10/19/2017 The Big Jazz Puzzle: Part 1

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The Big Jazz Puzzle: Part 1

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Okay Dudelets jump into The Big Jazz Puzzle.

Its been my experience that jazz is a lot like a puzzle.

But not just any puzzle. Its like a really hard puzzle with 1,000,000 pieces.

And the thing is, theres no right way to put it together. Theres not even a picture on
the box.

You see, when you finally get your puzzle together its gonna be totally different than
everyone Elses puzzle.

And thats really one of the big goals in jazz anyway, right? To find your own sound?
Your own version of the puzzle?
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Indeed it is.

Well, as you know Ive been trying to crack the code and figure out that puzzle for
years. Ohabout 25 of em. And Ive learned a lot in those 25 years.

A lot about what doesnt work. (I tried all the stuff that doesnt work so you dont have
to!) And I found lots of stuff that does work, too.

And now its time to talk about that stuff that works. Were gonna talk about some highly
important underlying key principles of learning jazz: laws of learning music if you will.
Laws of success.

Follow these 9 laws and you WILL experience progress and success with jazz.

Ignore them and you will not. In fact, some of them are non-negotiable. Meaning it is
impossible to play jazz at any kind of a meaningful level without adhering to them.

Okay, weird puzzle analogies and pontification about musical laws asidelets jump
right in.

Law #1: The Art of Hearing

Im gonna go out on a limb and say that law #1 is the most important.

Music is the art form of the ears. It's art made by, for
and with your hearing. CLICK TO TWEET

Period.

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The problem is that many, maybe even most, students of jazz come at the art form from
a completely technical and theoretical point of view. They think about things like what
notes to play over what chords, what fingers to push down, what scales & patterns they
know that they can use and so forth.

They do this in the practice room but also at jam sessions, on the band stand, at
recording sessions and even when playing for fun by themselves in the basement.

Now, dont misinterpret this to mean that theory and technique are not important. They
are. And they have their place. So does thinking while youre playing. But the ear is far
superior to thinking when it comes to guiding your improvisations, tapping into your
true musical voice and acting & reacting at lightning speed on the bandstand.

Thinking is slow, methodical and laborious. Its also typically uncreative, uninspired
and dispassionate in the context of jazz.

So thinking, theory, technique and the like must be relegated to serving the ear. These
are powerful tools for learning and expanding your musical abilities. But when we
create, improvise and perform let that all go and just play.

Now, that sounds easier said than done, right. Thats because it is. Its not a switch that
you can just turn off and on. Its not like some magical ability will come to you from the
ether if you simply stop thinking and just play.

You must first cultivate the habit of letting your ear be your guide over time. And
you also must cultivate your listening and playing skills. You must train your ears,
sharpen & expand your awareness, develop your macro view of the music, feed your
musical memory and practice letting your ears be your guide.

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So, should you work on technique and theory? YES! Use your thinking brain to help you
learn. Put on your lab coat and your thinking cap when youre in the shed. But you must
also cultivate your ear. And your propensity to trust it.

Here are a few things you can do to this end:

1. Listen to music you love. Listen a lot. Not just in the car or while you do your
chores. Schedule dedicated listening sessions into your daily practice. Listen as deeply
and as attentively as you possibly can. Stick with one record or track or solo for awhile
and really get to know it intimately.

2. Learn bits and pieces (or whole solos & records) of the music you love.
Completely internalize these bits and pieces with as much detail as possible until you
can hear and play them auto-magically without thinking.

3. Record & Critique yourself daily. Record something and listen back 5 times +.
Over time this will help you develop your macro sense of the music. Over time this will
make you more aware of what youre playing in the moment. It took me years before I
listened to this advice (from Hal Crook) and formed a regular habit of recording &
critiquing. But when I did I saw dramatic changes in my playing in just a few weeks. Its
so powerful. Its way more important than that long laundry list of b.s. on your practice
routine. Cut out at least half of all that technical stuff and start working on your ears.

4. Remind yourself on a daily basis that your thinking brain is far inferior to your
ears when it comes to improvising and playing music. Meditate on this fact. When you
find yourself thinking on the bandstand (you will) just notice it, acknowledge its
inferiority, and let it go.

5. Practice letting your ear guide your playing while improvising. Play completely
free to experience this: no form, no time, no meter, no rules. Or, simplify the context

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youre improvising in to experience this: one chord, 2 notes, or any other parameters
that simplify/limit the context. It will take time. But if you do all 5 of these steps on a
regular basis you will radically change your playing.

