Broken arpeggios are one great way to integrate some larger intervalic material into your improvisation while still outlining the chords that you are playing over. …
Read Full Blog PostLesson 78: 8th Note Feel
Working feel of 8th notes seems like an ever ending process of refinement and over the years I’ve found an interesting and pretty fun way…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 77: Triadic Blues
Here’s a Triadic Blues etude I wrote a while back for one of my favorite trumpet players Josh Welchez. It is comprised of all major…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 76: 30 Day Challenge
I’ve done 2 posts on long tones in the past (long tone 1, long tone 2) and thought it might be fun to encourage a…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 75: Cycle Wheel pt.3 (Cycle 4 and 5)
This is the final part of a 3 part lesson series dealing with using Cycle Wheels to deconstruct any 7 note scale. The 3 cycles…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 74: Cycle Wheel Pt.2 (Cycle 3 and 6)
This is part 2 of a 3 part lesson series dealing with using Cycle Wheels to deconstruct any type of 7 note scale. The 3…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 73: Cycle Wheel Pt.1 (Cycle 2 and 7)
This is the 1st of a 3 part lesson on using what I like to call a Cycle Wheel to deconstruct a scale. I first…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 72: 3 Note Cell
This lesson is similar to a study in triad pairs, however, in this melodic example, one of the 3 note cells is a sus (1,4,5)…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 71: E Modal Melody
Sometimes I find it helpful to spend time working on the modes and 7 main chords in just one key. This helps to strengthen my…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 70: Etudes
This lesson features several etudes I’ve written over standard chord changes. Back in the 80’swhile doing an undergraduate degree at Indiana University, David Baker would…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 50: Wide Intervals
Here’s an easy way to begin to introduce some wider intervals into your improvisation while still maintaining melodic and harmonic integrity. This exercise uses a…
Read Full Blog Post-Lesson 70: Augmented Melody
In this lesson we look at a short melody derived from the (classical) augmented scale ( 1, b3, 3, 5, b6, 7, 1 ) and…
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