This first assignment was in two parts -
Part one was a "solo analysis" of of a solo played by the tutor.
For part two we had to download an MP3
play-along track for a set of harmonies and a chord chart PDF and "Do
your best to improvise a solo on the song."
I found the solo analysis quite a hard thing to do as I'm not sure I really have the vocabulary or experience to do this. I don't think I made much of job of it either.
The playing part really daunted some of the other students, some of whom have never improvised before. It wasn't a particularity easy piece either with some quite complex chord changes. We all had to record our efforts and post them to Soundcloud.Quite a tough first assignment.
Week Two is looking at chords and scales, which might have helped some people with Week One but might have put them of before they started. I'll trust the tutors judgement. He is the best in the world at what he does after all.
Interestingly, after my comments about the constructive nature of the dialogue on the course site there has been a bit of change. There is now a fair bit of negativity towards the Tutor and Coursera. Some people haven't quite grasped that this is a free course and also that learning is not all a bed of roses. Learning is a disruptive process. If learning is successful, it changes you and change is never an easy process. However, there seems to be an attitude of I want it as I want it, I want it now and I want it for for free. Hmmm... not very healthy for the future of learning.
Anyway, here's my effort
