Learn Jazz Standards Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Free Masterclass: How to Effortlessly Improvise Amazing Jazz Solos Aug 07, 2023

Show notes

During the month of August, we are doing a themed month called Free Masterclass August. For over the next four weeks, I'll be sharing with you different masterclasses that we've come out with in the past on Learn Jazz Standards.
Masterclasses that range from topics on jazz improv and practicing and theory and really just all kinds of stuff to help you improve your jazz playing. These are special masterclasses that were presented at events such as our Learn Jazz Live Virtual Summits that we've had in the past and then a few other mediums as well.
A special treat here for August to kind of end the summer here and jump right into September next month where a lot of us are gonna be diving a little bit deeper. And so I wanna give you guys a little bit of ammunition here to take into after the summer is over and start practicing.
So while most of these masterclasses are originally in video, they work really well for the podcast and the audio format, you'll still get quite a bit from them.
Today's masterclass is from our Learn Jazz Live 2022 Virtual Summit that we had. And this masterclass is called How to Effortlessly Improvise Amazing Jazz Solos. This is a masterclass that I gave at our Virtual Summit and I know that you're gonna find it really valuable.
Talking about how we go from learning jazz language, like learning solos by ear and licks by ear, stuff like this to actually bridging the gap to playing live, like going out and actually improvising so that stuff comes out naturally. Go over some really important strategies for how to do that.
In this episode:
1. There is a significant gap between learning jazz solos and actually improvising during live performances.
2. The L.I.S.T. method - listening, internalizing, singing, and transferring - is an effective way to learn solos by ear.
3. Learning jazz solos by ear is crucial for jazz improvisers to internalize the language and vocabulary necessary for improvisation effectively.
4. The LCI Strategy: The LCI (Learn, Compose, Improvise) strategy is a simple approach to bridging the gap between learning jazz solos and improvising.
5. Learn: The first step is to learn a jazz solo or part of a solo using the L.I.S.T method.
6. Compose: Composing involves slowing down the improvisation process and creating music based on what the learner can imagine at the moment.
7. Improvise: Improvisation is done in smaller sections or contexts rather than attempting to improvise over the entire piece at once.
Important Links:
Free Guide to learning standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Listen to the Learn Jazz Standards Podcast

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

How to Learn Lots of Jazz Songs Quickly Jul 31, 2023

Show notes

Imagine someone calls you for a jazz gig that's to be performed in a couple of weeks and they hand you the list of repertoire, 20 songs, and you don't know any of those songs. What would you do in order to learn a lot of jazz songs quickly and is it even possible?
Well, in today's episode, I'm going to be talking about strategies to help you do that, to be successful in a situation like this, as well as some strategies that will help you in the long term.
In this episode:
Strategies and tools to help learn a large amount of jazz repertoire quickly for an upcoming performance
1. Get the list of repertoire.
2. Create a playlist.
3. Use chord charts.
4. Focus on the melody.
5. Batch your learning.
6. Manage your expectations.
7. Long-term learning.
8. Develop musical skills.
9. Learn jazz standards deeply.
10. Practice regularly: Consistent practice and exposure to jazz music will help you improve your skills and make it easier to learn new songs quickly when necessary.
Important Links:
Free Guide to learning standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Listen to the Learn Jazz Standards Podcast

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

The Best Way to Learn a Jazz Song Jul 24, 2023

Show notes

Here at Learn Jazz Standards, our philosophy is that the best way to learn jazz and improve is to learn jazz songs, aka. Jazz Standards. The fastest the best way to improve is to simply learn more songs, even if you're starting at the very beginning of your jazz journey.
But there may be some holes for you for how to go about learning. Learning a song, especially a jazz song. It can be an overwhelming task. You may wonder what the best way to do it is, and you may wonder how to improve faster by learning jazz repertoire.
So, in today's episode, we're going to talk about just the best way to learn a jazz song.
In this episode:
1. Considering the time frame for learning a jazz standard.
2. Having a goal-oriented, focused practice based upon projects like learning a jazz standard in one month to improve exponentially over time.
3. Going through the L.I.S.T. process.
4. Learning the chords no matter what instrument you play.
5. The "Batching" strategy.
6. Applying one tool or strategy for improvising over a jazz standard.
Important Links:
Free Guide to learning standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Listen to the Learn Jazz Standards Podcast

