Learn Jazz Standards Podcast
852 episodes - English - Latest episode: 20 days ago - ★★★★★ - 446 ratingsThe LJS Podcast is the podcast where you get weekly jazz tips, interviews, stories and advice for becoming a better jazz musician! Hosting the show is the jazz musician behind learnjazzstandards.com, author, and entrepreneur Brent Vaartstra, who’s one goal is to answer any question about playing jazz music you may have. Jazz can be a challenging music to learn and play, but it doesn’t have to be so hard. Each episode features a specific musical challenge that jazz students may come across, where it is discussed and answered. Special jazz guests frequent the show, sharing their expertise on an array of different musical subject matter. Listeners are invited to call in with their jazz questions to the podcast hotline, where it could get answered on a future LJS Podcast episode. Join thousands of other listeners getting free jazz education every week!
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Episodes
Taking Musical Shots to Increase Your Success Rate
May 29, 2023 12:00 - 19 minutes - 13.5 MB"You miss 100% of the shots that you don't take". Have you ever heard that old Wayne Gretzky quote? That's the greatest hockey player that ever lived. Or was it Michael Scott from The Office? I get that one a little bit confused sometimes. Anyways, we're gonna talk about that quote, "You miss 100% of the shots that you don't take". In today's episode, we're going to be talking about some musical mindset and how we can propel our music and our jazz playing forward. In this episode: 1....
The 1% Mindset For High Achieving Musicians
May 22, 2023 12:00 - 25 minutes - 17.6 MBHey. Do you ever feel frustrated by your musical progress because you don't feel like you're improving quickly enough? Or do you feel overwhelmed because there are a lot of different things when it comes to playing jazz that you have to practice and learn? Sometimes it feels like you're doing all this stuff in the practice room, but it just seems like a mess in your head and like you aren't really improving the way you want to. Perhaps a feeling of disorganization in the way that you're tr...
5 Struggles With Playing Great Jazz Solos
May 15, 2023 12:00 - 40 minutes - 27.6 MBI recently ran a poll of over 2000 musicians playing all sorts of instruments over on our YouTube channel. And the question was, "What do you find most challenging about jazz improvisation?". And here were the options that we gave: a) Creating melodic and cohesive solos b) Understanding and applying jazz theory during improvisation c) Developing a strong sense of timing and rhythmic feel d) Building confidence to take risks and explore new ideas e)Spontaneously connecting with other playe...
6 Things to Do When On a Musical Plateau
May 08, 2023 12:00 - 31 minutes - 21.7 MBI'm wondering if you can identify with a personality type that I happen to identify myself with, and that is that of a high achiever. Now a high achiever is someone who just naturally always wants to be progressing, like isn't usually completely satisfied with where they're at in any arena of life and always wants to continue to go forward and get better, which has been a great thing for a lot of aspects of my life and has really helped me out and been a great tool. On the other side of t...
The Secret to Jazz Improvisation Revealed
May 01, 2023 12:00 - 27 minutes - 19 MBBack when I was in college, going to music school, there was a running joke between me and my friends where we would, perhaps after practicing or playing a gig, proclaim that we had finally figured out the secret to jazz. It was a funny statement, I guess you could say. But the reason we would say such a thing is because, you know, at times jazz can be a little bit befuddling, like, confusing and frustrating and feeling like you're stuck. And how do you improvise better? How do you get to...
Think and Improve Your Jazz Playing (8 Ways)
April 24, 2023 12:00 - 49 minutes - 33.8 MBWhat if you could improve your jazz playing, and just by thinking about it? Sounds a little too good to be true? Well, in today's episode, I'm going to show you how it is actually completely possible with 8 different strategies for simply thinking in improving your jazz playing. In this episode: 1. Deep listening 2. Analyze recordings 3. Analyze your own playing 4. Establish jazz goals 5. Develop a practice plan 6. Visualize harmony 7. Practice visualization 8. Mentally reframe n...
