The point about limiting your licks to one bar is so important. I used to learn long licks and then never reproduce them in actual playing. One bar licks are more like grammatical units that you can shift around and use as building blocks for phrases. Great advice.
I agree 100%! My playing improved massively when I started to copy the masters. I'm gonna focus more on one bar phrases now, that's a great advice! Thanks a lot for sharing.
Parabéns Gilson. Tema muito bem explorado. Você apresentou um testemunho de como funciona/funcionou o seu processo (e dos grandes Mestres) para a aprendizagem, assimilação e inovação da linguagem. Para chegar ao mesmo destino, várias trajectórias podem ser seguidas. Neste vídeo você defendeu muito bem a escolha da sua trajetória. Parabéns, sou um Super fã. Abraço.
I like what you said about being comfortable with your own playing. That with jazz, there technically are no hard rules. And so if you build your own language piece by piece it is something that you know how to communicate. For example you know how to approach a dramatic high note in many ways to create a flare. What is important is that you feel confident and clear the whole time, not necessarily that it goes exactly how you practiced it. I call this fluid playing, and it has more to do with not changing your mind half way through an idea and committing to it, and especially having the practice in to produce the required breath support at a moments notice.
Very nice video Gilson, great advice! Loved the start of the video with the before and after examples. I think what showed in your 2nd video is the composure and and intention which might be the result of your advice here. You were extremely comfortable in letting the music breath and putting in your lines with determination, really cool! Keen on going, you sound great
Thank you so much. I'm a big fan of your channel , I watch all the videos you post, I've gotten some great language that i wouldn't have otherwise from just binge watching your transcription videos. Thanks a lot
great video. There is a lot of overlap with Christiaan Van Hemert's video/series "one idea". Though his 'atomic' pieces are longer 2-5-1 or 5-1 phrases to arm you with lines that strongly/confidently accomplish that ubiquitous resolution. But the rhythmic displacements, playing embellishments/lead-ins, nailing the time feel and articulation, and generally just play the licks over and over and in many / all situations until it completely trivial and at your command are common to both vids. If I could go back 25 years this is the primary thing I would have done differently ... my approach was way too 'bottom up', learning scales and arpeggios and just waiting for them to magically come out in an utterly brilliant way ... on up tempo tunes ... it never happened and I had to give up on being a pro musician. But I'm revisiting it nowadays and getting a lot more enjoyment (and sounding way better!) using the 'top down' approach. Cheers!
@@johnmatelski6413 me too, for years I was just learning scales and arpprggios hoping to just sound like bird out of nowhere, it wasn't until I got to college that I met a teacher, who told me my playing had no language and then explained to me what language was and how to develop
@@gilsonamaral6595 I wish I'd had such a teacher...U Miami circa 2005, licks were really frowned upon and not considered legit improvisation. I remember students getting in trouble for playing contrived phrases in improv class and at juries. Just as you said in the video, it's not like you shouldn't know your scales and arpeggios etc ... I just remember how impressionable my mind was as a young man, and having such a burning desire to be legit ... it can really interfere with and obscure learning the language and speaking it confidently. And really the awesome players were the ones who were already confident and articulate with the language, and then layering all of the theory on top of that just took them over the top, e.g. Tivon Pennicott, who I had the pleasure of sitting in improv class with. Thanks for the reply, I really appreciate your channel and what you are doing here. Cheers!
I agree with your video about learning to play licks, but I think there is another essential thing you need to learn on top of this. When you talk about learning Sonny Rollins licks, you first need to know the basic melodies of his famous original tunes that he created his licks out of. Or other people's tunes he played on. You should instantly know "St Thomas" "Oleo" "Doxy" "Airegin" etc. and the basic form of each tune. The same goes with Charlie Parker, Miles, Coltrane, and all the other great names. There's about 1500 standards in the Real Book as a basis of all jazz history. If you don't know these standards, how can you create great licks yourself? Because the secret of jazz improv goes right back to Louis Armstrong who said "First I learn the melody. Then I play around with the melody. Then I play around with the melody some more!".
