Hot House – How to Unravel Complex Bebop Heads
Bebop “heads,” what jazz players sometimes call the melody of a tune, tend to be some of the trickiest and most technically demanding strings of notes you’re likely to encounter. Much busier than classic jazz standards, these intricate melodies are generally more difficult to learn, understand, and commit to memory. So what do you do ...
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Unlock Rhythm Changes & Blues With These 6 Melodies
As musicians, we often treat the songs of the jazz repertoire in the same predictable way. We learn the chords, memorize the notes of the melody, and then we skip ahead to the important stuff – Improvising our own solos over the tune… But is this really all that jazz standards are good for?? For ...
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Paul Desmond’s Secrets to Take The A Train
Take The A Train is one of the most classic jazz standards you’ll ever come across. Composed by Billy Strayhorn, the tune quickly became the featured tune of The Duke Ellington Orchestra after his son Mercer Ellington found a draft of the tune in the trash… Clearly, Strayhorn was his own worst critic, so it’s ...
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4 Kenny Garrett Patterns to Get Outside on Rhythm Changes
For a long time, patterns in jazz have been popular as a way for jazz improvisers to expand their improvisational toolkit. You see, patterns have a natural order to them that make them perfect for many jazz different improvisation applications. But every great musician uses patterns in their own unique way… Today, we’ll be looking ...
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12 Dexter Gordon Lines on Blue Bossa You’d Never Think Of
The jazz standard Blue Bossa is often referred to as a beginner jazz tune, but as you quickly find out as you start your journey into jazz, even these so-called “beginner” tunes are not easy to sound great on. Playing beautiful lines through the changes that connect and flow from one chord to the next ...
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Master All The Things You Are Part III: The Walkdown
All the Things You Are is one of the first tunes musicians learn when it comes to jazz improvisation. But unlike many players think, it’s not exactly an “easy tune” or something that only beginners should play… While each section poses unique challenges, the Final ‘A’ section contains essential musical concepts that every serious improviser must ...
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The 6 Steps To Build Your Repertoire and Change How You Learn Tunes
Let’s face it, as musicians we’re all striving to know more tunes that we can improvise over with ease…because at the end of the day, this is how you get your musical message across to the listener. Whether it’s playing with our fellow musicians, walking into jam sessions, performing concerts or gigs, taking lessons, or ...
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Master All The Things You Are Part II: The Bridge
All the Things You Are is one of the first tunes musicians learn when it comes to jazz improvisation. But unlike many players think, it’s not exactly an “easy tune” or something that only beginners should play… This is especially true of the Bridge of this popular jazz standard. Hidden within these eight bars are ...
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The Forgotten Side of Jazz Phrasing: A Lesson With Miles Davis
Phrasing is one of those things that everyone talks about, but most cannot clearly define. Like the concept of “swing,” it’s something you can feel and hear, but as soon as you start trying to use words to describe it, things get pretty ambiguous. First, let’s talk about musical phrases… In music, a phrase is ...
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Master All the Things You Are – Part I: The A Section
All the Things You Are is one of the first tunes musicians learn when it comes to jazz improvisation. But unlike many players think, it’s not exactly an “easy tune” or something that only beginners should play… The ability to create a musical solo on this tune requires a surprisingly deep understanding of harmony and ...
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Charlie Parker’s Brilliant Licks and Tricks on I Remember You
With its unique opening chord changes, the jazz standard I Remember You poses quite the challenge to most jazz improvisers, which is surprising because the chords themselves don’t seem that difficult. But it’s not the individual chords that create the problem…It’s the way one chord moves to the next chord… We’re simply not used to ...
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The Two Types of Chords You’ll Find in Any Piece of Music
Here’s something that you’ve probably realized by now on your musical journey…that jazz improvisation can get very complicated, very quickly. In the blink of an eye your enjoyable musical hobby can transform into something that feels a little bit like homework – a tricky exercise with right and wrong answers. Suddenly the simple act of ...
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