Inspiration for improvisers
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Jazz ear training – What makes it different from general ear training? That’s a great question and when a reader recently asked this, it definitely made me think. They both focus on intervals, chords, root movement, and have other common ground, but how are they actually different? Over the years, I’ve taken quite a few …
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Chords, How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Language, Transcribing
So you want to learn how to improvise jazz and that’s great, but where on Earth do you start jazz improvisation?!?! There’s so much information out there that figuring out where to begin playing jazz is a complete nightmare. But I’ll tell you this right now…If I could start jazz improvisation again today, I’d do …
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What exactly is ear training? You’ve heard musicians talk about it. Your teachers have recommended it. And if you’re a regular here you’ve seen it pop up in more than a few lessons…But I’m guessing the thing that’s made the biggest impression on you was being in the presence of a musician with truly amazing …
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Keep your eyes on the stars but keep your feet on the ground – Theodore Roosevelt. The fundamentals of ear training are largely glossed over. Developing one’s ear is seen as a linear track: learn your intervals, then your triads…and so on… But developing your ear is not a linear pursuit. Like improvisation, it’s a …
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Composition, Ear Training, Jazz Advice and Tips
Admit it. You listen to pop tunes. You probably even like them. But hold on a second, aren’t you’re supposed to be a serious musician? It’s OK, everyone listens to pop tunes. Just because you turn on the radio and check out the top 40 every now and then it doesn’t make you less of …
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Ear Training, Jazz Advice and Tips, Visualization
What is a jazz musician’s most important tool? Is it their ear? Their technique? The concepts at their disposal? All of these are extremely important, but without this one specific tool, they’re all useless… The jazz musician’s most important tool is their memory. Harold Mabern used to drive this point home to us all the …
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How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Musicians
As he stood in the hallway, the students gathered round. You could see the crowd growing, one-by-one as the people walking by heard what was happening. Harold, animated and speaking with vibrant energy, was sharing his experiences with a group of lucky students that happened to catch him in-between classes. While I was at music …
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How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Advice and Tips
Ahh the summer…a time to take a break from the daily grind and a moment to take stock of your progress. A few months to relax, reset, and refocus on the stuff you want to accomplish as a musician. As an improviser this time can be pivotal in your musical development…if you focus on the …
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Ear Training, Jazz Advice and Tips, Tunes
As a musician you know should be learning tunes…After all it’s the backbone of how you play with other musicians, speak the language, and share your musical ideas. But, the big question is: How exactly should you go about doing this? Right now you might be wondering this as you work to build your repertoire …
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Ear Training, Inspiration, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Education, Jazz Language, Perspectives
Every single person who wants to play jazz starts out as a beginner. There’s no way around it!! And over the first couple years of learning how to improvise, only a small handful of beginners develop quickly toward the player they want to become…most actually have difficulty improving and never really get out of the …
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You’re waiting by the stage. In a few moments it’ll be your turn to walk into the spotlight to take a solo. And your heart is beating a mile a minute. But there’s just one problem – you don’t know the key of the song and you don’t know the chords. All you know is …
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Composition, Jazz Advice and Tips, Tunes
Learning tunes goes hand in hand with being a jazz musician. But if you’ve ever tried to learn a tune by ear or attempted to memorize a list of jazz standards, you know it’s not the easiest task in the world… In fact it can be downright frustrating. Like many musicians, I struggled for years …