Where to Start Your Journey

In the last decade we’ve written a TON about jazz improvisation. Literally hundreds of free jazz lessons that will make you a better jazz improviser! And one of the most common questions we get is Where do I start??”

Whether you want to become better at jazz improvisation, learn jazz standards, do jazz ear training, or you’re just starting to play jazz or wondering how to improvise, we’ve got you covered.

The Making of Jazz Musician

After studying with some great players and practicing, teaching, and performing jazz over the years, we’ve seen what works and what doesn’t – what skyrockets ability quickly, and what holds it back…

There’s a whole lot more that goes into playing jazz than learning a few scales and mixing up the notes. Instead, start to think of playing jazz as a real-time creative activity that takes focus and dedication on a variety of musical skills or topics…

Start with a topic you’re interested in, find a single lesson that grabs you, read it, study it, and most importantly practice & integrate the jazz concepts, techniques, and ideas into your own playing.

Focus on a lesson for at least a week or two, or even more, and strive to learn and apply everything we’re talking about in the lesson. If you practice this way, you’re sure to see steady and quick improvement.

Be creative and above all, HAVE FUN!!


Great Places to Start Learning Jazz Like a Pro

How to Practice Jazz

What Should I Practice? The 3 Essential Pieces To Practicing Jazz Improvisation: A Free Presentation – The how, why, and what to improving your practice of jazz improvisation.

2 Simple And Effective Practice Plans For Jazz Improvisation [Free Download] – Two tailor-made practice plans specifically for learning tunes and acquiring jazz language.

20 Practice Hacks For The Busy Musician – You’re busy, maybe even overwhelmed, but that doesn’t mean that you have to sacrifice your practice time or musical improvement.

How to Learn Jazz Language

The Reason You Need to Start Thinking About Jazz Language Right Now – Understand the step-by-step process of how learning language can transform your improvising.

Why This Two-Step Approach to Jazz Language Will Take Your Improvising from Good to Great – Learn two effective techniques for developing the solos that you transcribe.

How to Solve Musical Problems Using Language – Learn to use the musical vocabulary of your heroes to solve your problems playing jazz.

Melodic Power (Paid Course) – Our in-depth jazz language Course, which will have you fluent in no time!

How to Get Started Transcribing

Transcribing Is NOT Transcribing: How This Misnomer Has Led You Astray – Transcribing isn’t what you think it is. Learn the truth about learning the jazz language.

10 Killer Tips For Transcribing Jazz Solos That I Wish I’d Known All Along – Ten effective techniques for getting the most out of the transcription process.

10 Brilliant Jazz Solos and What You Can Learn From Them – Don’t know what to transcribe? These 10 brilliant solos will connect you with the language of the masters.

How to Learn Jazz Standards & Tunes

Building Your Repertoire: 10 Key Tunes – Ready to build your jazz repertoire? These 10 standard tunes are the perfect place to start.

Stuck on Rhythm Changes? Here are 4 Coltrane Concepts That’ll Set You Free – Improve your Rhythm Changes solos with these 4 musical concepts from John Coltrane.

How To Play The Blues Like A Pro: A Lesson With Wynton Kelly – Learn essential techniques for playing the blues with one of history’s most swinging improvisers.

Jazz Visualization (Paid Course) – Our highly detailed Course on how to learn chords, lines, and tunes faster than ever before

Music Theory: How to Learn Chords

Jazz Chords: The Definitive Guide to Mastery – Jazz chords are at the very heart of why jazz sounds the way it does and as a player, these sounds are essential to master on a deep level.

How To Learn Chord Changes Straight Off A Recording: A Handbook – Here’s your guide to figuring out the chord progressions to your favorite tunes, straight from the recording.

10 Easy Options For Expanding Your Dominant 7th Vocabulary – Ten important techniques for improvising on the versatile dominant chord.

6 Common Chord Relationships That You Need to Know Now – Master the most common chord progressions in the jazz standard repertoire.

Jazz Theory Unlocked (Paid Course) – Discover how jazz tunes really work and gain a deep understanding of music theory, harmony, and chords in this step-by-step video course.

Music Theory: How to Learn Scales

Jazz Scales: Everything You Need to Know – You’ve probably been told you need to know a million jazz scales to play a good solo. Here’s the truth…

Scales Are Not The Secret Short-Cut To Jazz Improvisation – Learning and practicing scales is necessary for every musician, but for improvisers they’re only the beginning.

Everything You Wanted to Know About the Bebop Scale but Were Afraid to Ask – Learn how to use the bebop scale in your solos like a pro.

How to Start Jazz Ear Training

Master Your Intervals In 28 Days – A 28 day, step-by-step plan for mastering your musical intervals.

Fundamental Ear Training: Seventh Chords – Learn how to hear the unique qualities of 7th chords.

Do You Know Your Four Triads? – The building blocks of modern harmony reside in these 4 triads. Do you know them?

The Ear Training Method (Paid Course) – Our pro Course on training your ear like a jazz musician

How to Use Jazz Education Materials

How The Chord-Scale System Has Failed You – While scales and theory have their place in learning to improvise, they definitely have huge shortcomings.

How Play-Alongs Are Wasting Your Practice Time And What To Do About It – How to use play-a-longs the right way in your practice.

Why You Shouldn’t be a Real Book Player – We look at the good, bad and ugly of fake books and why you need to finally break free.

How to Get Motivated to Play Jazz

Where To Start Learning Jazz Improvisation – New to Jazz Improvisation? Confused about where to begin? This one’s for you!

The Ultimate Guide to Overcoming Frustration in Jazz Improvisation – Learn how to break through your mental and musical barriers for good.

10 Things Every Comeback Player Needs to Know – Ten important tips for getting back into the swing of things after weeks, months or even years away from playing.

Reprogramming the Musical Mind (Paid Course) – Our 30 day audio Course dedicated to cultivating the ultimate musician-mindset.