Inspiration for improvisers
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Inspiration, Jazz Advice and Tips
As a musician or any other creative individual, we get so wrapped up in what we are doing, that we often lose sight of everything else. Consequently, when something within our own little bubble is not going how we would like it to, our positivity plummets and our world comes crashing down. Here are some …
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Inspiration, Jazz Education, Jazz Standards
Why is it so difficult to learn jazz standards even when we have access to so much information about each and every one? We can bring up recordings with a few clicks of mouse via Youtube, we can find plenty of fakebooks with the chords and melody written out for us if we’re too lazy …
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We have met the enemy and he is us – Pogo We all want to get better and we always will. There’s never a point where a musician thinks, “Well, I think I’m good enough now. Guess that’s it.” What’s stopping us? What’s holding us back from becoming the player we wish to be? The …
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Chords, Ear Training, How to Practice Jazz, Inspiration, Jazz Advice and Tips, Playing Techniques, Rhythm, Scales, Transcribing, Visualization
A new year is the perfect time to look back at what you’ve accomplished in the practice room and to look forward to what you still wish to achieve as a musician. It’s also a great time to make a fresh start, to realign yourself musically, and to set some new goals. So, Happy New …
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Inspiration, Jazz Advice and Tips, Playing Techniques
Open up a music theory book and you’ll likely find pages and pages of definitions. Terms like apogituras, retograde inversions, mordents, hemiolas, turns…Good information, but not exactly stuff that you’d want to put into your next solo. I mean what did stuffy old composers know about improvising anyway? But before you dismiss all that tedious …
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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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Composition, Inspiration, Playing Techniques
The notion of being original and innovative goes hand-in-hand with the idea of improvisation. The inspired act of being in the moment, creating on the fly with others in a group setting, and ultimately developing an original voice are all central ideas when it comes to jazz and improvisation. Musicians everywhere, from beginning improvisers struggling …
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Inspiration, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Musicians, Perspectives, Playing Techniques, Transcribing
There’s a secret hidden in every great solo. You’ll find it in those old records of Louis Armstrong and those videos of Bird and Diz that you watch on YouTube. You can even hear it in the players of today like Terence Blanchard, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Tom Harrell and dozens of others. It’s a secret that …
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If jazz is all about being in the moment, but all our practice time is dedicated to figuring out what we want to play when we perform, then how are we supposed to be in the moment when we perform? There’s this strange dichotomy… On one side, jazz improvisation is very rehearsed. And on the …
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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 to sound like, and countless other factors. Because we all are shooting for different musical goals and have different ways …
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Inspiration, Jazz Advice and Tips, Myths, Perspectives
You’re searching for the perfect sound. You want to play long improvised lines with ease. You want to have effortless high range, to play swinging phrases with a stellar tone, and to sound great on any jazz standard. And to get there you just need that perfect instrument. That vintage Martin Committee trumpet, that mint condition …
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Ear Training, How to Practice Jazz, Inspiration, Jazz Education, Jazz Standards, Perspectives
Take a peek into a high school jazz band rehearsal or grab a seat at a college jazz combo concert. Better yet, walk into your local jam session or take a close look at the jazz trio playing the next time you’re at a wedding. What do you see? In each case you’ll find the …