The Diminished Scale is a fantastic sound that provides endless opportunities to the jazz musician. This is the scale that defined the post bebop era and is now an integral part of the jazz language. In this first introductory lesson on The Diminished scale, I teach you the 3 diminished Scales and show you how […]
Search Results for: Patterns for Jazz
Pentatonics-Lesson 1
The Pentatonic Scale is one of the most useful scales to learn and use whatever style of music you want to play. Whether you want to play Jazz, Rock, Funk Folk, or Fusion, Pentatonic Scales are an essential tool to have in your repertoire. Whichever players you’re into, from John Coltrane to Jerry Bergonzi, from […]
One Bar Bebop Blues Lesson
Add some Bebop to your Blues playing! In this lesson, I offer you a simple approach to adding a Bebop flavor to your Blues. By utilizing these simple One Bar Bebop Blues, I teach you how to take your Blues playing beyond the Blues Scales you might already be familiar with and start adding that […]
One Bar Major II-V Lesson
Burn up those Bebop tunes and fly over Rhythm changes. Get these One Bar Major II-V Patterns under your fingers and solo with confidence over all those tunes with one measure II-V changes like Giant Steps and Confirmation These up-tempo tunes can be difficult to play over, but having these patterns down will make playing […]
One Bar Minor II-V Lesson
The one bar II-V patterns is one of the most common pattern in jazz. You see it all through bebop tunes and the jazz standards. In this lesson I talk about the pattern and run through 30 great II-V patterns that I wrote out for you on a pdf. Learning these patterns will prepare you […]
Major Triad Samba Lesson
This is a great lesson for those of you who don’t know your major triads, or would like to know them better. I talk about how to get the major triads and how to practice them. I then talk about the method I use to teach them to my students using the I-IV-V-I progression. This […]
The Best II-V-I’s Overview Lesson
The II-V-I progression is one of the most common progressions in jazz. A number of years ago, I wrote my popular “The Best II-V-I Patterns” book. This book is a collection of the best II-V-I patterns that I have come across in my 30 years of playing and teaching. While there has been much praise […]
Diatonic 7th Chords Lesson
Major Scales and their Diatonic Seventh Chords form the backbone, the essential structure, of most of the music we want to play. In this lesson I discuss and demonstrate Diatonic 7th Chords. I talk about what they are and just how important it is to the improvising musician to have these patterns down in all […]
Dominant Bebop Scale Around the Circle Lesson
The circle of fifths is a fundamental progression that is a must for every serious jazz student to master. In the majority of jazz standards the chords move in this circle of fifth pattern. C,F,Bb,Eb,Ab,etc………….. Memorizing this pattern and being able to navigate it while improvising is one of the most important things you can […]
Approach Note Velocity Overview Lesson
Approach notes are notes that are headed towards a particular target note. Usually, the target note is a chord tone that you are aiming for that will give resolution to the line you are playing. As you are playing these “approach note lines”, quite often there is dissonance in the line but when you resolve […]
Approaching Rhythm Changes Lesson
In jazz, rhythm changes is a modified form of the chord progression of George Gershwins’s song “I Got Rhythm”, which forms the basis of countless (usually uptempo) jazz compositions. Examples of some tunes based off of rhythm changes are Oleo, Cotton Tail, Salt Peanuts, Dexterity and Rhythm-a-Ning. Today, mastery of the blues and rhythm […]
All the Approaches Lesson 3-All the Things You Are
In this, the third in a series of lessons on mastering approach note patterns over a jazz standard, I use the tune “All the Things You Are” to teach you how to target and approach the chord tones for each chord. This is a great method to produce flowing, logical lines, that move convincingly through […]
Approach Note Freedom Intro Lesson
There is nothing cooler than having your approach notes mastered! Back about 10 years ago, I had decided that I really needed to get my act together and start practicing again. I decided to pick one main focus and to practice like crazy. The area of jazz improvisation I picked was Approach Note patterns. I […]
Rich Perry playing the blues……..
Here’s a great video of Rich Perry playing a blues all by himself. Rich is one of my favorite players. I remember when I first heard him years ago, I really wasn’t that into him. Back then I was into Michael Brecker, Bob Berg and guys like that. I heard musicians talking about Rich Perry […]
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