Inspiration for improvisers
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Inspiration, Jazz Advice and Tips
When I was younger, my father constantly cut out articles from Investor’s Business Daily that he found interesting or inspiring, and casually placed them throughout the house where I would stumble upon them. Not wanting to take parental advice, just like any other kid, most of these articles ended up in the circular file cabinet, …
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Everyone sets goals, but only a handful of people actually achieve them. And out of these highly-motivated people that achieve their goals, only a fraction of them are truly satisfied with their accomplishments. So what is it that this group of awesome highly-motivated and satisfied achievers is doing differently than everybody else? When it comes …
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Inspiration, Jazz Advice and Tips
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 love, and how you tackle the nitty-gritty elements of music in the practice room. The same words are used in …
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Composition, Jazz Language, Scales
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 a scale for every day of the week… However, as you’ve probably realized in the practice room, scales are not …
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How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Advice and Tips, Playing Techniques
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 to your favorite standards? If you are screaming “Yes, that’s me!”at the computer screen, then the solution to your problems …
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Jazz Musicians, Jazz Standards, Rhythm, Transcribing
Recorda Me is one of Joe Henderson’s most famous compositions. Recorded on his epic album Page One from 1963, he actually composed the popular jazz standard when he was only 15. And over the years, it’s become a mainstay in jazz education and jam sessions alike, making it a need-to-know tune to add to your …
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In learning most anything, there’s an accepted and standard way of approaching the material. There exists a typical method that emerged over the course of many years. In many disciplines, this method came about through trial and error, meticulously analyzing what techniques have worked best to allow an individual to excel as quickly and efficiently …
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Chords, Composition, Jazz Advice and Tips, Premium Only
Learning jazz chords can be a frustrating obstacle on your path to becoming a better improviser. But what a lot of players forget is that the process isn’t just about memorizing chord symbols from a lead sheet and hoping for the best… The key to improving lies in understanding how each chord functions and developing …
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Playing Techniques, Premium Only, Rhythm
It’s the subtleties of articulation that make melodies come alive. But, being so subtle, articulation is one of those concepts that’s difficult to grasp, or for that matter, even teach. And it’s personal. Nearly every player has their own distinct method of articulating, which yields a different result. With all this ambiguity, how can we …
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We often talk about jazz language and how a primary way to integrate it into your playing is by applying that language to specific parts of tunes. By forcing yourself to use some piece of language over a tune in predetermined spots, your ear and your fingers learn how to put that piece of language …
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Chords, Composition, Playing Techniques, Premium Only
The infamous ii V is everywhere in jazz chord progressions. In fact, the ii V defines a sense of tension and release that prevails throughout all western music… An essential key to understanding how to give your lines a sense of harmonic motion, lies in knowing where to insert a ii V into a static …
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Composition, Jazz Musicians, Jazz Standards, Premium Only
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 lines that we’ve transcribed, and we memorize the melodies and chord changes to numerous tunes until we can play them …