Inspiration for improvisers
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Blues, Jazz Advice and Tips, Perspectives
You’re staring at a chord progression on a lead sheet. Thinking through the first few bars of a jazz standard. You’re getting ready to start your solo and carefully choosing the first phrase you’ll play… It’s finally time to show off the stuff you’ve been working on. Time to create music on the spot instead …
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Composition, How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Education, Transcribing
Since the time of Art Tatum and Charlie Parker, the practice tools of the jazz musician have consisted of three basic things: a room, your instrument, and a record player. If you wanted to get some work done in the shed, that’s all you needed… Nearly 70 years later, things are still the same for …
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Ear Training, How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Education, Transcribing
You walk into your practice room. You sit back in your favorite chair and mentally prepare to play your first note of the day. You glance at your stack of etude books, the half transcribed solo sitting on your music stand, and your growing list of tunes to learn and you let out a heavy …
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Michael Brecker talked about it. Mulgrew Miller mentioned it time and again in masterclasses. And if you’ve spent any time on Jazzadvice, you’ve seen multiple articles about the importance of learning it. But why should you start thinking about jazz language? You’re already practicing technique, running scales, and listening to a ton of your favorite …
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Transcribing jazz solos is an essential part of learning to improvise. But here’s the catch: it’s trickier than it sounds, especially if you’re just getting started. Many hopeful players attempt to learn solos from recordings, but often give up in frustration. And this is exactly how I felt when I was beginning to learn how …
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Inspiration, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Education, Jazz Musicians, Perspectives, Playing Techniques
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 these masters have been gone for 40 years and some of their records are nearly 80 years old. So why …
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Chords, How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Education, Jazz Language
The commonly known Pareto Principle states that 80% of the effects of something, come from 20% of the causes. In terms of learning, this means: figure out where the largest gains can be made and focus on those. For some reason in learning most anything, we tend to give equal weight to everything. We give …
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Chords, Composition, Jazz Language, Transcribing
You hear it over and over. Just transcribe. You want to get better? Transcribe. You want to have a better sound. Transcribe. Can’t seem to play over Rhythm Changes? Transcribe. And yes, when people tell you this, they’re correct. You can learn pretty much anything you want from transcribing. But, what they don’t tell you …
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Chords, Jazz Language, Transcribing
The ii V progression makes up the vast majority of chord changes within the jazz standard repertoire. Much of our success or failure as improvisors comes from being able to navigate this deceptively simple progression. Learning how to play over ii Vs is actually much easier than you think. The mistake most people make is …
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Blues, Chords, Jazz Advice and Tips, Playing Techniques, Premium Only, Visualization
A recent question from a reader inquired about the blues in all keys: “I’m a sax player and have been working through the blues in all keys for the past few months, and was wondering if you guys had any tips, tricks, or any advice?” We’ve all heard it time and time again: Learn the …
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Playing Techniques, Visualization
Countless hours in the practice room and rhythm changes or a simple bridge to a tune still giving you a tough time? This is a familiar situation to everyone of all levels. I used to waste hours mindlessly practicing, thinking that there was some secret I was missing, or if I just kept improvising over …
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Jazz Advice and Tips, Perspectives
Let’s be completely honest…My amazing teachers did tell me many of the things that I’m about to tell you…I just didn’t listen! Why didn’t I listen? I don’t know. Immaturity. Stubbornness. The belief that there had to be something else. Something more important. Something more complex. Something better, that mattered more… But these 8 pieces …