Welcome to episode 239 of the LJS Podcast where today we kick off "Minor Blues Month" on the podcast! We'll be uncovering 3 strategies for improvising over a minor blues and then my master practice plan for dominating a minor blues. Today is Strategy #1: Minor Pentatonics and "Blues Scales."Listen to episode 239October 2020 is Minor Blues Month here on the LJS podcast where I will be going over 3 strategies for improvising over a minor blues followed by the final episode 4 of the series where I'...
Oct 05, 2020•36 min•Season 1Ep. 239
Welcome to episode 238 of the LJS Podcast where today I sit down and learn the first A section of a jazz etude I've been wanting to learn. Listen in as I walk through my process for learning a jazz solo by ear off of a recording. You'll find observing the process helpful as well as learning some awesome jazz lines to try out for yourself. Have you ever heard a jazz solo and after you heard it, you just knew you had to learn it, or at least learn a part of it? Because if only you could learn that...
Sep 28, 2020•38 min•Season 1Ep. 238
Welcome to episode 237 of the LJS Podcast where today I share a masterclass I am taking out of the vault about listening to jazz. The way we listen to jazz can dictate how much we actually get out of it when we listen. As jazz musicians, listening can be one of our best forms of practice if we approach it mindfully. When you listen to jazz, what are you hearing? What are you listening for? What kind of things are going through your head as you hear the different instruments play? As you hear the...
Sep 21, 2020•43 min•Season 1Ep. 237
Welcome to episode 236 of the LJS Podcast where today I show you a simple technique that will help you take your jazz ballad playing to the next level. One of the challenges of playing ballads is the slow tempo and chords that seem to last forever. Side step 2-5's will help you add more harmonic movement and have you sounding like a pro. Ballads can be some of the more difficult jazz standards to solo over top of because they're typically played at fairly slow tempos and there's usually a lot of...
Sep 14, 2020•23 min•Season 1Ep. 236
Welcome to episode 235 of the LJS Podcast where today I put you to the test. Instead of the regular format of tips and tricks for becoming a better jazz musician, we're doing an ear training intervals quiz and I want to see how well you do. Today's episode is a bit more of an experimental episode where I am going to be putting you to the test. We are going to be going outside of our normal format of tips and tricks for becoming a better jazz improviser and we are going to instead be doing an ear...
Sep 07, 2020•20 min•Season 1Ep. 235
Welcome to episode 234 of the LJS Podcast where today I give a quick lecture on the importance of having fun when you practice. Of course, having fun should be the center of why we practice and want to improve. But having fun when you practice can also lead to quicker results in your jazz playing. Today's episode is probably the shortest in LJS podcast history, but that's because I want to share a short but powerful message with you. Now, I want to ask you a question first before we jump into it...
Aug 31, 2020•9 min•Season 1Ep. 234
Welcome to episode 233 of the LJS Podcast where today I show you 4 jazz blues licks that I know you're going to love. We listen to them and I explain what makes them work and sound so great. Prepare to have your face melted. Now if you're an avid listener of the LJS podcast, you may have heard me talk a lot about the blues before and how I believe that the blues is a really great song form to master in order to make all the rest of learning jazz standards easier. It just contains so many importa...
Aug 24, 2020•18 min•Season 1Ep. 233
Welcome to episode 232 of the LJS Podcast where today I talk about the 6 biggest mistakes I see beginner jazz musicians make. Having helped thousands of students through Learn Jazz Standards, I've discovered common mistakes that come up time and time again. Intermediate and advanced players make these mistakes too. I reveal them as well as some alternatives to correct your course. Over the last 9 years as a musician, teacher, and online jazz educator, I've had the opportunity to help thousands a...
Aug 17, 2020•28 min•Season 1Ep. 232
Welcome to episode 231 of the LJS Podcast where today I feature a chapter reading from my book "Jazz Improvisation Made Simple" where I discuss establishing your "why" and setting goals for your jazz playing. Establishing your why will help you keep anchored when the going gets tough or you feel like you are in a plateau. If you're a long-term listener of the LJS podcast, today's subject is probably not something that you haven't heard before from me. But this is one of my favorite topics to tal...
Aug 10, 2020•23 min•Season 1Ep. 231
Welcome to episode 230 of the LJS Podcast where today I go over my 3 step LIT Process for learning and applying jazz licks. Learning licks and then copy/pasting them into your solos rarely sounds natural, so we need to learn and apply them in a way that allows them to come out organically and expressed our own way. I've got a question for you. Have you ever learned a jazz lick, maybe off of a record, or from some other resource? You were really excited about it and practiced it, it's a great new...
