Inspiration for improvisers
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How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Advice and Tips, Perspectives
Setting goals is an essential part of improving at anything you do…whether it’s learning a language, getting in shape, or mastering an instrument and building your skills as an improviser. You see, your goals are those big targets that you’re aiming for out in the distance. The accomplishments you daydream about, the skills you wish …
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Inspiration, Jazz Advice and Tips, Perspectives
So you want to change the way you play? To improve your sound and your solos. To become more effortless in your technique. To finally get rid of those bad habits and creative roadblocks in your playing… Every aspiring musician can relate to these feelings and frustrations. But what does the process of getting better …
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Composition, How to Practice Jazz, Perspectives
You learn scales. You faithfully practice triads and arpeggios in every key. You memorize chord progressions & learn tunes. And then you improvise… Sound familiar? This is the standard approach to jazz improvisation that you find in classrooms, private lessons, masterclasses, and practice rooms everywhere. It’s what we’ve come to accept as “the way” to …
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How to Practice Jazz, Inspiration, Perspectives
To an outside observer, I look like a disciplined person. The kind of person who works hard and puts the time in to move forward on their goals. And to some degree this is certainly true. I strive to be better, I’m motivated, and I tackle challenges on a daily basis to move closer to …
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Composition, Jazz Advice and Tips, Perspectives, Tunes
As a musician, you often find yourself listening to the best improvisers you can. Searching for inspiration, guidance, and answers to the challenges you’re facing. Especially when it comes to those records that include the same jazz standards you’re trying to learn… You want to figure out exactly what your favorite players are doing over …
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Blues, Jazz Advice and Tips, Perspectives
You’re staring at a chord progression on a lead sheet. Thinking through the first few bars of a jazz standard. You’re getting ready to start your solo and carefully choosing the first phrase you’ll play… It’s finally time to show off the stuff you’ve been working on. Time to create music on the spot instead …
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Blues, Chords, Composition, Jazz Standards, Music Theory, Perspectives, Tunes
Have you ever noticed how there’s a special group of improvisers that seem to know EXACTLY what to play over any tune at any time – no matter what it is? The key doesn’t matter, the tempo doesn’t matter, even the style of music doesn’t matter… You could blindfold them, fly them to a jam …
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Ear Training, Inspiration, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Education, Jazz Language, Perspectives
Every single person who wants to play jazz starts out as a beginner. There’s no way around it!! And over the first couple years of learning how to improvise, only a small handful of beginners develop quickly toward the player they want to become…most actually have difficulty improving and never really get out of the …
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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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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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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 …
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Composition, Perspectives, Playing Techniques
Ask any musician or teacher what you should practice to develop exceptional jazz improvisation skills, and you usually hear words like “Scales” and “Modes” or “Guide-tone lines.” Sometimes even “Transcribing”… This is all useful information. And it will help you understand the harmonic function and music theory behind all those jazz standards. But it’s missing …