"What To Practice"

    The Two Types of Chords You’ll Find in Any Piece of Music

    Here’s something that you've probably realized by now on your musical journey…that jazz improvisation can get very complicated, very quickly. In the blink of an eye your enjoyable musical hobby can transform into something that...Read More

    Here’s something that you've probably realized by now on your musical journey…that jazz improvisation can get very complicated, very quickly. In the blink of an eye your enjoyable musical hobby...Read More

    Charlie Parker’s Brilliant Licks and Tricks on I Remember You

    With its unique opening chord changes, the jazz standard I Remember You poses quite the challenge to most jazz improvisers, which is surprising because the chords themselves don’t seem that difficult. But it’s not the...Read More

    With its unique opening chord changes, the jazz standard I Remember You poses quite the challenge to most jazz improvisers, which is surprising because the chords themselves don’t seem that...Read More

    3 Easy-to-Fix Mistakes that are Making Your Solos Suffer

    Uggh…ouch...Have you ever made these sounds when you’ve listened to a solo? You know, one of those solos where you hear a couple of unsavory phrases and that’s it...no more! For the love of God,...Read More

    Uggh…ouch...Have you ever made these sounds when you’ve listened to a solo? You know, one of those solos where you hear a couple of unsavory phrases and that’s it...no more!...Read More

    Why Your Search for the Perfect Equipment is Not Making You a Better Musician

    You’re searching for the perfect sound. You want to play long improvised lines with ease. You want to have effortless high range, to play swinging phrases with a stellar tone, and to sound great on...Read More

    You’re searching for the perfect sound. You want to play long improvised lines with ease. You want to have effortless high range, to play swinging phrases with a stellar tone,...Read More

    10 Modern Improvisation Techniques from Woody Shaw that’ll Rock Your World

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    Every musician wants to sound hip and modern...To play complex lines that move outside of the harmony and above the time. Solos that'll make your fellow musicians shake their heads in disbelief and leave the...Read More

    Every musician wants to sound hip and modern...To play complex lines that move outside of the harmony and above the time. Solos that'll make your fellow musicians shake their heads...Read More

    5 Secrets to Learning Tunes

    Learning jazz standards is a crucial part of every jazz musician's practice routine. After all, as a jazz musician, the entire goal is to perform tunes, so it totally makes sense that they should be...Read More

    Learning jazz standards is a crucial part of every jazz musician's practice routine. After all, as a jazz musician, the entire goal is to perform tunes, so it totally makes...Read More

    Integrating New Rhythms Into Your Playing

    Rhythm is often thrown to the wayside, in favor of working on harmony and melody. Perhaps this disregard is caused by a lack of understanding about how to approach this aspect of improvisation. Here's...Read More

    Rhythm is often thrown to the wayside, in favor of working on harmony and melody. Perhaps this disregard is caused by a lack of understanding about how to approach this...Read More

    If You Can Sing Happy Birthday…You Can Transcribe Your Favorite Solo

    Transcription can be a real struggle sometimes. Some days it feels like you can spend an hour trying to learn a few measures, and after a dozen frustrating attempts, you end up in exactly the...Read More

    Transcription can be a real struggle sometimes. Some days it feels like you can spend an hour trying to learn a few measures, and after a dozen frustrating attempts, you...Read More

    How to Not Suck at Half-Diminished Chords

    For most people, half diminished chords remain a mystery. Also known as minor 7b5 chords, they seem to fall by the wayside, never getting as much attention as major, dominant, or minor chords... The...Read More

    For most people, half diminished chords remain a mystery. Also known as minor 7b5 chords, they seem to fall by the wayside, never getting as much attention as major, dominant,...Read More

    Playing Longer Lines in Your Solos

    At a certain point in your development as an improviser it becomes necessary to evolve beyond just playing "right notes" and using your favorite licks and move onto playing longer coherent musical phrases that develop...Read More

    At a certain point in your development as an improviser it becomes necessary to evolve beyond just playing "right notes" and using your favorite licks and move onto playing longer...Read More

    Mythbusting the Top 5 Myths About Jazz Improvisation

    Learning how to improvise is not nearly as clear as people think. And what makes it worse is that there are quite a few myths about it. Today, in no particular order, we're going to...Read More

    Learning how to improvise is not nearly as clear as people think. And what makes it worse is that there are quite a few myths about it. Today, in no...Read More

    Harness the Power Of Opposites

    Things are not always what they appear to be. Sometimes the standard advice does not get you where you want to go. Here's an idea: approach what you're trying to achieve by doing the opposite....Read More

    Things are not always what they appear to be. Sometimes the standard advice does not get you where you want to go. Here's an idea: approach what you're trying to...Read More

    Finding a Fresh Approach to Playing the Same Old Tunes

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    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...Read More

    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...Read More

    Slash Chords Made Simple

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    Areader recently sent in this question: "I was wondering if you could explain to me how to interpret slash chords for soloing. It seems like different sources have conflicting information. Also, what would I do...Read More

    Areader recently sent in this question: "I was wondering if you could explain to me how to interpret slash chords for soloing. It seems like different sources have conflicting information....Read More

    The Stages of Jazz Language

    We talk about jazz language a lot: what it is, what it isn't, how to get it, and what to do with it. We constantly strive to better communicate these aspects of learning language because...Read More

    We talk about jazz language a lot: what it is, what it isn't, how to get it, and what to do with it. We constantly strive to better communicate these...Read More

    Playing the Music of Now

    Oftentimes, we get pushed down a very narrow, prescribed path when it comes to learning and performing jazz. Without question, we get complacent with the established rules of others whether it's the guidelines of an...Read More

    Oftentimes, we get pushed down a very narrow, prescribed path when it comes to learning and performing jazz. Without question, we get complacent with the established rules of others whether...Read More