Learn Jazz Standards Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Becoming a Jazz Expert With Your Tune of Destiny Jan 09, 2023

Show notes

Hey, listen, there are a lot of jazz standards out there and it can be pretty overwhelming which ones to learn, how often should you learn a new one?
But if we can take all that pressure away and instead you are only responsible for becoming an expert in just one jazz standard? What would that look like? How would that work and how would that actually help you become a much better jazz player at all the other jazz standards out there as well?
So, I'm going to dive into that today. We're going to be talking about discovering your tune of destiny and how to utilize this strategy.
In this episode:
1. The concept of the "Tune of Destiny" by Justin Nielsen
2. The 3-Track System for Skyrocketing Your Jazz Playing
3. Criteria for picking a song of your destiny
a) one that you really enjoy playing
b) it contains a lot of common chord progressions in most jazz standards
c) level of difficulty
4. How learning your song of destiny contributes to your progress at learning the
other jazz standards and vice-versa.
5. Call to action
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!

What I've Learned After 400 Podcast Episodes Jan 02, 2023

Show notes

400 episodes of the Learn Jazz Standards Podcast, wow! So, I'm going to talk about this episode today, everything that I've learned over the last 400 episodes of recording and producing the show.
In this episode:
What I've learned over the course of creating 400 podcast episodes:
1. Musically
2. Personally
3. About teaching music
4. About content creation
5. The future of Learn Jazz Standards Podcast
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 Exponentially Improve Your Jazz Playing in 2023 Dec 26, 2022

Show notes

We are 2 days away from the year 2023, and if you're listening to this episode it very well could be the year 2023. And a lot of people like to use the new year as a new beginning, or perhaps, a new chapter.
So, regardless of whether you're into the idea of new year's resolutions or the traditional sense of what that actually means, I do think it's a good idea to create a plan for what you're trying to achieve within the next year.
You listen to this podcast because you want to become a better jazz musician. You're excited about it, you enjoy playing jazz, and you want to sound like the musicians that you look up to and admire.
So, in this episode, we're going to talk about how to become a great jazz musician in the year 2023. I got a lot of important tips for you.
In this episode:
Important tips on how to become a great jazz musician in 2023
1) Make a goal to learn 1 jazz standard per month.
2) Improvise and record a lot
3) Continuously audit your jazz playing
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!

I Improvised A Jazz Solo in 6 Different Ways Dec 19, 2022

Show notes

Today, on the podcast I'm going to be sitting down and improvising a little bit over a jazz standard that I like to play and just giving myself an opportunity to explore some new ideas, to allow myself to get musically creative.
I like you to join me in the process and see what you can discover along the way as well.
In this episode:
How I improvise on East of the Sun in 6 different ways
1. 1st jam session: Improvising freely with no constraints
2. 2nd jam session: Focusing more on improving melodic direction
3. 3rd jam session: Expanding my improv throughout the range of my instrument
4. 4th jam session: Do a solo using more chord voicings
5. 5th jam session: Applying motivic development
6. 6th jam session: Making the lines more bluesy
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!

I Redid Episode 1 of the LJS Podcast (4 Habits for Better Practicing) Dec 12, 2022

Show notes

Alright, my friends, today's episode is going to be a bit cringy for me, but I'm going to do it anyways. We're going to be back to episode 1 of the Learn Jazz Standards podcast and it was called 4 Habits for Better Practicing.
And I'm going to look through those 4 habits, that advice that I gave all the way back in 2016, and show you what's changed and what stayed the same as far as my advice goes with jazz practicing and improvement and all that good stuff.
In this episode:
- What has changed and what I think should stay the same about my advice in 2016 on the following:
1. Practicing Habit #1: Set goals and write them down
2. Practicing Habit #2: Remove distractions
3. Practicing Habit #3: Practice what is ailing you, not what you are already good at
4. Practicing Habit #4: Be consistent
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 Binge Practicing Dec 05, 2022

