Work, with Miles Okazaki

Let's start the week nice and easy. Here's short one in A minor.

This is a follow up to the "Pentatonics in three keys" Guided Practice video, putting that concept into practice on a common tune. Note: This video ends abruptly as my system went down, and I didn't have time to make a new video. But you all can get the main idea, as it was long enough already.

Here's a primer on "Lush Life," using Billy Strayhorn's version of it as reference. I'll make another video that goes deeper into analysis, but this a basic chord and melody arrangment. This is similar to the a cappella version that I play on the album " Trickster, Live in Brooklyn. "

This post is a bit of a weird one. Lately I've been building some stuff in MAX/MSP. I give a little look here at one of my practice tools. Once I work out the bugs, I'll put it up here for free, for people to use as they see fit.

A deep dive into Melodic Minor from a recent member question. We cover uses of this sound as a tonic and dominant in improvisation, a brief look at Raag Charukeshi (a related Indian raga), and then some exercises for getting it under your fingers.

What's up with the G and B strings, anyway? A primer on tuning, harmonics, and practical methods for getting the guitar in tune with any ref

I looked at the first phrase of this Chorale on the recent mailbag episode. Here it is after practicing it for a little while. In another video today I'll go over the fingerings and a little bit of analysis. Sheet music attached.

In this mailbag episode I answer questions from members Juan Carlos Hernandez and Soloist. First I go into how I approach playing all four voices of a chorale at once, finding fingerings and voice leading. See attached image for this one. Then about 16 minutes in I go into some ideas about septuplets. To hear the example I talk about at the end with a full band, go to this link to about a minute i...

ABOUT THIS BOOK: What you have here is a list of musical scales. You can find any collection of notes from 1 to 12 tones somewhere in it. The format is made to be a practical reference or journal. I've been working on it for a while now, trying to make a sourcebook for my own work thatʼs orderly and useful. None of the data in here is new to the world, but the delivery system is something I've des...

Here's an idea for creative practice. I play a drone of three notes and improvise on it according what it seems to sound like. Then I change one of the notes, improvise, and repeat.

Last week the New York Times had an article called "Five Minutes that will make you love Jazz Guitar," in which I wrote a little thing about this track, recorded 63 years ago today. Link is here: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/08/arts/music/guitar-jazz-music.html?unlocked_article_code=1.nk4.YtfS.b0yowaHFl6O8&smid=url-share A link to the track itself is here: https://youtu.be/m-mHo8A4x-E?featu...

Here's a reading of Chorale 198, as usual one voice at a time. Read along with the attached sheet music.

On Sunday I posted a performance of this piece. Here I go through it bar by bar and talk about how I think about memorizing it and what lessons it has for harmony, form, and composition. Sheet music is attached.

today we go into recent comments from Frank Boons, David Sharki, Cameron, and Jesse. Let me know if this clears anything up, or maybe makes it more confusing! This one ends abruptly because I trimmed it too soon, but there's nothing left except a sign off, so the video is complete as is.

A look at Chorale 166. Play along by looking at the attached sheet music.

Chorale 86, four voices. I don't make many guarantees, but I do guarantee that if you look at these Chorales with me on Sundays, your sight reading and sense of harmony will improve. It's always worked for every student I've had, including myself. Apologies, the amp volume is a bit low on this one, I'm working out some microphone stuff. Sheet music is attached for download.

Today we wrap up the series with a couple of less common polyrhythms. I give some excercises, a cheat code for difficult polyrhythms, and a bit of one of my tunes.

Continuing on the polythyhm series, here's a couple of ways to practice 7:3 or 3:7

Into the world of sevens. We're starting with 7:4 and comparing it to 7:5 with an old tune of mine. For anybody who'd like to hear the whole tune, it can be found, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsiG27UvN_4

On to the number 6. A little discussion about the number itself, and then a couple of exercises to get this one together which is a little tricky because the tempos are close together, creating a phasing effect.

Similar exercises to previous vidoes, this time with 5 and 3.

Moving past 2,3 and 4, here's a basic primer on 4:5.

Happy New Year! Here's how to transform the last polyrhythm excercise into seven new rhythms, based on the modes of the diatonic scale. Hope you enjoy!

Big concept day! I talk about an analogy between 12/8 bell patterns and the diatonic scale. This is one of my favorite ideas. I hope you dig it.

This video is similar to the last one, except that I'm using a pick. Some members probably don't use the fingers at all, so I thought this would be useful. Plus, it's a much different sound to try to get two tempos happening at the same time with a pick, very good for articulation and accuracy.