Inspiration for improvisers
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Ear Training, How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Advice and Tips, Perspectives, Playing Techniques, Transcribing
Practice is an essential part of your journey as a musician. We all do it every day…or at least we try our best to, however daily practice doesn’t always guarantee improvement. Why? Simply because not all practice is created equal. If you look at the big picture there are two basic types of practice: (1) …
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How to Practice Jazz, Inspiration, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Education, Jazz Musicians, Jazz Standards, Perspectives
On this site we’ve frequently written about learning tunes. This is no coincidence – learning tunes goes hand in hand with improving as an improviser. Whether you’re practicing, performing, or simply listening to a few records with some friends you’re dealing directly with tunes. Keeping this in mind, building a solid repertoire of tunes should …
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Chords, Composition, Jazz Language, Jazz Standards, Playing Techniques
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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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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Inspiration, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Education, Jazz Musicians
Music is meant to be heard live. There is no substitute for the visceral experience of sitting in an audience and soaking up a great live performance. Not only hearing the music, but feeling the physical vibrations of those melodies, chords and rhythms. Seeing the interaction between musicians as they collectively create music in the …
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Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Education, Perspectives
You have to know the rules before you can break them. You’ve probably heard this well-intentioned phrase before. It’s as common and overused as “Practice makes perfect” or any of the countless other sayings that we encounter when it comes to learning a musical instrument. As students of the music we get bombarded by these …
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Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Language, Premium Only, Transcribing
Learning jazz language is vital to your success as an improvisor. Without it you’re truly lost. You may know a scale, a chord, a concept…but without the fundamental ideas of what to do with these tools, you’ll aimlessly wander through the harmony. These fundamental ideas are gleaned from learning and studying language. A reader recently …
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Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Language, Jazz Musicians, Playing Techniques, Transcribing
Recently I’ve been studying and transcribing a lot of Miles from around 1956-1957. Albums like Cookin’, Relaxin’, and Workin’. More than the notes or the harmonic devices in his solos, the one thing that sticks out about Miles is his sense of phrasing. This is what sets him apart and why so many listeners connect …
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How to Practice Jazz, Inspiration, Jazz Advice and Tips
It’s a new year. I guess that means we should be making some resolutions right about now. New beginnings, a fresh start and all that other good stuff. For most people making “resolutions” translates into sitting down and writing out a list of goals. It’s not a bad exercise to do every now and then …
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Ear Training, How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Advice and Tips
There is one important part of practicing and learning any musical instrument or musical style that many players are unintentionally missing. A necessary skill that’s so obvious it often remains hidden in plain sight. It seems to be the same across the board from absolute beginners to college music majors. It doesn’t matter if you …
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Ear Training, Jazz Advice and Tips, Premium Only
We’ve presented tons of exercises on how to practice ear training, but many require that you have someone to train with. So what do you do when you don’t have a partner? When you have no one to practice ear training with there’s just as many exercises you can do and better yet, you can …
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Composition, Jazz Advice and Tips, Playing Techniques
I can’t understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I’m frightened of the old ones – John Cage. At some point as an improviser, whether you welcome it with open arms or avoid it like the plague, you’re going to be faced with the chance to compose. That’s right – you, alone in a …