Inspiration for improvisers
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Composition, Inspiration, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Education, Perspectives
Everyone hopes to be perfect one day. Play with perfect intonation, the perfect sound, perfect lines…But what if I told you that the whole idea of perfection is actually what’s holding you back? That aiming for some self-imposed ideal of what’s perfect could not only be hurting your practice, but taking the fun and self …
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How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Advice and Tips
Ahh the summer…a time to take a break from the daily grind and a moment to take stock of your progress. A few months to relax, reset, and refocus on the stuff you want to accomplish as a musician. As an improviser this time can be pivotal in your musical development…if you focus on the …
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Blues, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Language, Jazz Musicians, Jazz Standards, Transcribing
If you want to learn the language of jazz, then transcribing a blues solo should be at the top of your list! But if you’re just starting to transcribe jazz solos, the task might seem daunting or way over your head. In fact many beginners who want to play jazz completely shy away from transcribing …
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Blues, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Language, Jazz Musicians, Jazz Standards, Perspectives
Blues is the backbone of so much in jazz. The melancholic feeling. The soul. The call-and-response phrasing, walking groove, and clearly defined melodic statements…blues is ingrained in jazz at its very roots. And every jazz musician at some point or another has to learn how to play the blues. There’s no way around it. If …
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Chords, Composition, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Standards, Music Theory, Premium Only
When it comes to learning tunes, expanding your repertoire, and improving the way you improvise over jazz standards, most players are taking the wrong approach… You see, the secret to improving with standards doesn’t lie in making long lists, spending hours memorizing chord progressions, and then trying your best to conjure up melodic lines. …because …
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Blues, Chords, Composition, Jazz Advice and Tips
When it comes to improving as an improviser, there are only so many tunes you can memorize. Only so many chord symbols and progressions you can force into your brain… After a certain point you actually need to learn how to play over these sounds. …and truth be told, this is something that took me …
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How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Language, Playing Techniques
So you’ve finally realized the importance of jazz language and you’re starting to learn lines in all keys…it’s like a whole new world has opened up. More creativity. More possibility. More options…Done are the days where you randomly mixed notes up from a scale trying endlessly to improvise a lyrical melody over the chord changes. …
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Inspiration, Jazz Advice and Tips
Scales, Chords, Progressions, and Tunes… These are the words we all use to define and think about music. It’s how we make sense of the songs we hear, how we talk about the solos we love, and how you tackle the nitty-gritty elements of music in the practice room. The same words are used in …
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Jazz Advice and Tips, Playing Techniques, Premium Only
Do you ever feel like you’re stuck in a routine? Going through the motions day in and day out. Performing the same tasks at the same time, no matter what. You can almost predict it like clockwork… The truth is everyone knows this feeling because we’re creatures of habit. We find the path of least …
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Blues, Composition, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Standards, Tunes
You know the routine…You pick out a new tune, read through the melody, and start to work on a solo. You’ve got a few ideas, throw in a couple of your favorite licks, and follow the guide tone lines. And then it happens…you’re stuck playing the same old scales and patterns that you use in every …
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Jazz Advice and Tips, Premium Only, Transcribing
Over the years I’ve attended dozens of masterclasses. Poured through hundreds of interviews with master musicians, and took lessons with the best players I could find. However, after a few years ONE thing kept surprising me – there was a disconnect between what these great players said and what they actually did… In fact, some …
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How to Practice Jazz, Inspiration, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Standards, Perspectives
Why is learning how to play jazz so hard? Is it that there are a million tunes to know? Or the thousands of great jazz solos to transcribe? Or is it all that crazy music theory, the mental aspects behind a jazz standard that make it so difficult? All of these challenges make learning jazz …