Mastering Essential Chord Progressions: Major to Parallel Minor
When it comes to learning tunes, expanding your repertoire, and improving the way you improvise over jazz standards, most players are taking the wrong approach… You see, the secret to improving with standards doesn’t lie in making long lists, spending hours memorizing chord progressions, and then trying your best to conjure up melodic lines. …because ...
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Mastering Chords in Jazz: The Flat VII7 Chord
Learning jazz chords can be a frustrating obstacle on your path to becoming a better improviser. But what a lot of players forget is that the process isn’t just about memorizing chord symbols from a lead sheet and hoping for the best… The key to improving lies in understanding how each chord functions and developing ...
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How to Think About Chords & Tunes Like a PRO…
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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5 Secrets to Learning Tunes
Learning jazz standards is a crucial part of every jazz musician’s practice routine. After all, as a jazz musician, the entire goal is to perform tunes, so it totally makes sense that they should be a central part of your practice… Now, when it comes to learning tunes, it’s how you first learn them that matters ...
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Discipline For Musicians: How to Get It Without Going Crazy
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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How to Completely Change How You Think About Practicing: Words of Wisdom from Harold Mabern
As he stood in the hallway, the students gathered round. You could see the crowd growing, one-by-one as the people walking by heard what was happening. Harold, animated and speaking with vibrant energy, was sharing his experiences with a group of lucky students that happened to catch him in-between classes. While I was at music ...
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Building Your Repertoire Part II: 10 Key Tunes
In a recent post: A Blueprint for Building Your Repertoire, I outlined some ideas to ponder while creating a repertoire of tunes. Concepts like how to learn, listen to, and how to approach the Great American songbook as you prepare to build your own repertoire. However, the real work begins when you get into the ...
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6 Common Chord Relationships that You Need to Know Now
How do I connect chords when I’m soloing? You’re asking yourself this question in the practice room and you’re frustrated when there doesn’t seem to be an easy answer. But you’re not alone. This is a question that every improviser struggles with as they create solos over tunes. Improvising over one chord is simple enough, ...
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Modal Jazz 101 – Tricks, Tips, & Approaches From Miles Davis
Always searching for a new sound to explore and share with the world, jazz musicians are constantly trying to evolve and push the music forward, reaching for something different and exciting… And this is exactly how modal jazz came about. Legends like Herbie Hancock, Bill Evans, Joe Henderson, Wayne Shorter, and Miles Davis began exploring ...
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20 Practice Hacks for the Busy Musician
Time is the only thing we really have in life and there never seems to be enough of it. But whether your goals are to just play for fun or to become a professional musician, there are techniques you can start using today to make use of your time more effectively to become the musician ...
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The Definitive Guide to Phrygian & Sus Flat 9 Chords
After you’ve been improvising jazz for a while, most chords are pretty familiar. You’re used to major, minor, dominant, and half diminished…but just as you thought you were getting a handle on things, a chord comes out of nowhere that makes you go “What is that?!?!” And not only do you have to figure out what ...
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The Confusion Around Minor Chords FINALLY Explained
Remember the first time you played a modal tune like Impressions and how fun it was to wail over a minor chord? Maybe you’ve had this experience, or maybe it’s in your near future, but one thing is for sure: it’s fun just to let loose on a minor chord vamp and solo for hours! ...
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