Pretty good video. Can I add one to the list? Stop practicing everything rubato. Jazz occurs in time and understanding jazz time is essential to swinging--from swing to bebop to beyond. I used to practice a lot of tunes and progressions rubato--because I wanted to get those chord tones and scales down pat. What I DIDN'T realize was that I was neglecting my sense of harmonic rhythm. Harmony operates in time, and the way the chords change in relation to the measures allows you to hear the tune. You start to internalize a tune when you can hear the harmonic rhythm away from your instrument. That also means that you can't lean on band in a box or whatever play along. Learn to play through an entire tune by yourself--simplify what you need to get through the tune. Playing the melody in time will do you better than practicing all those advanced substitutions--especially if you can't get through the tune in time on your own. One more to the list. Harmony and melody are the raw materials. Rhythm is how you put all those materials together to make music. Many of us completely ignore rhythm in our practice--listening is part of it, but you gotta play it to internalize it. Without rhythm, there is no music. I repeat, without RHYTHM--there is NO music. So talk to a bassist or a drummer, or both. Jazz time is three dimensional (RIP Mike Longo) and involves more than even and odd subdivisions of the beat. Jazz time is the result of different poly rhythms layered on top of each other--triplets, quarter note triplets, half not triplets. Then you need to think of how you group your notes into phrases. So yeah, everything comes down to developing your sense of time. Without a strong time conception, everything else falls flat. In other words, it's about TIME we start talking about TIME and treating jazz time and rhythm seriously in all of jazz education.
Stop practising Jazz all together.... it sucks and all sounds the same. And 3000 students graduate every year playing the same stupid songs over and over and competing against each other. Dum du dum dum dum....
Timing is one of my bugbears. i do ok until the music becomes more complex then my mind gets caught up trying to figure it out and my timing falls away.
@@alfredbellanti3755 same here--I think that's because most of us were taught or self-taught that we need to play the right scales to access the right notes ALL the TIME. So much so that we sacrifice playing in time to hit those notes and harmonies. If you stop and think... sacrificing time for notes sounds a bit counter-intuitive, no? You lose the time, then EVERYTHING sounds bad--subjective or not.
Oddly enough, I've gone just the other way. I always played everything in time, and now, I'm starting to take everything apart by playing rubato, and I'm learning a lot that I missed when playing in time. I'm even redoing tunes I've played forever, and it's amazing how completely different they are when played rubato. Because I'm a huge fan of Eddy Palermo, and I hear music the way he plays it, I usually end up playing in time between opening and closing choruses of rubato, even though Eddy rarely (if ever) plays anything rubato. Of course, there's Pasquale Grasso, but his little fingers are the length of my forearm, so... Anyway, development is a personal process, and everyone has their own method. But, I hear you. I think a lot of learning rhythm comes from listening to the headliners play - which I've been doing from early childhood.
In my opinion, this is the most honest advice I have heard about learning jazz. And it will be revisited in those future moments while getting frustrated with the length of time it takes to accomplish a goal to remind myself that the experience of learning Jazz is more about the journey and not so much about the destination. Many Jazz artists I have admired often still thought of themselves as students still. As they too continue to stretch their boundaries to grow their skills and playability. Cheers!
Thank you so much for this video! I’m a classically trained pianist, most of this stuff applies to that as well. I’ve loved jazz since my teens, but my mindset about learning it was so wrong for many many years. I was just so frustrated, cause my friends played it so much better. Well DUH, some of them are now world class players, who had already back then put the 7-8 years (the estimation is from one of them😊) into learning the chops. I might add to the concept of having fun another nuance, which is enjoying the hardness of it. Not to sound too David Goggins, but once you start loving the grinding, you can better at anything in your life. I just turned 50, and I feel like I’m studying again. In classical music I know exactly, what to do. But also my jazz playing is actually starting to sound partially even good😅♥ Keep up the good work!
Been a career musician for about 45 years and about 25 years ago in my teaching I started focusing on analyzing and memorizing standards as core curriculum. Your advice is bang on and applies to all genres and the results are empirical.
The problem with the message here is that playing Jazz standards is nice but these songs are around 75 or more years old. I think a better plan is learn a few standards and then decide the direction you want to go in, traditional, fusion, smooth jazz, avant garde, etc. And also realize your favorite jazz artists played standards that may have been a decade or two older and sometimes popular songs or Broadway of their own time period, example John Coltrane, My Favorite Things. That should always be kept in mind, learn some of the old standards and then apply some of the same interpretation of songs actually may written in your own lifetime or a few decades earlier. For instance, Fragile by Sting, Strassbourg St. Denis, (Roy Hargrove) , Paranoid Android by Radiohead, Beatles songs (see Brad Mehldau), Stevie Wonder songs, Phil Collins Big Band - In The Air Tonight, Prince's "Thieves in the Temple, Nirvana Comes as you Are, Peter Gabriel's mercy street, The possibilities are endless, Even if you go into the top 200 songs on the pop charts right now there will be a few good melodies here and there, even if you don't like the style, you can take that and play it another way, add some harmony if necessary, swing the rhythm Unless you want stay in safe "Jazz" zone, 40s- 50s songs that have been done a billion times(although I still love listening the old standards as well) Think about this. How did a standard become a standard? A lot of these songs jazz musicians took from popular songs of the day or Broadway or movie songs. More people should be taught how to turn a pop song into jazz, how to alter some of the chords, choose a rhythmic approach from jazz. How to turn it into more sophisticated music thats good to improvise over, or do a modal version and maybe add a modulation. This gives the new generation who find jazz incomprehensible, something to draw them in and catch some of their attention
Amen brother! I've been playing for 40 years and teaching for over 30. This is what I tell all my students. You hit the nail on the head. Great video my man!
The one thing every teacher online skips about learning jazz is 1. It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing. Take a simple melody that you learned as a beginner like twinkle little star and learn how to swing and jazz that tune up. Do this with every tune you know in all keys. 2. Lean the blues. Every tune you can find and then in all keys. 3. Learn your ii V7 I 's in all keys on your instrument and a chordal instrument. 4. Lean rythm changes in all keys. Take it slow.. 5. Now you can absorb online instructions.
