Inspiration for improvisers
Being able to clearly see, hear, and feel what you want to play in your mind is essential to improvisation. In these lessons, we’ll explore the world of jazz visualization and if you want to further your study, check out our Visualization Course.
By Forrest
After hours spent in the practice room are you still having trouble remembering the chord changes to a standard you endlessly practiced, or the details of a jazz line you drilled over and over? Why can’t you remember all this stuff, even after you’ve practiced it? Is the answer more practice, or might there be …
By Eric
It’s time to get down to business…The business of finding out if you’re on track to achieve your musical goals and develop into the musician you want to become. While we often focus on the solos of master musicians and important improvisation concepts here at JazzAdvice, today we’re going to focus on you. Specifically the …
By Forrest
It sounds so complex. So difficult. So advanced. Great jazz musicians sound as though they’re implementing highly complex and difficult concepts that mere mortals could never hope to access, but in reality, professionals think simpler than you’d ever imagine. It’s the beginners and intermediates who study the pros and abstract what they think is going …
By Forrest
What is a jazz musician’s most important tool? Is it their ear? Their technique? The concepts at their disposal? All of these are extremely important, but without this one specific tool, they’re all useless… The jazz musician’s most important tool is their memory. Harold Mabern used to drive this point home to us all the …
By Eric
If you’re serious about reaching your musical potential or stepping up your jazz improvisation game then the majority of your time as a musician should be spent in one place: The practice room. It’s where you’ll do the dirty work of pursuing your musical goals and where you’ll build your foundation as a performer. It’s …
By Forrest
How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Education, Jazz Language, Jazz Standards, Transcribing, Visualization
Nearly every day we get asked, “What should I practice?” And, this is not an easy question to answer. In fact, it’s pretty complicated. So, in an attempt to help everyone who has always wondered what to practice and what professionals practice, I began to put together what I had thought would be a quick …
By Eric
Chords, How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Education, Jazz Language, Jazz Standards, Visualization
Picture this. You’re backstage before a big performance waiting for your turn to step into the spotlight. A few steps away from the curtain you can hear the murmur of the audience and your pulse starts to race. You take a deep breath and confidently walk onstage. The heat of the lights hits you and you …
By Eric
Chords, Ear Training, How to Practice Jazz, Inspiration, Jazz Advice and Tips, Playing Techniques, Rhythm, Scales, Transcribing, Visualization
A new year is the perfect time to look back at what you’ve accomplished in the practice room and to look forward to what you still wish to achieve as a musician. It’s also a great time to make a fresh start, to realign yourself musically, and to set some new goals. So, Happy New …
By Eric
Ear Training, How to Practice Jazz, Inspiration, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Education, Perspectives, Playing Techniques, Visualization
I can’t. We’ve all said these fateful words at one point or another. Fill in the blank for your own situation. “I can’t (____)”…draw, run long distances, wake up early, stop eating cheesecake. Every day there are literally dozens of things that we convince ourselves that we simply cannot do, and playing music and improvising …
By Forrest
You’ve heard it time and time again…PLAY WHAT YOU HEAR!! But when it comes to improvising jazz, how do you actually go about playing what you’re hearing? And how do you mentally hear the beautiful jazz lines that you want to play? Playing what you hear sounds so easy in theory, but it’s much more …
By Forrest
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 Forrest
We talk a lot about ingraining language. It’s vital to have an array of ideas at your fingertips for any given harmonic situation. And these ideas should be so ingrained that you can easily make them your own with little effort. Visualization can speed up the process of ingraining language tremendously. Can’t visualize it, can’t …