Improvisation
How to improvise more melodically – part 2 of 2
30 percent of your brain’s cerebral cortex is dedicated to visual processing. A paultry three percent is dedicated to hearing. That says a lot. One, it explains why it’s harder to retain the content of an audio book than reading a physical book. It explains why people often say, “I’m a visual learner” (of course…
Read MoreHow to improvise more melodically – part 1 of 2
The title of this post reflects the majority of responses I received recently when I asked the question of 1,500 musicians: What are you struggling to accomplish with your jazz playing Some people put it in terms of playing solos that were more inventive or riveting, or creative. One respondent wrote, “Combining ideas into melodies…
Read MoreThe core skill of jazz improvisation you have probably not yet been taught
It’s been way too long since I wrote something here. My musical life has shifted and blogging has taken a back seat. It wasn’t that long ago that I felt guilty if I hadn’t written anything that week. As you’ll see throughout the next thousand words, my lack of blogging has not been for a…
Read MoreTraining your brain for both left and right brain improvising
Except for only the last couple hundred years–a sliver of time for us– human existence on earth has been hard. Very hard. Over 200,000 years, our brains have evolved to protect us from the dangers of being eaten by animals, surviving harsh weather, and attacks from warring factions. In order to survive, our brains have…
Read MoreSimplifying your jazz improvisation
I’m organizing my thoughts for my next video and I wanted to use this post as a way to flesh them out a bit and to share some concepts with you. Improvising over jazz is hard. You have so many choices as the rhythm section is flowing along that it’s hard to believe improvising over…
Read MoreBach on jazz
Last I checked, Bach was not a jazz trombonist. He was a master of improvisation, trombone back in his time was called a Sackbut and wasn’t a very resonant instrument. But Bach does provide some insight into how to improvise well on the trombone. In the early 1700s, Bach wrote his six cello suites. Hundreds…
Read MoreQuick tip on improvisation
Here the audio file that I mentioned in my quick tip video. https://youtu.be/5StE2kQS2i4 It comes from my book Trombone Improvisation Savvy.: The point I make in the video is that it is common and typical for musicians learning to improvise to be told to learn the scales associated with the chords. As I say in…
Read MoreAn online resource for learning the real book jazz tunes
There are a lot of online resources for learning piano and jazz improvisation but I want to recommend one site in particular for reasons beyond knowing how to comp B half diminished with two hands. After all, if you’re here you’re probably a trombonist or at least a brass player. Ron Drotos is KeyboardImprov.com. As…
Read MoreWhat is the secret that will make you a better improvisor?
A subscriber recently wrote a comment. He asked: What do I need to do to get better at playing Jazz? Is It the scales and listening to good trombone players? Practice all of the scales and memory of melodies? What is the order if practicing Jazz, to be good on the instrument – The T…
Read MoreThe biggest improvement you can make playing your musical instrument
A good friend and my most enthusiastic guinea pig for my books’ strange ideas and exercises came to the studio yesterday to do some trombone recording. Like most players, he’s not used to recording in my particular environment. A strange and sensitive mic, transparent monitoring through headphones, and unforgiving playback can make for an uncomfortable…
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