10 Habits of Successful Jazz Musicians
April 17, 2023 12:00 - 34 minutes - 24 MBWhat makes a successful jazz musician? Today, on the podcast, I'm going to break down 10 habits that I find in successful jazz musicians, all the way from those who are just amateur players who are just trying to have a lot of fun to the best of the best jazz musicians that exist today in the world. In this episode: 1. Focus on mastering the art of practicing 2. Record themselves 3. Create feedback loops 4. Learn the jazz language consistently 5. Play with other musicians 6. Consis...
Jazz Talk With Leander Young from Improv Exchange
April 10, 2023 12:00 - 32 minutes - 22.3 MBI got a special episode on the podcast for you today. On the show is Leander Young from the Improv Exchange, and we had a fun little conversation, actually, after I recorded a podcast for his podcast, and just started talking jazz, started talking about playing music, learning how to play music, great jazz musicians, a whole slew of other things. I know you're going to have a lot of fun listening to this one and you'll learn some things along the way. In this episode: 1. How Leander start...
What are Ghost Notes in Jazz?
April 04, 2023 00:00 - 12 minutes - 8.64 MBToday, on the podcast, we're going to talk about "ghost notes", how to recognize them when you hear them, how to use them, and of course, what are they in the first place. In this episode: 1. Definition of a ghost note 2. Sample of ghost notes from Scrapple from the Apple 3. How ghost notes are played on some instruments 4. Spotting ghost notes 5. Some artists who often use ghost notes 6. How adopting ghost notes can benefit your playing Important Links: Free Guide to learning standards ...
The 3 Kinds of Jazz Musicians (And the Challenges They Face)
March 27, 2023 12:00 - 36 minutes - 25.1 MBHaving observed the playing of thousands of musicians through teaching online with Learn Jazz Standards, I've found that there are, in general, 3 different kinds of jazz musicians and I'm wondering which one of them you are. So, today, on the podcast, we are going to talk about those 3 different kinds of jazz musicians, and we're going to dive deep into what the individual challenges that you may face as one of these jazz musicians and how to get to the next level at every single step. In...
5 Reasons You Shouldn't Transcribe Jazz Solos
March 20, 2023 12:00 - 33 minutes - 23 MBBack when I was in college, I studied with a great jazz guitarist in New York City named Steve Cardenas. Steve is a fantastic jazz musician, tours around the world with lots of different artists, and has recorded albums. In all senses of the word, a very accomplished musician and seasoned jazz player. In one of our lessons, one time, when I went up to his house in Brooklyn, he told me something that was slightly disturbing, at least to the way I was thinking about learning music and jazz ...
How to Play Jazz By Instrument (Guitar, Piano, Sax, Trumpet, Bass)
March 13, 2023 12:00 - 40 minutes - 28.2 MBIf you play guitar, saxophone, trumpet, bass, and piano, this episode is for you. On this podcast, we talk about jazz improvisation and things that literally all harmonic and melodic instruments need to be doing to improve at playing jazz. But, inevitably, there are certain technical elements of each one of these instruments that do need to be addressed that will help you actually play jazz better. So, on today's episode, we're going through each one of these instruments. We're also goin...
The 7 Categories of Jazz Standards You Need to Learn
March 06, 2023 13:00 - 28 minutes - 19.9 MBHey, so we know there's a lot of jazz standards out there to learn and sometimes we wonder which ones should we be learning to be able to play with other musicians who play at jam sessions or even play at gigs. And so, it can really be helpful to understand what the categories are that we need to be focusing on, the subgenres of jazz that will come up time and time again as far as tunes being called in public settings. So, today on the podcast, we're talking about 7 categories of songs th...
