Hi friends.
I'm happy to share my new video, James from Pat Matheny, that I practise for so many years.
This is my recent approach of the solo playing, which is not what I'm doing the most. For this time I have been able to play slowly, one shot.

I like this one from your YouTube channel.

So nicely played Youenn...congrats. Bravo mon ami.

Excellent execution of this fine tune. But I'm a sucker for Pat music, especially on Stick.

And great ending. Thanks for sharing!

Many Thanks. Merci Alain Tout le meilleur, au plaisir de te revoir

Well done. I need to get more acquainted with this Methrny fellow. Seems to write nice music

SA

Beginner question (coming from a bass background, so two-hand independence is new to me):

When learning a tune like this where there's a a lot going on on both sides of the board, how do you approach it?

Do you focus on one side at a time to get that into muscle memory, or do you work on the whole thing at once?

If you focus on one side at a time, which comes first... bass or melody?

Thanks.

Hi. Sorry for my bad english.
It depends of the tune. In this case, I like very much this song, James, so I can sing it by heart. I can "send" the melody into my right hand, I sing the melody in my head and my brain says to the fingers which place they have to play.
For the left hand, I had to study the chords : it is necessary to hear the bass notes and the chord corresponding (not always the same => the 3rd chord is a F#minor, but the bass is a C#).
And the most important is to play both hands together and create the rythm, the groove, by the collaboration of the two hands. It is impossible to play a hand solo because each note is the consequence of the note before and the note after. My traductor gives me the word : the two hands are playing intertwined.
At the end, I am not able at all to play separately the right or the letf hand.
I hope this will help you, but I'm not sure...
All the best. Youenn.

Indeed it does help! Thank you, and your work is inspiring.

Playing multiple parts simultaneously has different levels of complexity. "Jamess" is not the easiest.
I always start my student's with simple progressions, perhaps a 3 chord song with an easy sparse melody. Build complexity through a series of tunes. Understanding how the Stick's layout is extremely logical will help any song's arrangement.
I play lots of Metheny's repertoire, from the easy "Spiritual" to the very complex "Third Wind". The learning curve evolves over time. And that's the key, putting in the time.

SA