Learn Jazz Standards Podcast

"You miss 100% of the shots that you don't take".  Have you ever heard that old Wayne Gretzky quote? That's the greatest hockey player that ever lived. Or was it Michael Scott from The Office? I get that one a little bit confused sometimes. Anyways, we're gonna talk about that quote, "You miss 100% of the shots that you don't take". In today's episode,...

Hey. Do you ever feel frustrated by your musical progress because you don't feel like you're improving quickly enough? Or do you feel overwhelmed because there are a lot of different things when it comes to playing jazz that you have to practice and learn? Sometimes it feels like you're doing all this stuff in the practice room, but it just seems like a mess in your head and like yo...

I recently ran a poll of over 2000 musicians playing all sorts of instruments over on our YouTube channel. And the question was, "What do you find most challenging about jazz improvisation?".  And here were the options that we gave: a) Creating melodic and cohesive solos b) Understanding and applying jazz theory during improvisation c) Developing a strong sense of timing and rhythmic fee...

I'm wondering if you can identify with a personality type that I happen to identify myself with, and that is that of a high achiever. Now a high achiever is someone who just naturally always wants to be progressing, like isn't usually completely satisfied with where they're at in any arena of life and always wants to continue to go forward and get better, which has been a great thin...

Back when I was in college, going to music school, there was a running joke between me and my friends where we would, perhaps after practicing or playing a gig, proclaim that we had finally figured out the secret to jazz. It was a funny statement, I guess you could say. But the reason we would say such a thing is because, you know, at times jazz can be a little bit befuddling, like, confusing and...

What if you could improve your jazz playing, and just by thinking about it? Sounds a little too good to be true? Well, in today's episode, I'm going to show you how it is actually completely possible with 8 different strategies for simply thinking in improving your jazz playing. In this episode: 1.  Deep listening 2.  Analyze recordings 3.  Analyze your own playing 4.  Establish jazz goa...

What makes a successful jazz musician? Today, on the podcast, I'm going to break down 10 habits that I find in successful jazz musicians, all the way from those who are just amateur players who are just trying to have a lot of fun to the best of the best jazz musicians that exist today in the world. In this episode: 1.  Focus on mastering the art of practicing 2.  Record themselves 3.  Create...

I got a special episode on the podcast for you today. On the show is Leander Young from the Improv Exchange, and we had a fun little conversation, actually, after I recorded a podcast for his podcast, and just started talking jazz, started talking about playing music, learning how to play music, great jazz musicians, a whole slew of other things. I know you're going to have a lot of fun liste...

Today, on the podcast, we're going to talk about "ghost notes", how to recognize them when you hear them, how to use them, and of course, what are they in the first place. In this episode: 1. Definition of a ghost note 2. Sample of ghost notes from Scrapple from the Apple 3. How ghost notes are played on some instruments 4. Spotting ghost notes 5. Some artists who often use ghost no...

Having observed the playing of thousands of musicians through teaching online with Learn Jazz Standards, I've found that there are, in general, 3 different kinds of jazz musicians and I'm wondering which one of them you are. So, today, on the podcast, we are going to talk about those 3 different kinds of jazz musicians, and we're going to dive deep into what the individual challenge...

Back when I was in college, I studied with a great jazz guitarist in New York City named Steve Cardenas. Steve is a fantastic jazz musician, tours around the world with lots of different artists, and has recorded albums. In all senses of the word, a very accomplished musician and seasoned jazz player. In one of our lessons, one time, when I went up to his house in Brooklyn, he told me something th...

If you play guitar, saxophone, trumpet, bass, and piano, this episode is for you. On this podcast, we talk about jazz improvisation and things that literally all harmonic and melodic instruments need to be doing to improve at playing jazz. But, inevitably, there are certain technical elements of each one of these instruments that do need to be addressed that will help you actually play jazz better...

Hey, so we know there's a lot of jazz standards out there to learn and sometimes we wonder which ones should we be learning to be able to play with other musicians who play at jam sessions or even play at gigs. And so, it can really be helpful to understand what the categories are that we need to be focusing on, the subgenres of jazz that will come up time and time again as far as tunes being...

Today, on the podcast, we are talking about chord extensions and alterations, what are they, how can we use them in our comping and how can we even use them in our soloing to spice up our jazz improv and jazz playing. In this episode: 1. The 5 qualities of 7th Chords that are commonly used in jazz:       a) Major 7th chords       b) Dominant 7th chords       c) Minor 7th chords      d) Half Dimini...

I hear from a lot of you that a big goal is to play at a public jazz jam session. But there may be some barriers, either in your mind or your actual playing ability that is stopping you from actually doing that. So, how do you prepare to play at jazz jam sessions and with other musicians in general? That's why we're going to go back into the vault of the LJS podcast, pull out an episode...

Today, on the podcast, I want to talk about thinking big.  Thinking big in your jazz playing. What I mean by that is aspiring to be something that you probably could never attain. Perhaps it's playing just as good as Sonny Rollins, perhaps it's playing with your own band at the Village Vanguard. Audacious goals that are really, really difficult to attain, if not, impossible for you to at...

One of my jazz mentors once said that the secret that pro-level jazz musicians have, some of the best jazz musicians in the world, is they've mastered the art of practicing. In fact, he went on to say that, pro jazz musicians spend just as much time fine-tuning their actual practice as they do their actual jazz playing. And so, today, I want to talk about the strategy called P.B.R. practice....

So, tell me if you're going to relate any of this: You want to go play at a public jam session, but you're kind of just afraid that you're not going to sound good and you're afraid of what the other jazz musicians are going to think of you and your playing. Or, you go up to perform and all the eyes staring back at you make you tremble, make you clam up, and in general, it'...

Today, we're talking about the 6 lies of jazz success. Things that you've probably heard before are good things, but it turns out they actually aren't and could be holding you back from reaching your goals in your jazz playing, and becoming the musician that you want to be. So, let's get ready to do this. Pay attention and grab your notebook. In this episode: The 6 lies about j...

So, we just got our Inner Circle Retreat this last weekend, and my friends, it was an absolutely amazing time. So motivating and so inspiring. A lot of our Inner Circle members came together. We did workshops, we did masterclasses, and we did group breakout sessions. It was an amazing time and we learned a lot together. I want to share with you one little thing that we did talk about during the re...

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 a...

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...

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...

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. 1...

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...