Learn Jazz Standards Podcast

Latest Episodes:

The Secret to Feeling Calm When You Play Your Instruments Oct 31, 2022

Show notes

So, it's the year 2009, I'm in college at that time, going to school in Seattle, Washington. And in Seattle, there is a jazz jam session at this bar called the Owl N' Thistle. Cool little dive bar, exactly what you want in a jam session, kinda smells like stale booze, all the good stuff, right?
So, I go for the first time, even the second time, third time, fourth time, fifth time. Honestly, it really doesn't matter at this point in my life. The same feeling inside of my body was always the same, it was just always the same, and that was terrified, tightness, stress, and anxiety before I went up to play. I was scared, I was horrified to play. I had serious problems with performance anxiety.
Now, also at the same time, some of my colleagues within the school, players that were a little bit older than me, a little bit more experienced than me, noticed that I was playing really tensely. They would look at my body when I was playing, when I was jamming with them and they would see that my shoulders would crunch up, that my hands were very tense and rigid.
And they point that out to me and said, "Brent, you know I feel like there's a lot of stress and tension in your body when you're playing, and even though you play a lot of good stuff, it's kinda coming across that way." So, the problem, my friends, is I had not figured out how to play music in a calm state.
So, in today's episode, what I wanna do is I wanna talk about the two sides of things. A- the performance anxiety side, but B - a secret to learning how to play calmly that we all can be working on and has helped me make a lot of improvements in this right now.
In this episode:
1. How do we feel calm when we perform?
2. 5 Tips for overcoming/avoiding performance anxiety
4. Addressing the root cause and finding some tangible results
5. The secret to learning how to play calmly
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!

Why Most People Won't Learn Jazz Oct 24, 2022

Show notes

I got a question for you: Have you ever felt intimidated to learn jazz, or intimidated to play jazz with others, or perhaps you're someone on the outside looking in and it all looks a little bit overwhelming?
But, perhaps you're someone who is working on jazz right now, you're an avid practicer, but you feel often frustrated.
Well, there's a good chance that some of the reasons you're feeling that way are because of the culture of the jazz scene itself. the culture of the way this music is taught, the culture in which this music is played.
And I wanna talk about those problems today, break them down. But have hope you're one of those people I just described because I'm gonna talk a little bit of mind philosophies and how I believe things should work and just how we can create a more inclusive environment for those who want to learn how to play this music.
In this episode:
1. Jazz doesn't have to be that complicated: Feedback on a YouTube video comment
2. The easy ways to start learning jazz
3. How important is learning music by ear to jazz playing
4. Is there a best way to learn jazz?
5. Breaking down some huge turn-offs in learning jazz
6. Surviving in the intimidating jazz culture
7. How we can help in creating a more inclusive environment for a better jazz culture
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 3 Essential Elements of An Amazing Jazz Solo Oct 17, 2022

Show notes

Today, on the show, we're talking about 3 elements that make up really, really, really good jazz solos. These are things I'm hearing from the best jazz musicians in the world, things that we wanna start implementing in our own solos.
So, let's talk about those. Grab your favorite drink and snacks.
In this episode:
1. Creating Amazing Melodies
2. Creating Rhythmic Interest
3. How to Play The Changes
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 Questions I Ask My Inner Circle Members That I Want You To Ask Yourself, Too. Oct 10, 2022

Show notes

Today, on the podcast, I'm talking about 3 questions that I find myself continually asking our Inner Circle members that I want you to start asking yourself as well. And I believe that if you start asking these 3 questions, you're going to start making faster improvements in your jazz playing.
In this episode:
1. Why I'm letting you ask these questions to yourself
2. The difference between coaching and teaching and which role I take
3. The importance of critical thinking in learning music
4. Frustrations that lead to cycles and how to overcome them
5. How self-evaluation leads to better progress
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 Think About The Future of Jazz Oct 03, 2022

Show notes

Today, on the podcast I wanna talk about the future of jazz. We're gonna talk about the future of jazz education, the future of the genre, the style, where it's going.
We're going to, of course, have to deal with the age-old question, "Is jazz dead?". And many of my thoughts about the state of jazz and the enthusiasm for the genre in this episode today.
So, grab your favorite beverage, grab your favorite snacks. Sit back and relax!
In this episode:
1. Is Jazz Dead?
2. Why Jazz Education Is Here to Stay
3. Where the genre of jazz is going musically
4. Why jazz doesn't need to be evangelized
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!

