Inspiration for improvisers
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Chords, Composition, Ear Training, Jazz Standards, Transcribing
Learning tunes should be fun. If ever there was a secret to expanding your repertoire of tunes this would be it. You’re more likely to pursue an activity that’s exciting, interesting, and challenging rather than one that feels like an annoying chore. At the end of a long day you’re going to put the hours …
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Jazz Musicians, Playing Techniques, Premium Only
Beyond scales, music theory, and all those memorized licks lies something that gets to the core of what improvisation is all about – the art of crafting musical ideas. It’s what we often refer to as phrasing… The ability to take a tune, hear its melody, understand its chord progression, and then focus on that …
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How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Musicians, Perspectives, Transcribing
Have you ever seen a movie where a certain character stuck with you long after the film was over? Or what about a piece of artwork that kept popping up in your mind’s eye? Maybe you’ve witnessed a speech that had the same lasting effect or attended a concert where the performer played their instrument …
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Composition, How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Standards
You’ve got a list of tunes that you’re excited to learn. Song titles scribbled on a piece of paper, lead sheets saved on your phone, and videos of your favorite players killing the changes. However, you’ve been down this road before… After a few days, your cherished goal of learning more tunes slowly morphs into …
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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 result: nearly everyone sucks at them Think about it. Are you as comfortable on Bb half diminished as Bb major? if …
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Ear Training, Jazz Education, Myths, Perspectives, Playing Techniques
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. Now, this won’t work for everything, but it very well may solve the nagging problems you just can’t seem to …
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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 a simple and effective process to find and incorporate new rhythms into your playing. Step 1: Choose a chorus You’ll need …
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Jazz Musicians, Jazz Standards, Transcribing
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 individual chords that create the problem…It’s the way one chord moves to the next chord… We’re simply not used to …
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Inspiration, Myths, Perspectives
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 dispel five myths about jazz improvisation for you right now! Myth #1 When it comes to improvising, you either got …
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Chords, Composition, Jazz Advice and Tips, Tunes
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 feels a little bit like homework – a tricky exercise with right and wrong answers. Suddenly the simple act of …
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Chords, Composition, Premium Only, Scales
A reader 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 if I encountered a chord like C/Db, in which the top and bottom are not related diatonically?” Slash chords …
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Ear Training, Jazz Advice and Tips, Transcribing
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 same place you started. If this feeling rings a bell with you, you are definitely not alone. Many of the …