Inspiration for improvisers
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Figuring out what college to attend and what your major will be is quite a task. Recently we received a question asking specifically about how to choose a music school that is right for you: “Could you tell me about the process of finding a music school? Could you give some tips on auditioning? I …
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The path of least resistance. You don’t have to be an enlightened Buddhist to appreciate this idea. Simply look around you. The elements of the natural world intrinsically follow this concept. The water flowing in a river follows the easiest path, birds fly the most direct route to their destination, and even people follow patterns …
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How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Language, Transcribing
We get questions all the time on how to go about transcribing. Often, the people that write in say that they tried transcribing, but it just didn’t work for them, or it was just too hard. Yes, transcribing is not easy, but the problem does not lie in the inherent difficulty of this activity, but …
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Composition, Jazz Musicians, Jazz Standards, Premium Only
Repetition. It’s one part of learning to improvise that’s par for the course. We practice scales over and over again until the technique is securely in our fingers, we spend hours repeatedly working out ii-V7 lines that we’ve transcribed, and we memorize the melodies and chord changes to numerous tunes until we can play them …
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Composition, Jazz Language, Playing Techniques, Transcribing
So you’ve transcribed some lines and you’re learning them in all keys. You’ve even started to apply them to tunes you’re working on, but after several weeks, the line you transcribed which started out as sounding magical to you, now sounds boring. And on top of that, you’re playing that same line everywhere. Don’t fret. …
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Music Theory, Playing Techniques, Scales
When you first began learning how to improvise, chances are the first thing you encountered were scales. Memorizing lists of scales from Major and minor to diminished and octatonic. Knowing which scales work with which chords. It can seem like the practice of scales never ends. This philosophy has become so entrenched within the art …
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Inspiration, Jazz Advice and Tips, Perspectives
Daily practice is the key to growing into the player you wish to become. Everyday, building upon the knowledge you learned the previous day, moving forward, getting closer and closer…that’s the goal. But what if with each day, you’re just more and more frustrated? What if you’re simply bored with your sound and most everything …
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Learn tunes. Transcribe solos. The instructions for aspiring jazz musicians are pretty much the same everywhere you go. You want to play longer lines and master tricky chord progressions? “Learn tunes and transcribe solos.” Need more technique and better ears? You get the idea… We receive this advice from our teachers, friends, and from our …
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How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Standards
One thing you always want to be doing is learning new material. New lines, new tunes, new concepts…there’s always something new to learn. We preach the mantra “Quality Over Quantity” in practically everything we write. So, while it’s true you always want to learn new things, the idea is to judiciously select what you want …
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How to Practice Jazz, Inspiration, Jazz Musicians
Clark Terry is one of the legends of this music. He’s played with every big name in jazz over the last half-century from the likes of Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Oscar Peterson, to Ella Fitzgerald…the list could go on forever. With such a rich performing career spanning over six decades, he continues to play …
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Chords, Composition, Playing Techniques, Premium Only
Everybody wants to play “outside” the chord changes. They think there is something mysterious about getting outside the changes. In my experience, the phenomenal players that I’ve studied with along with the legendary players I’ve learned from on recordings, approach playing outside the harmony much in the same way they approach playing inside the harmony: …
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In practicing improvisation, one common pitfall that we run into is expecting to find the secrets of jazz all by ourselves. We gather our books and recordings and head into the practice room determined to overcome the difficulties of improvisation with an army of one. What’s the big deal, you taught yourself Spanish, so how …