Using Chord Extensions and Alterations to Spice Up Voicings and Solos
February 27, 2023 13:00 - 27 minutes - 18.7 MBToday, on the podcast, we are talking about chord extensions and alterations, what are they, how can we use them in our comping and how can we even use them in our soloing to spice up our jazz improv and jazz playing. In this episode: 1. The 5 qualities of 7th Chords that are commonly used in jazz: a) Major 7th chords b) Dominant 7th chords c) Minor 7th chords d) Half Diminished chords e) Fully Diminished chords 2. What are Extensions and Alterations 3. Extensi...
From The Vault: How to Prepare to Play at Jazz Jam Sessions
February 20, 2023 13:00 - 51 minutes - 35.4 MBI hear from a lot of you that a big goal is to play at a public jazz jam session. But there may be some barriers, either in your mind or your actual playing ability that is stopping you from actually doing that. So, how do you prepare to play at jazz jam sessions and with other musicians in general? That's why we're going to go back into the vault of the LJS podcast, pull out an episode where I get two of my good friends and professional jazz musicians, Wallace Stelzer and Diego Baldonado...
Big Thinking Will Transform Your Jazz Playing
February 13, 2023 13:00 - 24 minutes - 17.2 MBToday, on the podcast, I want to talk about thinking big. Thinking big in your jazz playing. What I mean by that is aspiring to be something that you probably could never attain. Perhaps it's playing just as good as Sonny Rollins, perhaps it's playing with your own band at the Village Vanguard. Audacious goals that are really, really difficult to attain, if not, impossible for you to attain. I want to talk about how this kind of thinking will actually propel you forward in your musical j...
Fine Tuning Your Jazz Playing with P.B.R. Practice
February 06, 2023 13:00 - 24 minutes - 17.2 MBOne of my jazz mentors once said that the secret that pro-level jazz musicians have, some of the best jazz musicians in the world, is they've mastered the art of practicing. In fact, he went on to say that, pro jazz musicians spend just as much time fine-tuning their actual practice as they do their actual jazz playing. And so, today, I want to talk about the strategy called P.B.R. practice. Elements of practice sessions that will help set you up for success and jump-start your playing a...
My Story of Overcoming Performance Anxiety
January 30, 2023 13:00 - 47 minutes - 32.9 MBSo, tell me if you're going to relate any of this: You want to go play at a public jam session, but you're kind of just afraid that you're not going to sound good and you're afraid of what the other jazz musicians are going to think of you and your playing. Or, you go up to perform and all the eyes staring back at you make you tremble, make you clam up, and in general, it's just an incredibly uncomfortable experience that doesn't allow you to actually have fun performing and playing jazz. ...
The 6 Lies of Jazz Success
January 23, 2023 13:00 - 28 minutes - 19.4 MBToday, we're talking about the 6 lies of jazz success. Things that you've probably heard before are good things, but it turns out they actually aren't and could be holding you back from reaching your goals in your jazz playing, and becoming the musician that you want to be. So, let's get ready to do this. Pay attention and grab your notebook. In this episode: The 6 lies about jazz success and the alternative ways to turn it around Lie #1: Everything you practice matters Lie #2: Practic...
The Art of Taking B.A.D Jazz Solos
January 16, 2023 13:00 - 28 minutes - 19.5 MBSo, we just got our Inner Circle Retreat this last weekend, and my friends, it was an absolutely amazing time. So motivating and so inspiring. A lot of our Inner Circle members came together. We did workshops, we did masterclasses, and we did group breakout sessions. It was an amazing time and we learned a lot together. I want to share with you one little thing that we did talk about during the retreat 'cause I think it will be helpful for you as well, And that's this concept about playing...
Becoming a Jazz Expert With Your Tune of Destiny
January 09, 2023 13:00 - 25 minutes - 17.6 MBHey, listen, there are a lot of jazz standards out there and it can be pretty overwhelming which ones to learn, how often should you learn a new one? But if we can take all that pressure away and instead you are only responsible for becoming an expert in just one jazz standard? What would that look like? How would that work and how would that actually help you become a much better jazz player at all the other jazz standards out there as well? So, I'm going to dive into that today. We're go...
