before you transcribe

Before You Transcribe or Learn Tunes…

By

Eric

Jazz Advice and Tips

Learn tunes. Transcribe solos. The instructions for aspiring jazz musicians are pretty much the same everywhere you go. You want to play longer lines and master tricky chord progressions? “Learn tunes and transcribe solos.” Need more technique and better ears? You get the idea… We receive this advice from our teachers, friends, and from our …

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jazz survival skills

5 Jazz Survival Skills: Do You Have Them?

By

Eric

Jazz Advice and Tips

You’ve seen it on TV or maybe you’ve even done it yourself. Trekking into the wilderness alone, armed with just a few essential tools and your own courage. Find your own shelter, find your own food, find your way out. You vs. Nature. To make it out alive, you need a few tools that will …

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jazz education blunders

Jazz Education Blunders

By

Forrest

Jazz Advice and Tips, Perspectives

Jazz education has steadily become increasingly popular and for good reason: playing jazz is fun! In an attempt to make jazz improvisation accessible to everyone, much of the learning material has been reduced and packaged in a manner to get people playing at a mediocre level more quickly. The problem is that these methods get …

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transcribing jazz for technique

Transcribing for Technique: Improving Musicianship Through Transcription

By

Eric

How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Advice and Tips, Transcribing

After hours spent practicing technique: endless articulation, tone, range, and fingering exercises, are you still not matching up to what you’re hearing on your favorite records? Are those same étude books and exercises you’ve been working on for years still not cutting it? It can be very discouraging when you don’t see any improvement in …

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