...re-learning, not so much. Recently, having retired from active gigging, I have been 'jamming' once a week with a couple of (VERY proficient) older musicians, a guitarist and a sax player. While this has been enjoyable, it has also put a lot of pressure on me to learn (or re-learn) some of THEIR favorite tunes. What started out as very causal jamming has now turned into something more akin to a JOB. This is not true for the other guys as they are much better musicians and MUCH better sight readers, so learning a new tune for them and even improvising a totally spontaneous solo based solely on the chord structure , is a piece of cake. The good part (for me) is that I have learned more about basic jazz playing in the last couple of months than I have in the last 15 years.

My deficiencies, however, force me to go down and practice the new tunes we assign ourselves each week (repertoire building). This means findind a suitable drum pattern on the BK7m (we rarely have a drummer), playing it over and over until I've committed it to 'muscle memory', then coming up with a suitable organ trio-type arrangement, then working out a unique solo. After that, I have to play it every day so as not to forget what I did (old age). Oh, and yes, it often involves a lot of Youtube watching if I'm not familiar with the tune or if they want to cop some existing arrangement they may like. All of this, of course, replaces the time I used to spend playing all my old familiar tunes strictly for pleasure. Now I admit that learning a new tune and playing it well is very satisfying, but the process of getting there (when not motivated by 'getting paid') can be tedious.

So my question for you 'home players' or retired or semi-retired 'pro' players is, WHAT DO YOU USE TO MOTIVATE YOU TO LEARN NEW MATERIAL (when you don't have to). Also, for those of you that do something similar (jamming with friends), do you spend any time preparing for it? I don't want to bail on these guys because I really enjoy the jam itself, just not the preparation for it. For the record, jazz tunes are harder to fake, so you'd better know the changes if you're going to play with professionals.

Side question; how many new tunes have you learned (to a performance level) in the last three months?

chas