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

How to Become A Jazz Master Jul 17, 2023

Show notes

So, what does it take to become a jazz master? I'm talking about someone who plays jazz at the highest possible level, feels comfortable playing in any situation, and always plays amazing music that wows other people.
I'm going to talk today about what I see as the formula for becoming a jazz master, everything that you need to essentially become really good at to get to that level.
In this episode:
- A jazz master is someone who is proficient at playing jazz and their instrument, whether famous or not.
- Mastery doesn't mean reaching the highest level of expertise, as there's always room for growth and innovation.
- What it takes to become a jazz master:
#1. Instrument proficiency
#2. Ear-training
#3. Music theory knowledge
#4. Mastery of rhythm and time feel
#5. Having an extensive repertoire
#6. Great reading skills
#7. Ability to play well with other people
#8. Possesses a high level of confidence
Important Links:
Free Guide to learning standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Listen to the Learn Jazz Standards Podcast

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

The Pros and Cons of Practicing In All 12 Keys Jul 10, 2023

Show notes

So you've probably heard the advice before that learning material in All 12 Keys is a great idea, whether it be for the sake of playing jazz or any other style of music.
You've probably heard this conventional wisdom before and wondered to yourself is it really worth my practice time to learn things in All 12 Keys, or is it really just this frustrating process that doesn't really have a lot of net benefit?
Well, in today's podcast episode, we're going to talk all about playing in All 12 Keys, the pros and the cons, as well as some tips for going about learning material in All 12 Keys.
In this episode:
1. Pros of practicing in all 12 keys include developing instrument mastery and a fuller understanding of improvisation.
2. Practicing in all 12 keys expands options and allows playing in different keys.
3. It enhances musical versatility and adaptability.
4. Transposing music into different keys improves ear training and tonal recognition.
5. It aids in understanding music theory and chord-scale relationships.
6. Practicing in all 12 keys improves overall technical proficiency.
7. It stimulates creativity and fosters new musical ideas in each key.
8. Practicing in all 12 keys builds confidence for diverse musical situations.
9. It inspires and opens up new musical possibilities.
10. It deepens musical fluency and facilitates effective communication with other musicians.
11. Transposing music into different keys promotes a deeper understanding of harmony.
12. It cultivates a connection and appreciation for various musical genres and styles.
13. Cons may involve the amount of work and transposing required, but the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.
Important Links:
Free Guide to learning standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Listen to the Learn Jazz Standards Podcast

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

25 Jazz Albums Every Jazz Musician Needs to Know Jul 03, 2023

Show notes

One of the most important things that you can do is listen to jazz music, and that seems so simple, but literally you are practicing when you listen to jazz music.
You will become a better jazz musician, simply by putting on your headphones or putting them on the speakers and just listening to how this music actually sounds.
So today I'm gonna talk about 25 jazz albums that every jazz musician absolutely needs to know, absolutely needs to listen to.
In this episode:
1. Listening to jazz is essential for becoming a great jazz musician.
2. Being aware of different styles and artists in jazz is important for personal growth and inspiration.
3. Jazz albums can have a transformative effect on a musician's playing.
#1: Louis Armstrong's "Complete Hot Five and Hot Seven Sessions"
#2: Duke Ellington's "Live at Newport"
#3: Count Basie's "The Complete Deca Recordings"
#4: Benny Goodman's "The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert"
#5: Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie's "Quintet Jazz at Massey Hall"
#6: "Charlie Parker with Strings" - Charlie Parker
#7: Sonny Rollins' "Saxophone Colossus"
#8: John Coltrane's "Blue Train"
#9: Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers' "Moanin'"
#10: "Sonny Side Up" by Dizzy Gillespie
#11: "Boss Tenors" by Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt
#12: "Soul Station" by Hank Mobley
#13: Wes Montgomery's "Boss Guitar"
#14. "Kind of Blue" by Miles Davis
#15: "Time Out" by Dave Brubeck
#16: "Mingus Ah Um" by Charles Mingus
#17: "The Shape of Jazz to Come" by Ornette Coleman
#18: "Giant Steps" by John Coltrane
#19: "A Love Supreme" by John Coltrane
#20: "The Blues in the Abstract Truth" by Oliver Nelson
#21: "Bitches Brew" by Miles Davis
#22: "Head Hunters" by Herbie Hancock
#23: "Heavy Weather" by Weather Report
#24: "Bright Size Life" by Pat Metheny
#25: "Deep Song" by Kurt Rosenwinkel
Important Links:
Free Guide to learning standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Listen to the Learn Jazz Standards Podcast

