Learn Jazz Standards Podcast

Welcome to episode 294 where today I discuss 3 core factors I look into when assessing the health of my student's jazz playing. I find that there are 3 main areas of strength and weakness in a musician that can make or break their jazz solos, comping, or bass lines. If we are able to identify where we fall short within these 3 areas, we can start softening the edges and improving exponentiall...

What are jazz standards that can help you improve quickly but not leave your brain hurting? Well, today I'm going to show you an easy jazz standard that does exactly that. In this episode: 1. Why is this tune easy 2. 3 reasons why this is a powerful tune to learn 3. Reason number 1 4.  Reason number 2 5. Major diatonic series of 7th chords 6. Why studying this tune is important 7. Reason numb...

Welcome to episode 292 where today we listen to a recording of me improvising over a popular jazz standard and try to understand what I'm thinking as I improvise. Improvisation can be a mysterious thing, and it can feel difficult to connect the dots between the scales, licks, and patterns you are practicing to actually improvising great solos. This episode will give some insight into how pro...

Today I'm going to show you a tasty jazz lick that's going to make you sound like a bebop pro over minor 2-5-1 chord progressions. In this episode: 1. What's a minor 2-5-1 2. How to get that bebop sound 3. What a Minor Bebop Altered Lick sounds like 4. What makes this lick so great 5. What are target notes 6. Importance of 3rds 7. Importance of 7ths 8. The altered notes 9. Tips for...

Welcome to episode 290 where today I talk about 6 powerful reasons why you should record your jazz playing. You may have heard people suggest recording yourself, but have you ever fully understood why it can be helpful? In this episode, I go over in detail how this simple regular practice could reap great rewards in your jazz playing. If you've been listening to this podcast for a while, you...

So how do you play sick bluesy licks over top of minor 2-5-1 chord progressions? Well, I'm going to show you a very simple tool to make this really easy. In this episode: 1. What is a minor 2-5-1 chord progression 2. What is tritone substitution 3. How to use tritone substitution 4. Comparing to a Minor Blues Scale 5. The Importance of Chord Tones 6. How to Use Over a Jazz Standard Important...

Welcome to episode 288 where today I talk about how to go from a beginner jazz player to intermediate, and finally to advanced jazz musician. I teach you exactly what I would do if I was starting all over, and how to speed up the process and cut back on practice time. How do we go from beginner to intermediate, to advanced jazz player in as little time as possible? Whether you are a beginner and y...

Welcome to episode 287 where today I talk about musical "failure" - how to think about it, how to deal with it, and ultimately how to appropriately use it to your advantage. In this episode, I talk about how there is only really one type of true failure, and how to adopt a mindset that sets you up to win every time. Inevitably, somewhere along the line in your journey of becoming a bette...

Welcome to episode 286 where today I talk about 3 different ways to spice up minor 2-5-1 chord progressions. Minor 2-5-1s can be found everywhere in jazz standards, so how do we make our comping, bass lines, and improv more interesting over them? I give several different ways we can utilize harmonic movement in our favor. Minor 2-5-1 chord progressions are found all over the place in jazz standard...

Welcome to episode 285 where today I talk about how to play more melodic jazz solos. What separates the amateurs from the experts is how melodic a jazz solo is. So if you are stuck with boring solos, or solos that sound like scales, this episode will give you actionable steps for transforming your solos into memorable ones. If you're like 99% of the people that come to me for help with their...

Welcome to episode 284 where today I talk about how to know whether you are ready to start learning jazz. I hear from musicians who wonder if their skills on their instrument are up to par, ears good enough, or in general, have the talent necessary to learn and play jazz. I discuss how to know if you are ready, and several things you can do to set yourself up for success. Am I ready to start playi...

Welcome to episode 283 where today I talk about 3 powerful mindsets that you need to adopt to start improving faster while practicing less, and setting yourself up to win every time. If you can start recognizing the less helpful mindsets that many of us musicians have, and then replacing them with these, it could be huge for you. Too many times, we musicians set ourselves up to fail. We set oursel...

