"Jazz Standards"

    Why Giant Steps is Easier Than You Think… 4 Simple Steps to a Stellar Solo

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    Most improvisers cringe when they hear the words Giant Steps. Their hearts start pounding and they frantically try to remember the patterns they've worked out over the chord progression. If you've ever tried to play...Read More

    Most improvisers cringe when they hear the words Giant Steps. Their hearts start pounding and they frantically try to remember the patterns they've worked out over the chord progression. If...Read More

    Putting on the Pressure: How to Motivate Yourself in the Practice Room

    Remember those times in school, where you were assigned a huge project and given a deadline to finish it by? You know, the ones where the teacher threw an enormous assignment at you as soon...Read More

    Remember those times in school, where you were assigned a huge project and given a deadline to finish it by? You know, the ones where the teacher threw an enormous...Read More

    How One Note Can Change Your Ears and Spark Your Creativity

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    Can one note really change your ears and improve your musical creativity? Surprisingly, the answer is yes. But let me explain...A few years ago I took a lesson with the great trumpet player, improviser and...Read More

    Can one note really change your ears and improve your musical creativity? Surprisingly, the answer is yes. But let me explain...A few years ago I took a lesson with the...Read More

    Repetition: The Missing Link to Your Success

    Do you find yourself having trouble remembering the solos you've transcribed? Have you ever memorized the melody to a tune only to forget it a week later? Do you have trouble recalling the chord progressions...Read More

    Do you find yourself having trouble remembering the solos you've transcribed? Have you ever memorized the melody to a tune only to forget it a week later? Do you have...Read More

    You Are Your Own Instrument

    Recently I've been checking out a book called "You are Your Own Gym: The Bible of Bodyweight Execises." The author, Mark Lauren, is a former instructor and trainer for elite special forces soldiers. The central...Read More

    Recently I've been checking out a book called "You are Your Own Gym: The Bible of Bodyweight Execises." The author, Mark Lauren, is a former instructor and trainer for elite...Read More

    The Improviser’s Tipping Point

    When exactly do I become good at improvising? Is there a single point that occurs where I can finally play like I want to? These are questions that inevitably pop up and hover at the...Read More

    When exactly do I become good at improvising? Is there a single point that occurs where I can finally play like I want to? These are questions that inevitably pop...Read More

    Getting Stuck In ii V Land

    Just learn a few ii V licks in all keys, learn how to use them, and that's jazz, right? Unfortunately not. ii Vs make up the bulk of chord progressions found in all western music...Read More

    Just learn a few ii V licks in all keys, learn how to use them, and that's jazz, right? Unfortunately not. ii Vs make up the bulk of chord progressions...Read More

    10 Ways to Make a Line Your Own

    So you've transcribed some lines and you're learning them in all keys. You've even started to apply them to tunes you're working on, but after several weeks, the line you transcribed which started out as...Read More

    So you've transcribed some lines and you're learning them in all keys. You've even started to apply them to tunes you're working on, but after several weeks, the line you...Read More

    10 Easy Options for Expanding Your Dominant 7th Vocabulary

    What’s the most important chord progression that you need to know as a musician? Well that's a good question...In the past we've explored some common chord relationships that you’ll encounter as an improviser, but there...Read More

    What’s the most important chord progression that you need to know as a musician? Well that's a good question...In the past we've explored some common chord relationships that you’ll encounter...Read More

    How To Turn Frustration With Your Practice Into Musical Progress

    We all have those days in the practice room…days where you can't seem to get anything right. Where you're fighting your instrument and you want to scream... I'm sure you know the feeling of a...Read More

    We all have those days in the practice room…days where you can't seem to get anything right. Where you're fighting your instrument and you want to scream... I'm sure you...Read More

    The Forgotten Skill

    There is one important part of practicing and learning any musical instrument or musical style that many players are unintentionally missing. A necessary skill that's so obvious it often remains hidden in plain sight. It...Read More

    There is one important part of practicing and learning any musical instrument or musical style that many players are unintentionally missing. A necessary skill that's so obvious it often remains...Read More

    Transcribing for Technique: Improving Musicianship Through Transcription

    After hours spent practicing technique: endless articulation, tone, range, and fingering exercises, are you still not matching up to what you're hearing on your favorite records? Are those same étude books and exercises you've been...Read More

    After hours spent practicing technique: endless articulation, tone, range, and fingering exercises, are you still not matching up to what you're hearing on your favorite records? Are those same étude...Read More

    Ingraining Jazz Language Through Visualization

    We talk a lot about ingraining language. It's vital to have an array of ideas at your fingertips for any given harmonic situation. And these ideas should be so ingrained that you can easily make...Read More

    We talk a lot about ingraining language. It's vital to have an array of ideas at your fingertips for any given harmonic situation. And these ideas should be so ingrained...Read More

    Learning to Be Your Own Teacher

    The difference between many subjects and jazz improvisation is that the latter has no single correct and well-defined path. Every person takes a different route depending how they learn, how they hear, what they want...Read More

    The difference between many subjects and jazz improvisation is that the latter has no single correct and well-defined path. Every person takes a different route depending how they learn, how...Read More

    Two-Five Substitutions in a Flash

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    Everybody wants to play "outside" the chord changes. They think there is something mysterious about getting outside the changes. In my experience, the phenomenal players that I've studied with along with the legendary players I've...Read More

    Everybody wants to play "outside" the chord changes. They think there is something mysterious about getting outside the changes. In my experience, the phenomenal players that I've studied with along...Read More

    Learning to Let Go: Achieving your optimum performance mindset

    When I think about what it means to "let go," detailed scenes from Hollywood hits come to mind. Scenes like Neo in The Matrix learning that "there is no spoon," and Tom Cruise in the...Read More

    When I think about what it means to "let go," detailed scenes from Hollywood hits come to mind. Scenes like Neo in The Matrix learning that "there is no spoon,"...Read More