I’ve been looking at using Modes of harmonic Major and harmonic minor over the chord progression “What is This Thing Called Love”. The first two…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 121: Fool To Want You
Today I’m working on the first melody of the standard “I’m a Fool to Want You”. I’m singing the opening phrase at the piano while…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 120: Singing/Tapping
Today I’ve been singing half note roots over Coltrane’s tri-tonic system. In this case: C Maj, Eb7, Ab Maj, B7, E Maj, G7 repeat… while…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 119: Relative Pitch
This is a supplementary post to Lesson 26. This skill will help you learn to play what you hear, learn to hear new ideas, melodies…
Read Full Blog PostLesson118: All Intervals
. . I’ve been working on this interval exercise with a drone for the last week or so and it’s really starting to have a…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 117: Major 9 #5 Melody
This short warm up is a melody based on a Major 7 #5 chord. The melody starts on the Root, ascends to the #5, ascends…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 116: The Four Half Diminished Scales
Here’s a simple melody that outlines the 4 distinct half diminished modes or scales. The PDF contains both scale and the melody (which uses the…
Read Full Blog Post115: Melodic Minor Modes
Although I believe there is a limit to value of practicing and understanding chord scale theory, the melodic minor scale is so prevalent in jazz…
Read Full Blog PostInterview with Neon Jazz
Last February I was interviewed by Joe Dimino at Neon Jazz. Joe’s blog is an amazing wealth of interviews and inspiration where you can spend…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 114: Groupings of 5/8 Over 4/4
In this video I’m working on playing All The Things in 4/4 on piano. Half notes in the bass and 3rds and 7ths grouped in…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 113: Triads Through Scales
Here is a short routine I came up with that covers all diatonic triads in all inversions through of the main scale types. The scales…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 112: Dominant Pentatonic: The “McCoy Tyner” Scale.
In this video I’m working on a simple melody derived from a Dominant Pentatonic scale (1,2,3,5,b7,1) often used by McCoy Tyner. I play the melody…
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