I like your suggestion. Twinkle twinkle little star can be flipped upside down, turned inside out. Happy birthday can be done the same, using dim V7 13th, 9 etc. play in all 12 keys. Thank you.
Well, play in all keys is a good practice, but you just need some common keys used in the standards that you are playin. And people sometimes is quite lazy, in the way "oh, man, I use to play it in G, don't change the key!". The funniest is when you play guitar and you accompany a singer: you have to be prepared to change the key according to the vocalist.
Listening to jazz is very important. There are many many variables to becoming a good jazz musician. That's a blessing and a curse. You never run out of things to learn but as you say, it's not easy to get a good command of jazz. Tone, technique, patterns, phrasing, timing. Improvisation is the best way I know to fully express myself. So many ways to play a single chord and I won't know what I will play until I am close to reaching that specific chord.
As you have mentioned...learning many jazz standards, for me was key. The more standards I have under my belt, the more confident feel; taking the heads and blowing solos over them. Quick meditation before playing helps. Yes...eventually you think differently, feel differently and perform better. I appreciate your advice over the years. On my way to 50 standards off book. Thanks Brent.
For me, being fortunate to learn jazz improvisation on sax when young, this skill transfers over so well to being able to just get up and play with anyone. I can't memorise standards but I can sight read very well. Best feeling is when you just forget about everything and play.
Exceptional video. I am a senior citizen learning to play violin. My instructor is a jazz musician. I've been taking lessons for 5 years and can see the elements you discuss in her lessons.
Brent, great and honest presentation. There are way too many people out there selling "easy way to Improv", "Fast Track to Improv", and it is not easy or fast. Keep up the good work!
Outstanding video. I really agree with your last point (point 7). Just let the music flow on the bandstand, not try to overthink it, or it will sound weird, and lead to regret that you didn't play all the licks you were hoping to. I love Charlie Parker's quote: "You've got to learn your instrument. Then, you practice, practice, practice. And then, when you finally get up there on the bandstand, forget all that and just wail."
I have to many FAVORITE INSTRUCTORS!!! Including you - I use your song learning procedures for years. I use jazz piano school( Brenden Lowe) I’m Elite member. I use Kent Hewitt ( have his books) I use piano with Jonny and David Manuel ( blues studies right now) and Arthur Migliazza for boogie Woogie ( great study book) and mdecks( I’m a monthly paying member) and Julian Bradley and Christian Fuchs to a lesser degree. I’ve bought material from all and a few with members, lifetime and monthly. There’s more I’m missing in this email like open studios and some others I can’t think of without my workbooks. I keep a daily practice schedule. I’m 79 so I feel like I’m running out of time to become as good as I’d like at improvising over tunes I know and from charts. I started studying jazz in college in 1970, played out with bands until 1985. Quit! Turned into top 40 groups to make money 😢hated it!! Worked logging until retirement. Then 10 years ago in 2014 I got inspired again and have been going strong morning to night practicing solo piano. Never jam anymore but practice group playing also like my comping technique etc. Only want to relearn one Debussy piece Claire de Lune before I die. And want to sound better on my improvised choruses after I play the head in solo arrangement and then repeat that again after improvising. Thank you for all you’ve given me!! Bruce You can see what I’ve bought from you. I study them.
I took a vacation for a month and practiced several hours everyday. My playing improved a great deal. Being a member of learn jazz standards has been an essential component in my growth as a jazz guitarist. I agree that learning to play melodies by ear is an essential skill but I also think I benefit a great deal by learning to sight read notation and tab.
Excellent advice (I think). I especially like that you have to cultivate a mentality of enjoying the learning. I find that's the hardest thing to do. I.e. getting frustrated because progress is so slow.
Great vid man. Learning to face and manage one's own anxiety and IMPATIENCE seems to be the real divide between those who persevere and those who do not. It's so easy to just stick to what comes easily that this often prevents us from being able to persevere when things do NOT come easily. It's taken me over 40 years to begin to get a grip on the simple idea that consistent, daily practice will render results. Keep pushing through and finding Joy amidst the struggle! Cheers✌
As a music teacher and jazz fan myself, I heartily agree with your comments. Jazz has a history, and the best musicians are familiar with with that history including hundreds or thousands of songs and jazz tunes. I would be cautious about improvising too freely, however. The chord changes are there for a reason. And a good solo tells a story.
I agree. Playing within the chord changes is important. When I was starting out, understanding what notes are 'available' for use was (and continues to be) very difficult. Learning the circle of fifths helped me as does practicing 1-3-5-7s over a backing track. I also agree that an improv needs to tell a story; flow and go somewhere. I try to work in some call-and-response, but also try to work in a ghost of the head to keep true to the melody of the song.
I agree with everything! Except that nobody tells it … because I keep saying the exact same thing to my students over and over. This video will help to legitimate my words. Thx.
Another great message, Brent! “Having fun” when practicing happens when we set goals and notice ourselves achieving them. Goals can be big and long term, but it’s the small goals that we can accomplish in a practice session or two. See Tom Heaney’s great book, “First, Learn to Practice.” Keep up the great work, Brent!😊
Plenty of good advice there to which I would add a) Start simple e.g minor and major blues particularly in C & F- if you get those together you have a chance of sounding OK. c) Once you've learned a phrase or lick try changing the notes but keep the rhythm and fingering the same so you re-use the muscle memory - this is very powerful at creating new vocabulary. d) Don't think only certain phrases etc can be classed as jazz - any notes in any order can be part of an improvisation - phrases from classical music, blues pop etc It doesn't have to be 100% bebop ;) e) On guitar/piano you spend more time playing chords so spend more time on chord work than soloing so you have the basics sorted. f) Listen to other players - a lot - but only steal licks you really like then change them and remember you can slow down TH-cam when you go poaching ;) g) Forget learning Giant Steps it's CR*P anyway and even if someone actually likes playing it most of the audience won't be too keen. It's done more harm than good IMHO. Don't waste your time.. I would add that I have limited abilities but have still found fellow musicians to be encouraging and nothing improves your playing like playing with other musicians.
