This month we are studying one of the master pianists of all time, McCoy Tyner. This lick represents the endless possibilities of using pentatonics and how someone like Tyner uses them to create tension and release. Enjoy the episode and don't forget to grab the PDF! 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 … [Read more...]

This week we continue our series on pentatonics by investigating our options over a dominant 7th chord. The options are fairly limited but, the good news is, we have some very interesting and intriguing sounds we can use over this chord. 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 … [Read more...]

This month is all about pentatonics! We will be talking about how to creatively use pentatonic shapes over the 3 most common jazz chords. We start with the minor seventh chord and talk about three different major pentatonics that will give us very different sounds and feelings when used over this chord. Enjoy the episode and don't forget to grab the PDF! 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 … [Read more...]

Welcome to our tune of the month episode and the conclusion of our series on triads! This week, we will use the amazing composition, I Hear A Rhapsody, as a vehicle for putting our triadic lines into context over a full form. This one includes an extensive etude which I hope will be of help to you on your journey of discovering and utilizing some brand new sounds in your playing. Enjoy and thanks for listening! WANT THE PDF THAT GOES ALONG WITH THIS EPISODE?? Head over to our Patreon … [Read more...]

This week, all of the work we have done on major triads comes together into some ii-V-I lines. We explore three of the patterns we have covered in the series and think about the sounds we can achieve when using them in tension and release fashion. Hope you enjoy the episode and discover something you can use on your jazz education journey! 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 … [Read more...]

In this episode we reach the end of our triad workout by dealing with some very difficult exercises! These triads not only start places other than the root, we have also mixed up the order of the keys and are starting to deal with different sounds and harmonic directions. Hope you enjoy! 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 … [Read more...]

This week we continue our series on triads with some challenging exercises designed to get you away from root position and develop more flexibility with your triadic playing. 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 gift  of our latest Ebook, The Diatonic … [Read more...]

July has five Fridays, so I figured this month we would try something a little bit different! I asked some of the Patreon members for questions they would like answered in a Q&A format. We got two great ones from Kris and Barb and this episode will be me doing my best to answer those questions in a concise manner. These two topics may very well turn into full blown series, but for now, enjoy this episode attempting to answer questions about how to swing and how to begin approaching … [Read more...]

This month, we are going to flex some of our newfound triad skills on an awesome Antoni Carlos Jobim tune, Dindi. This song has very interesting harmony and there are sections that lend themselves in particular to the use of basic triads. Enjoy and don't forget to grab the PDF! 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 … [Read more...]

Welcome back to another lick of the month episode. This week, while we give you time to practice your triad patterns, we are going to look at a line from the killer saxophonist, Sam Dillon, in which he uses pentatonics along with rhythmic creativity to give us some awesome effects. Sam is a master of using techniques like this and we can learn a lot from his playing in a short period of time. Sam and I have just released a book of transcriptions from his album, Out In the Open, so if you like … [Read more...]