This week continues our lick of the month series, but in a slightly different way. Normally, we take a look at a traditional piece of vocabulary from a solo. This week, we are going to dissect some Herbie Hancock voicings and turn them into arpeggios. This will force you to play some different and wider intervals than you normally do and should open up your ears and fingers to some new possibilities. I often work in this manner when I feel like I'm stuck and playing the same things all the time. … [Read more...]

This week continues our series on steps to getting the most out of your practice time. This week's theme: do less but spend more time on it! 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 takes last week's material to the next level. Now, we add some notes that are outside of our threes and sevens and introduce some step-wise motion. Remember, you must SING these exercises to get the maximum benefit and start to hear the material. Developing a connection between our ears and instrument is vital to playing jazz at the highest level. Start working on these exercises and see the amazing results they will produce! WANT THE PDF THAT GOES ALONG WITH THIS … [Read more...]

This week continues our series on steps to a great practice routine. This time we put one foot in the practice room and think about our mindset! 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 using your natural instrument to start learning and hearing some concepts that we all need in our tool kit. You will be singing this week and for the next few episodes so get your voice tuned up and ready to go! This will eventually lead us to some great ways of coming up with our own vocabulary organically and not forcing ourselves to learn and memorize tons of vocabulary. While the former is still something we should be doing on a regular basis, some folks (like myself), … [Read more...]

This month we cover one of my favorite Thelonious Monk tunes, Well You Needn't. This tune is unique in many ways. It uses almost exclusively half-step motion in the chord changes which provides us a unique challenge when improvising. In this episode we talk about using motivic development yet again to gain some facility and knowledge of the chord changes. This is a great way to approach this tune when you're starting out and develop fluency before trying more complicated devices. Enjoy the … [Read more...]

This weeks starts a series of Motivation Monday episodes on having the best practice routine that you possibly can. In this first episode, we talk about planning the week in a way that will lead you to success! 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 episode continues our Lick of the Month series utilizing a line from Dexter Gordon's solo on Three O'clock in the Morning. We talked about the melody to this tune on a previous episode, but now it's time to take a look at part of his solo and learn from it. We feature an 8 bar phrase that moves from pure melodic joy into a more bebop approach. We talk about the evolution of the phrase and how you can inject this type of thing into your own playing. Enjoy the episode! WANT THE PDF THAT GOES … [Read more...]

Can't believe I forgot to mention this one! 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! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kx-QuVszOk&t=1591s … [Read more...]

This episode is in response to a question from one of my students, Mike. His concern was those tunes with fast tempos and dense chord changes. Something we all struggle with. This episode is all about turning those tunes into an opportunity instead of a section to be feared. By turning them into a ballad or a set of cadenzas, we can free ourselves up to try new things and develop new pathways through tunes and keys. When we look at things like this as learning tools, we suddenly change our view … [Read more...]