Best Articles to Learn Jazz Improvisation, Standards, Scales

Stop right there! Don’t Touch Your Instrument until You Do these 4 Simple Exercises (Premium)

Dec 17, 2014

Ear Training, How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Education, Perspectives, Premium Only

All practice is not created equal. There’s the practice that’s fun. You’re in a room with your instrument and maybe a few friends and you just start playing. The minutes fly by, but you’re not exactly working. Then there’s the practice that feels like homework. You’ve got a lesson or a concert coming up so …

3 Essential Improvisation Tools that You Need to Know

Eric

Nov 17, 2014

Chords, How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Language, Jazz Standards, Playing Techniques, Scales, Transcribing

Imagine that you’re a construction worker. You’ve just pulled yourself out of bed at 4 a.m. and slipped on your steel-toed boots. As you stretch your tired legs you let out a sigh as another long day looms on the horizon. No worries, nothing you can’t do after a strong cup of coffee. You arrive …

7 Reasons you’re not getting to the next level and what to do about it

Forrest

Oct 13, 2014

How to Practice Jazz, Inspiration, Perspectives

When you begin something new, there’s so much to learn. Improvement is quick and often, practice is exploratory and fun. But after doing anything for a while, you settle into a routine and your once explosive improvement tapers off. Wherever this may leave you, you can’t seem to get beyond this plateau. Why are you …

Why You Should be the Worst Player in the Room

Eric

Oct 6, 2014

Inspiration, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Education, Perspectives

If you’re reading this, I’m guessing that you want to be the best. You want to walk into a room with your instrument and completely smash the competition. To tackle every chord progression, every tune, and every challenging technical passage with effortless mastery. To have every other player’s jaw drop as they look on in …

4 Reasons Why You Should Start Recording Yourself Today

Eric

Sep 8, 2014

Inspiration, Jazz Advice and Tips

There are perks to being a musician. You get to step out into the spotlight and be the star of the show. You get to experience the exhilaration of creating music in the moment with other musicians. And you get to share your music with family, friends, and complete strangers. But there’s one thing you …

6 Practice Essentials for Every Improviser

Eric

Aug 7, 2014

Ear Training, How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Education, Transcribing

You walk into your practice room. You sit back in your favorite chair and mentally prepare to play your first note of the day. You glance at your stack of etude books, the half transcribed solo sitting on your music stand, and your growing list of tunes to learn and you let out a heavy …

Why Your Search for the Perfect Equipment is Not Making You a Better Musician

Eric

Apr 20, 2014

Inspiration, Jazz Advice and Tips, Myths, Perspectives

You’re searching for the perfect sound. You want to play long improvised lines with ease. You want to have effortless high range, to play swinging phrases with a stellar tone, and to sound great on any jazz standard. And to get there you just need that perfect instrument. That vintage Martin Committee trumpet, that mint condition …

7 Surprising Qualities of the World’s Best Improvisers

Eric

Apr 13, 2014

How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Musicians, Perspectives

Wow! You’re sitting in the audience at a sold out concert and your favorite musician has just taken the stage. Flawless technique, impeccable sound, and endless creative musical lines flow from the stage and fill up the concert hall. “Unbelievable,” you think. “This musician must be super-human!” They just might be, but have you ever …

What, Why, Where, Who, When, and How to Transcribe

Forrest

Apr 2, 2014

Jazz Advice and Tips, Transcribing

Every day we receive countless variations of what, why, where, who, when, and how to transcribe questions in our inbox. Should I transcribe lines or whole solos? Do I need to transcribe from the recording or can I just use a transcription book? Who should I transcribe? Do I have to transcribe Charlie Parker? Can …

3 Easy-to-Fix Mistakes that are Making Your Solos Suffer

Eric

Mar 29, 2014

Jazz Advice and Tips, Playing Techniques, Rhythm

Uggh…ouch…Have you ever made these sounds when you’ve listened to a solo? You know, one of those solos where you hear a couple of unsavory phrases and that’s it…no more! For the love of God, please make it stop! If you listen to a good amount of music, I’ll bet you have. But what exactly …

Why You Should Be Hearing Music in Your Mind

Eric

Mar 19, 2014

Composition, Ear Training, Perspectives, Playing Techniques

I have a vivid memory of the first time I tried to play in an early jazz group. I was in school and was asked to play the trumpet part in an ensemble that met each week studying the music of Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, and other significant early players. Cool, building my jazz …

The perfect practice environment for musicians

How to Create the Perfect Practice Environment

Eric

Feb 23, 2014

How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Education

Here’s something that I don’t tell many people…I’ve practiced my instrument huddled inside a closet, surrounded by dirty laundry. I’ve worked out scales after dark sitting in the back seat of my car. I’ve practiced classical etudes in secluded corners of Central Park and I’ve played into pillows after midnight to run through tunes. Looking …