Very excellent points that have definitely been my experience over the past 35 years or so as a student of classical and jazz guitar. In addition, how about this and I’m speaking in the context of the guitar although it can be applied variously to other instruments. There are more or less efficient ways to learn jazz standards on a complex instrument like guitar. One really needs a good system of fingerboard harmony … a technical framework for chords, arpeggios and the scales they derive from. To navigate all of this, an efficient way of organizing fingerings and understanding guide tone voice leading through chord progressions has for me become foundational.
The part about needing to have fun along the way is my biggest personal discovery. I never would have come as far as I have (which to be clear is not nearly as far as I want) if I didn't get enjoyment and satisfaction out of the hard work.
All great advice! For guitarists I'll add the recommendation of working on a bunch of melodies before tackling chords when learning songs. Amazing how many blazing soloists/compers don't swing on heads. Cheers, Daniel
Fantastic! Telling it as it is! Thanks as always for everything along the way. We are forever learning, in life as in music and there is no end of the curve in sight-as far as I can see! Long may it and the good teaching and learning continue!! Andy.
Hi Brent. You were literally the first jazz educator I discovered when I started learning jazz improv 7 years ago. I'm now out playing sessions every month and really enjoying it. I've even hit total flow state a few times and felt like I couldn't do anything wrong. I'm chasing that feeling every time now. Every bit of advice you have given has been spot on. Thank you.
Great advice. As an "intermediate" player who has been given the opportunity to play with more accomplished musicians on the bandstand, the point about getting comfortable with being uncomfortable resonates with me. You have to be both humble and not too hard on yourself and at the same time thick skinned when things go south on the stand and its down to you.
Huge kudos for the honesty. Across the entire internet's worth of music educators/instrument educators, NOBODY seems to want to say the truth, which is: it takes time, lots of work and patience. NOBODY wants to say that. Most internet sources for studying music try to make it sound as if "anyone can do it", "you too can play like me (insert megastar monster musician)". Its so disingenuous. The great bass player, Janek Gwizdala, is also produces great books material and TH-cam content on jazz improv, and his mantra is "You have to do the work...". Nothing truer could be said about learning music, especially jazz.
Took years of wasting time not wanting to learn songs by ear … and i never saw any improvement… today everything is sticking and I’m more confident in the practice room and playing with my buddies
Coming from metal/djent, im used to composing everything ahead of time, much more like classical music. Practicing was spending time understanding sounds and making sure my fingers could articulate each composed note with as much feeling as possible. But it wasnt improvising from scratch, it was hitting notes until i found the ones i wanted, then spending all my time playing those exact same notes well. I've found that, due to the 7th point about letting yourself go completely, I need to change what practice means to me. I need to drill exercises to the point my muscle memory has it, then move on to a new exercise, changing a lot more and not just playing a song. Then improvising is letting the muscle memory take over from the variety of exercises while listening. Practicing improvisation is recording it, then listening back and finding things you want to add/change and making an exercise for that and back to the muscle memory. It feels much more like sports that way honestly. You barely practice the actual game. Any game practice is more like comfirming the exercises are working (scrimmage) without the stakes of a real game, or just messing around and having fun. Then you take all that and do your best when in the game trusting your exercises (or on stage). The difficulty as a self-taught practitioner is making sure you have the right exercises for your level that push you toward the next level. This is a huge pain to figure out for two reasons: 1) to make sure the exercise is good 2) make sure you're honestly evaluating your level, its probably a lot lower than you think (i know mine is)
Interesting video. IMO you missed the one that everybody miss all the time : to play jazz, you need to work on all aspects of ryhthm as much as on harmony. I don't any good players with weakness in rhythm. But fact is, if you're not a drummer, there is almost no serious course about rhythm. The only one I heared talking about it is Kenny Werner.
Like 90% of blues is the I/IV/V, 90% of jazz in the ii/V/I. I was not made aware of this for a very long time. So learn this first, and then proceed to the more exotic variations.
Great list. Here are some other, from personal experience, and it applies to music generally, not just jazz. 1. Stop obsessing about technology, equipment, gadgets and sound. 80% of my fellow players spend a lot of money on equipment and time on getting the technology to be perfect in order to sound "right". 2. When it comes to standards, even if you don't sing, learn and immerse yourself in the lyrics. It says a lot about the song as much as the harmony or melody does. 3. Play mostly what you like if possible. There are songs or tunes that I can not stand and I only do them if I am forced by others to do it or if it serves a technical purpose.
I've recently started getting into playing jazz, off the back of getting into music production over the past 2-3 years, and one of the main things I've learned (which ties into a few of your points here) is that you've got to enjoy the process when it comes to what you're working on/learning. Sure, it's great that we have all these goals we want to attain, but being real, we're not going to stick around to hit those goals a few years into the future if we don't enjoy the day to day effort we're putting in. Keep up the awesome work man!
These are all good points but in my opinion, you've missed a crucial point that no one talks about: You must work on your rhythm. Rhythm is more important than good notes or complex harmony. A lick with wrong notes but good rhythm will always be better than a lick with all the right notes but sloppy rhythm. Jazz students must devote a lot of time learning rhythmic phrases, learning to play while counting out loud, and becoming comfortable starting and ending phrases on any part of the beat (both down and up beats). This, to me, is about the most important thing that nobody talks about. Harmony is important, but it will always be secondary, priority-wise, to rhythm.
The most important thing that "Nobody Tells You About Playing Jazz" is there are very few jazz hubs left in America, and those that still exist are inundated with players - good ones - so clubs don't pay much because there's no scarcity of players who will work for next to nothing (it's a competition and a bidding war), and clubs outside those cultural centers don't even know what Jazz is. Also, do your best to get paid up front. Clubs are notorious for stiffing musicians after the gig. They'll pay their wait staff and kitchen staff and even valets and doormen, but they'll wriggle their way out of paying musicians if they can. I think the term "playing music" makes them believe you are "playing" - as in recess. It's awkward to say, "I'm a guitar worker." On the other hand, if someone asks, "Do you play?" I like to say, "No, I work to make it sound like I'm 'playing'." Oh well, that's my 2¢ - which is, of course, worthless. Someone told me long ago, "If you played rock, you'd be rich!" Unfortunately, I've wanted to play only Jazz since I was a little kid, so I'm in the wrong genre for the times and I can't help it. There's nothing I can or would do to change it. If you're a Jazzer, you know what I mean.