Quick Win: Turn ANY Song Into JAZZ (Reharmonization 101) Sep 30, 2022

Show notes

Today, I wanna show you how you take a simple song, like, "You Are My Sunshine", and turn it into jazz. We'll take up 4 levels of reharmonization.
In this episode:
1. The basic chord changes of You Are My Sunshine
2. How I play the tune with the basic chord changes
3. Level #1 - How to turn the tune into jazz
4. Level #2 - Spicing it up a little bit
5. Level #3 - How to get rid of redundancy and add twists
6. Level #4 - Use this specific tactic to add more harmonic movement and color
7. A cool thing you can do for endings
Important Links and Resources:

LJS Inner Circle Membership

Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way

Listen to the Learn Jazz Standards Podcast

Get our Amazon Best Selling book

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

My Experience Going to Music School (How it Helped and How It Didn't) Sep 26, 2022

Show notes

So, because I know the audience that generally listens to this podcast, I know that a majority of you, or at least a good percentage of you have never been to a music school before, and so, you may be wondering, what was it that I missed in music school that would help me become a better jazz musician.
So, in today's episode, what I wanna do is just talk about my experience in music school and things that it really helped me with and how I was able to improve. But I also do wanna share some things that did not help me at all,
I wanna let you all on the inside, save you the 4 1/2 years it took me to get my degree, as well as some of the lessons.
In this episode:
1. Being Exposed to Advanced Players
2. Music Theory
3. Repertoire
4. The gaps that music school filled
Important Links:
Free Guide to learning standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way
LJS Inner Circle Membership

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

Quick Win: How to Learn Jazz Melodies by Ear Sep 23, 2022

Show notes

So, what's the best way to learn and memorize the melodies to jazz standards?
Well, today, I'm gonna just walk you through me learning the melody to a jazz standard that I actually don't know and show you my exact process.
In this episode:
1. What I prepare ahead of time
2. This is how I start
3. Why my guitar and the recording are not on the same pitch
4. The pick-up to the next section
5. How chord charts become helpful
6. The pick-up to the 2nd A section
7. The second ending
8. The final result - playing along with the recording
Important Links and Resources:

LJS Inner Circle Membership

Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way

Listen to the Learn Jazz Standards Podcast

Get our Amazon Best Selling book

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

40 Jazz Standards to Know (Broken Down by Category) Sep 19, 2022

Show notes

Today, on the podcast, I'm talking about 40 jazz standards that you should know and I'm gonna break them down by categories so that you can see which categories you need to fill in some more jazz standards on.
In this episode:
1. Start-Up Standards
2. Advanced Essentials
3. Ballads
4. Bossa Novas
5. Bebop
6. Blues
7. Brent's top 6
Important Links:
Free Guide to learning standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way
LJS Inner Circle Membership

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

Quick Win: 10 Biggest Lies About Playing Jazz Sep 16, 2022

Show notes

Have you been told any of these 10 mistruths about jazz? If so, you may have started believing things that are ultimately not helping you improve as a jazz player.
In this episode:
1. Mistruth #1: If you can hear it, then you can play it.
2. Mistruth #2: You don't need to know theory in order to play jazz.
3. Mistruth #3: You need to know a lot of music theory in order to play jazz.
4. Mistruth #4: You need to have amazing techniques in order to play jazz.
5. Mistruth #5: Learn jazz solos and you'll improvise better.
6. Mistruth #6: Great musicians don't plan out their solos.
7. Mistruth #7: In order to get good at playing jazz, you need to practice a lot.
8. Mistruth #8: You should never learn jazz from sheet music.
9. Mistruth #9: Master something that you're practicing before moving on to the next thing.
10. Mistruth #10: You need to know a lot of jazz standards in order to play with other
musicians.
Important Links and Resources:

LJS Inner Circle Membership

Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way

Listen to the Learn Jazz Standards Podcast

Get our Amazon Best Selling book

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