| LearnJazzPiano.com archives: learning jazz lines - Scot's recommendation | |
| pianogirl -- 03/01/2004, 06:26:53 -- #1938 | |
| I prepared a similar post on the weekend but it appears to have disappeared into the ether. Scot, you have recommended a few times spending a few months, an hour a day, learning bebop or other such lines. In fact, recently you got hold of an out-of-print book of lines that you will be uploading to this site once you have permission to do so from the author. My question is this - how do you recommend going about learning them? How should that hour a day be spent? I am in "expand my jazz vocabulary" mode and want to get the most out of the time that I spend. In the past I have had a few minor detours where I spent a lot of time going after something that could have been done in either less time, or in a way that also achieved a few other goals simultaneously. Hindsight is 20/20 and all that! Anyhow, do you recommend learning a few in all 12 keys? Or playing through many of them? Or go straight to apply a few to tunes that I know? I guess what I am asking is what will be the best way to practice them and have them show up in my improvising. I am not so much looking for a shortcut but looking to avoid spinning my wheels. As another example, I find that working my way through the Omnibook is very useful for vocabulary, for articulation, for fingering systems, and for technique. If I didn't approach them with those three goals in mind, I could just blast through, memorizing heads and solos in toto without having a sense of the individual bits of vocabulary that could be used in other solos. This is a great board and I am learning soooo much from everyone! | |
| smg -- 03/01/2004, 07:10:59 -- #1941 | |
| The file called "Developing..."over at 360 degrees deals with this in specific......... | |
| Scot -- 03/01/2004, 07:33:48 -- #1943 | |
| I turn on the metronome and go for it. On things where the line is a few patterns or short phrases, I will learn it in a few keys just to get my head into what intervals are being used and what the relationship is between the notes (starts on the 2, goes up a minor third, down a half step, up a fifth, etc etc). I don't learn them in 12 keys. I just learn them enough so that I can play them. Then I move on. The idea is to burn the pattern to my brain as fast as possible, then move on to the next. For the Omnibook, I don't change keys, I just learn it with both hands, slowly, with a metronome. Then I'll start speeding it up until it's at speed. I really pay close attention to the rhythmic aspects of the lines. NOtes are important, but where they are being placed is even more important. That's why the metronome is there- I can be very exact about placement within the beat. The more of these kinds of things you learn, the more vocabulary you will get without even knowing it. I also go through and review all the stuff I've "learned" every few days. Brush up on it, play it again. That really solidifies the ideas and such. Whichever way works for you is the way to go, but it is important to keep moving forward, to break through each bubble. | |
| pianogirl -- 03/01/2004, 09:29:13 -- #1957 | |
| Thanks Scot - that is just what I wanted to know from you. And Smg, I will check out that link. | |
| Scot -- 03/01/2004, 12:09:06 -- #1971 | |
| Hey, here's the first two pages of that BeBop bible. Les Wise has some good things to say about practicing patterns and such. | |
| Scot -- 03/01/2004, 13:33:24 -- #1975 | |
| I forgot to mention something- after you've been practicing new ideas and such, try to incorporate them into some improv practice. If there was something cool, figure out what makes it tick and see if you can put it into some tunes you are currently working on. When I do this, the same old tune, such as Autumn Leaves, turns out to be brand new every time. | |
| Ole -- 03/06/2004, 05:11:11 -- #2166 | |
| Is it possible to download the whole Bebop Bible or other books with bebop - lines? - Ole | |
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