https://youtu.be/yAF7XB5qjBo Hello all, Here is Nancy posting her progress on these etudes which are the last in Lesson 1 and combine rhythms from the previous etudes. I'm feeling very comfortable with these and am moving on to Lesson 2, at long last. I'm very excited to move on! To my surprise, I am actually liking comping. Steel strings are getting easier now for me (a mostly nylon player). I know that Cm7(flat 5) with root on 6 doesn't sound so good. Still figuring that out. It might have to do with my fingernails being slightly too long and/or this little mini jazzmaster has a skinny neck. Or, I might just need more practice. thanks for watching if you do.....

my best shot after 2 months on Autumn Leaves... I think I am slowly approaching making music ( vol a little low)

I've been practicing the Galbraith comping study Nowhere with the actual tune Out of Nowhere. I definitely recommend that approach on the Galbraith comping studies - knowing the actual tune will help you understand his chord substitutions and rhythmic choices - plus you'll add a tune to your repertoire. Here is a 4CE of Out of Nowhere (head in, comp, 2 rounds of improv, head out) plus a separate recording of Galbraith's Nowhere etude - with his backing track. I play the Galbraith comping study in both videos - the stand alone version is the better performance. Worth noting is that he strings together a long series of continuous Charleston's starting at the 58 second mark over 6 bars - definitely a challenge to count! Lastly there are some chords that contained difficult stretches that I simplified (1:26 mark) so I could focus on the rhythm.

Dear JGA friends, I have been absent for a few months, although I have been following some of the recorded videos of Marc-André's Q&A and Gabriel's Workshop. I have been participating in recent months in a combo formed at the Barcelona "Taller de Músics" (senior space) with whom I have just played my first gig (I am, in the dark, the third one starting from the left). It has been a formidable experience that I could not have done without everything I have learned in these two years here at JGA with Marc-André and many of you who have guided me. Thank you very much! We have played two pieces: Killer Joe (Benny Golman) and Watermelon Man (Herbie Hancock). For being the first time (after fifty years!) that I have played with a group, I am quite satisfied. And this will continue... And I hope to get back to the classes and live meetings with you when the European schedules allow me!

I'm continuing to work on There Will Never Be Another You. This is a chord melody from a Kenny Burrell recording that includes a nice intro to the tune. This is normally played as a more upbeat tune for jazz but it has a very pretty melody that comes across nicely as a ballad.