Inspiration for improvisers
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Blues, Chords, Composition, Jazz Advice and Tips
When it comes to improving as an improviser, there are only so many tunes you can memorize. Only so many chord symbols and progressions you can force into your brain… After a certain point you actually need to learn how to play over these sounds. …and truth be told, this is something that took me …
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How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Language, Playing Techniques
So you’ve finally realized the importance of jazz language and you’re starting to learn lines in all keys…it’s like a whole new world has opened up. More creativity. More possibility. More options…Done are the days where you randomly mixed notes up from a scale trying endlessly to improvise a lyrical melody over the chord changes. …
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Inspiration, Jazz Advice and Tips
Scales, Chords, Progressions, and Tunes… These are the words we all use to define and think about music. It’s how we make sense of the songs we hear, how we talk about the solos we love, and how you tackle the nitty-gritty elements of music in the practice room. The same words are used in …
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Jazz Advice and Tips, Playing Techniques, Premium Only
Do you ever feel like you’re stuck in a routine? Going through the motions day in and day out. Performing the same tasks at the same time, no matter what. You can almost predict it like clockwork… The truth is everyone knows this feeling because we’re creatures of habit. We find the path of least …
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Composition, Jazz Language, Jazz Musicians, Playing Techniques, Rhythm
With his unique improvisational style and innovative approach, Charlie Parker not only revolutionized how to play alto saxophone, but how to play jazz as a whole. He had a concept all his own that transcended what came before him and elevated the music to new heights! It’s no wonder that nearly every jazz musician since …
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Blues, Composition, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Standards, Tunes
You know the routine…You pick out a new tune, read through the melody, and start to work on a solo. You’ve got a few ideas, throw in a couple of your favorite licks, and follow the guide tone lines. And then it happens…you’re stuck playing the same old scales and patterns that you use in every …
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Jazz Advice and Tips, Premium Only, Transcribing
Over the years I’ve attended dozens of masterclasses. Poured through hundreds of interviews with master musicians, and took lessons with the best players I could find. However, after a few years ONE thing kept surprising me – there was a disconnect between what these great players said and what they actually did… In fact, some …
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How to Practice Jazz, Inspiration, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Standards, Perspectives
Why is learning how to play jazz so hard? Is it that there are a million tunes to know? Or the thousands of great jazz solos to transcribe? Or is it all that crazy music theory, the mental aspects behind a jazz standard that make it so difficult? All of these challenges make learning jazz …
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Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Language, Jazz Musicians, Playing Techniques
All The Things You Are is a timeless jazz standard…Charlie Parker, Stan Getz, Ella Fitzgerald, Sinatra…these are just some of the legends that recorded it. But with its traveling tonal centers and unfamiliar keys, this tune is sure to give every improviser quite a challenge! When it comes to figuring out the secrets to a …
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Chords, Composition, Ear Training, Jazz Standards
Chord function is a confusing topic that is intricately tied to other just as confusing topics like voice leading, harmonic tension and resolution, intervallic content, chord voicings, chord families and more! Today we’ll unravel the slew of questions that arise from exploring chord function. Questions like, how do you build chords within a key? Why …
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Composition, Perspectives, Playing Techniques
Ask any musician or teacher what you should practice to develop exceptional jazz improvisation skills, and you usually hear words like “Scales” and “Modes” or “Guide-tone lines.” Sometimes even “Transcribing”… This is all useful information. And it will help you understand the harmonic function and music theory behind all those jazz standards. But it’s missing …
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How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Education, Jazz Language, Jazz Standards, Perspectives
I wish I could tell you it’s all fun. That every time you practice music is meant to be super creative, interesting, and joyful. That it never feels like you’re just working and trudging through. But the truth is, until we have devices from The Matrix that can hook up to your head and teach …