Free Jazz Education and Music
When studying with George Garzone in the mid 1980’s, I learned to practice and play without using any tongue. In my experience, playing without any tonguing exposes your finger technique and thus, through improved awareness, helps both the time and
In lesson 82 we will look at an easy 5 note (pentatonic) scale that works well when improvising over a Major 7 #5 chord. This chord can be challenging when you’re starting out and this group of 5 notes are
Here’s a one chorus solo I played over the chord changes to “Well You Needn’t” by Thelonious Monk for the “Jam Of The Week” facebook group, which I thought might make a nice etude. A video of the orginal solo
Improvising using odd rhythmic groupings or accent patterns while not getting turned around (loosing the harmonic rhythm) has always been something I enjoy working on and I’ve found that many of my students share this experience. This is a simple
This is Vol.2 of the Drum and Bass, Roots and Rhythm “play along” which is designed for both practicing and teaching. Vol. 1 has been well received and I thought one in 7/4 would be a nice addition. I’ve been
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. This simple ii-7b5, V7#5, i-6/9 melody utilizes broken arpeggios and underlying step-wise voice leading. By
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 to work on it. By isolating and looping some of my favorite examples of 8th
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 triads either ascending or descending by half steps. The pdfs below will outline the specific
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 30 day, “long tone” challenge. The long tone method outlined below is easy and a
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 will allow you to explore every ascending and descending interval from any scale. Check out Lesson
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 Cycles Wheels will allow you to explore every ascending and descending interval within an octave
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 wrote about Cycle Wheels in the “Modern Jazz Vocabulary Vol.1” book on Harmonic Major. I’ve