Yeah, I think learning the tunes is important and learning the changes of tunes as well. I don't think you first need to learn sonny rollins repertoire to steal a lick here and there from him . nonetheless it is important to learn tunes . But I'm also personally not worried about creating my own licks, I just steal what I heard and liked and try implementing it to my playing. I've noticed that overtime of playing the same lick it sort of changes and becomes something uniquely mine naturally , i don't really worry about creating licks.
You have caught their borrowing from those who had come before them, which is excellent.❤ So many are indebted to Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins, Coleman Hawkins, Duke Ellington, Herbie Mann (flute), etc.😂😅 Excelentissimo!❤❤
This is so hopeful cheers dude, you are a legend. I've attached masses of online advice but this is so on point and crystalizes it all for me, I'm definitely going to start doing it as of today. I was thrashing around a bit, thankyou so much 👍👍👍
Nice phrasing. I agree totally about jazz being a language. You mostly learn a language by *knowing how it sounds*. A kid learning it's own language can understand much more than it can say. I think we must prioritise listening, know how sonny stitt is different from charlie parker. Know how wynton kelly is different from ahmad jamal. What's good/bad to your ear about Lee Konitz. How about Soweto Kinch. Abdullah Ibrahim. Duke Ellington & Count Basie and Woody Herman. Of course young people can start playing jazz before they know all the sounds of the past and present, but NEVER STOP LISTENING.
Another excellent video. Just wondering if you have a few more favourite short licks (the type that you discuss). Would love to hear them. (I'm about to learn that Charlie Parker lick in all keys and to try plugging it in to different tunes.)
Thank you so much for watching the vid, i really appreciate it. I will make a video this week sharing some of my favourite licks, thank you for this suggestion.
Gilson- Maybe a dumb question but is there like a book or database of one bar licks? I'm still not quite able to figure stuff out by ear, at least not quickly enough to make this a good use of my time. Thank you
@@EliGodfrey hey this is not a dumb question. David baker how to play bebop vol 2 has a bunch of licks, the bebop Bible is another book with a bunch of licks. But ultimately you want to learn it by ear, I would suggest spending more time transcribing and developing your ears, and over time you'll get familiar with the language
So true! Playing licks if frowned upon because you sound like someone else... 'cause instead playing scales does not? ;) Those scales have been played millions of times by millions of people. Play both. Forget about being original, just like you're using words not invented by you and spoken and written by billions of people before you, the same goes for notes. The atoms in your body have been around the universe of billions of years, you ain't as special as you think, and that's OK ;) Imitation is how most animals learn, you'll be just fine, and you'll still be YOU.
@@craigseganti8999 hahaha, yup learning some 1 bar licks really changed the game for me, also because it's easier to mix and match like that to create longer phrases
You are on the good track. But your short demo showed an obvious detail, which is never mentioned: having frequent enough breathing spaces, or pauses. They are crucial, so that the meaning can sink in peoples' minds. As in spoken language, we like people who are not chatterboxes, but can use less words to convey more meaning.
Yup I agree with you, but that is up to the players discretion I think. You have cats like Sonny Stitt who play a lot with little to no rests lol and they still sound hip and people dig. It's really up to the player to decide how they will use space in their improv, I personally try to be as melodic and meaningful with my solos thats why i tend to leave a lot of space, also because I am thinking of the next phrase I want to play, sometimes I don't have anything to say so I wont play for like 2 bars and then something will come up ya dig
Licks are not the full answer. They are one pathway. I can hear the licks in your playing, rather than hearing the fully developed you that in time you will become.
