This episode is all about playing piano voicings as single note lines. This is a great way to break out of the patterns you may be working on and start to include some great intervalic melodies that you may never have thought of.  The thing that makes piano voicings sound great is the structure of their intervals. By extracting these intervals and making them into a single note line, we harness the power of these sounds and apply them to more than just a chordal instrument. I use this tactic … [Read more...]

This week contains some important tips on booking your first gig. What to say, how to say it, and what to avoid. 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 sounding like an idiot. I would guess that there are few of us out there that have worked on these concepts enough. WE have talked about some truly challenging stuff over the past couple of weeks. Now it's time to kick this thing into overdrive and talk about some of the most truly difficult stuff you can do with the metronome. We are not playing around this week. When I use the word advanced, it's in the truest sense of the word. Strap on your seat belts and enjoy this … [Read more...]

This week is a fitting discussion about the possibilities that 2019 can bring for you musically. We don't get anywhere by staying in our comfort zone.... 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 things get A LOT harder. I mean turning things up from 0 to 100 harder. We are going to play a short etude that I prepared for you with the metronome clicking only once per measure. If that's not hard enough already, we are then going to shift that one beat per measure all around the actual bar. This is going to push you in ways that you never thought possible and I promise it will make you a better musician with a far better sense of time. Enjoy the episode and happy 2019! WANT THE … [Read more...]

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...]