I think i did pretty decently for my presentation today. Nerves wasnt there, and the audience seem pretty receptive to what i had to say. Zari was very encouraging after the presentation, but sad to say he's not the one reviewing me. Oh well, at least i felt i was the best presenter in the room. That should be safe enough for a B+ i guess?

To be frank, i do not really like to talk in front of alot of strangers. I'm only comfortable with people i know. Thus it's very easy for me to give team talks during my basketball days, and not giving presentations to a bunch of disinterested people. But at least i practiced quite abit with my "script", so luckily i din bomb just now. Probably this is a glimpse into the honours presentations nxt year.

And luckily, i did not have a bad hair day. Yea my hair is getting longer and shaggier, by my standards. It's hard to style when u have an ugly mop. And i mentioned before, the longer the hair, the more weight on the head, the more stress/heat i feel. When can i cut my hairrrrrrr? Gah.

Dettol Cool Shower Gel is solid. So cool it gives you the chills. Get it my friends. Be cool.
Tml's stochastic test. This module is kinda tricky, cos it's entirely closed book with no helpsheet. A simple formula sheet is provided for u in case you forget the key results. This module also can't be considered hard, cos he tends to set relatively simple questions, at least for the 1st test. So do you overstudy or understudy?

Overstudy sucks in the sense that u cram so much stuff in your head and when u really need a result u mix it up with something else. That sucks, cos the paper is supposed to be easy. But understudy does not give me a sense of security. Zzz.

Anyways, Prof Nott is a nice guy, he'll make sure everyone survives somehow. I'm beginning to realise that Auzzie profs are nice. Like Prof Brown. And now Nott. And they say Auzzies are not nice people. Weird. Chadd is nice too. Probably the layman Auzzie.

I'm developing this slight sore throat, which reminds me of the time where i had a throat ulcer. I think it's not gonna be another throat ulcer, or i would have to lose 5kg again. I'm kinda having this phobia right. Must drink more water.

Guitar Update: Lesson 14: The G Form

The 5th and final mode of the minor pentatonic is the G form. The root note is at the 6th string, shared with the root position of the scale. Thus searching for this scale is quite easy. This form is useful to link up with the root position. We will see this more clearly the next time when we visit something called sliding scales.

The solo this time has this slipperly feel to it, cos there's quite a few parts where u have to play a sequence in triplets. Triplets always give this slipperly feel when played to a 4/4 beat, cos we are not robots, so it will sound just abit off beat at the 2nd note of the triplet, after which u rush back in beat with the 3rd note.

Fun solo, bendable notes are at the 3rd string, and the 5th strings. The solo focuses on repeating a simple motif as a form of emphasis. It also involves some pretty large string skips, sequences and some staccato notes. Staccato is quite blues as well, and works on your accenting and control quite a bit.

So this ends our scale form study. I think next up will be more on licks, and combining the 5 forms together.

Improvisation tip: To maximise the use of the 5 forms in your solo, here's something you can definitely try: In a typical 12 Bar blues, there are 12 bars (duh). So what you can do is to break it up into 6 bars of 2, so in the first 5 bars of 2 u play a lick from each form, and then u end off the last 2 bars with anything u like. U might want to research on turnarounds and use them to finish off your last 2 bars too. Probably can write something on turnarounds next time.

So now you have 5 licks, 1 in each form, and there's like 5!(120) permutations you can arrange these licks to give you 120 seemingly different solos. Of course it would be quite impossible to remember all these permutations, but at least you know are able access all these combinations somehow or another.

The key thing now is to actually to create a lick that is 2 bars long in each form. Anything works, seriously, as long as you do not stray from the notes in the minor pentatonic scale. So just go ahead, and be creative. It can be simple like a 1 note drone, or it can be shreddy if you are up to it.

Now with your 2 bar lick in let's say, the root position. Play this lick repeatedly over a blues backing track. This amounts to playing the lick 6 times. The idea is to get used to how the lick sounds when it's played at different places in the chord progression. The more u listen to the lick over the backing track, the more you will understand where this lick sounds better, and where it doesn't really shine that much. And the more familiar you are with it, the more variations of it you can come up.

So repeat the process 5 times for each position, and u'll have your 120 solos. If for every lick you are able to vary it in 5 subtle different ways, you would realise there's so many ways you can play the blues.

Of course, my method, is a very naive one. But i think it will help to kickstart anyone who's struggling with improvisation. There are of course many advance improvisational tips, which i will probably touch on them when i have the time.

That's all for tonight. Time for STOCHASTIC PROCESSES!