Learning Jazz

We’ve talked about pentatonics on LJS in the past both on the blog and on the podcast. In this post, I want to build on the concepts surrounding pentatonic scales and...

In the 1950's, Miles Davis released a series of iconic recordings of jazz standards with his “first great quintet,” which, in its most classic format, featured Miles on trumpet, John Coltrane on tenor saxophone,...

There are many ways to make your solos more interesting utilizing rhythm. In previous lessons, Using Rests and Odd Groupings to Spice Up Your Rhythms and Accents and...

There are some melodic lines that are so iconic that, despite my outspoken general opposition to the idea of “lick playing,” I believe every jazz musician should practice and memorize them in all 12...

I’ve discussed the major pentatonic scale here on LJS before and some of its uses. In this post I want to briefly review the major pentatonic scale and then talk about what I call...

A few months ago, I shared with you a lesson on Elvin Jones, entitled How To Comp On The Drums Like Elvin Jones, in which I discussed the comping side of the great late Elvin...

Joe Henderson’s “Inner Urge” from his iconic 1965 record also entitled Inner Urge is one of the most frequently called tunes at jam sessions when jazz musicians want to play a fast and challenging...

Here on Learn Jazz Standards, there are a few great posts on walking bass lines for bass players: How to Keep Your Bass Lines Interesting and How to Write a Walking Bass Line. In this post,...

One of the biggest pet peeves of being a drummer is to deal with poorly made charts. For some strange reason, musicians tend to neglect drum charts. I believe it has to do with the lack of...

As jazz musicians, we’re always trying to find ways to hear and come up with different types of melodic lines while improvising. One strategy that can help break up a hyper scale-focused approach to building...