@@gilsonamaral6595 So many steps, so many contradictions... I've laid it out once to a mate at 1am in a way I felt covered all my progression, but can never remember half the things I told him were "key". One thing I can articulate which is very important is practising making mistakes. Half of bebop is just having an escape route for every situation. One which lands you on a chord tone and on the strong beat. They're always using chromatism to enable freedom, just shooting for things and then resolving any mispositions. Another I can remember is recognisable fragments. Simple things like triads are gold, no matter what harmonic context you play them against. If it fails, repeat it. So that's another thing, a phase of repeating things which sound like mistakes to make them not mistakes. Then a phase of getting sick of using this as a "trick" and breaking free from repetition. It's all evolutionary, but it can totally start from a place other than "Play Charlie Parker licks"....... After you've spent some time playing Charlie Parker. (contraditions). Strings breathing is very important. As part of phrasing. Horns get a lot for free there.
The point about limiting your licks to one bar is so important. I used to learn long licks and then never reproduce them in actual playing. One bar licks are more like grammatical units that you can shift around and use as building blocks for phrases. Great advice.
You and me both. That was the game changer for me. I used to spend hour practicing 4bar licks and they never came out when i was actually playing
Moral of the story “ one bar licks “
That's it
Hey Thank You for such informative session. Made a lot sense to me!! Keep at it brother
Thanks 🙏
I agree 100%! My playing improved massively when I started to copy the masters. I'm gonna focus more on one bar phrases now, that's a great advice! Thanks a lot for sharing.
Parabéns Gilson. Tema muito bem explorado. Você apresentou um testemunho de como funciona/funcionou o seu processo (e dos grandes Mestres) para a aprendizagem, assimilação e inovação da linguagem.
Para chegar ao mesmo destino, várias trajectórias podem ser seguidas. Neste vídeo você defendeu muito bem a escolha da sua trajetória.
Parabéns, sou um Super fã.
Abraço.
..when the right advice comes at the right time!! Thanks!
@@johnaina8649 I'm glad I can be helpful, thanks for watching
I like what you said about being comfortable with your own playing. That with jazz, there technically are no hard rules. And so if you build your own language piece by piece it is something that you know how to communicate. For example you know how to approach a dramatic high note in many ways to create a flare. What is important is that you feel confident and clear the whole time, not necessarily that it goes exactly how you practiced it. I call this fluid playing, and it has more to do with not changing your mind half way through an idea and committing to it, and especially having the practice in to produce the required breath support at a moments notice.
Heard Flea sum this up great once in an interview somewhere. He's no technical player. "Play anything, just play it loud and with confidence."
I like this idea of fluid playing, I'm going to use it to explain these concepts all the time now lol, thanks
Very nice video Gilson, great advice! Loved the start of the video with the before and after examples. I think what showed in your 2nd video is the composure and and intention which might be the result of your advice here. You were extremely comfortable in letting the music breath and putting in your lines with determination, really cool!
Keen on going, you sound great
Thank you so much. I'm a big fan of your channel , I watch all the videos you post, I've gotten some great language that i wouldn't have otherwise from just binge watching your transcription videos. Thanks a lot
Nice. It really fires up the motivation to practice
Awesome, I'm glad. Time to get in the Shed
great video. There is a lot of overlap with Christiaan Van Hemert's video/series "one idea". Though his 'atomic' pieces are longer 2-5-1 or 5-1 phrases to arm you with lines that strongly/confidently accomplish that ubiquitous resolution. But the rhythmic displacements, playing embellishments/lead-ins, nailing the time feel and articulation, and generally just play the licks over and over and in many / all situations until it completely trivial and at your command are common to both vids. If I could go back 25 years this is the primary thing I would have done differently ... my approach was way too 'bottom up', learning scales and arpeggios and just waiting for them to magically come out in an utterly brilliant way ... on up tempo tunes ... it never happened and I had to give up on being a pro musician. But I'm revisiting it nowadays and getting a lot more enjoyment (and sounding way better!) using the 'top down' approach. Cheers!
