I think I can simplify things a  bit. 

So after all this buildup, you don't really need to know anything about mixo except that is is a Major scale with a flattened 7th degree and is the most common "chord-scale" to use over a dominant or any functional V7 chord in a pop or jazz setting.

Major Scale on the left, Mixolydian mode on the right.

For this particular student anyway, that was a huge conceptual breakthrough, he didn't have to learn all the mixolydian modes....HE ALREADY KNEW THEM.  If you can play a major scale you can play mixo...EASY..