Welcome to a new month and a new series! This month, we will be studying one of the greatest musicians in the history of jazz, Miles Davis. In the first episode, we look at how just how effective harmonic simplicity can be by studying a few phrases from Miles' solo on Oleo. Most of us get caught up in trying to play the most advanced, complicated material we can on rhythm changes. Let's take a lesson from Miles and simplify while keeping things super hip. Enjoy! WANT THE PDF THAT GOES ALONG … [Read more...]

This month's tune comes from Cy Coleman and is one of the most interesting chord progressions I have come across. It actually manages to demonstrate all three modulations we have been talking about this month! This is a wonderful walking ballad and I hope you enjoy the etude I have prepared for you and you can hear all of the wonderful key changes contained in this harmony. Have fun! WANT THE PDF THAT GOES ALONG WITH THIS EPISODE?? Head over to our Patreon page and when you donate $3 or more … [Read more...]

This week we get into a bit of a tough modulation. Modulating up a major third happens in some important jazz standards and every musician should know how to accomplish this key change in a smooth and consistent manner. 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 month you get this PDF and every other. We will also be bringing you many extras exclusively to our patrons including transcriptions and a FREE … [Read more...]

WANT THE PDF THAT GOES ALONG WITH THIS EPISODE?? Head over to our Patreon page and when you donate $3 or more a month you get this PDF and every other. We will also be bringing you many extras exclusively to our patrons including transcriptions and a FREE gift  of our latest Ebook, The Diatonic Method. We hope that we bring you value every week here at the 10 Minute Jazz Lesson and we appreciate all of your support! … [Read more...]

Welcome back to a new series on the podcast! This month we will be looking an element of jazz we should all be familiar with, modulation. Most compositions have at least one key change. What do we do as improvisers to make the transition from one key to another as seamless as possible? That is what we will be discussing in this episode and for the rest of the month. Enjoy and don't forget to do your homework! WANT THE PDF THAT GOES ALONG WITH THIS EPISODE?? Head over to our Patreon … [Read more...]

Welcome to another Tune of the Month episode! This month we are finishing up our series on the playing of the legendary Charlie Parker by writing an etude over one of his most well known tunes. I strove to use the concepts from the previous three episodes this month in my writing and I think you will find a nice mix of the things we have talked about and explored. The challenge for this etude is to practice it enough to be able to be play at quite a fast tempo, as Bird would have. Good luck and … [Read more...]

Welcome back to our third installment of episodes on the great Charlie Parker and how you can sound more like a bebop master! This week we are looking at the varied and amazing rhythmic phrasing that Bird uses to keep you on the edge of your seat. Through a combination of eighth notes, triplets, and sixteenth notes, we can learn how to form our own phrases with the same fantastic rhythmic sense and variety of Parker. Enjoy the episode and don't forget to do the homework! WANT THE PDF THAT GOES … [Read more...]

Welcome back to part 2 of our series on what we can learn from the great, Charlie Parker. This week we take a look at the shape of Bird's lines and how his combinations of horizontal and vertical playing lead to some very exciting sounds. The explosiveness these elements produce is unparalleled and if we can even get a little bit of this into our playing it will really pay off. Enjoy the episode and don't forget to do the homework! WANT THE PDF THAT GOES ALONG WITH THIS EPISODE?? Head over … [Read more...]

Welcome back! I wanted to try some new things this year and in the month of January we will take an up close look at some of the aspects of Charlie Parker's playing that makes it so unique and special. Bird was the architect of so many of the concepts we study today and his playing is just as relevant today as it was in the 1940's. We will kick this series off by looking at the way Parker connects chords and measures with half steps. There is some homework involved with this episode so make sure … [Read more...]

Happy New Year everyone! Let's kick off 2021 the right way by starting a brand new transcription project. This episode will feature a recording from 1946 by Lester Young. 'No Eyes Blues', is all about how to play an effective melodic statement. Think more about the delivery rather than the content when transcribing this tune. Looking forward to hearing you all play this! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwuJI5bSWls … [Read more...]