Having played for less than a year, I go through many of the questions most beginners ask. What should I practice, how should I practice, how should I spend my time? etc...

Every so often I have a new revelation.

For the last 2 or 3 months, my thing has been playing transcriptions. I found this book called "Jazz Conceptions (Jim Snidero / Advance Music)" of jazz etudes. I like the book. I like it because it covers practically all the topics you'll find in theory books like the Levine. I like it because I never need to ask myself what I should do. Playing from a sheet has got to be the easiest way of making music. I like it because it's written with the intent to teach. It's accessible. It's jazz. There's no way I could sit and learn "Fur Elise". But this, yes, I can. I like it because you can hear the soloist play, and you can imitate. I like it because 6 months ago, I thought for sure I'd never be able to play any of it, but now I've gone through 4 tunes already. My hands are slowly getting better control, and I have a couple of songs to my repertoire, that I can play along with bass / drums. What else could I ask for?

Anyway ... That's what I'm doing now, along with a couple of other exercises.

I post my videos on youtube so people can see. Here's the latest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSlMvI5DWZk

I'm actually quite happy with this one, more so than the previous 2. It was much quicker to learn, and I think because of that, the articulation and swing came out better. You can be the judge of that. I thought it was also interesting playing this as I was reading the chapter on 4th voicings and modal tune from "Metaphors for the musician". It all makes sense suddenly. Time is limited, so I don't think it's a priority for me to work on pentatonic scales over 4th voicings. At some point ...

Have fun --Knotty