Inspiration for improvisers
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How to Practice Jazz, Inspiration, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Standards, Perspectives, Transcribing
Tell me if this scenario sounds familiar:You walk into a jam session ready to play a tune that you’ve been sounding great on. As the band finishes up a set you gather up your courage, walk up to the stage, and call this tune you’ve been working on memorizing all week. But at the last …
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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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Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Language
Practicing lines in all keys is a must, but it’s not that easy or even clear why it’s so important in the first place. Many years ago, I remember trying to take a ii V line through all keys on the saxophone and it was really difficult. I’ve even had several decent players tell me …
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How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Education, Jazz Standards, Perspectives
We practice long tones. We work on two-five progressions until our fingers bleed. We work on new ideas and concepts. The work is mostly enjoyable, sometimes frustrating, and hopefully productive… But what is all this diligent dedication for? Tunes. What else is there? Everything we do is to play tunes in the way we so …
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Ear Training, Jazz Advice and Tips, Perspectives
There are really two areas of musicianship, aside from technique on an instrument, that a jazz musician requires to be a complete improviser. One is developing great ears and the other is an intellectual understanding of harmony. These two qualities can especially be found among the countless innovators of the music. Take the musicians of …
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Ever spend a lot of time learning a tune, only to realize that you’ve completely forgotten it a few weeks later? When you’re not achieving your desired results in pretty much anything, check your methods. What’s your process? What’s your approach? After detailing your current methods, you can then easily modify them to realign yourself …
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Chords, Composition, Jazz Musicians
What do you play over a minor ii V? Minor ii Vs are notoriously tricky. As compared to their brother, the ii V in major, the ii V in minor adds quite a few more challenges. First off, instead of a minor 7 ii chord, it has a minor 7 b5 ii chord. This causes …
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Jazz Advice and Tips, Playing Techniques
Articulation…tonguing notes, it seems like a pretty simple concept, right? Well, not exactly. It has taken me quite a while and a ton of practice to figure out how to articulate my lines correctly when I’m soloing. If you think about it, articulation is not really focused on in jazz education when compared to the …
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How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Advice and Tips
There seems like there’s so much to practice, but it’s actually an illusion. In today’s day and age, we’re bombarded by information. In approaching or learning literally anything, there’s a million resources for how to achieve it. Looking for the perfect way to slice an apple, or the best diet to get a six-pack? A …
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Inspiration, Jazz Advice and Tips, Perspectives
Daily practice is the key to growing into the player you wish to become. Everyday, building upon the knowledge you learned the previous day, moving forward, getting closer and closer…that’s the goal. But what if with each day, you’re just more and more frustrated? What if you’re simply bored with your sound and most everything …
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How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Musicians, Perspectives
Wow! You’re sitting in the audience at a sold out concert and your favorite musician has just taken the stage. Flawless technique, impeccable sound, and endless creative musical lines flow from the stage and fill up the concert hall. “Unbelievable,” you think. “This musician must be super-human!” They just might be, but have you ever …
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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 …