Inspiration for improvisers
By
Jazz Advice and Tips, Music Theory, Perspectives
Let’s face it, improvisation is hard enough as it is, even when we do spend the time in the practice room. But however much we study or practice, there are some key factors that can destroy our creativity and ability to improvise in seconds. We’ve all experienced this feeling before in performance. You hear an …
By
Half-diminished chords are difficult, but they don’t have to be. In How to Not Suck At Half-diminished Chords, I presented a simple way to start to improve at these often neglected chords and if you practiced the exercise in that article, you will without a doubt have made progress. But even with some concentrated effort …
By
In a recent question from a reader, I was asked why in many examples on this site do I denote the iii chord in a iii Vi ii V as half-diminished? This is an excellent question. In many lead sheets you see the iii chord denoted as minor and many theory books claim that the …
By
They say that time is money, but in jazz improvisation, it’s even more than that! Time is what’s passing by while you’re desperately trying to recall the next chord change in a tune, the notes to the melody, or what to play at any given moment of your solo… Everything in jazz improvisation happens in …
By
A recurring theme on this site seems to be language – acquiring, practicing, and applying the jazz language. There is a reason behind all the repetition, however. Language is a very powerful concept when it comes to improvisation and it’s an idea that can drastically change your mentality about the music. But, even before you …
By
Composition, Jazz Advice and Tips, Playing Techniques, Rhythm, Scales
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.) …
By
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 …
By
Chords, How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Education, Jazz Language
The commonly known Pareto Principle states that 80% of the effects of something, come from 20% of the causes. In terms of learning, this means: figure out where the largest gains can be made and focus on those. For some reason in learning most anything, we tend to give equal weight to everything. We give …
By
Jazz Advice and Tips, Premium Only, Rhythm, Scales
We often get stuck in a rut when it comes to practicing technique. In the practice room we cover the same bases in our efforts to improve our overall technique. We run our major and minor scales in all 12 keys, we practice them in thirds and fourths and fifths, we use jazz articulation, we …
By
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, …
By
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 …
By
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 …