Composition For Serious Musicians and Improvisers • Page 6 of 8 • Jazzadvice

Time and again, we’ve stressed on this site that scales are not the secret to jazz improvisation. However, scales can be beneficial if you practice and apply them in the right way. Once you aurally understand and ingrain the vital aspects of the jazz language (i.e. phrasing, melodic construction, expression, harmonic application, time, articulation, etc.) …

Formulas For Applying Jazz Language To Different Harmonic Situations (Premium)

Forrest

Chords, Composition, Jazz Language, Premium Only

As the article last Wednesday discussed, learning to apply language to tunes is crucial because it puts the language into context, allowing your ears and fingers to gain an understanding of how to integrate the language into your overarching concept. Over time, the language you practice this way will spontaneously materialize in new form, surprising …

7 Harmonic Breakthroughs that Completely Changed My Playing

Eric

Composition, Jazz Language, Playing Techniques, Scales, Transcribing

Every so often you’ll make a musical discovery that will drastically change the way you approach improvisation. One day you’re struggling over the same tunes, growing more and more frustrated with your own predictable patterns and then it hits you – you discover a secret that was hidden right before your eyes. A subtle mental, …

How To Effectively Use Enclosure

Forrest

Chords, Composition, Playing Techniques

We all have lines we use frequently. Some lines we use so much, that we can’t stand them, criticizing ourselves for playing them over and over, thinking we’re being unoriginal and uncreative… It’s ok. Even the masters repeat themselves often. When you’ve got some specific language to this point, where it’s coming out naturally and …

Dealing With Non-standard Progressions (Premium)

Forrest

Chords, Composition, Jazz Language, Playing Techniques, Premium Only

Recently we received a question about non-standard progressions, specifically the type of progressions you see in Wayne Shorter and Joe Henderson tunes… These types of tunes are notoriously difficult, as they don’t seem to use the same predictable chord progressions that other jazz tunes do. A reader asks: When we’re learning, we go through a …

Slash Chords Made Simple (Premium)

Eric

Chords, Composition, Premium Only, Scales

A reader recently sent in this question: “I was wondering if you could explain to me how to interpret slash chords for soloing. It seems like different sources have conflicting information. Also, what would I do if I encountered a chord like C/Db, in which the top and bottom are not related diatonically?” Slash chords …

technology in your jazz practice routine

Taking Advantage of Technology in Your Practice Routine

Eric

Composition, How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Education, Transcribing

Since the time of Art Tatum and Charlie Parker, the practice tools of the jazz musician have consisted of three basic things: a room, your instrument, and a record player. If you wanted to get some work done in the shed, that’s all you needed… Nearly 70 years later, things are still the same for …

Finding a Fresh Approach to Playing the Same Old Tunes (Premium)

Eric

Composition, Jazz Musicians, Jazz Standards, Premium Only

Repetition. It’s one part of learning to improvise that’s par for the course. We practice scales over and over again until the technique is securely in our fingers, we spend hours repeatedly working out ii-V7 lines that we’ve transcribed, and we memorize the melodies and chord changes to numerous tunes until we can play them …

10 Ways to Make a Line Your Own

Forrest

Composition, Jazz Language, Playing Techniques, Transcribing

So you’ve transcribed some lines and you’re learning them in all keys. You’ve even started to apply them to tunes you’re working on, but after several weeks, the line you transcribed which started out as sounding magical to you, now sounds boring. And on top of that, you’re playing that same line everywhere. Don’t fret. …

Two-Five Substitutions in a Flash (Premium)

Forrest

Chords, Composition, Playing Techniques, Premium Only

Everybody wants to play “outside” the chord changes. They think there is something mysterious about getting outside the changes. In my experience, the phenomenal players that I’ve studied with along with the legendary players I’ve learned from on recordings, approach playing outside the harmony much in the same way they approach playing inside the harmony: …

Do You Know Your Four Triads?

Eric

Chords, Composition, Ear Training

In the recent article Hearing in Color, we discussed how to develop the technique of hearing individual chord tones in the context of triads and 7th chords. Just as the individual chord tones in a chord have identifiable colors, the chords themselves have distinct sonorities that set them apart from one another. The key to …

Hearing in Color: Chord tones in context

Forrest

Composition, Ear Training

Every chord tone has its own unique sound, its own unique color. Learning to hear these colors brings these sounds to life. This crucial ear training is often overlooked or even talked about. Take your time and study it carefully… Match piano pitches accurately The first step toward hearing these colors is to hear a …

Composition

Using Permutation to Create Unlimited Musical Ideas…and Killer Technique

Formulas For Applying Jazz Language To Different Harmonic Situations (Premium)

7 Harmonic Breakthroughs that Completely Changed My Playing

How To Effectively Use Enclosure

Dealing With Non-standard Progressions (Premium)

Slash Chords Made Simple (Premium)

Taking Advantage of Technology in Your Practice Routine

Finding a Fresh Approach to Playing the Same Old Tunes (Premium)

10 Ways to Make a Line Your Own

Two-Five Substitutions in a Flash (Premium)

Do You Know Your Four Triads?

Hearing in Color: Chord tones in context

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