Josh Walsh @ Jazz-Library
Each week, receive a new jazz transcription of a solo, with observations and playing tips. Join our weekly Zoom workshop to explore and play together.
Why jazz standards you learned keep disappearing
Reader, A couple of weeks ago, one of our members posted in our community out of frustration. Last year in our workshops they learned how to play Body and Soul. They practiced it for weeks, and really played it well. But now, after some time, the song has basically vanished. This isn't the first time I've heard this frustration from my students. So I finally hosted a live workshop on just this topic. The replay is available to watch for free below. It's about an hour. Watch it at your...
Stealing Kenny Barron's LH Moves on Misty
Reader, One of my favorite recordings of Misty is this one from Kenny Barron. All throughout this recording, he perfectly demonstrates one of the most important ways to play a solo piano ballad. Kenny Barron From A Room With a View, Cinematic Jazz #10 (1991) Kenny's right hand beautifully and freely phrases the melody, but it's his left hand that allows for that to happen. His left hand moves in strict quarter notes throughout. In essence, the left hand is they rhythm section playing a slow...
Finally, get fluent playing in every key
Reader, I was playing cocktail hour at a wedding a couple of years back. Someone requested Secret Love (which is, for the record, a funny song to play at a wedding) and I segued smoothly into it from the current song. After a few bars, I realized I had segued into it in the “wrong” key. Secret Love is a song I always play in Eb, but I had just landed in Ab instead. Oops. I panicked inside a little bit… but I made it through okay. Most of us learn a tune in one key. Whatever the Real Book...
7 blues licks worth knowing in all 12 keys
Reader, When I first started teaching piano 20 years ago, I had a book full of jazz, boogie-woogie and pop licks that I gave the kids I was teaching. But over time I stopped recommending that because I kept seeing students who could play licks but couldn't actually improvise. They were painting by number, and it didn't translate into real soloing. Playing licks is not bad. They help you learn important parts of the language. But I'm convinced they are more effective as an add-on to existing...
5 must-know turnarounds (and one just for fun)
Reader, When I first picked up jazz, my teacher showed me the basic turnaround progression. The purpose of a turnaround is to create some movement and gravity back to the 1 chord in the key, as you loop back around for another time through the head. But the art of the turnaround goes deeper than I realized at the time. So today, I want to show you a few different takes on the turnaround, so you can apply them to your tunes right away. Down below, I'm breaking down the formula to my top-6...
This Friday - Jazz Soloing Masterclass with guest Theron Brown (RSVP)
Reader, Okay, so now what? We've been so deep in blues soloing, phrasing best practices, and applying them to the blues. But how do we actually get the experience to use these things as creative musicians in our performances? To get another perspective, I invited my friend Theron Brown to join our masterclass this Friday for a discussion about this with one of today's great touring pianists. Theron suggested we demonstrate this over a great Sonny Rollins blues tune, Sonnymoon for Two. Theron...
Why your solos sound like exercises (not music)
Friday Mar 27 - Zoom Masterclass with Theron BrownWe'll be talking about the blues, solo phrasing, and creative inspiration. Come hangout, ask a question or even play for Theron and get feedback. RSVP Reader, Last week I showed you how a bebop dominant scale keeps chord tones landing on strong beats automatically. It's built right into the scale. As long as you keep the 8th notes going, the harmony takes care of itself. So this week we practiced using these bebop dominant scales to create...