Inspiration for improvisers
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Blues, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Standards, Tunes
As musicians, we often treat the songs of the jazz repertoire in the same predictable way. We learn the chords, memorize the notes of the melody, and then we skip ahead to the important stuff – Improvising our own solos over the tune… But is this really all that jazz standards are good for?? For …
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Blues, Chords, Jazz Advice and Tips
One thing that gets lost in the day to day mentality of practicing jazz improvisation is this simple fact – you don’t have to solve EVERY musical problem each time you walk into the practice room… Contrary to all the stories you hear or the pressure you might feel, you don’t have to conquer huge …
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Blues, Jazz Standards, Playing Techniques
Have you ever tried to play over a so-called easy tune, only to find that it’s not actually that easy? All Blues, one of the most incredible tracks from the legendary Miles Davis album Kind of Blue, is commonly referred to as an easy tune throughout jazz education, yet this seemingly simple composition contains more …
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Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Education, Jazz Standards, Perspectives
It’s Saturday. You’ve got plenty of time. You’re excited to spend some quality time practicing. You meander into your practice room, peruse your jazz standard play alongs and grab the first volume that sparks your interest, pop it in, and off you go. Sound familiar? As fun as it is to “just play” over a …
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Ear Training, How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Education, Jazz Language
Jazz is smart people music! I first heard these words from the great pianist Harold Mabern. Walking through the practice rooms at school one day, as was usually the case, a group of eager students was huddled around him as he told a story. An impromptu musical lesson that didn’t involve scales or chords, but …
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We often talk about jazz language and how a primary way to integrate it into your playing is by applying that language to specific parts of tunes. By forcing yourself to use some piece of language over a tune in predetermined spots, your ear and your fingers learn how to put that piece of language …
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Here’s a recent question from a reader struggling with fast tempos: “Hi, I’m a saxophone player in Toronto. What might you recommend in terms of practice techniques to play on blistering fast tempos?” When it comes to fast tempos, we could all be better. Want to play fast? Start slow. Slow over fast tempos No …
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Composition, Jazz Musicians, Jazz Standards, Rhythm
Phrasing is one of those things that everyone talks about, but most cannot clearly define. Like the concept of “swing,” it’s something you can feel and hear, but as soon as you start trying to use words to describe it, things get pretty ambiguous. First, let’s talk about musical phrases… In music, a phrase is …
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If jazz is all about being in the moment, but all our practice time is dedicated to figuring out what we want to play when we perform, then how are we supposed to be in the moment when we perform? There’s this strange dichotomy… On one side, jazz improvisation is very rehearsed. And on the …
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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 …
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Chords, How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Language, Transcribing
Play it slow. Feel every beat. Subdvide. Hear every note. Concentrate on every single detail. There are dozens of different ways to describe the process of slow practice, yet it seems that the majority of successful musicians in any genre are saying “practice slowly!” Every teacher that I’ve ever had, from classical players to lead …
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Transcribing is the single most effective method of learning how to improvise…or so everyone says. The only problem is it can be a mystery figuring out what the transcription process actually entails. You have your instrument and a collection of your favorite recordings – now what? The standard jazz resources are good at teaching the …