What I've Learned After 400 Podcast Episodes
January 02, 2023 13:00 - 52 minutes - 35.9 MB400 episodes of the Learn Jazz Standards Podcast, wow! So, I'm going to talk about this episode today, everything that I've learned over the last 400 episodes of recording and producing the show. In this episode: What I've learned over the course of creating 400 podcast episodes: 1. Musically 2. Personally 3. About teaching music 4. About content creation 5. The future of Learn Jazz Standards Podcast Important Links: Free Guide to learning standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the ...
How To Exponentially Improve Your Jazz Playing in 2023
December 26, 2022 13:00 - 29 minutes - 20.2 MBWe are 2 days away from the year 2023, and if you're listening to this episode it very well could be the year 2023. And a lot of people like to use the new year as a new beginning, or perhaps, a new chapter. So, regardless of whether you're into the idea of new year's resolutions or the traditional sense of what that actually means, I do think it's a good idea to create a plan for what you're trying to achieve within the next year. You listen to this podcast because you want to become a be...
I Improvised A Jazz Solo in 6 Different Ways
December 19, 2022 13:00 - 29 minutes - 20.1 MBToday, on the podcast I'm going to be sitting down and improvising a little bit over a jazz standard that I like to play and just giving myself an opportunity to explore some new ideas, to allow myself to get musically creative. I like you to join me in the process and see what you can discover along the way as well. In this episode: How I improvise on East of the Sun in 6 different ways 1. 1st jam session: Improvising freely with no constraints 2. 2nd jam session: Focusing more on impr...
I Redid Episode 1 of the LJS Podcast (4 Habits for Better Practicing)
December 12, 2022 13:00 - 32 minutes - 22.4 MBAlright, my friends, today's episode is going to be a bit cringy for me, but I'm going to do it anyways. We're going to be back to episode 1 of the Learn Jazz Standards podcast and it was called 4 Habits for Better Practicing. And I'm going to look through those 4 habits, that advice that I gave all the way back in 2016, and show you what's changed and what stayed the same as far as my advice goes with jazz practicing and improvement and all that good stuff. In this episode: - What has ...
The Pros and Cons of Binge Practicing
December 05, 2022 13:00 - 22 minutes - 15.7 MBHave you ever heard of "binge practicing" before? So, binge practicing is kind of what it sounds like, it's where you are practicing for large amounts at a time. And you can also binge practice often, so you are binge practicing frequently. It's kind of like binge-watching Netflix. It's like you watch 5 hours one day and 5 hours the next day, and it keeps on going on like that. Well, today, I want to talk about the pros of binge practicing and the cons of binge practicing for your jazz pl...
32 Jazz Standards I Had My Students Learn
November 28, 2022 13:00 - 52 minutes - 35.8 MBToday, on the podcast, I'll be talking about 32 jazz standards that I had my students in my Inner Circle membership learn for very specific reasons that I want to share with you. And I want you to also see, out of these jazz standards, which one do you know and which ones would you be interested in learning so that they can help you improve your jazz playing. In this episode: - Short demo and reasons why I chose these jazz standards for my students: 1) On The Sunny Side of the Street 2)...
The 4 Elements of Mastering A Jazz Standard
November 21, 2022 13:00 - 1 hour - 45.2 MBToday's episode is what I would consider to be probably the most valuable episode I've ever come out with. And I hope that it becomes one of the most popular episodes I've ever come up with because I truly believe this is really important information that you need to be paying attention to. We're gonna be talking about the 4 elements of mastering a jazz standard. Being able to play a jazz standard comfortably, being proficient at it, improvising great solos over it. Exactly what you need to...
2 Ways to Improve Your Jazz Solos Today
November 14, 2022 13:00 - 23 minutes - 16.1 MBToday on the podcast, I wanna show you 2 ways you can start improving your jazz improvisation today. And I wanna share with you a few different people that I know who recently have implemented these things and have made clear progress in their jazz playing. In this episode: 1. How 2 LJS Inner Circle members applied concepts to improve their jazz improv 2. Isolating a musical concept learned and experimenting with it 3. Addressing roadblocks to desired progress 4. Good tools for looping ...
