This week we are going to look at a really cool way to play 'out.' The altered scale is an awesome way to add a ton of tension to a ii-V-I or whatever progression you choose to use it over. The altered scale is based off of the 7th mode of the melodic minor scale and in this episode we are going to explain the theory behind this device and give you some practical lines with which to start using it in your own playing. Next week we are going to get more advanced and talk about some ways to use … [Read more...]

This Lick of The Month episode is probably my favorite ever. I have been digging into the playing of Joel Frahm, one of the best New York cats around, for the past couple of weeks and have given you two amazing, short ii-V-I's that will blow your mind! In the meantime, make sure you check out Joel's playing and support his music. You definitely won't be sorry! 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 … [Read more...]

This week we are going to do an episode prompted by one of our listeners, Fred. He wanted us to do an episode on the minor ii-V-i and we are happy to! This is an interesting progression with some differences from it's major cousin. There are some select things we need to know to play over this progression well and we are going to cover the half diminished chord this week and then put it all together in our next episode. If you have never heard of a half diminished chord (also known as minor … [Read more...]

Welcome back everyone! This episode concerns one of my favorite tunes in the world, Tadd Dameron's "Lady Bird." This tune is a short but amazing and will force you to work on things that you have never encountered before. We are going to b focusing on the last two measures in this episode. Dameron has taken a very common chord progression and put his own spin on it that provides for a beautiful sounding turnaround. In this show we talk about strategies you can use to get around these 2 bars with … [Read more...]

This week we talk about an absolute must-learn exercise for anyone who wants to increase their knowledge of chords and gain the kind of technique that will have you flying all over your instrument with ease. These exercises are a mix of knowledge you need in your head and dexterity that you need under your fingers to feel more free when improvising. We start by learning a great chord sequence over a major-seventh chord that requires you to work on your chromatic approaches. We then move into … [Read more...]

This week we bring back our poular 'Lick Of The Month' series with a bang! Coltrane is one of my favorite jazz musicians of all time. His playing on the most famous jazz recording of all time, "Kind of Blue," is second to none. This week we are going to look at a great two measure, double time line he played over "So What." I find that one of the hardest things to do is play over a static chord progression where there aren't many changes. In this lick, Coltrane shows us how he handles playing … [Read more...]

This week we talk about some of the chords that we dread seeing when we are playing and improvising. We all have them, we all hate them. The good news is, we can learn to play over them just like the easy chords that we feel most free over. The key to this is being as familiar with tough keys as we are with easy ones. This requires more time and effort because they don't come as easily to us as we would like. As always in jazz, learning all 12 keys of something is important. But what if we … [Read more...]

This is part 2 of our diminished chord series. Last week we looked at learning the chord tones and how to build a diminished chord. This week we are getting a little bit more complicated and talking scales. The good news is, just like last week, there are only three sets of different scales. Our job is to associate them with the different chord changes and be able to use them in action. The scale that is associated with diminished chords is the whole-half scale and is exactly what it sounds … [Read more...]

We're back after a brief hiatus! This week we are going to start a 2 part series on one of the most confusing and difficult chords in jazz for most people; the diminished chord. We see this chord in so many tunes but I think for many beginner and intermediate jazz players, this chord can be a mystery. That's why I have decided to break it down first with the chord tones and next week we will talk about the scales. At the end of the episode we will apply the diminished chord tones to the blues … [Read more...]