Do You Have What It Takes to Be a Musician? (Answer This Question to Find Out…)
Let’s say this: You’re a 25 year old guitar player, serious and passionate about what you do. Each day after work you come home and head into the practice room, learning songs, practicing your technique, and dreaming about getting onstage. But despite all of this effort you’re still not seeing the progress you want. Or ...
FREE PRO PRO & PREMIUM
Stop Running From Your Creativity
Listen carefully…Can you hear that? Underneath the thoughts about your credit card bill and next Tuesday’s dinner plans. Past the anxiety about that upcoming job interview and the frustration with your painfully slow progress in the practice room. A faint murmur bubbling up in your subconscious. A voice trying to break through the noise of ...
FREE PRO PRO & PREMIUM
27 Ways to Get Inspired to Play Music Again
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 ...
FREE PRO PRO & PREMIUM
7 Crucial Lessons from History’s Greatest Improvisers
I’m guessing you’ve heard of Miles Davis. That you know Louis Armstrong and have listened to Charlie Parker and John Coltrane. But have you ever stopped and wondered why you know these names? Some of these masters have been gone for 40 years and some of their records are nearly 80 years old. So why ...
FREE PRO PRO & PREMIUM
Why You Should be the Worst Player in the Room
If you’re reading this, I’m guessing that you want to be the best. You want to walk into a room with your instrument and completely smash the competition. To tackle every chord progression, every tune, and every challenging technical passage with effortless mastery. To have every other player’s jaw drop as they look on in ...
FREE PRO PRO & PREMIUM
Reality Check: Motivating Yourself to Better Musicianship
It’s been a few weeks since the new year when we posted articles on setting goals and making musical resolutions. Did you make some resolutions this year? If so, how are they holding up? Maybe you didn’t exactly make a conscious resolution, however you probably have some areas of your playing that you want to ...
FREE PRO PRO & PREMIUM
What to do when You Crash and Burn on a Tune
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 ...
FREE PRO PRO & PREMIUM
10 Exercises to Practice When You’ve Run Out of Ideas
We often get a ton of great questions from our readers about what to practice. These inquiries range from players that are stuck in a daily musical rut to aspiring improvisers that simply don’t know the next step to take in the practice room. The truth is, every musician encounters frustrating days on their instrument ...
FREE PRO PRO & PREMIUM
How One Note Can Change Your Ears and Spark Your Creativity
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 ...
FREE PRO PRO & PREMIUM
8 Improvisation Improvement Projects That Will Change Your Playing
Practice is an essential part of your journey as a musician. We all do it every day…or at least we try our best to, however daily practice doesn’t always guarantee improvement. Why? Simply because not all practice is created equal. If you look at the big picture there are two basic types of practice: (1) ...
FREE PRO PRO & PREMIUM
Connecting to the Music…Wherever You Are
Music is meant to be heard live. There is no substitute for the visceral experience of sitting in an audience and soaking up a great live performance. Not only hearing the music, but feeling the physical vibrations of those melodies, chords and rhythms. Seeing the interaction between musicians as they collectively create music in the ...
FREE PRO PRO & PREMIUM
One Brick at a Time: That’s how you build a wall
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 ...
FREE PRO PRO & PREMIUM