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

The Dark Side of Jazz Musician Culture Jun 26, 2023

Show notes

The movie Whiplash came out in 2014 and it's about this young jazz drummer named Andrew Nyman, who is determined to succeed as a jazz musician, and he's driven by his demanding music teacher, Terrence Fletcher, who can be best described as a harsh, ruthless yet highly respected instructor who really has abusive teaching methods.
And Andrew the drummer, a student at college, can best be described as an overly ambitious young musician who is completely obsessed with improving and, of course, fulfilling his desire to be a great musician.
And when this movie first came out and I watched it I absolutely hated it. I hated it because to me it seemed like this completely wrong view of what it's like to be an aspiring musician or what it's like to be instructed by great jazz musicians.
Is it really this abusive, horrifying, stressful, deprecating experience? And for me, I just absolutely hated the notion that this could possibly be true. Or let's go to another movie that depicts jazz, La La Land, where Ryan Gosling plays a character, where he's this musician trying to make it, a jazz musician trying to make it in Los Angeles, and his personality type is that of a very narrow, single-minded, focused, overly obsessed musician who has to "sell out" by starting to play in a jazz fusion band in order to prove to his girlfriend that he actually can make a living in the music.
So really, even though I actually liked some of the depictions of jazz within this movie and what it's like to be a musician, I still hated the fact that it seems like the characters are just absolutely swarmed in this dark cloud that is raining on them with self-loathing, with obsession, with all of this negativity. And then I realized why I hate it so much. And it's not because, unfortunately, that it's entirely untrue, as I originally had felt when I first washed Whiplash. Sure, absolutely very exaggerated examples of a problem that can exist.
But nevertheless, there's always a little bit of truth in things that you find so repulsive. There's always something in there that's actually correct. So in today's episode, I want to talk about the dark side of jazz musician culture and what can be done about it and how you should be thinking about improving as a musician, and the way that you want to enjoy playing this music.
In this episode:
1. Questioning the kind of jazz community one wants to be part of and the relationship with music.
2. Exploring the dark side of jazz musician culture, starting with the perception of superiority.
3. The negative effects of perceiving jazz as superior to other music styles.
4. The unhealthy mindset of considering oneself a superior musician.
5. The importance of avoiding the perception of superiority and embracing a more inclusive view of music.
6. The dark side of the "practice until your fingers bleed" mentality and its negative impact.
7. Advocating for practicing smarter, not harder, and surrounding oneself with musicians who share this mindset.
8. The detrimental "school of hard knocks" mentality and abusive teaching styles in jazz education.
9. Encouraging a more supportive and nurturing approach to teaching and collaboration in the jazz community.
Important Links:
Free Guide to learning standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Listen to the Learn Jazz Standards Podcast

