Perhaps the most impressive thing about the musical masters that we look up to isn’t their ability to create incredibly fast and complex lines or even their vast library of harmonic knowledge… It lies in...Read More
Perhaps the most impressive thing about the musical masters that we look up to isn’t their ability to create incredibly fast and complex lines or even their vast library of...Read More
Scales can be one of the most overwhelming parts of learning jazz improvisation. Between you and me, it can seem like there's a scale to learn for every chord, a scale for every progression, and...Read More
Scales can be one of the most overwhelming parts of learning jazz improvisation. Between you and me, it can seem like there's a scale to learn for every chord, a...Read More
Your mother probably taught you not to steal…That taking something that wasn’t yours was wrong or that pocketing an item from the shelves of a store could land you into a world of trouble. But what...Read More
Your mother probably taught you not to steal…That taking something that wasn’t yours was wrong or that pocketing an item from the shelves of a store could land you into a...Read More
Confirmation is one of those tunes that gives most people a difficult time. But somehow Charlie Parker had no problem playing the most beautiful lines over it time and time again. His lines flow naturally...Read More
Confirmation is one of those tunes that gives most people a difficult time. But somehow Charlie Parker had no problem playing the most beautiful lines over it time and time...Read More
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...Read More
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...Read More
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...Read More
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...Read More
Minor harmony is everywhere in jazz. Whether you’re playing a tune in a minor key or a jazz standard that shifts to the relative minor for a section, you need a solid understanding of how...Read More
Minor harmony is everywhere in jazz. Whether you’re playing a tune in a minor key or a jazz standard that shifts to the relative minor for a section, you need...Read More
Think of a jazz standard that you often play. One that you've been working on in the practice room. Picture the chord progression in your mind and imagine yourself getting ready to play the first...Read More
Think of a jazz standard that you often play. One that you've been working on in the practice room. Picture the chord progression in your mind and imagine yourself getting...Read More
I can still remember the day I discovered how amazing the ii V7 chord progression could be. After struggling for years, It was as if a locked door finally opened and I was granted access...Read More
I can still remember the day I discovered how amazing the ii V7 chord progression could be. After struggling for years, It was as if a locked door finally opened...Read More
Ican't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones - John Cage. At some point as an improviser, whether you welcome it with open arms or avoid it like...Read More
Ican't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones - John Cage. At some point as an improviser, whether you welcome it with open...Read More
I'm guessing you've heard of Miles Davis. That you know Louis Armstrong and have listened to Charlie Parker and John Coltrane. But have you ever stopped and wondered why you know these names? Some of...Read More
I'm guessing you've heard of Miles Davis. That you know Louis Armstrong and have listened to Charlie Parker and John Coltrane. But have you ever stopped and wondered why you...Read More
Every so often you'll make a musical discovery that will drastically change the way you approach improvisation. One day you're struggling over the same tunes, growing more and more frustrated with your own predictable patterns...Read More
Every so often you'll make a musical discovery that will drastically change the way you approach improvisation. One day you're struggling over the same tunes, growing more and more frustrated...Read More
Despite what everyone thinks, being creative isn't easy. You don't just suddenly find yourself with talent one day and immediately start creating great works of art. It takes years of hard work to develop artistic...Read More
Despite what everyone thinks, being creative isn't easy. You don't just suddenly find yourself with talent one day and immediately start creating great works of art. It takes years of...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 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
The altered scale allows access to the beautiful tensions of a dominant chord in a flash. The effective use of this scale, however, is not easy. In this article, I've assembled what I have found...Read More
The altered scale allows access to the beautiful tensions of a dominant chord in a flash. The effective use of this scale, however, is not easy. In this article, I've...Read More
A reader recently wrote us asking about what we think about while we improvise. He writes: "I'm a tenor saxophonist and still pretty new to the whole improvising scene. I was wondering what musicians "think"...Read More
A reader recently wrote us asking about what we think about while we improvise. He writes: "I'm a tenor saxophonist and still pretty new to the whole improvising scene. I...Read More