Law #2: Learn By Doing

I first came into contact with this law back in 1997 when Hal Crook threw
me out of his ensemble. It was a depressing day to be sure. But it was a
major wake up call for me. He said I didnt need to be a better instrumentalist. He said I
needed to be better at playing with people. He advised me to go schedule a session
with other cats every day for a year. Then I was to call him back to set up a session with
him, to see if I was ready for his ensemble. I did it, just like he said. And it was one of
the biggest turning points of my music.

The second time I really came across this law, it was explicitly laid out as such on a
recording I watched of Hal Galper giving a jazz master class. (Im a big H.G. fan as you
can tell!)

In the master class he specifically came out and said jazz is a music you learn by
doing.

Heres what you shouldnt do.

1. Hide in your practice room running scales & patterns.

2. Wait for the day when you have a enough chops together to start improvising.
3. Then improvise by yourself in your practice cave for awhile.
4. Then think that eventually youll be good enough to go out and kill it at the local jam
session.

Dont Do That!!! Let me save you the trouble. It doesnt work.

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First of all, scales & patterns & exercises are important. Do that stuff for SOME of your
daily practice. The key word being SOME. Go through whatever method books you
want, learn the etudes, transcriptions etc. Ill leave it at that since I know youre probably
gonna do that stuff anyway.

But then start to improvise in your daily practice. Right away. Dont wait until youre
ready. Its like having a kid. Youre never ready to have a kid until after youve already
had a kid!

So just start improvising. I dont care how long youve been playing. Start to improvise
now. Start to do the process now. Start to record & critique yourself doing it now. Start
to play with other musicians as soon as possible.

It doesnt matter if you can only play 3 notes on your axe. Improvise with those 3 notes.
Then add a fourth. But if youre reading this post on this website Id bet you have MUCH
MORE than enough going on musically to start diving into regular improvisational
practice.

Law #3: You Need Vocabulary To Do It

Like I mentioned before, jazz doesnt come from some magical place.
Its not luck or chance or DNA. Every single great jazzer, dead or alive, put
in the time to hone their abilities. They cultivated their ear, they spent plenty of time
doing it and they developed a deep & rich vocabulary to do it with.

Let me give you a little analogy. Suppose you wanted to become a Russian poet. You
wanted to write poetry in Russian. Only the trouble is you dont read, write or speak
Russian! Would you just practice letting go? Would you just practice noodling on paper
and writing random letters assuming that youll just sorta figure it out over time? Would
you just wait for the muse of Russian poetry to show up and make it so that beautiful

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Russian words would simply flow out of your hand and onto the paper? Would you
assume that other Russian poets simply had a gift from God that you didnt have?

No! You would learn Russian! Heres a good path to take: Youd start by learning some
of the basics of the language: alphabet, grammar, the sounds, etc. Youd also learn a
little vocabulary words you can use in the various situations of life: What time is it?
What is your name? My name is Jimbo. I like jazz music. And you would practice using
it by reading simple books in Russian, watching T.V. shows in Russian, speaking simple
sentences in Russian with your friends & teachers. You would also use it in the real
world assuming you were in Russia by dealing with people the best you can:
ordering a coffee at a cafe, telling the taxi driver where youre going, asking for
directions, talking to people you meet along your travels.

Along the way you would pick up new vocabulary from the people you met. And you
would also become aware of which situations you needed more vocabulary for. Then
you would go back to your hotel and look up the words you needed. Youd learn &
memorize them. Youd practice using them in sentences by yourself. Youd practice
using them with your practice partners (your friends, teachers, etc.).

Then, once again, youd get experience using them in the real world. And, if youre
paying attention and youre eager to learn & improve, each time you practice using this
vocabulary in the real world youd get more fluid and natural. Youd begin to learn the
subtleties of the language. Youd become more articulate, more clear and youd be able
to effortlessly function in more and more contexts using your Russian language skills.
Stick with it and before you know it youd be writing poetry. Bad poetry at first. But better
and better over time.

Its the same kind of process with jazz. You learn by doing. But you need vocabulary
to do it. And let me be clear about this. You dont need ALL of the vocabulary before
you can begin to start practicing doing it. You can start by developing vocabulary over
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one chord type in one key. And gradually over time youll build up your vocabulary so
you can function in many different harmonic contexts (i.e. over the many different
common and less common chord progressions and tunes).

Before you know it, you can survive and thrive in just about any musical situation
you find yourself.

Table of Contents
1. The Ultimate Secret to Learning Jazz
2. The Core Philosophies of Musical Success
3. The Big Jazz Puzzle: Part 1
4. The Big Jazz Puzzle: Part 2
5. The Big Jazz Puzzle: Part 3
6. Mindset & Mental Clarity
7. Laying Your Foundation For Musical Success
8. Creating Your Master Practice Plan
9. Putting Your Daily Practice Ritual In Place
10. Maximizing Your Musical Progress

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