@@johnmatelski6413 me too, for years I was just learning scales and arpprggios hoping to just sound like bird out of nowhere, it wasn't until I got to college that I met a teacher, who told me my playing had no language and then explained to me what language was and how to develop
@@gilsonamaral6595 I wish I'd had such a teacher...U Miami circa 2005, licks were really frowned upon and not considered legit improvisation. I remember students getting in trouble for playing contrived phrases in improv class and at juries. Just as you said in the video, it's not like you shouldn't know your scales and arpeggios etc ... I just remember how impressionable my mind was as a young man, and having such a burning desire to be legit ... it can really interfere with and obscure learning the language and speaking it confidently. And really the awesome players were the ones who were already confident and articulate with the language, and then layering all of the theory on top of that just took them over the top, e.g. Tivon Pennicott, who I had the pleasure of sitting in improv class with. Thanks for the reply, I really appreciate your channel and what you are doing here. Cheers!
Very good video
That Charlie Parker lick was from a much older tune called High Society Rag and Johnny Dodds I believe
@@tbonealex I didn't know about that, shiet even bird was stealing licks Lol
this makes great sense and obvious when you think about it. I am going to totally change my practice routines. thanks
That's awesome, thank you so much for watching
Let me know if there is anything you'd like me to cover on this Channel
I agree with your video about learning to play licks, but I think there is another essential thing you need to learn on top of this. When you talk about learning Sonny Rollins licks, you first need to know the basic melodies of his famous original tunes that he created his licks out of. Or other people's tunes he played on. You should instantly know "St Thomas" "Oleo" "Doxy" "Airegin" etc. and the basic form of each tune. The same goes with Charlie Parker, Miles, Coltrane, and all the other great names. There's about 1500 standards in the Real Book as a basis of all jazz history. If you don't know these standards, how can you create great licks yourself? Because the secret of jazz improv goes right back to Louis Armstrong who said "First I learn the melody. Then I play around with the melody. Then I play around with the melody some more!".
Yeah, I think learning the tunes is important and learning the changes of tunes as well. I don't think you first need to learn sonny rollins repertoire to steal a lick here and there from him . nonetheless it is important to learn tunes . But I'm also personally not worried about creating my own licks, I just steal what I heard and liked and try implementing it to my playing. I've noticed that overtime of playing the same lick it sort of changes and becomes something uniquely mine naturally , i don't really worry about creating licks.
Well said 👏 👌 👍 🙌 ❤
You have caught their borrowing from those who had come before them, which is excellent.❤
So many are indebted to Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins, Coleman Hawkins, Duke Ellington, Herbie Mann (flute), etc.😂😅
Excelentissimo!❤❤
Excellent video / insight / advice. Much appreciated 👌
Thank you so much
Great advice!
I'm Glad it was helpful bro! Now you can get your saxophone playing to the next level, maybe you'll be next lead alto for big band lol :)
thats what i staerted to do ,,,after seeing this operned doors,,les is moor ? .and geting the filll,thanks brill vids
@@tonycoombes2281 thank you so much, it opened the doors for me too
nice video and nice breakdown of the transcription process
Its helpful
Thank you so much, i'm glad you enjoyed it
This is so hopeful cheers dude, you are a legend. I've attached masses of online advice but this is so on point and crystalizes it all for me, I'm definitely going to start doing it as of today. I was thrashing around a bit, thankyou so much 👍👍👍
Oh thank you so much for watching, I'm happy you dug the information
🎉 can’t fool me’gain 😂
Excellent actual metaphor
hahahahaha, you got it . :)
Nice phrasing. I agree totally about jazz being a language. You mostly learn a language by *knowing how it sounds*. A kid learning it's own language can understand much more than it can say. I think we must prioritise listening, know how sonny stitt is different from charlie parker. Know how wynton kelly is different from ahmad jamal. What's good/bad to your ear about Lee Konitz. How about Soweto Kinch. Abdullah Ibrahim. Duke Ellington & Count Basie and Woody Herman.
Of course young people can start playing jazz before they know all the sounds of the past and present, but NEVER STOP LISTENING.
Another excellent video. Just wondering if you have a few more favourite short licks (the type that you discuss). Would love to hear them. (I'm about to learn that Charlie Parker lick in all keys and to try plugging it in to different tunes.)
