Skype Lessons
Having taught hundreds of Skype lessons over the last ten years, I’ve come to believe that Skype is a great way to both teach and learn from the comfort of your own home. Although I’m teaching full time at KU
Free Jazz Education and Music
Having taught hundreds of Skype lessons over the last ten years, I’ve come to believe that Skype is a great way to both teach and learn from the comfort of your own home. Although I’m teaching full time at KU
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
This ii-7, V7, I melody that uses minor triads with an added 9th (or 2nd) i.e. 1,3,5,9 or 1,9,3,5 etc… The first part of the melody uses a minor triad with the added 9 over the ii chord (D-7 would
In this lesson we’ll look at the first ii – V7 – I melody found in the “Modern Jazz Vocabulary vol. 2” book. This melody is comprised of major 1st inversion triads descending by half steps and a few chromatic
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. Within the first bar of this melody a major triad a whole step above the
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 sequence outlines the main seven chords found in the major scale (in the key of
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 bars 1-2 and bars 5-6 what is sometimes referred to as a “classical augmented” scale
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 to use the #5 on the dominant 7th or i diminished as a substitute for
The use of the “half -whole” diminished scale over a dominant 7th chord can create some interesting and complex sounds. This “octatonic” scale outlines specific tensions – b9, #9, #11 and natural 13. There are a lot of possibilities for
This is a very simple melody that clearly outlines the major 7 sound (with a passing natural 11). First learn to sing the melody in one key to get familiar with the sound and help internalize the phrase. Singing is
Here’s a very simple lesson taken from the 1st two bars of the second Bach Cello Suite prelude. The melody outlines the chord progression i minor to V7 b9. First, sing the melody until you hear it like a nursery
The second volume of Modern Jazz Vocabulary is finally done. I made some changes in the books format based on a lot of the feedback I got from people about vol. 1. This book is bigger in size but should