Learn Jazz Standards Podcast Folgen

Welcome to episode 285 where today I talk about how to play more melodic jazz solos. What separates the amateurs from the experts is how melodic a jazz solo is. So if you are stuck with boring solos, or solos that sound like scales, this episode will give you actionable steps for transforming your solos into memorable ones.If you're like 99% of the people that come to me for help with their jazz playing and their improvisation, you are not happy with your jazz solos right now. There's something about them that is missing and you are not quite sure what it is when you compare yourself to other great jazz musicians you know or your favorite ones that you listen to recordings on.The key is that great jazz musicians are always playing melodically. And they don't sound like they're playing scales. They don't sound like they are playing chord tones. They don't sound like they are playing mechanically at all. They sound like they're playing organic, living, breathing melodies. So how do you play jazz solos that sing and that are melodic? Well, that's exactly what I'm talking about in today's episode -- how do we improvise melodically. I'm going to give you some practical advice, some steps, and some things that you can practice today.In this episode:1. What makes a melody great 2. Strategy for making the chord changes come out in your solos 3. Voice leading as a tool for developing melody 4. Make your solos singable by practicing creating them.Important Links:LJS Inner Circle MembershipFree Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart WayLearn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

Welcome to episode 284 where today I talk about how to know whether you are ready to start learning jazz. I hear from musicians who wonder if their skills on their instrument are up to par, ears good enough, or in general, have the talent necessary to learn and play jazz. I discuss how to know if you are ready, and several things you can do to set yourself up for success.Am I ready to start playing jazz? That's the question that someone asked me recently and I've been asked this question many times by different subscribers over the years. And sometimes I am asked in different ways like, am I technically proficient enough in my instrument to be able to play jazz? I'm a classical musician. Am I able to play jazz even though I've never learned anything by ear before and I'm not even an improviser?So many different iterations of this question, but all kind of come down to the root of is jazz a step above where I am right now and therefore, I have to sort of bridge that gap before we get there before we actually start diving into jazz and enjoying ourselves playing the music.Well, that's exactly what I'm going to answer today. I'm going to give you the answer to that question directly and then give you some guidelines and some helpful tips so that you can be prepared to play jazz and really start taking off on the right foot. In this episode:1. How to know whether you are ready to play jazz or not 2. Tip 1: Know the basics of navigating your instrument 3. Tip 2: Know basic scales and chord tones 4. Tip 3: Be willing to failImportant Links:LJS Inner Circle MembershipFree Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart WayLearn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

Welcome to episode 283 where today I talk about 3 powerful mindsets that you need to adopt to start improving faster while practicing less, and setting yourself up to win every time.If you can start recognizing the less helpful mindsets that many of us musicians have, and then replacing them with these, it could be huge for you.Too many times, we musicians set ourselves up to fail. We set ourselves up to fail so that we are not able to improve in our jazz playing, in our skills, in our comping, in our walking baselines, in our single note lines. Whatever it is that you are working on right now, we set ourselves up to fail because we have the wrong mindset. We have the wrong mindset for how to actually improve and because we've adopted some of these bad mindsets for how we approach actually going about learning this music, we dramatically decrease the way that we improve and how we are able to improve.So, in today's episode, I'll be going over 3 powerful mindsets that, if you can adopt these mindsets, I can pretty much guarantee that you are going to start making more progress in your jazz playing while practicing even less.In this episode:1. Mindset 1: You can make huge progress with only the amount of practice time you have (without giving up anything) 2. Mindset 2: The simple stuff is the BIG stuff - you don't need to practice harder and more things to improve 3. Mindset 3: Perfection is the enemy of progress - when we get stuck on perfecting one thing, we miss out on the other lessons waiting for us Important Links:LJS Inner Circle MembershipFree Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart WayLearn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!