Welcome to episode 282 where today I talk with a member of team LJS, Brett Pontecorvo, about the 3 Pillars of Bebop. Bebop is a style of jazz that has greatly influenced the way jazz improvisers play today. But bebop is no walk in the park. It requires a degree of virtuosity and strong knowledge of navigating chord changes. How do we break it down to make it easier? Chances are, some of your favor...

Welcome to episode 281 where today I talk with a musical mentor of mine, Justin Nielsen, all about his 3 track system for accelerating your jazz growth. Justin has taught hundreds of students, some of which have gone on to be world-class jazz musicians, and his powerful 3 track system will make sure you are practicing the right things and moving the needle. Today's episode is one of those epi...

Welcome to episode 280 where today we talk about jazz gig set lists and how to create ones that keep you and the audience inspired. A great set list can make a huge difference in both how you and the audience feel about your gig. I talk about 3 guidelines to consider when creating your set lists, and then I walk you through a 7 song set list that I created. Alright, picture this. You're at yo...

Welcome to episode 279 where today I share with you 6 reasons your jazz solos may sound bad. These are things I commonly witness in the playing of beginner and intermediate players, and even with some slight changes and focus on these areas, you can start taking your jazz solos from bad to mediocre, to great. Alright, I am back after a 2-week break from the podcast, I'm ready to come back and...

Welcome to episode 278 where today I share with you 4 important lessons I learned from learning 100 jazz standards over the course of a year. Struggle with remembering standards? Maybe you learn them but feel like you don't know them very well? These 4 lessons will help. There's a year in my life when I had a lot of time on my hands and I actually learned 100 new jazz standards in one ye...

Today's episode may come as a surprise to you. I confess a deep, dark, secret on the show. As a listener of the podcast, you have a right to know. I'm prepared to accept the necessary punishment for my jazz crimes. I've got a deep, dark bombshell confession I have to make to you. It's something I've avoided trying to tell you for a very long time but I have to come clean....

Welcome to episode 276 where we conclude a series of 3 episodes where we are going through a challenge of learning a jazz tune by ear in 3 weeks.  We've learned the melody, we've learned the chords, and now it's time to learn some jazz language. I compose a 12 bar jazz etude live on the podcast and teach it to you at the same time. On the podcast today we are concluding our 3-week c...

Welcome to episode 275 where we continue a series of 3 episodes where we are going through a challenge of learning a jazz tune by ear in 3 weeks. And in addition to learning it, by the end of these 3 weeks, you'll be able to play a solo over it that you have created yourself. In Week 2, we are moving forward from the melody and learning the chord changes. We're on to week number 2 of our...

Welcome to episode 274 where we start a series of 3 episodes where we are going through a challenge of learning a jazz tune by ear in 3 weeks. And in addition to learning it, by the end of these 3 weeks, you'll be able to play a solo over it that you have created yourself. In Week 1, we learn the melody of the jazz tune. Are you up for the challenge? Today's episode marks the first in a...

Welcome to episode 273 where I discuss the only thing I would practice for jazz if I could only pick three. Most of us don't have a lot of time to practice, but we want to improve our jazz skills quickly. We need to be focusing on the most impactful things and discarding the rest. I share with you mine and encourage you to think about yours. One massive question that I get all the time from s...

Welcome to episode 272 where I discuss an array of different jazz gigs I've played over my career as a performing jazz musician. I talk about the worst gigs I've played, the best ones, the worst paying, the best paying, the ones where I learned the most, and I share all the lessons I've learned along the way. You know, over the years, as a professional jazz musician, I played hundre...

Welcome to episode 271 where today we are exploring the question of how to know what the correct chord changes are for a jazz standard. Because jazz musicians have often manipulated original chord changes, and often take liberties with chordal harmony, it can be difficult to know exactly what the chords are to standards. I give you some practical tips to help guide you through. One thing that woul...

Welcome to episode 270 where today we have special guests Dani Rabin and Danny Markovich from the band Marbin, on the show to talk about Gypsy jazz. Our guests talk about the ins and outs of this style of jazz as well as many other musical insights and strategies. One important style of jazz that came out of Europe is Gypsy jazz. And you're maybe familiar with musicians such as Django Reinhar...