Inspiration for improvisers
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Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Musicians, Premium Only
Herbie Hancock is one of the most renowned and creative musicians in the world – and for good reason! His career has bridged the gap from the roots of this music, performing with masters like Miles Davis and Wayne Shorter, to exploring the possibilities of improvisation with his own groups…. And for any musician looking …
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Chords, Composition, Jazz Language, Jazz Standards, Playing Techniques
How do I connect chords when I’m soloing? You’re asking yourself this question in the practice room and you’re frustrated when there doesn’t seem to be an easy answer. But you’re not alone. This is a question that every improviser struggles with as they create solos over tunes. Improvising over one chord is simple enough, …
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Inspiration, Jazz Education, Perspectives
When you’re frustrated with your playing it’s difficult to excel at all. It’s difficult to make a coherent musical statement, let alone even listen to yourself. These bouts happen to everyone. The key is to not get too discouraged and press on… Today we’ll look into some tactics for how to deal with frustration in …
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Composition, Jazz Language, Scales
Scales can be one of the most overwhelming parts of learning jazz improvisation. Between you and me, it can seem like there’s a scale to learn for every chord, a scale for every progression, and a scale for every day of the week… However, as you’ve probably realized in the practice room, scales are not …
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Blues, Chords, Composition, Jazz Advice and Tips
When it comes to improving as an improviser, there are only so many tunes you can memorize. Only so many chord symbols and progressions you can force into your brain… After a certain point you actually need to learn how to play over these sounds. …and truth be told, this is something that took me …
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Kenny Dorham was one of the first trumpet players that I checked out when I was starting to listen to jazz and after years of studying the music he is still one of my favorite trumpet players. K.D. was a prominent figure throughout the stylistic changes of the music from bebop to the modern jazz …
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Composition, Jazz Advice and Tips, Perspectives, Tunes
As a musician, you often find yourself listening to the best improvisers you can. Searching for inspiration, guidance, and answers to the challenges you’re facing. Especially when it comes to those records that include the same jazz standards you’re trying to learn… You want to figure out exactly what your favorite players are doing over …
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How to Practice Jazz, Premium Only
In case you were starting to mistake jazz musicians for super-humans…Or highly talented individuals that know thousands of tunes, have perfect pitch, and transcribe solos in mere minutes, I thought I’d write a post to correct that picture in your mind. In fact, I want to show you one of the most important rules when …
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Chords, Composition, Jazz Advice and Tips, Premium Only
Major chords are the easiest type of chord, right? We learn our major scales on Day #1 and from then on, soloing over a major chord is a piece of cake…or so we thought. One day, after practicing for some days, or even some years, we stop and think, “Playing over major chords is so …
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How to Practice Jazz, Inspiration, Perspectives
To an outside observer, I look like a disciplined person. The kind of person who works hard and puts the time in to move forward on their goals. And to some degree this is certainly true. I strive to be better, I’m motivated, and I tackle challenges on a daily basis to move closer to …
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Chords, How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Language, Jazz Standards, Playing Techniques, Scales, Transcribing
Imagine that you’re a construction worker. You’ve just pulled yourself out of bed at 4 a.m. and slipped on your steel-toed boots. As you stretch your tired legs you let out a sigh as another long day looms on the horizon. No worries, nothing you can’t do after a strong cup of coffee. You arrive …
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Ear Training, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Language, Perspectives, Visualization
You’ve heard it time and time again…PLAY WHAT YOU HEAR!! But when it comes to improvising jazz, how do you actually go about playing what you’re hearing? And how do you mentally hear the beautiful jazz lines that you want to play? Playing what you hear sounds so easy in theory, but it’s much more …