This week is all about our most important tool as musicians: the metronome. This week we are starting with some very basic material and we will progress over the next couple of episodes into more and more challenging ways of using this device. Have you ever really thought about where your time lies? I mean REALLY thought about it? Starting from this question we allow ourselves to accurately asses where we are with this important skill. This week is about the basics. Using the metronome on all … [Read more...]

This week we take a look at a totally killing line from the great saxophonist, Kenny Garrett. This is from an amazing 1985 performance joined by the trumpet masters, Freddie Hubbard, Woody Shaw, and Dizzy Gillespie. See the video below for the entire performance. Kenny plays this great line over one chord and in this episode we analyze every part of this interesting, and surprisingly complicated statement that he makes. We see him play inside, outside, and everywhere in between. There are so … [Read more...]

This week is all about taking a look at how far you have come this year. Give yourself some credit! 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 the theme of playing smooth lines in one direction over difficult changes. This week we step it up a notch and look at the same concept over the great John Coltrane composition, Giant Steps. Yet another harmonically dense tune that is typically played at a fast tempo. What we discover when looking at this particular tune is that it's not as difficult as we first thought to connect these chords using half step motion. In this week's PDF we are going to combine directions and … [Read more...]

I haven't been this excited to show you all something in  a while. This app rules! 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 a topic that we have touched on before but I would like to revisit it again. Learning to play long lines through dense changes is not easy and takes a lot of practice and thought. Rhythm changes are one of the best examples of chord changes that come at you quickly and can be very difficult. In this episode, we talk about playing a single direction line that weaves it's way through the changes while adapting to the harmony as it goes. This helps us to avoid playing per-programmed … [Read more...]

This week we talk about turning an unproductive part of our lives into a more rewarding experience. 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 something I've been sharing with my students a lot lately. We traditionally teach the blues scale or the minor pentatonic to beginning students and use them ourselves when we are searching for that traditional, 'bluesy' sound. The problem with this scale, in my opinion, is that it actually contains a lot of really horrible notes. That's why I came up with my own scale that I call, 'The Minor-Major Pentatonic.' This scale fits the chord structure of the blues in a much … [Read more...]