"What constitutes 'learning a jazz standard?" The chords and progressions? The melody? Actually mapping out the chord tones and target notes for playing the changes or soloing? Comping? I ask because if the answer is "e"--All the Above", then learning "lots of jazz standards" becomes a Herculean task. I can listen to, then whistle and sing a jazz tune then play it on my guitar as single note melodies with some chords. But does that qualify as "learning?" "Learning" to me is not "glossing over." Is there a middle ground or does this factor into Brent's statement, "Learning jazz takes a long time?"
tldr... I'm not a jazz player, but I've been stuck on Misty for three years... (I still can't play it). I have learned a lot of classical songs written for piano though. I think the biggest problem with jazz standards is that many people don't know the songs. The problem with jazz standards, in my opinion, is that the songs have either been copyrighted or have been deemed offensive like Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah. Jazz lives in a place it was never meant to. FYI In a bureaucratic world.
Another piece of advice: don't be stuck to one chord form/voicing. There are TONS of ways to voice chords, learn the notes and play them in as many ways possible! This tied me down a lot fpr years until recently. Make them as big or small as possible based on the context. Experiment and have fun!
It always cracks me up when rock guys say that they want to learn jazz, but they refuse to immerse themselves in it, by listening to standards, and playing them. It's like saying: I want to learn how to speak French, but I'm only really going to listen to people who speak English. I think that for these guys, it boils down to: They respect jazz, view it as a higher status music, but that respect doesn't translate into them actually immersing themselves in it.(They don't really like it, they respect it.) They want to listen to a few fusion guitarist, and think: Well that'll be enough (I really don't want to listen to that stuff, you know, the standards.) PS: Forget the idea of you having fun all the time when you're playing. It's work. It's not toil. But, it is work. That's why most people can't play: They haven't done the work. You practice when you don't feel like it, because you have a goal. Chuck Close is attibuted to having said: “The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who'll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself...." So, there you have it: You want to learn jazz... you want to get better: Don't wait until you're in the mood to practice.... get to work !!
What is really sad is this statement is really true for all live music. People want to sit in front of their TV or devices to consume all types of music. They don’t want to be bothered to drive somewhere, when they can just stay home.. What’s even sadder, is all of the EXPENSIVE jazz programs scattered across the country that are churning out jazz players so they can start a TH-cam channel to teach other people to play jazz. I bet the majority of U.S. based jazz TH-camrs hardly ever play a live jazz gig, and if they do, I bet they could make more money taking a shift at Panda Express.😂
Oddly enough there's nothing or very little said about ears !!! Ear training is a top priority. Here's the deal: If you can't hear it - you "CANT PLAY IT" ‼️
The "practice engine" is probably the toughest to address. You can't rely entirely on your own judgment here, and are bound to persist in the same mistakes. This is probably where a trusted outsider's input is most valuable. I don't care how advanced you think you are, think of resorting to a teacher who can point it out.
All excellent tips, but IMO the most important rule in jazz is this: Unless you're Marcus Miller, never wear a stupid hat. If your playing sucks and you're trying to make up for it by looking 'cool', you're screwed.
To be a Jazz musician , one must first become a legitimate musician. If you don't understand theory, if you don't know every major and minor scale, if you can't spell any chord, if you don't have good time, you are not gonna achieve your true potential as a Jazz Artist.
Sure, but before they composed the tunes that became “new” jazz standards, they practiced and mastered the jazz standards that came before, composed by the “previous” greats
The best way to be a great jazz musician is to be b lack and travel back in time prior to the late 70’s. Anything else is just uninteresting parroting.
Pretty good video. Can I add one to the list? Stop practicing everything rubato. Jazz occurs in time and understanding jazz time is essential to swinging--from swing to bebop to beyond. I used to practice a lot of tunes and progressions rubato--because I wanted to get those chord tones and scales down pat.
What I DIDN'T realize was that I was neglecting my sense of harmonic rhythm. Harmony operates in time, and the way the chords change in relation to the measures allows you to hear the tune. You start to internalize a tune when you can hear the harmonic rhythm away from your instrument.
That also means that you can't lean on band in a box or whatever play along. Learn to play through an entire tune by yourself--simplify what you need to get through the tune. Playing the melody in time will do you better than practicing all those advanced substitutions--especially if you can't get through the tune in time on your own.
One more to the list. Harmony and melody are the raw materials. Rhythm is how you put all those materials together to make music. Many of us completely ignore rhythm in our practice--listening is part of it, but you gotta play it to internalize it. Without rhythm, there is no music. I repeat, without RHYTHM--there is NO music. So talk to a bassist or a drummer, or both.
Jazz time is three dimensional (RIP Mike Longo) and involves more than even and odd subdivisions of the beat. Jazz time is the result of different poly rhythms layered on top of each other--triplets, quarter note triplets, half not triplets. Then you need to think of how you group your notes into phrases.
So yeah, everything comes down to developing your sense of time. Without a strong time conception, everything else falls flat. In other words, it's about TIME we start talking about TIME and treating jazz time and rhythm seriously in all of jazz education.
Stop practising Jazz all together.... it sucks and all sounds the same. And 3000 students graduate every year playing the same stupid songs over and over and competing against each other. Dum du dum dum dum....
Timing is one of my bugbears. i do ok until the music becomes more complex then my mind gets caught up trying to figure it out and my timing falls away.
@@alfredbellanti3755 same here--I think that's because most of us were taught or self-taught that we need to play the right scales to access the right notes ALL the TIME. So much so that we sacrifice playing in time to hit those notes and harmonies. If you stop and think... sacrificing time for notes sounds a bit counter-intuitive, no? You lose the time, then EVERYTHING sounds bad--subjective or not.
