Inspiration for improvisers
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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 …
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How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Language, Playing Techniques
So you’ve finally realized the importance of jazz language and you’re starting to learn lines in all keys…it’s like a whole new world has opened up. More creativity. More possibility. More options…Done are the days where you randomly mixed notes up from a scale trying endlessly to improvise a lyrical melody over the chord changes. …
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Jazz Advice and Tips, Premium Only, Rhythm, Scales
We often get stuck in a rut when it comes to practicing technique. In the practice room we cover the same bases in our efforts to improve our overall technique. We run our major and minor scales in all 12 keys, we practice them in thirds and fourths and fifths, we use jazz articulation, we …
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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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Chords, Ear Training, How to Practice Jazz, Inspiration, Jazz Advice and Tips, Playing Techniques, Rhythm, Scales, Transcribing, Visualization
A new year is the perfect time to look back at what you’ve accomplished in the practice room and to look forward to what you still wish to achieve as a musician. It’s also a great time to make a fresh start, to realign yourself musically, and to set some new goals. So, Happy New …
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Chords, Ear Training, How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Advice and Tips, Playing Techniques, Premium Only, Scales
Can one note really change your ears and improve your creativity? Surprisingly, the answer is yes. But let me explain…A few years ago I took a lesson with the great trumpet player, improviser and composer Ingrid Jensen. As I hopped on the the N train and headed to the lesson I looked over my practice …
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How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Advice and Tips
Do you ever get the sneaking suspicion that you’re playing the same solo over and over again? As if you’re traveling down a familiar well-worn path in every single tune, regardless of the key, the tempo, or even the chord progression… Minor chords get your favorite minor lines, major chords get major scales, ii-V’s get …
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How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Advice and Tips, Perspectives
Great solos don’t come from nowhere. The ability to apply innovative harmonic concepts, flawless instrumental technique, and appropriate musical language doesn’t just materialize out of thin air. These prized aspects of excellent musicianship have to start somewhere. However when it comes to pondering our musical idols, for some reason we can’t help thinking in this …
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Composition, Jazz Advice and Tips, Playing Techniques
You dream of becoming the type of player that can improvise with ease over any tune. A musician with an endless supply of creative ideas to play at a moment’s notice… But right now you’re struggling to create compelling ideas over the jazz repertoire. Maybe you don’t know which notes to choose in your lines …
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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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How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Advice and Tips
Remember those times in school, where you were assigned a huge project and given a deadline to finish it by? You know, the ones where the teacher threw an enormous assignment at you as soon as you walked into the classroom: “Write a 15 page paper on the history of the French revolution and give …
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How to Practice Jazz, Inspiration, Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Standards, Perspectives, Transcribing
Tell me if this scenario sounds familiar:You walk into a jam session ready to play a tune that you’ve been sounding great on. As the band finishes up a set you gather up your courage, walk up to the stage, and call this tune you’ve been working on memorizing all week. But at the last …