Aug 03, 2020•14 min•Season 1Ep. 230
Welcome to episode 229 of the LJS Podcast where today I have on special guest Brett Pontecorvo to teach us how to properly use scales to build great solos. Scales are useful tools, but if applied in an un-musical way, can be problematic. Brett walks us through some solid tips for taking vanilla scales and developing them into melodic masterpieces. Scales are a classic way to get started with improvising over a jazz standard and they can be quite useful. However, in the wrong hands and used the w...
Jul 27, 2020•44 min•Season 1Ep. 229
Welcome to episode 228 of the LJS Podcast where today I teach you a few principles and techniques that will help you play "outside" of the changes without it sounding avante garde or playing wrong notes. I use a lick from an etude in our Inner Circle membership as an example. Have you ever listened to a jazz recording and suddenly the soloist that you're listening to starts going outside of the changes like it sounds dissonant, it doesn't sound completely stable, feels unstable, and feels a litt...
Jul 20, 2020•26 min•Season 1Ep. 228
Welcome to episode 227 of the LJS Podcast where today we cover 3 practice habits for retaining musical material. It can be frustrating when you learn a jazz standard, solo, or lick, only to forget it later. In this episode, I introduce some practice habits that can be helpful for long-term retention and set you up for success. It can be tough when we are learning a new jazz language, new jazz standards, to retain all of the information that we are learning. I mean, there is so much out there tha...
Jul 13, 2020•18 min•Season 1Ep. 227
Welcome to episode 226 of the LJS Podcast where today we cover the very important topic of ending jazz standards. Ever come to the end of jamming on a standard only for things to fall apart at the end? We all need some stock endings in our arsenal, and in today’s episode, I go over 7 different endings you can use to conclude jazz standards. In this episode: 1. Take the A Train ending 2. Count Basie ending 3. Ritardando ending 4. bIImaj7 Ending 5. Altered I Chord Ending 6. ii-IV-iii-VI Tag Ending...
Jul 06, 2020•15 min•Season 1Ep. 226
Welcome to episode 225 of the LJS Podcast where today I answer a question that I get asked quite often: when do I stop practicing something I'm working on and move on to something else? Often we get overly concerned about mastery and perfection, which can lead to getting stuck. Learn when you know something "good enough" and why you may want to move on even if things aren't perfect. There's that famous Winston Churchill quote that goes, "Perfection is the enemy of progress". And when it comes to...
Jun 29, 2020•22 min•Season 1Ep. 225
Welcome to episode 224 of the LJS Podcast where today I learn a new jazz standard in real-time on the show. If you'll join with me you'll know a new jazz standard by the end as well. You'll see how I approach learning a jazz standard by ear, no filters, no edits. You know, I love a lot of things about jazz music, like I love the improv, I love the creativity, I love the challenge it provides to us as individual musicians. Just a lot of things are great about it that I enjoy playing and listening...
Jun 22, 2020•48 min•Season 1Ep. 224
Welcome to episode 223 of the LJS Podcast where today we go over three music theory concepts in the jazz standard On the Sunny Side of the Street that can be helpful for improvising on standards in general. I discuss the three concepts as well as a few different ideas on how to approach them in your solos. I don't know about you, but whenever I work on a jazz standard or learn a new jazz standard, I'm always looking for little nuggets of wisdom, little tidbits that are going to help me in my jaz...
Jun 15, 2020•32 min•Season 1Ep. 223
Welcome to episode 222 of the LJS Podcast where today we have on special guest Kyle Younger on the show to discuss the history of jazz and its ties to the racial oppression of the African American community. Jazz is African American music, and we cannot understand or play this music without recognizing the oppression of those who created this music. When we play jazz music and when we practice jazz music, it's important that we remember that it is African American music and it was born out of sl...
Jun 07, 2020•43 min•Season 1Ep. 222
Welcome to episode 221 of the LJS Podcast where today in celebration of the launch of my new LJS Inner Circle Membership, I go over my 3 step proven process for "improv hacking" jazz standards. This is one of those episode that has so much value packed into it, I know you'll be reaching for your notepad! From time to time on this podcast, I like to come out with a super high-value episode like one that just really packs a punch. And in my opinion, when it comes to becoming a better jazz improvis...
Jun 01, 2020•50 min•Season 1Ep. 221
Welcome to episode 220 of the LJS Podcast where today I talk about how working on less is oftentimes the best way to improve as a jazz musician quickly. It seems counterintuitive to many that practicing less stuff (or even for less time) will produce greater results in your playing. But in this episode I share what will make the biggest differences, and how to apply a less is more strategy. Have you ever been going through YouTube or maybe a podcast like this or blogs collecting a bunch of jazz ...