Secrets To Becoming A More Creative Jazz Musician
November 07, 2022 12:00 - 32 minutes - 22.1 MBSo, what is the secret to playing more creative jazz solos, playing more creative melodies, playing more creative comping, more creative basslines? You name them. How do we become creative and tap into our inner creativity so it doesn't just sound like we're playing formulated music or regurgitated music, but something that comes from us, sounds original, sounds organic, and exciting? Well, that's exactly what I'm going to talk about in today's episode. In this episode: 1. How do we b...
The Secret to Feeling Calm When You Play Your Instruments
October 31, 2022 12:00 - 42 minutes - 29.4 MBSo, it's the year 2009, I'm in college at that time, going to school in Seattle, Washington. And in Seattle, there is a jazz jam session at this bar called the Owl N' Thistle. Cool little dive bar, exactly what you want in a jam session, kinda smells like stale booze, all the good stuff, right? So, I go for the first time, even the second time, third time, fourth time, fifth time. Honestly, it really doesn't matter at this point in my life. The same feeling inside of my body was always the ...
Why Most People Won't Learn Jazz
October 24, 2022 12:00 - 34 minutes - 23.6 MBI got a question for you: Have you ever felt intimidated to learn jazz, or intimidated to play jazz with others, or perhaps you're someone on the outside looking in and it all looks a little bit overwhelming? But, perhaps you're someone who is working on jazz right now, you're an avid practicer, but you feel often frustrated. Well, there's a good chance that some of the reasons you're feeling that way are because of the culture of the jazz scene itself. the culture of the way this music is...
The 3 Essential Elements of An Amazing Jazz Solo
October 17, 2022 12:00 - 33 minutes - 22.7 MBToday, on the show, we're talking about 3 elements that make up really, really, really good jazz solos. These are things I'm hearing from the best jazz musicians in the world, things that we wanna start implementing in our own solos. So, let's talk about those. Grab your favorite drink and snacks. In this episode: 1. Creating Amazing Melodies 2. Creating Rhythmic Interest 3. How to Play The Changes Important Links: Free Guide to learning standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart ...
3 Questions I Ask My Inner Circle Members That I Want You To Ask Yourself, Too.
October 10, 2022 12:00 - 32 minutes - 22.2 MBToday, on the podcast, I'm talking about 3 questions that I find myself continually asking our Inner Circle members that I want you to start asking yourself as well. And I believe that if you start asking these 3 questions, you're going to start making faster improvements in your jazz playing. In this episode: 1. Why I'm letting you ask these questions to yourself 2. The difference between coaching and teaching and which role I take 3. The importance of critical thinking in learning musi...
What I Think About The Future of Jazz
October 03, 2022 12:00 - 47 minutes - 32.4 MBToday, on the podcast I wanna talk about the future of jazz. We're gonna talk about the future of jazz education, the future of the genre, the style, where it's going. We're going to, of course, have to deal with the age-old question, "Is jazz dead?". And many of my thoughts about the state of jazz and the enthusiasm for the genre in this episode today. So, grab your favorite beverage, grab your favorite snacks. Sit back and relax! In this episode: 1. Is Jazz Dead? 2. Why Jazz Educatio...
Quick Win: Turn ANY Song Into JAZZ (Reharmonization 101)
September 30, 2022 12:00 - 18 minutes - 13.1 MBToday, I wanna show you how you take a simple song, like, "You Are My Sunshine", and turn it into jazz. We'll take up 4 levels of reharmonization. In this episode: 1. The basic chord changes of You Are My Sunshine 2. How I play the tune with the basic chord changes 3. Level #1 - How to turn the tune into jazz 4. Level #2 - Spicing it up a little bit 5. Level #3 - How to get rid of redundancy and add twists 6. Level #4 - Use this specific tactic to add more harmonic movement and color 7. A c...
