Inspiration for improvisers
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How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Advice and Tips
Do you feel like you’re always trying to catch up? Like everyone else pursuing music started fifty steps ahead of you and the only way you’ll reach them is by moving as fast through the material as humanely possible? This is how most beginner to intermediate jazz improvisers feel and unfortunately, without addressing it, this …
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Composition, Ear Training, Playing Techniques
On this site we frequently write about the benefits of ear training for improvising, with good reason. Hearing and singing intervals, melodies, chord progressions, etc. is one area of daily practice that will directly affect your improvising for the better. However, ear training isn’t only limited to improving your harmonic sensitivity. Developing rhythmic awareness and …
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How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Standards
Have you ever thought about why you’re practicing every single day for hours and what you’re actually trying to achieve with all your hard work? To play better over a G7 chord? To master that tricky ii V I? To get a better sound? To improve your technique? To play fast and loud? Of course …
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Ear Training, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Standards, Premium Only
Everybody talks about learning tunes. I mean everybody. It’s the one common thread that pops up at jam sessions, on gigs, in music schools and in conversations with great players. Hey, what tune do you want to play next? Do you know this tune? What tunes are you working on? I really need to learn …
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How to Practice Jazz, Inspiration, Jazz Advice and Tips
It’s a new year. I guess that means we should be making some resolutions right about now. New beginnings, a fresh start and all that other good stuff. For most people making “resolutions” translates into sitting down and writing out a list of goals. It’s not a bad exercise to do every now and then …
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How to Practice Jazz, Inspiration, Jazz Advice and Tips
Time is the only thing we really have in life and there never seems to be enough of it. But whether your goals are to just play for fun or to become a professional musician, there are techniques you can start using today to make use of your time more effectively to become the musician …
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Ear Training, Perspectives, Transcribing
Tran•scribe – transitive verb. A: to make a written copy of, B: to make a copy of (dictated or recorded matter) in longhand or on a machine, C: to paraphrase or summarize in writing, D: to represent (sound) by means of phonetic symbols This is the definition I found for the word transcribe when I …
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How to Practice Jazz, Playing Techniques
You’ve been thinking about it all day. As you ate breakfast. On your commute to work. And while you were sitting at your desk watching the seconds tick by. You need to practice. You need to start making progress and achieving your musical goals. And you need to do it right now! But before you …
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Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Education, Myths, Perspectives
Mastering jazz improvisation seems simple in theory. At least every great player makes it sound that way. And on paper it all looks pretty straight forward. Memorize the chords, learn a few scales, and listen to the masters. With a little practice and transcription you’re good to go – you can almost hear the dazzling …
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How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Advice and Tips
It’s already May and before you know it those lazy months of summer are going to sneak up on you. And just as quickly they’ll be gone, leaving you wishing you had more hours in the day to devote to your music. Before you find yourself in this all too familiar situation, here’s a quick …
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Perspectives, Playing Techniques, Transcribing
Transcribing can be beneficial no matter how you do it. Often when I go to transcribe, I like to have a specific goal in mind of what I am aiming to accomplish, making for rapid improvement in areas that need the most work. It’s essentially a problem/solution approach: Identify what problems you’re having Find the …
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It’s been a while since you’ve picked up your horn, sat down to the piano, or even thought about practicing. As time goes by, it gets more and more difficult to get that spark going again. Ok, time to get out of this rut and do something about it. Here are 27 ideas to get …