This week continues our series on voice leading and doing something that many of you will find uncomfortable: SINGING! We continue to make the kines more difficult by turning our half notes into quarter notes. What you will notice, however, is the basic direction and voice leading of the line stays the same throughout. This follows logic that we perform a lot on this show, which is slowly increasing the difficulty of something until it is sounding amazing. One more episode in this series next … [Read more...]

This week is about the part that many of us love but may not allow ourselves to do, have fun! Would you like to support the creators of this podcast? If so, please head over to our Patreon page and show your love by donating $3 or more each month. You get incredible benefits and this keeps the podcast coming at you regularly. Thanks so much! … [Read more...]

This month we take a look at yet another Monk tune and we focus our efforts on phrasing. Phrasing is the biggest and most important factor when it comes to playing a solo that makes sense and is memorable.  Our goal with this month's episode is to get you to think about phrasing over the chord changes. We have a tendency to play these little self-contained phrases that stop right before the chord moves on. When we break this habit, so many of our limitations disappear. Enjoy this episode and … [Read more...]

This week is all about keeping track of what you do in the practice room so you know exactly where to pick up the next time! Would you like to support the creators of this podcast? If so, please head over to our Patreon page and show your love by donating $3 or more each month. You get incredible benefits and this keeps the podcast coming at you regularly. Thanks so much!   … [Read more...]

This week continues our lick of the month series, but in a slightly different way. Normally, we take a look at a traditional piece of vocabulary from a solo. This week, we are going to dissect some Herbie Hancock voicings and turn them into arpeggios. This will force you to play some different and wider intervals than you normally do and should open up your ears and fingers to some new possibilities. I often work in this manner when I feel like I'm stuck and playing the same things all the time. … [Read more...]

This week continues our series on steps to getting the most out of your practice time. This week's theme: do less but spend more time on it! Would you like to support the creators of this podcast? If so, please head over to our Patreon page and show your love by donating $3 or more each month. You get incredible benefits and this keeps the podcast coming at you regularly. Thanks so much! … [Read more...]

This week's episode takes last week's material to the next level. Now, we add some notes that are outside of our threes and sevens and introduce some step-wise motion. Remember, you must SING these exercises to get the maximum benefit and start to hear the material. Developing a connection between our ears and instrument is vital to playing jazz at the highest level. Start working on these exercises and see the amazing results they will produce! WANT THE PDF THAT GOES ALONG WITH THIS … [Read more...]

This week continues our series on steps to a great practice routine. This time we put one foot in the practice room and think about our mindset! Would you like to support the creators of this podcast? If so, please head over to our Patreon page and show your love by donating $3 or more each month. You get incredible benefits and this keeps the podcast coming at you regularly. Thanks so much! … [Read more...]

This week is all about using your natural instrument to start learning and hearing some concepts that we all need in our tool kit. You will be singing this week and for the next few episodes so get your voice tuned up and ready to go! This will eventually lead us to some great ways of coming up with our own vocabulary organically and not forcing ourselves to learn and memorize tons of vocabulary. While the former is still something we should be doing on a regular basis, some folks (like myself), … [Read more...]

This month we cover one of my favorite Thelonious Monk tunes, Well You Needn't. This tune is unique in many ways. It uses almost exclusively half-step motion in the chord changes which provides us a unique challenge when improvising. In this episode we talk about using motivic development yet again to gain some facility and knowledge of the chord changes. This is a great way to approach this tune when you're starting out and develop fluency before trying more complicated devices. Enjoy the … [Read more...]