Some of my students and many professional musicians and hobbyists that I know, experience a lot of stress, anxiety and general nervousness prior to, and…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 64: Book ii-V-I
In this lesson we’ll look at the first ii – V7 – I melody found in the “Modern Jazz Vocabulary vol. 2” book. This melody…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 63: Nat 9 ~ Flat 9
In lesson 63 we look at a simple melody that uses both the natural 9 (the #11) and the b9 on a dominant 7th chord. …
Read Full Blog PostLesson 62: Masterclass
I had the honor of doing a masterclass at Casa Valdez Studios while in Portland earlier this month. We talked a lot about singing over…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 61: “Drop 2” Voicing
While working on major 7th and minor 7th “drop 2” chord voicings, I found a nice shape to work on through the keys. Drop…
Read Full Blog Post-Lesson 60: Diatonic Sequence
This lesson covers a great melody from one of the Bach Cello suites which has been extended slightly to cover the whole major scale. The…
Read Full Blog Post-Lesson 59: Spread Tri-tone
I thought it might be nice to work with a variation on Lesson 1 (Spread Triads) – In this exercise we play spread major triads…
Read Full Blog Post-Lesson 58: Triad Diminished
This is a nice triadic idea that works through a dimished scale. By simply playing 2nd inversion major triads down by minor thirds you get…
Read Full Blog Post-Lesson 57: Scale Routine
Scales have been a popular thing to practice in both the jazz and classical world for years. Playing through scales as been compared to a…
Read Full Blog Post-Lesson 56: Giant Steps Etude
This is a short, 1 chorus etude over John Coltrane’s Giant Steps progression. It incorporates a few different conceptual ideas which I find useful. In…
Read Full Blog Post-Lesson 55: ii – V7#5 -i dim
I’ve always found it effective to work on a specific melody in order to incorporate a general concept into my playing. For instance, when learning…
Read Full Blog Post-Lesson 54: Triad w Neighbors
In this lesson we look at embellishing a triad with specific upper and lower neighbor-tones. The bulk of the exercise will focus on a major…
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