Oddly enough, I've gone just the other way. I always played everything in time, and now, I'm starting to take everything apart by playing rubato, and I'm learning a lot that I missed when playing in time. I'm even redoing tunes I've played forever, and it's amazing how completely different they are when played rubato. Because I'm a huge fan of Eddy Palermo, and I hear music the way he plays it, I usually end up playing in time between opening and closing choruses of rubato, even though Eddy rarely (if ever) plays anything rubato. Of course, there's Pasquale Grasso, but his little fingers are the length of my forearm, so... Anyway, development is a personal process, and everyone has their own method. But, I hear you. I think a lot of learning rhythm comes from listening to the headliners play - which I've been doing from early childhood.
In my opinion, this is the most honest advice I have heard about learning jazz. And it will be revisited in those future moments while getting frustrated with the length of time it takes to accomplish a goal to remind myself that the experience of learning Jazz is more about the journey and not so much about the destination. Many Jazz artists I have admired often still thought of themselves as students still. As they too continue to stretch their boundaries to grow their skills and playability. Cheers!
Thank you so much for this video!
I’m a classically trained pianist, most of this stuff applies to that as well. I’ve loved jazz since my teens, but my mindset about learning it was so wrong for many many years. I was just so frustrated, cause my friends played it so much better. Well DUH, some of them are now world class players, who had already back then put the 7-8 years (the estimation is from one of them😊) into learning the chops.
I might add to the concept of having fun another nuance, which is enjoying the hardness of it. Not to sound too David Goggins, but once you start loving the grinding, you can better at anything in your life.
I just turned 50, and I feel like I’m studying again. In classical music I know exactly, what to do. But also my jazz playing is actually starting to sound partially even good😅♥
Keep up the good work!
Been a career musician for about 45 years and about 25 years ago in my teaching I started focusing on analyzing and memorizing standards as core curriculum. Your advice is bang on and applies to all genres and the results are empirical.
The problem with the message here is that playing Jazz standards is nice but these songs are around 75 or more years old.
I think a better plan is learn a few standards and then decide the direction you want to go in, traditional, fusion, smooth jazz, avant garde, etc.
And also realize your favorite jazz artists played standards that may have been a decade or two older and sometimes popular songs or Broadway of their own time period, example John Coltrane, My Favorite Things.
That should always be kept in mind, learn some of the old standards and then apply some of the same interpretation of songs actually may written in your own lifetime or a few decades earlier.
For instance, Fragile by Sting, Strassbourg St. Denis, (Roy Hargrove) , Paranoid Android by Radiohead, Beatles songs (see Brad Mehldau), Stevie Wonder songs,
Phil Collins Big Band - In The Air Tonight,
Prince's "Thieves in the Temple, Nirvana Comes as you Are, Peter Gabriel's mercy street,
The possibilities are endless, Even if you go into the top 200 songs on the pop charts right now there will be a few good melodies here and there, even if you don't like the style, you can take that and play it another way, add some harmony if necessary, swing the rhythm
Unless you want stay in safe "Jazz" zone, 40s- 50s songs that have been done a billion times(although I still love listening the old standards as well)
Think about this. How did a standard become a standard? A lot of these songs jazz musicians took from popular songs of the day or Broadway or movie songs.
More people should be taught how to turn a pop song into jazz, how to alter some of the chords, choose a rhythmic approach from jazz.
How to turn it into more sophisticated music thats good to improvise over, or do a modal version and maybe add a modulation.
This gives the new generation who find jazz incomprehensible, something to draw them in and catch some of their attention
Amen brother! I've been playing for 40 years and teaching for over 30. This is what I tell all my students. You hit the nail on the head. Great video my man!
Thank you!
@@Learnjazzstandards My pleasure! You have a great channel. Keep up the good work!
The one thing every teacher online skips about learning jazz is
1. It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing. Take a simple melody that you learned as a beginner like twinkle little star and learn how to swing and jazz that tune up. Do this with every tune you know in all keys.
2. Lean the blues. Every tune you can find and then in all keys.
3. Learn your ii V7 I 's in all keys on your instrument and a chordal instrument.
4. Lean rythm changes in all keys. Take it slow..
5. Now you can absorb online instructions.
I like your suggestion. Twinkle twinkle little star can be flipped upside down, turned inside out. Happy birthday can be done the same, using dim V7 13th, 9 etc. play in all 12 keys. Thank you.
Even in C# key? Many instruments not very suitable for transposing.
Well, play in all keys is a good practice, but you just need some common keys used in the standards that you are playin. And people sometimes is quite lazy, in the way "oh, man, I use to play it in G, don't change the key!". The funniest is when you play guitar and you accompany a singer: you have to be prepared to change the key according to the vocalist.
Well at least guitar one can capo!@quimcastilla
Jazz is crap music... all sounds the same... big deal.
Listening to jazz is very important. There are many many variables to becoming a good jazz musician. That's a blessing and a curse. You never run out of things to learn but as you say, it's not easy to get a good command of jazz. Tone, technique, patterns, phrasing, timing. Improvisation is the best way I know to fully express myself. So many ways to play a single chord and I won't know what I will play until I am close to reaching that specific chord.
As you have mentioned...learning many jazz standards, for me was key. The more standards I have under my belt, the more confident feel; taking the heads and blowing solos over them. Quick meditation before playing helps. Yes...eventually you think differently, feel differently and perform better. I appreciate your advice over the years. On my way to 50 standards off book. Thanks Brent.
You're welcome!
Now that you've done that: Write some jazz tunes.
For me, being fortunate to learn jazz improvisation on sax when young, this skill transfers over so well to being able to just get up and play with anyone. I can't memorise standards but I can sight read very well.
Best feeling is when you just forget about everything and play.
Exceptional video. I am a senior citizen learning to play violin. My instructor is a jazz musician. I've been taking lessons for 5 years and can see the elements you discuss in her lessons.
Brent, great and honest presentation. There are way too many people out there selling "easy way to Improv", "Fast Track to Improv", and it is not easy or fast. Keep up the good work!
Outstanding video. I really agree with your last point (point 7). Just let the music flow on the bandstand, not try to overthink it, or it will sound weird, and lead to regret that you didn't play all the licks you were hoping to. I love Charlie Parker's quote: "You've got to learn your instrument. Then, you practice, practice, practice. And then, when you finally get up there on the bandstand, forget all that and just wail."