Thank you so much for watching the vid, i really appreciate it. I will make a video this week sharing some of my favourite licks, thank you for this suggestion.
Gilson-
Maybe a dumb question but is there like a book or database of one bar licks? I'm still not quite able to figure stuff out by ear, at least not quickly enough to make this a good use of my time. Thank you
if there isn't this needs to be a thing
@@EliGodfrey hey this is not a dumb question. David baker how to play bebop vol 2 has a bunch of licks, the bebop Bible is another book with a bunch of licks. But ultimately you want to learn it by ear, I would suggest spending more time transcribing and developing your ears, and over time you'll get familiar with the language
Great video
Thank you so much
So true!
Playing licks if frowned upon because you sound like someone else... 'cause instead playing scales does not? ;) Those scales have been played millions of times by millions of people. Play both. Forget about being original, just like you're using words not invented by you and spoken and written by billions of people before you, the same goes for notes. The atoms in your body have been around the universe of billions of years, you ain't as special as you think, and that's OK ;)
Imitation is how most animals learn, you'll be just fine, and you'll still be YOU.
If it’s jazz, take everything thing you know and swing it. Then swing it even harder
M. O,10 Dick oatts style (Sonny stytt Always ❤
Saluti dall'Italia ✍️
Saluti, grazie mille per aver dedicato del tempo per salutarmi. Lo apprezzo davvero
@@gilsonamaral6595 un abbraccio
Saluti dalla Germania 👋 sto imparando l'italiano
@@gonasjoss molto bene very well
‘I think not’ ha. Takeaway for me: One Bar Licks. Thx.
@@craigseganti8999 hahaha, yup learning some 1 bar licks really changed the game for me, also because it's easier to mix and match like that to create longer phrases
I thought you were going to use that Clinton clip as an example of how to screw up a cliché. That was confusing.
You are on the good track. But your short demo showed an obvious detail, which is never mentioned: having frequent enough breathing spaces, or pauses. They are crucial, so that the meaning can sink in peoples' minds. As in spoken language, we like people who are not chatterboxes, but can use less words to convey more meaning.
Yup I agree with you, but that is up to the players discretion I think. You have cats like Sonny Stitt who play a lot with little to no rests lol and they still sound hip and people dig. It's really up to the player to decide how they will use space in their improv, I personally try to be as melodic and meaningful with my solos thats why i tend to leave a lot of space, also because I am thinking of the next phrase I want to play, sometimes I don't have anything to say so I wont play for like 2 bars and then something will come up ya dig
I think the original quote was, “ Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”
Great lesson on jazz language though! 👍🎶
Yes, George Bush butchered that quote and so it kinda became a joke to say it like he said it. Thank you for watching the video
@@gilsonamaral6595 It also a really funny quote and clip to use on the topic of language fluency. I properly laughed out loud.
Licks are not the full answer. They are one pathway.
I can hear the licks in your playing, rather than hearing the fully developed you that in time you will become.
@@whatilearnttoday5295 what is the full answer?
@@gilsonamaral6595 So many steps, so many contradictions... I've laid it out once to a mate at 1am in a way I felt covered all my progression, but can never remember half the things I told him were "key".
One thing I can articulate which is very important is practising making mistakes. Half of bebop is just having an escape route for every situation. One which lands you on a chord tone and on the strong beat. They're always using chromatism to enable freedom, just shooting for things and then resolving any mispositions.
Another I can remember is recognisable fragments. Simple things like triads are gold, no matter what harmonic context you play them against. If it fails, repeat it.
So that's another thing, a phase of repeating things which sound like mistakes to make them not mistakes.
Then a phase of getting sick of using this as a "trick" and breaking free from repetition.
It's all evolutionary, but it can totally start from a place other than "Play Charlie Parker licks"....... After you've spent some time playing Charlie Parker. (contraditions).
Strings breathing is very important. As part of phrasing. Horns get a lot for free there.
This completely defeats the purpose of jazz. It's not about how it sounds - it's about the performance.
I don't understand what you mean. It's not about how it sounds? What do you mean
👍