It's the 5th Friday of the month so this week, we treat you to a Q&A episode. We tackle a very poignant question from one of our longtime listeners and supporters, David, about how to approach trad jazz vs. approaching the bebop era and beyond. This is something I have had to work out in my own playing and I hope these thoughts and observations might be useful to you and save you some time! WANT THE PDF THAT GOES ALONG WITH THIS EPISODE?? Head over to our Patreon page and when you … [Read more...]

This month's tune is one of my favorite Johnny Green standards that I play very often, Out Of Nowhere. We utilize the concepts we have been talking about in the entire pentatonic series and apply them to a great chord progression. Please enjoy the episode and don't forget to grab the PDF of the etude! WANT THE PDF THAT GOES ALONG WITH THIS EPISODE?? Head over to our Patreon page and when you donate $3 or more a month you get this PDF and every other. We will also be bringing you many extras … [Read more...]

Time for our lick of the month episode! This month, we utilize the concepts of pentatonic shofting to create some killer ii-V-I lines. These lines will stretch your ability to use pentatonics freely and hear some very challenging and advanced sounds. Good luck and have fun!! WANT THE PDF THAT GOES ALONG WITH THIS EPISODE?? Head over to our Patreon page and when you donate $3 or more a month you get this PDF and every other. We will also be bringing you many extras exclusively to our … [Read more...]

This week we finish up our series on pentatonics by looking at a few approaches for practicing these scales in all 12 keys. Mixing up the order of scales and rapidly changing from one key to another will be crucial in being able to play pentatonic based lines over real life chord changes. Enjoy the episode! WANT THE PDF THAT GOES ALONG WITH THIS EPISODE?? Head over to our Patreon page and when you donate $3 or more a month you get this PDF and every other. We will also be bringing you many … [Read more...]

This week, we continue our series on pentatonics by looking at our options over major seventh chords. We have two diatonic options and one option that includes a non-diatonic note. These are some of my favorite sounds and I'm excited for you to start working on this material. Enjoy the episode! WANT THE PDF THAT GOES ALONG WITH THIS EPISODE?? Head over to our Patreon page and when you donate $3 or more a month you get this PDF and every other. We will also be bringing you many extras … [Read more...]

This week we take a look at an awesome modal tune to practice what we have learned about pentatonics so far. Milestones will allow us to stretch a bit and provide a low stress chord progression to experiment with pentatonic shifting. Enjoy the episode and etude! WANT THE PDF THAT GOES ALONG WITH THIS EPISODE?? Head over to our Patreon page and when you donate $3 or more a month you get this PDF and every other. We will also be bringing you many extras exclusively to our patrons including … [Read more...]

This month we are studying one of the master pianists of all time, McCoy Tyner. This lick represents the endless possibilities of using pentatonics and how someone like Tyner uses them to create tension and release. Enjoy the episode and don't forget to grab the PDF! WANT THE PDF THAT GOES ALONG WITH THIS EPISODE?? Head over to our Patreon page and when you donate $3 or more a month you get this PDF and every other. We will also be bringing you many extras exclusively to our patrons … [Read more...]

This week we continue our series on pentatonics by investigating our options over a dominant 7th chord. The options are fairly limited but, the good news is, we have some very interesting and intriguing sounds we can use over this chord. Enjoy the episode! WANT THE PDF THAT GOES ALONG WITH THIS EPISODE?? Head over to our Patreon page and when you donate $3 or more a month you get this PDF and every other. We will also be bringing you many extras exclusively to our patrons including … [Read more...]

This month is all about pentatonics! We will be talking about how to creatively use pentatonic shapes over the 3 most common jazz chords. We start with the minor seventh chord and talk about three different major pentatonics that will give us very different sounds and feelings when used over this chord. Enjoy the episode and don't forget to grab the PDF! WANT THE PDF THAT GOES ALONG WITH THIS EPISODE?? Head over to our Patreon page and when you donate $3 or more a month you get this PDF and … [Read more...]

Welcome to our tune of the month episode and the conclusion of our series on triads! This week, we will use the amazing composition, I Hear A Rhapsody, as a vehicle for putting our triadic lines into context over a full form. This one includes an extensive etude which I hope will be of help to you on your journey of discovering and utilizing some brand new sounds in your playing. Enjoy and thanks for listening! WANT THE PDF THAT GOES ALONG WITH THIS EPISODE?? Head over to our Patreon … [Read more...]