This week is a continuation of the important information from last week's episode. In this edition, we look at both simplifying the note choice on chords and simplifying the actual chord progression when things get difficult. The combination of these two tactics allows us to play over the most complicated and fast moving progressions with relative ease. I have seen first hand the benefits that come from this type of thinking with dozens of students over the years so make sure you get to work on … [Read more...]

The next couple of Monday episodes will focus on one of the best books I have read on the subject of completing deep, meaningful work. A requirement for every musician! Get Deep Work by Cal Newport! 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 about limiting our note choice to provide more meaningful melodies and harmonic impact. Most of the time, if we try to fit the maximum amount of information into a given space, we will end up sounding contrived and like we are trying to fit information into a kind of improvisational clown car. This episode is all about creating statements that limit the notes we can use over a given chord. This frees up our minds to think about more than just the notes and clarifies our thinking. … [Read more...]

This is one of my favorite jazz standards of all time. This tune can be very intimidating due to the bridge. The topic of today's show is how to approach a tune that has a tricky section causing you to avoid it. By using a simple trick that allows you to think through difficult changes slowly, we can start to sort some of these things out in our playing. Thinking fast is essential when playing this music, but thinking slowly is also an essential part of practicing. Learning to balance the two … [Read more...]

One of the most hated roles in our society! It's time to become the dreaded AUDITOR! 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 features one of my favorite Trumpet/Flugelhorn players from Bristol, UK, Gary Alesbrook. Gary plays an amazing version of Clifford Brown's Joy Spring on his Instagram page and we are using that as the basis for this episode. This one is a bit different from our usual lick of the month series. Instead of looking very closely at a lick or piece of vocabulary, we will be talking about some of the larger issues and concepts that make Gary's playing so amazing. Don't fret though, the full … [Read more...]

Our third and final installment of questions from Andrew asks the question of what motivated us initially. 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 our look at simple, actionable devices that we can use over sus chords. Last week we talked about pentatonics you can use over over these chords. This week, is all about triadic material that you can easily insert over these types of chords. The first device is so simple you can start using it right away. The second may be a little bit tougher, but I promise you will have it down in no time. Enjoy the episode and remember to support us on Patreon if you enjoy this … [Read more...]

This is the second in our three part series on everything that has to do with motivation and practicing. 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...]

The inspiration for this week's show came from a student of mine that was having trouble with sus chords. She wasn't sure what to do when she saw a sus chord and what was appropriate as far as melodic devices. So, this week, I'm giving all of you the exact same material that I gave her. We investigate a couple of pentatonic scales that work very nicely over sus chords and the differences in sound between them. Enjoy! WANT THE PDF THAT GOES ALONG WITH THIS EPISODE?? Head over to our Patreon … [Read more...]