Once you have it ingrained in all 12 keys, your job is to make that line your own. Rather than a lick that’s set in stone, you want a malleable piece of jazz language that you can tailor to your current musical situation. When you transcribe a line the goal isn’t to play it the exact same way every time. I didn’t need to memorize an entire solo or sight-read lines out of a Michael Brecker transcription book, I just needed to ingrain small pieces of jazz language one at a time.īut that one line was just the beginning… Why learning one line is not just “one line” Instead of a bunch of information that I tried to cram into my head, this one deeply ingrained line opened up the door to countless possibilities, and this was the key to improving quickly. Now I had a piece of jazz language to play, something that was in my ear, a line that I could visualize in my mind. I was hearing this chord progression and this line popping up all the time in the jazz standards I was playing. Until I could play it in my sleep.Īnd after doing this exercise I noticed something different about my playing… I repeated it at least 50 times in each key, increasing the tempo of the metronome, until it was ingrained in my mind, my ears and my fingers. So for the next week I was on a mission….Įvery time I stepped into the practice room I immediately got to work memorizing and working out this line, starting slowly in the key of C and gradually moving up to the other keys. The instructions were simple: Learn it in every key, memorize it, and have it mastered at a medium tempo by the next lesson. Instead he taught me a simple melodic line by ear. On this particular day my teacher didn’t lecture about music theory or the rules of a good solo. However, in one of my first trumpet lessons I had an epiphany. In the back of my mind I believed that I had to spend years transcribing hundreds of solos before I would start seeing results… Each time I sat down to focus on a solo I would hit a wall and feel frustrated that I wasn’t getting anywhere. The only problem was that I didn’t know how to start. Like many aspiring players, I knew that I should be transcribing jazz solos. And I did the best I could stumbling over chord progressions with the few licks that I’d memorized.īut as far as usable jazz language that I could play in my solos, I was empty handed… I knew the rules of music theory and had listened to a good amount of records. When I first got to college I hadn’t transcribed at all… Every line that you transcribe is the product of years of listening, years of lessons, and years of practice.Īnd if you do the work to ingrain each aspect of this one solo, you will have more than enough to material to start developing your own voice… Stuck in a rut? Start with one transcribed line Along the way it may feel like you’re falling behind, that you’re still working on that same solo…īut remember, there’s a secret in each great solo. The transcription process is more important than memorizing hundreds of solos note for note and this is what will serve you well in developing a jazz vocabulary. Realizing that it’s OK to start at square one and understanding that you don’t have to rush to play catch-up with every jazz solo under the sun.Īs a musician looking to improve quickly, picking one solo or phrase to focus on is much more effective and beneficial for your playing than rushing to learn 10 or 20 solos at once. Extremely well.Īnd that’s the key to getting started. What most people aren’t telling you is that you don’t have to transcribe hundreds of solos to start speaking the jazz language…īut you do have to learn a few of your favorite solos. Before you’ve even set out on your journey to learn the jazz language, you’re already falling behind… Why less is more in learning jazz improvisation Suddenly you’re overwhelmed and right back where you started. There’s his solo on Joy Spring or Cherokee or Sandu or Stompin’ at the Savoy or Jordu or Pent Up House…” Maybe you could start with just one player, like Clifford Brown. So where do you begin with all of those options? How do you choose the solo that’s going to make you sound better? For instance trumpet players have to deal with Louis Armstrong and Clark Terry, Miles and Dizzy, Lee Morgan, Kenny Dorham, Freddie Hubbard. Search the internet and you’ll see page after page of important players. If you look in the Aebersold Jazz Handbook you’ll find a list with over 100 historically significant recordings to choose from… And you’ve probably searched far and wide for answers. What solo should I transcribe? You’ve probably asked yourself this question.
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