I have to many FAVORITE INSTRUCTORS!!! Including you - I use your song learning procedures for years. I use jazz piano school( Brenden Lowe) I’m
Elite member. I use Kent Hewitt ( have his books) I use piano with Jonny and David Manuel ( blues studies right now)
and Arthur Migliazza for boogie Woogie ( great study book) and mdecks( I’m a monthly paying member) and Julian Bradley and Christian Fuchs to a lesser degree. I’ve bought material from all and a few with members, lifetime and monthly.
There’s more I’m missing in this email like open studios and some others I can’t think of without my workbooks.
I keep a daily practice schedule.
I’m 79 so I feel like I’m running out of time to become as good as I’d like at improvising over tunes I know and from charts.
I started studying jazz in college in 1970, played out with bands until 1985. Quit! Turned into top 40 groups to make money 😢hated it!! Worked logging until retirement. Then 10 years ago in 2014 I got inspired again and have been going strong morning to night practicing solo piano. Never jam anymore but practice group playing also like my comping technique etc. Only want to relearn one Debussy piece Claire de Lune before I die. And want to sound better on my improvised choruses after I play the head in solo arrangement and then repeat that again after improvising.
Thank you for all you’ve given me!!
Bruce
You can see what I’ve bought from you. I study them.
Thank you so much for sharing your incredible journey. All the best!
I took a vacation for a month and practiced several hours everyday. My playing improved a great deal. Being a member of learn jazz standards has been an essential component in my growth as a jazz guitarist. I agree that learning to play melodies by ear is an essential skill but I also think I benefit a great deal by learning to sight read notation and tab.
Awesome! Thank you for sharing.
Excellent advice (I think). I especially like that you have to cultivate a mentality of enjoying the learning. I find that's the hardest thing to do. I.e. getting frustrated because progress is so slow.
Great vid man. Learning to face and manage one's own anxiety and IMPATIENCE seems to be the real divide between those who persevere and those who do not. It's so easy to just stick to what comes easily that this often prevents us from being able to persevere when things do NOT come easily. It's taken me over 40 years to begin to get a grip on the simple idea that consistent, daily practice will render results. Keep pushing through and finding Joy amidst the struggle! Cheers✌
As a music teacher and jazz fan myself, I heartily agree with your comments. Jazz has a history, and the best musicians are familiar with with that history including hundreds or thousands of songs and jazz tunes.
I would be cautious about improvising too freely, however. The chord changes are there for a reason. And a good solo tells a story.
I agree. Playing within the chord changes is important. When I was starting out, understanding what notes are 'available' for use was (and continues to be) very difficult. Learning the circle of fifths helped me as does practicing 1-3-5-7s over a backing track. I also agree that an improv needs to tell a story; flow and go somewhere. I try to work in some call-and-response, but also try to work in a ghost of the head to keep true to the melody of the song.
I agree with everything! Except that nobody tells it … because I keep saying the exact same thing to my students over and over.
This video will help to legitimate my words. Thx.
A very helpful and inspirational video. I shall watch this again to remind myself of what I need to do to improve and to enjoy my playing. Thanks
You seem more relaxed here, Brent, less show-biz. Perhaps from all your TH-camr experience. I like it. And thanks for this and all the other lessons.
Another great message, Brent! “Having fun” when practicing happens when we set goals and notice ourselves achieving them. Goals can be big and long term, but it’s the small goals that we can accomplish in a practice session or two. See Tom Heaney’s great book, “First, Learn to Practice.” Keep up the great work, Brent!😊
Plenty of good advice there to which I would add
a) Start simple e.g minor and major blues particularly in C & F- if you get those together you have a chance of sounding OK.
c) Once you've learned a phrase or lick try changing the notes but keep the rhythm and fingering the same so you re-use the muscle memory - this is very powerful at creating new vocabulary.
d) Don't think only certain phrases etc can be classed as jazz - any notes in any order can be part of an improvisation - phrases from classical music, blues pop etc It doesn't have to be 100% bebop ;)
e) On guitar/piano you spend more time playing chords so spend more time on chord work than soloing so you have the basics sorted.
f) Listen to other players - a lot - but only steal licks you really like then change them and remember you can slow down TH-cam when you go poaching ;)
g) Forget learning Giant Steps it's CR*P anyway and even if someone actually likes playing it most of the audience won't be too keen. It's done more harm than good IMHO. Don't waste your time..
I would add that I have limited abilities but have still found fellow musicians to be encouraging and nothing improves your playing like playing with other musicians.
Very excellent points that have definitely been my experience over the past 35 years or so as a student of classical and jazz guitar.
In addition, how about this and I’m speaking in the context of the guitar although it can be applied variously to other instruments. There are more or less efficient ways to learn jazz standards on a complex instrument like guitar. One really needs a good system of fingerboard harmony … a technical framework for chords, arpeggios and the scales they derive from. To navigate all of this, an efficient way of organizing fingerings and understanding guide tone voice leading through chord progressions has for me become foundational.
Awesome advice and great observations.
Thank you!
The part about needing to have fun along the way is my biggest personal discovery. I never would have come as far as I have (which to be clear is not nearly as far as I want) if I didn't get enjoyment and satisfaction out of the hard work.
Thanks for this. Good point! Jazz comes from musicians who played the same songs over and over again, the same way night after night.
All great advice! For guitarists I'll add the recommendation of working on a bunch of melodies before tackling chords when learning songs. Amazing how many blazing soloists/compers don't swing on heads. Cheers, Daniel
Fantastic! Telling it as it is! Thanks as always for everything along the way. We are forever learning, in life as in music and there is no end of the curve in sight-as far as I can see! Long may it and the good teaching and learning continue!! Andy.
I do or don't do all of these.
But now, I have a better idea of strategies to break through and improve. Thank you!!!🎵🎵🎵🎵
appreciate all these tips and kind reminders like this help build trust in the process and help me get out of my own way thank you!
Hi Brent. You were literally the first jazz educator I discovered when I started learning jazz improv 7 years ago. I'm now out playing sessions every month and really enjoying it. I've even hit total flow state a few times and felt like I couldn't do anything wrong. I'm chasing that feeling every time now.