My Experience Going to Music School (How it Helped and How It Didn't)
September 26, 2022 12:00 - 49 minutes - 34.2 MBSo, because I know the audience that generally listens to this podcast, I know that a majority of you, or at least a good percentage of you have never been to a music school before, and so, you may be wondering, what was it that I missed in music school that would help me become a better jazz musician. So, in today's episode, what I wanna do is just talk about my experience in music school and things that it really helped me with and how I was able to improve. But I also do wanna share some...
Quick Win: How to Learn Jazz Melodies by Ear
September 23, 2022 12:00 - 19 minutes - 13.3 MBSo, what's the best way to learn and memorize the melodies to jazz standards? Well, today, I'm gonna just walk you through me learning the melody to a jazz standard that I actually don't know and show you my exact process. In this episode: 1. What I prepare ahead of time 2. This is how I start 3. Why my guitar and the recording are not on the same pitch 4. The pick-up to the next section 5. How chord charts become helpful 6. The pick-up to the 2nd A section 7. The second ending 8. The fina...
40 Jazz Standards to Know (Broken Down by Category)
September 19, 2022 12:00 - 26 minutes - 18 MBToday, on the podcast, I'm talking about 40 jazz standards that you should know and I'm gonna break them down by categories so that you can see which categories you need to fill in some more jazz standards on. In this episode: 1. Start-Up Standards 2. Advanced Essentials 3. Ballads 4. Bossa Novas 5. Bebop 6. Blues 7. Brent's top 6 Important Links: Free Guide to learning standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way LJS Inner Circle Membership Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get...
Quick Win: 10 Biggest Lies About Playing Jazz
September 16, 2022 12:00 - 14 minutes - 10.2 MBHave you been told any of these 10 mistruths about jazz? If so, you may have started believing things that are ultimately not helping you improve as a jazz player. In this episode: 1. Mistruth #1: If you can hear it, then you can play it. 2. Mistruth #2: You don't need to know theory in order to play jazz. 3. Mistruth #3: You need to know a lot of music theory in order to play jazz. 4. Mistruth #4: You need to have amazing techniques in order to play jazz. 5. Mistruth #5: Learn jazz solos ...
The Practicing Snowball for Multiplying Your Musical Results
September 12, 2022 12:00 - 33 minutes - 23.3 MBToday, on the podcast, I"m gonna be talking about an important concept that I call, "The Practicing Snowball". "The Practicing Snowball" is something that's going to leave you feeling super encouraged, I believe, by the end of this episode. And it's going to show you how the compounding effects of your practice really come into play from looking at this from a variety of different angles. In this episode: 1. The Practicing Snowball and what it is 2. The many different skills you didn't kn...
Quick Win: Jazz Improvisation For Beginners (How to Get Started)
September 09, 2022 12:00 - 18 minutes - 12.9 MBIf you've ever felt overwhelmed at jazz improvisation and unsure of where to get started, today I'm going to show you exactly how it works, make it simple so you get headed in the right direction. In this episode: 1. How to start improvising over 2-5-1 2. The most basic notes you can play 3. The modes of each chord 4. The most important notes 5. The actual scale used by jazz musicians 6. How jazz musicians actually play the chromatic and major scale 7. How a jazz musician might resolve to ...
Using "Restrictive Practicing" to Improve Your Jazz Solos
September 05, 2022 12:00 - 27 minutes - 19.1 MBOne thing that attracts musicians to jazz is the fact that the possibilities are endless. When it comes to improvisation, really, there are so many different avenues to explore, so many different things you can play and after listening to some of the greatest jazz musicians in the world, you realize there's a massive amount of vocabulary out there that you can express. The rules are there but, really, the rules are meant to be broken. The problem with jazz, though, is that there are too ma...