May 25, 2020•36 min•Season 1Ep. 220
Welcome to episode 219 of the LJS Podcast where today I walk through an exercise for applying scales to jazz standards and song forms such as the blues. Scales are a great way of mapping out note choices over chords. But we want to be able to do this in a way that connects chords together melodically. You'll learn how to do this over a 12-bar blues. Imagine you are planning a cross-country road trip in whatever country you live in. And before you go on your trip, you want to map out all the diff...
May 18, 2020•25 min•Season 1Ep. 219
Welcome to episode 218 of the LJS Podcast where today I talk with LJS course member and saxophonist Trent Jordan. Trent is a hobbyist musician living in Brisbane, Australia who enjoys spending his downtime practicing his saxophone and honing his jazz improv skills. In this episode, Trent shares what's working for him in the practice room and get inside what he's doing to improve. One of the most enjoyable things for me as an online jazz educator is getting to watch my students in my courses post...
May 11, 2020•55 min•Season 1Ep. 218
Welcome to episode 217 of the LJS Podcast where today I talk with the founder and director of Musical-U, Christopher Sutton. Musical-U is a music education membership with a focus on training and community learning. Christopher shares the impact he's seen with learning music within his own community, and the power of musical social connection for your jazz playing. It's been my personal experience with learning jazz that when I do it in a community with other musicians who are trying to accompli...
May 04, 2020•46 min•Season 1Ep. 217
Welcome to episode 216 of the LJS Podcast where today I go walk you through a 12 jazz blues etude I've composed, and help you learn it by ear. Learning jazz solos by ear is important, so instead of talking about it and giving strategies, we actually do it on the episode. What if I told you that by the time this episode is over, you are going to be able to play a 12-bar jazz blues solo by ear by memory? Would you believe me? Well, that's exactly what we are going to do today in this episode. I'm ...
Apr 27, 2020•30 min•Season 1Ep. 216
Welcome to episode 215 of the LJS Podcast where today I go over different apps, software and technology that I and other members of the LJS community recommend for practicing jazz. Apps and software shouldn't be used as crutches, but if they are used as aids to help the learning process they can be a really helpful thing. One thing we're lucky to have as jazz musicians here in the 21st century is lots of apps, software, and technology to help aid us in our jazz practicing and learning the music ...
Apr 20, 2020•29 min•Season 1Ep. 215
Welcome to episode 214 of the LJS Podcast where today I go over 16 scales that can be useful when it comes to conceptualizing jazz improv. Scales are never to be used exclusively to improvise, but the 16 I cover in this episode can be helpful to map out note choices over many different chords you will come across in jazz standards. When it comes to jazz improvisation, scales can be really great ways to organize pitches or note choices over top of chords in chord progressions. Now, I don't think ...
Apr 13, 2020•34 min•Season 1Ep. 214
Welcome to episode 213 of the LJS Podcast where today we talk about all things comping. This isn't just an episode for the guitarists and pianists - everyone can get benefit from the concepts discussed in this episode. You learn 3 things to keep in mind while you are comping so that you are serving the musicians you are playing with as best as possible. In my personal opinion, one of the hardest things to teach in jazz is comping. Now, if you are a guitar player or a piano player, or a vibes pla...
Apr 06, 2020•26 min•Season 1Ep. 213
Welcome to episode 212 of the LJS Podcast where today I get behind my guitar and have an improv session. During trying times, it can be helpful to use music as an outlet to express things that you may not be able to in words or thoughts. In this episode, I perform an improvisation for you that I hope not only you will enjoy, but feel inspired to do the same. During times of uncertainty, music has the potential to be a healing force and to help us express our emotions, to get things out to the ta...
Mar 30, 2020•35 min•Season 1Ep. 212
Today's episode is a special message from me to the Learn Jazz Standards family about how we can get through these trying times together, and come out the other side stronger and more motivated than ever before. Hey, what's up, Learn Jazz Standards family! I wanted to record this bonus episode today just to say, hey listen, we are all in this together. I know that we are going through a hard time here in the world with the COVID-19 pandemic. For a lot of us, life has changed quite dramatically. ...
Mar 24, 2020•20 min
Welcome to episode 211 of the LJS Podcast where today we have special guest Mike Casey on the show to talk to us about arranging jazz standards so you can make them your own unique expression. Mike lays down the value with lots of practical tips for improving your jazz improv, gives us insight to his musical growth, and gives us examples of how to arrange jazz standards. Once you've learned the jazz standard and feel comfortable with it, you may think to yourself, well, I know how to play the me...
Mar 23, 2020•36 min•Season 1Ep. 211
