You know that you should be transcribing jazz solos. That you should be learning the language of Bird, Miles, Coltrane, and Monk. You’ve heard time and again that it’s the unwritten “secret” to becoming a better improviser…
The only problem is that transcribing is also frustrating, time-consuming, and with hundreds of solos to choose from, slightly overwhelming.
But before you give up on learning the solos of your favorite players, you should know that there is abetter way to learn the jazz language…
You see, if you’re reading this, I’m guessing that you’re serious about improving your musical skills. But I’d also be willing to bet that you don’t have unlimited hours to spend transcribing hundreds of jazz solos.
That’s why in today’s lesson we’ll show you a new approach to transcribing the musical language of your favorite players. So you can quickly learn these important techniques and implement them in your own solos.
It’s not magic or a shortcut, it’s simply being smart and efficient about the way you approach the jazz language.
Taking A New Approach
Transcribing doesn’t have to mean spending 3 hours slogging away at complex 8th note lines only to give up in frustration.
And you don’t need to spend a month transcribing a single solo to gain musical benefit.
While learning an entire solo from start to finish definitely has some merit, today we’re going to focus on how to achieve quick results with the nuts and bolts of jazz improvisation.
With the right approach you can easily acquire techniques, language, and harmonic ideas that will transform your playing in profound ways…all in the space of one practice session.
Below I’ll show you twoessential techniques that I use to quickly grab important musical information from great solos and apply them to my playing.
Let me show you what I mean…
1) Transcribe for your musical weak spots
The first step in saving time and effort with the transcription process is all about focusing on what you can’t do.
Your weak spots as an improviser.
The musical concepts that frustrate and confuse you. Those places in the chord progression where your fingers freeze up and your mind draws a blank. And the tunes where you don’t even know how to begin.
This is where transcribing can help you the most.
However, instead of rushing into your practice room, turning on a recording and blindly transcribing with the hope of improving, you need to change your approach.
You need to switch from the mindset of passively learning a solo to proactively transcribing to gain specific information and musical skills.
So let’s start by making a list of your musical weak spots. These could be specific chords, progressions, or even tunes – anything that is continually giving you trouble. If you need some ideas, take the Jazz Improvisation Audit.
Some common trouble spots might include:
Major 7th chords
Minor language
Extended V7 chords & dominant language
Improvising over half-diminished chords
ii-V’s or a more melodic approach to ii’V’s
Minor ii-V’s
Unconventional progressions and tunes
If you look at the big picture, the harmonic content of the Great American Songbook is surprisingly uniform. In the majority of jazz standards you’ll encounter 4 types of chords and a few common progressions.
Therefore, focusing intently on each of these chords and progressions will yield big results. Remember, you’re building a melodic foundation for everything that you’ll encounter as an improviser, so there’s no need to rush!
Here’s the thing: you can’t just wait to improve or hope that your practice routine will eventually make you better. You have to stop and say, “OK, I suck at Major 7th chords or I can’t play minor ii-V’s. Today I’m going to fix this by finding specific tools in the solos of my favorite players.”
Now you might be thinking, “Wait a second, I do have some language and techniques!” That’s great, but here’s the question you need to ask yourself…
Are you sick of these lines? Are they devices you learned years ago? Are you still holding onto scales and playing the same old ii-V licks in every solo? Are you actually being creative when you improvise??
Transcribing new material and exposing yourself to new musical concepts will break you free from your routine and push you to improve, whether you’re a new player just starting out or an improvisor with years of experience.
Let’s take a look at the step-by-step process in how you’d approach each of these categories…
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