Where Should You Learn Jazz (Books, YouTube, Courses, Memberships, Lessons)?
August 29, 2022 12:00 - 51 minutes - 35.5 MBIn today's episode, we're gonna talk about where is the best place for you to learn jazz: Is it music books? Is it YouTube videos and podcast episodes like this? Is it courses? Is it memberships, or is it private lessons? We're gonna go through them and talk about the pros and cons of each one. In this episode: 1. The Pros and Cons of Music Books 2. The Pros and Cons of Online Content 3. The Pros and Cons of Courses 4. The Pros and Cons of Memberships 5. The Pros and Cons of Private Lesson...
Quick Win: Pro Jazz Musician Reacts to His Playing From 10 Years Ago
August 26, 2022 12:00 - 20 minutes - 14 MBWhat's up, guys? It's Brent here. So I was just surfing the Internet and I found a video of me playing a gig from 10 years ago. Today, I'm gonna watch that video, give you my reaction to it, and let's see how messy it gets. In this episode: 1. Intro 2. The melody 3. Pro Tip 4. The organ solo (by Camden Hughes) - my impression 5. My impression of my comping 6. Pro Tip 7. When I hit it pretty good 8. How I rate my solo 9. How I failed on trading 4s 10. How I rate my trading 4s 11. ...
How to Get Back "Into Shape" After a Break In Playing Jazz
August 22, 2022 12:00 - 30 minutes - 21 MBAre you trying to get back "into shape" after being off of playing for a while? In today's episode, I will be sharing some tips on how to help you get back into the flow and feel that connection with your instrument and your music to prepare you to perform or just get you to play again. In this episode: 1. Listen to music that is "sticky" for you 2. Start getting reacquainted with your instrument 3. Start practicing common chord progressions 4. Practice a song you are comfortable with 5....
Quick Win: How to Learn Giant Steps (Jazz Tutorial)
August 19, 2022 12:00 - 11 minutes - 8.09 MBGiant Steps is notoriously one of the most feared jazz standards for musicians to learn and improvise over, not only because of the complex harmony but also because of the speed. So today, I'm gonna talk about how we can learn the chords most efficiently so we can improvise over them well and find out the harmonic secrets that Giant Steps has to offer. In this episode: 1. Intro 2. Preparing to learn the melody - LIST process 3. Analyzing the chords (featuring Brett Pontecorvo) 4. The ii-V-...
What Prevents You From Achieving Your Jazz Goals?
August 15, 2022 12:00 - 43 minutes - 30.1 MB"What prevents you from achieving your jazz goals?". This was a question we recently polled our community over on YouTube about, and we got a lot of really interesting answers and responses to our poll. So, in today's episode what I wanna do is I wanna go over those results; what people are saying and talk about each result and help you understand how really, they're not actually truly holding you from your jazz goals if you channel them in the different direction. In this episode: 1. Ad...
Quick Win: How to Learn Softly, As In a Morning Sunrise (Jazz Tutorial)
August 12, 2022 12:00 - 15 minutes - 10.4 MBToday, we're talking about the classic minor jazz standard, "Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise". We'll take a look at the chords to figure out the most efficient way to learn it as well as some harmonic secrets within the tune that will help us improvise over it. in this episode: 1. Short demo 2. The best way to learn the melody 3. Identifying the key - The first A section 4. Things you can do with a minor ii-V-I progression 5. A tritone substitution 6. Chord substitution options 7. Associat...
The One Musical Skill I Would Master (feat. Brett Pontecorvo)
August 08, 2022 12:00 - 20 minutes - 14.1 MBToday on the podcast I have a member of my team, Brett Pontecorvo, to the show with me to discuss 2 questions. And those questions are: - What is one musical skill you are/were lacking that caused you some trouble in your career? and - If you could start over, what would be the one musical skill you would master? A lot of gold within these hills. In this episode: 1. What is one musical skill you are/were lacking that caused you some trouble in your career? 2. If you could start over, ...