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

Jazz Teacher vs. Jazz Coach - Which One Do You Need? Jun 19, 2023

Show notes

Have you ever played sports on a team before? Perhaps while you were growing up, and if you've ever done that before, you probably had a coach.
Now, I know for a fact that you have gone to school before, at least to some degree elementary school, high school, perhaps even college and while you were in school, you had what's called a teacher, and the difference between a coach and a teacher is actually quite interesting, and that's really what we're going to talk about today.
When it comes to your jazz playing and improving as a jazz musician, which one do you need, a jazz coach or a jazz teacher? And depending on where you're at and what you need to accomplish at this given moment in your musicianship, one may be better than the other for you.
In this episode:
1. The difference between jazz coaches and jazz teachers.
2. The importance of having both teachers to improve as a jazz musician.
3. While free resources like podcasts and YouTube are helpful, investing in music education is crucial for growth.
4. A jazz teacher imparts new information and skills, such as scales, music theory, and specific techniques.
5. A jazz coach refines and improves knowledge and abilities, provides direction, and helps players progress.
6. Jazz coaches are valuable for those with a basic understanding of their instrument, who need guidance and a pathway to improve faster.
7. Teachers and coaches can overlap in their roles, and individuals may require both at different stages of their musical journey.
8. Using the "B.A.D." framework used by jazz coaches to help students analyze their solos and improve strategically.
Important Links:
Free Guide to learning standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Listen to the Learn Jazz Standards Podcast

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

3 Melodic Minor Scale Jazz Improv Hacks Jun 12, 2023

Show notes

The melodic minor scale is one of those scales that can be used to explain what we call "chord scale theory" in jazz improvisation. It's essentially like the mixture of a minor scale and a major scale, having the major third included in it, and you can do all sorts of different cool things, playing the melodic minor scale in different sorts of ways over top of different kinds of chords.
Well, in today's episode, I want to simplify all of that. Forget about all of the possibilities that you could use the melodic minor scale and jazz improvisation and narrow it down to three. That, I think, will be really helpful for you for using the melodic minor scale.
In this episode:
The melodic minor scale is a versatile scale in jazz improvisation.

Simplify the approach by focusing on three specific applications of the melodic minor scale.
Scales are tools for conceptualizing note choices, not the primary resource for improvisation.
The first application is using the melodic minor scale a minor third up from a half-diminished chord.
The second application is using the melodic minor scale a half step up from a dominant seventh chord, creating an altered sound.
The third application is using the melodic minor scale of the minor chord itself.
The melodic minor scale can provide altered sounds and substitutions for minor chords.
Understanding the melodic minor scale and its applications help develop patterns and muscle memory for improvisation.
Jazz musicians focus on hearing the scale's sound rather than analyzing each note.
The melodic minor scale provides pitch collections that sound good over specific chords in jazz standards.

Important Links:
Free Guide to learning standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Listen to the Learn Jazz Standards Podcast

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

About My Bad Relationship With Music... Jun 05, 2023

Show notes

Hey, I've got a question for you. What's your relationship with music like? Is it good? Is it bad? Is it perhaps a little bit of both?
Well, on today's episode, I'm gonna get a little bit vulnerable with you, share a little bit my personal life experience with music, my journey with music, and how oftentimes in this journey of playing music and exploring it and getting better, it was quite an abusive and unhealthy relationship.
And this past of mine with a bad relationship with music has greatly informed how I approach teaching jazz and the way I help my inner circle members and beyond so that they don't have the same relationship with music for themselves.
In this episode:
1. My personal experience with music and how it has shaped his approach to teaching jazz.
2. Developing a strong attachment to your identity as a musician and the self-worth tied to your musical abilities.
3. The comparison game and the constant feeling of dissatisfaction with your own playing.
4. The extreme practicing and the focus on becoming the best musician, leads to a skewed mindset.
5. The importance of dissatisfaction as a driving force for improvement that emphasizes the negative consequences of constantly feeling unsatisfied.
6. The impact of stress and anxiety on playing, particularly when comparing yourself to others.
7. Avoiding the same mindset and mistakes others made by promoting a healthier and more enjoyable approach to playing music.

Important Links:
Free Guide to learning standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Listen to the Learn Jazz Standards Podcast

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

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