Inspiration for improvisers
By
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 …
By
Ear Training, Jazz Education, Myths, Perspectives, Playing Techniques
Things are not always what they appear to be. Sometimes the standard advice does not get you where you want to go. Here’s an idea: approach what you’re trying to achieve by doing the opposite. Now, this won’t work for everything, but it very well may solve the nagging problems you just can’t seem to …
By
Ear Training, Jazz Advice and Tips, Premium Only
Hearing larger intervals is difficult for most people. After a couple weeks of practicing your intervals, half-steps, whole steps, major and minor thirds, perfect fourths, perfect fifths, and major sixths fall into place, but the remaining few linger on, causing us trouble for eternity. There’s no reason why we can’t isolate these more difficult intervals …
By
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 …
By
Chords, Jazz Musicians, Playing Techniques
Perhaps the most impressive thing about the musical masters that we look up to isn’t their ability to create incredibly fast and complex lines or even their vast library of harmonic knowledge… It lies in something much more simple – their uncanny ability to take the most fundamental elements of music and create meaningful ideas …
By
Jazz Language, Perspectives, Playing Techniques
We spend a lot of time thinking about what we want to play, but how often do we think about what we don’t want to play? I’m sure if you spent some time recording yourself or simply observing what you play, you’d find you’re playing some things that you actually do not want to play. …
By
One of the biggest obstacles for musicians working to improve as improvisers lies in the development of a solid daily practice routine. We all know we should get into the practice room and diligently spend hours toiling away, but how that time is spent is crucial to seeing musical development. In our daily practice, we …
By
Jazz Advice and Tips, Playing Techniques, Rhythm
Uggh…ouch…Have you ever made these sounds when you’ve listened to a solo? You know, one of those solos where you hear a couple of unsavory phrases and that’s it…no more! For the love of God, please make it stop! If you listen to a good amount of music, I’ll bet you have. But what exactly …
By
Inspiration, Jazz Advice and Tips
There are perks to being a musician. You get to step out into the spotlight and be the star of the show. You get to experience the exhilaration of creating music in the moment with other musicians. And you get to share your music with family, friends, and complete strangers. But there’s one thing you …
By
Practicing is the most important thing you can do as a musician. Or so everyone says…But let’s be honest, practicing can be a real drag sometimes. It can feel like the daily chore that you can never escape. Hours of tedious warm-up routines, endless technical exercises, and slogging through every key while staring at the …
By
Chords, Ear Training, Jazz Advice and Tips, Perspectives, Playing Techniques
Each day when you get your instrument out of its case and set out to practice improvisation, your goal is to play the right notes. Whether it’s playing with great technique and great sound or finding the best line to play over that new tune, you’re looking for the fastest way to sound good over …
By
There’s one important idea that we must remember as musicians: When you practice, you create habits. Think about it, this is essentially the reason that we set out to practice in the first place. By consciously focusing on a single exercise or technique for hours at a time, we ingrain these skills on an unconscious …