play alongs are wasting your practice time

How Jazz Standard Play Alongs Waste Your Practice Time And What To Do About It

By

Forrest

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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fast tempos in music

Fast Tempos Made Easy

By

Forrest

Rhythm

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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jazz is the moment

Jazz Is The Moment

By

Forrest

Inspiration, Perspectives

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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slow practice for jazz improvisation

Another Look at Slow Practice for Jazz Improvisation

By

Eric

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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