This week we are talking about and studying one of the true architects of jazz as we know it. Louis Armstrong basically started it all. We are studying an excerpt from his transcription on Hotter Than That. Louis teaches us a lot in these few short bars. What can we do to make one chord sound great over a longer period of time? What do we do when we are not using a million chord substitutions and not playing bebop? All of these questions and more will be answered in this week's episode so tune … [Read more...]

This week is all about an extremely old set of tunes and what they can do for you and your playing. 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 we continue with our series about playing the blues in multiple keys at once. In this episode we change from learning a simple melody in minor thirds, to actually improvising. I have included a simple way for you to quickly wrap your own ear and the listener's ear to the new key and make it clear what we are doing. By quickly arpeggiating the first chord of the new key, we make it very clear that there is a shift happening. Remember that this material is a little bit on the advanced … [Read more...]

Are you a visual learner? I know I am and I have been investigating ways to make this work to my advantage. 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 is a little bit on the advanced side of things. We are going to learn how to quickly tonisize new keys and really be on top of our game in terms of thinking on our feet. This was an exercise that one of my professors in graduate school had me do on a regular basis and it helped me out a lot. This exercise not only will help the brain but will also get you to hear things in a brand new way. By using the relationship of minor thirds we can easily transition between keys … [Read more...]

This week is all about a listening format that is coming back to prominence and is easier than ever to incorporate into your life. Vinyl is the way to listen, especially to jazz! 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 we finish up our series on practice progressions with the hardest ones yet. So far in this series, we have talked about progressions that make total sense from a traditional point of view. The problem is, in modern creative music, we can't always count on the progressions to be traditional. We have to be ready for anything that's thrown our way. These two progressions aren't the most complicated but also don't follow any type of circle of fourths or fifths motion. I think this will … [Read more...]

This week we talk about a handy tool that is both free and extremely useful for your musical life and beyond! 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 we continue our work on practice progressions. The only difference between this week and last is now we are dealing with V-I progressions instead of a mono-quality exercise. These progressions are sure to open up your playing if you spend enough time on them. Another difference between this week and last is that I want you to shoot for playing a particular sound over each V chord instead of playing a piece of prescribed vocabulary. This will force you into a different frame of mind and … [Read more...]

NEW COLTRANE! This is very exciting for me for several different reasons. To listen to new Coltrane material in 2018 is very special stuff. Check it out! 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...]