Day 84: May Flowers

2026-05-01Hello! It's May now!Last night, I performed at a school concert with a jazz band, where everyone gets to watch me struggle with my cheap old electric guitar. Seriously — the thing's nearly a decade old at this point and the plug is loose; no amount of tightening seems to stick for more than a day or two.The idea of soloing is confusing and I don't remember how I learned to do it. This is a perfect example of things that are easier said than done, because the only description I've got on guitar / piano solos is: know which musical scales sound right for your solo section, and fit a bunch of stock phrases that sound coherent together. This requires listening to a lot of jazz music. And knowing your scales.The last time I was playing for a music performance, I learned thirteen songs to play background music for about an hour. This time, I only needed to know four songs (some of which overlapped with the previous setlist), but it's an actual concert where actual people are…