Show notes

Have you ever heard of "binge practicing" before? So, binge practicing is kind of what it sounds like, it's where you are practicing for large amounts at a time.
And you can also binge practice often, so you are binge practicing frequently. It's kind of like binge-watching Netflix. It's like you watch 5 hours one day and 5 hours the next day, and it keeps on going on like that.
Well, today, I want to talk about the pros of binge practicing and the cons of binge practicing for your jazz playing.
In this episode:
The pros of binge practicing
1. Drastic improvement in technical proficiency
2. Sheer exposure
3. Gain more confidence in playing
The cons of binge practicing
1. Tendency to get burned-out
2. Inability to sustain binge practicing which leads to frustration
3. Inability to notice one's progress
4. Tendency to practice mindlessly
5. Exposure to possible injury
- Recommendation
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!

32 Jazz Standards I Had My Students Learn Nov 28, 2022

Show notes

Today, on the podcast, I'll be talking about 32 jazz standards that I had my students in my Inner Circle membership learn for very specific reasons that I want to share with you.
And I want you to also see, out of these jazz standards, which one do you know and which ones would you be interested in learning so that they can help you improve your jazz playing.
In this episode:
- Short demo and reasons why I chose these jazz standards for my students:
1) On The Sunny Side of the Street
2) Out of Nowhere
3) Recorda Me
4) Song for My Father
5) Misty
6) Doxy
7) Bye, Bye, Blackbird
8) Blues for Alice
9) Wave
10) Beautiful Love
11) In A Mellow Tone
12) Oleo
13) Impressions
14) Georgia On My Mind
15) Four
16) Beatrice
17) Softly, As In The Morning Sunrise
18) There Is No Greater Love
19) Corcovado
20) Yardbird Suite
21) My Shining Hour
22) Up Jumped Spring
23) Yesterdays
24) Darn That Dream
25) St. Thomas
26) But Not For Me
27) Black Orpheus
28) Giant Steps
29) Sandu
30) How High the Moon
31) Blue In Green
32) East of the Sun (West of the Moon)
- Call to Action
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 4 Elements of Mastering A Jazz Standard Nov 21, 2022

Show notes

Today's episode is what I would consider to be probably the most valuable episode I've ever come out with. And I hope that it becomes one of the most popular episodes I've ever come up with because I truly believe this is really important information that you need to be paying attention to.
We're gonna be talking about the 4 elements of mastering a jazz standard. Being able to play a jazz standard comfortably, being proficient at it, improvising great solos over it. Exactly what you need to do step-by-step.
In this episode:
1. Element #1: Mastering the melody
2. The L.I.S.T process
3. Element #2: Mastering the chord tones
4. Element #3: Mastering memorization
5. How spaced repetition helps
6. The "secret sauce"
7, Element #4: Mastering improvisation
8. Options for acquiring musical language
9. Practicing improvisation
10. The Bonus Element
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!

2 Ways to Improve Your Jazz Solos Today Nov 14, 2022

Show notes

Today on the podcast, I wanna show you 2 ways you can start improving your jazz improvisation today.
And I wanna share with you a few different people that I know who recently have implemented these things and have made clear progress in their jazz playing.
In this episode:
1. How 2 LJS Inner Circle members applied concepts to improve their jazz improv
2. Isolating a musical concept learned and experimenting with it
3. Addressing roadblocks to desired progress
4. Good tools for looping sections of a backing track
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!

Secrets To Becoming A More Creative Jazz Musician Nov 07, 2022

Show notes

So, what is the secret to playing more creative jazz solos, playing more creative melodies, playing more creative comping, more creative basslines?
You name them. How do we become creative and tap into our inner creativity so it doesn't just sound like we're playing formulated music or regurgitated music, but something that comes from us, sounds original, sounds organic, and exciting?
Well, that's exactly what I'm going to talk about in today's episode.
In this episode:
1. How do we become more creative musically?
2. Secrets to tapping our inner creativity
3, Restrictive practicing
4. Drawing inspiration from things that are musical and non-musical
5. The act of composition
6. Frequency is the key
7. The leap of faith
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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