Every bit of advice you have given has been spot on. Thank you.
Wow, thank you so much for sharing this! Wishing you even more great moments and growth in your jazz journey.
@@Learnjazzstandards Thanks man. Next session tomorrow. I'm planning on playing Bye Bye Blackbird and Lady Bird. Fingers crossed.
The flow is magic
@@DougYeager Indeed it is. Everything felt easy. It was like time had slowed down. Wish I knew how to recreate it on demand.
Great advice. As an "intermediate" player who has been given the opportunity to play with more accomplished musicians on the bandstand, the point about getting comfortable with being uncomfortable resonates with me. You have to be both humble and not too hard on yourself and at the same time thick skinned when things go south on the stand and its down to you.
Huge kudos for the honesty. Across the entire internet's worth of music educators/instrument educators, NOBODY seems to want to say the truth, which is: it takes time, lots of work and patience. NOBODY wants to say that. Most internet sources for studying music try to make it sound as if "anyone can do it", "you too can play like me (insert megastar monster musician)". Its so disingenuous. The great bass player, Janek Gwizdala, is also produces great books material and TH-cam content on jazz improv, and his mantra is "You have to do the work...". Nothing truer could be said about learning music, especially jazz.
All of that is true... Solfege helps those who are in need to develop high vocabulary...🎉
Took years of wasting time not wanting to learn songs by ear … and i never saw any improvement… today everything is sticking and I’m more confident in the practice room and playing with my buddies
Coming from metal/djent, im used to composing everything ahead of time, much more like classical music. Practicing was spending time understanding sounds and making sure my fingers could articulate each composed note with as much feeling as possible. But it wasnt improvising from scratch, it was hitting notes until i found the ones i wanted, then spending all my time playing those exact same notes well.
I've found that, due to the 7th point about letting yourself go completely, I need to change what practice means to me. I need to drill exercises to the point my muscle memory has it, then move on to a new exercise, changing a lot more and not just playing a song. Then improvising is letting the muscle memory take over from the variety of exercises while listening. Practicing improvisation is recording it, then listening back and finding things you want to add/change and making an exercise for that and back to the muscle memory.
It feels much more like sports that way honestly. You barely practice the actual game. Any game practice is more like comfirming the exercises are working (scrimmage) without the stakes of a real game, or just messing around and having fun. Then you take all that and do your best when in the game trusting your exercises (or on stage).
The difficulty as a self-taught practitioner is making sure you have the right exercises for your level that push you toward the next level. This is a huge pain to figure out for two reasons:
1) to make sure the exercise is good
2) make sure you're honestly evaluating your level, its probably a lot lower than you think (i know mine is)
Interesting video. IMO you missed the one that everybody miss all the time : to play jazz, you need to work on all aspects of ryhthm as much as on harmony. I don't any good players with weakness in rhythm. But fact is, if you're not a drummer, there is almost no serious course about rhythm. The only one I heared talking about it is Kenny Werner.
Great lesson. Applies to all styles.
These are golden advices💰💰💰
Thx for making this video. 🙏🏼
Thank you so much for this beautiful advice add info God bless you my friend you are a good person and good mentor ..................
Thanks! I appreciate that.
Like 90% of blues is the I/IV/V, 90% of jazz in the ii/V/I. I was not made aware of this for a very long time. So learn this first, and then proceed to the more exotic variations.
Great list. Here are some other, from personal experience, and it applies to music generally, not just jazz. 1. Stop obsessing about technology, equipment, gadgets and sound. 80% of my fellow players spend a lot of money on equipment and time on getting the technology to be perfect in order to sound "right". 2. When it comes to standards, even if you don't sing, learn and immerse yourself in the lyrics. It says a lot about the song as much as the harmony or melody does. 3. Play mostly what you like if possible. There are songs or tunes that I can not stand and I only do them if I am forced by others to do it or if it serves a technical purpose.
I've recently started getting into playing jazz, off the back of getting into music production over the past 2-3 years, and one of the main things I've learned (which ties into a few of your points here) is that you've got to enjoy the process when it comes to what you're working on/learning.
Sure, it's great that we have all these goals we want to attain, but being real, we're not going to stick around to hit those goals a few years into the future if we don't enjoy the day to day effort we're putting in.
Keep up the awesome work man!
Thanks!
Listen, learn, create
These are all good points but in my opinion, you've missed a crucial point that no one talks about: You must work on your rhythm. Rhythm is more important than good notes or complex harmony. A lick with wrong notes but good rhythm will always be better than a lick with all the right notes but sloppy rhythm. Jazz students must devote a lot of time learning rhythmic phrases, learning to play while counting out loud, and becoming comfortable starting and ending phrases on any part of the beat (both down and up beats). This, to me, is about the most important thing that nobody talks about.
Harmony is important, but it will always be secondary, priority-wise, to rhythm.
The most important thing that "Nobody Tells You About Playing Jazz" is there are very few jazz hubs left in America, and those that still exist are inundated with players - good ones - so clubs don't pay much because there's no scarcity of players who will work for next to nothing (it's a competition and a bidding war), and clubs outside those cultural centers don't even know what Jazz is. Also, do your best to get paid up front. Clubs are notorious for stiffing musicians after the gig. They'll pay their wait staff and kitchen staff and even valets and doormen, but they'll wriggle their way out of paying musicians if they can. I think the term "playing music" makes them believe you are "playing" - as in recess. It's awkward to say, "I'm a guitar worker." On the other hand, if someone asks, "Do you play?" I like to say, "No, I work to make it sound like I'm 'playing'." Oh well, that's my 2¢ - which is, of course, worthless. Someone told me long ago, "If you played rock, you'd be rich!" Unfortunately, I've wanted to play only Jazz since I was a little kid, so I'm in the wrong genre for the times and I can't help it. There's nothing I can or would do to change it. If you're a Jazzer, you know what I mean.
