August 11, 2010 in Learning Jazz
When you play over a minor ii-V chord progression, such as the first two chords of Stella by Starlight (which you expect to resolve to the minor i, D-, but it goes to a ii-V in Bb instead) one fun sound to play around with is the melodic minor scale.
Over the ii-7b5, use a melodic minor scale a minor …
July 5, 2010 in Learning Jazz
Charlie Parker
by Reckon from Flickr.com
I have been searching online for other jazz blogs of various kinds. I came across a website that gives a list of the top jazz blogs on the internet. This is a nice list to explore, and I wanted to share it:
http://www.invesp.com/blog-rank/Jazz#pr
-Camden…
July 2, 2010 in Learning Jazz
There are 3 important resources to help you learn tunes: recordings, fakebooks/chord charts, and play alongs. All three are helpful, if you understand their proper place. The following article deals with the place of each resource when you learn tunes.
by Dimitri Mikitenko from photoxpress.com
Have you ever heard a great jazz musician say that they believe in learning jazz …
July 1, 2010 in Learning Jazz
The dictionary defines meandering as moving aimlessly and idly without direction. Does that sound like your jazz solos? When teaching high school and even college aged students, the biggest criticism I have of their playing is what I call meandering. If you surveyed all the jazz improvisation materials on the marketplace, you would probably be led to believe that chord …
June 29, 2010 in Learning Jazz
This is part two of Brent Jensen’s series on learning licks and creating authentic-sounding jazz lines. This two-part series shows us how a beginning jazz player should approach learning to improvise convincingly in the jazz style by learning “licks” of the masters! This concept is directed toward beginners, but can be applied by all musicians, regardless of skill level. The …
June 28, 2010 in Learning Jazz
Brent Jensen, recording artist for Origin Records and Professor of Jazz Studies at the College of Southern Idaho, has done another great post for us! This two-part series shows us how a beginning jazz player should approach learning to improvise convincingly in the jazz style by learning “licks” of the masters! This concept is directed toward beginners, but can be …