Thank you Sir . A golden advice
"What constitutes 'learning a jazz standard?" The chords and progressions? The melody? Actually mapping out the chord tones and target notes for playing the changes or soloing? Comping? I ask because if the answer is "e"--All the Above", then learning "lots of jazz standards" becomes a Herculean task. I can listen to, then whistle and sing a jazz tune then play it on my guitar as single note melodies with some chords. But does that qualify as "learning?" "Learning" to me is not "glossing over." Is there a middle ground or does this factor into Brent's statement, "Learning jazz takes a long time?"
tldr...
I'm not a jazz player, but I've been stuck on Misty for three years... (I still can't play it). I have learned a lot of classical songs written for piano though. I think the biggest problem with jazz standards is that many people don't know the songs. The problem with jazz standards, in my opinion, is that the songs have either been copyrighted or have been deemed offensive like Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah.
Jazz lives in a place it was never meant to. FYI In a bureaucratic world.
Another piece of advice: don't be stuck to one chord form/voicing. There are TONS of ways to voice chords, learn the notes and play them in as many ways possible! This tied me down a lot fpr years until recently. Make them as big or small as possible based on the context. Experiment and have fun!
Number 4: gold
It always cracks me up when rock guys say that they want to learn jazz, but they refuse to immerse themselves in it, by listening to standards, and playing them. It's like saying: I want to learn how to speak French, but I'm only really going to listen to people who speak English. I think that for these guys, it boils down to: They respect jazz, view it as a higher status music, but that respect doesn't translate into them actually immersing themselves in it.(They don't really like it, they respect it.) They want to listen to a few fusion guitarist, and think: Well that'll be enough (I really don't want to listen to that stuff, you know, the standards.) PS: Forget the idea of you having fun all the time when you're playing. It's work. It's not toil. But, it is work. That's why most people can't play: They haven't done the work. You practice when you don't feel like it, because you have a goal. Chuck Close is attibuted to having said: “The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who'll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself...." So, there you have it: You want to learn jazz... you want to get better: Don't wait until you're in the mood to practice.... get to work !!
How did the original jazz guitarists learn songs that weren't standards yet?
By learning the pop songs of the day. And that just happened to be standards
What to do when I can memorize melody in my head but not my fingers?
What is really sad is this statement is really true for all live music. People want to sit in front of their TV or devices to consume all types of music. They don’t want to be bothered to drive somewhere, when they can just stay home.. What’s even sadder, is all of the EXPENSIVE jazz programs scattered across the country that are churning out jazz players so they can start a TH-cam channel to teach other people to play jazz. I bet the majority of U.S. based jazz TH-camrs hardly ever play a live jazz gig, and if they do, I bet they could make more money taking a shift at Panda Express.😂
Duke Ellington said it. " The lesson is in the song".
Perfectionism is my nemesis!
Oddly enough there's nothing or very little said about ears !!! Ear training is a top priority.
Here's the deal: If you can't hear it - you "CANT PLAY IT" ‼️
Superb content cheers for posting this- invaluable advice
Thanks! Glad it was helpful.
Interesting video. Thanks 🎉
Spot on!
The "practice engine" is probably the toughest to address. You can't rely entirely on your own judgment here, and are bound to persist in the same mistakes. This is probably where a trusted outsider's input is most valuable. I don't care how advanced you think you are, think of resorting to a teacher who can point it out.
This is great advice.
Thank you!
All excellent tips, but IMO the most important rule in jazz is this: Unless you're Marcus Miller, never wear a stupid hat. If your playing sucks and you're trying to make up for it by looking 'cool', you're screwed.
Fantastic content but I can't stand all that stock video crap. But you are to the point 100%
Thank you for your feedback! We will make some improvements in the coming videos.
What NOBODY TELLS US about clickerbait. ?
First one. 🎉
Love this channel. ❤
I have waisted alot of time and only recently started focusing on songs.
So jazz is improvisation but you cannot play "other stuff".
none of your backing tracks are accessible anymore. at least in the USA. and i think that really sucks.
Brillant
When was the last standard added to the real books? 1973? ONLY way, my stinking foot.
Word.
Preach!
That it's fun :D
Encoding and decoding are better terms than input and output. It comes from cognitive psychology and linguistic acquisition.
What you say is all true, but basically it's what every serious music teacher tells you. so, the title of this video is...clickbait.
ITS ALL ABOUT RHYTHM AND FEEL!!!! THE NOTES ARE NOT IMPORTANT. IT SHOULD FEEL LIKE DANCING.
To be a Jazz musician , one must first become a legitimate musician.
If you don't understand theory, if you don't know every major and minor scale, if you can't spell any chord, if you don't have good time, you are not gonna achieve your true potential as a Jazz Artist.
The guys who invented these old standards knew none of that stuff. Theory was written afterwards.
@@menninkainen8830
Spoken like a person who doesn't know theory , scales, chords or has good time.
What nobody tells you about playing jazz is that nobody wants to hear it.
Lmao!
Rock players play 5 notes for thousands of people.
Jazz players play thousands of notes for 5 people.
@@dabanjo thank God there's only 12 thousand notes. It could be worse.
@@dabanjo
Then how many notes and people do fusion (rock & jazz) players play for?
@AntwhaleNearfar a negative number. Fusion guitarists are essentially a black hole.
Oh, and they don’t teach students that they will not make even subsistence money playing the music.
Nobody knows the melodies anymore because jazz school teaches INNOVATIVE CHORD CHANGES! No one cares.
The greats did not do cabaret. They innovated and composed, not trotted out the same old dated tunes, decade after decade.
Sure, but before they composed the tunes that became “new” jazz standards, they practiced and mastered the jazz standards that came before, composed by the “previous” greats
Walk the bar+++
Love the content, but the constant panning in and out of the video is nauseating!
Thank you for your feedback! We will make some improvements in the coming videos.
Jazz “Teacher”, not educator.
BLABLABLABLABLA
And after you have all this down also learn how to work at Starbucks.
what is "impor-int"??
Far too busy with the visuals. Target audience for learning jazz is NOT 7 year olds.
Thank you for your feedback! We will make some improvements in the coming videos.
Meh.
The best way to be a great jazz musician is to be b lack and travel back in time prior to the late 70’s. Anything else is just uninteresting parroting.
Who wants to be a jazz musician 🤦♀️so dull