A new, free, post on Patreon on "How to learn jazz licks and make them your own". Most people miss the last en most benefitting step.
I think Michael Brecker would agree (see highlighted sections from the preface to his Practicing notebooks". Here is the link in a moment, but if you don't want to move away from Youtube, read a crucial part below here: www.patreon.com/posts/119917435
(As copied from Patreon): 1. Write down (small or longer) idea's and lines.
They can be licks, patterns, chord progressions, voicings, melody quotes, phrasing, ... anything you like musically!
2. Practice them in all (or many) keys.
This is one few places I would slightly disagree or nuance from Michael Brecker's approach. Practicing in all keys can be a great exercise, but to me - a professional saxophonist with a family that has barely any practicing time - it seems like youi don't have to do that with every lick ever. Some licks just feel or sound nice in one or a few keys. In others, not so much. So I wouldn't just do it for the sake of it. Only if it makes sense (and sometimes it does).
Here is where many people found they used a transcription or a lick well and put it away, but, there is a next step which is the most important part! You see it highlighted in the Brecker notes above:
3. Permutate, change and twist the idea.
You see in the Brecker text that many of his fellow musicians describe how Brecker would start to play and fool around with these lines. This is crucial for a few different good reasons:
---> Repetition works well as a tool to learn/remember, altered repetition works even better (according to research)!
Your memory learns through association, so give your memory the chance to have variations on the same theme.
--->You'll have double extra gains: you remember the basic idea better + you have more ideas from one source
---> It is more fun and less sterile this way.
--->You gain more conceptual training and insights on how to vary motifs on the spot (aka improvise). See Paul Desmond as an absolute master of this craft, he barely played licks or the same ideas.
Do you do this already?
No worries if not. This is the pattern we'll start exploring and cultivating together and teach you.
We will weekly:
1.1 Select a great line/lick
1.2 Transpose it for you into all 12 keys (Pdf). (This will be one full post)
2. 1. Dedicate a lesson to the line
2.2. Give you idea's on how to use the line and add variations on it. We'll write them out for you in one key to keep it clear (imagine if we'd give you 6 variations X12 keys, that would become insanely much material and would become overwelming. See my comments on practing in all keys above)
3. Optional: give an extra lesson on eartraining or specific techniques when something special it occurs in that week's line.
Sharp Eleven Music
A new, free, post on Patreon on "How to learn jazz licks and make them your own".
Most people miss the last en most benefitting step.
I think Michael Brecker would agree (see highlighted sections from the preface to his Practicing notebooks". Here is the link in a moment, but if you don't want to move away from Youtube, read a crucial part below here: www.patreon.com/posts/119917435
(As copied from Patreon): 1. Write down (small or longer) idea's and lines.
They can be licks, patterns, chord progressions, voicings, melody quotes, phrasing, ... anything you like musically!
2. Practice them in all (or many) keys.
This is one few places I would slightly disagree or nuance from Michael Brecker's approach. Practicing in all keys can be a great exercise, but to me - a professional saxophonist with a family that has barely any practicing time - it seems like youi don't have to do that with every lick ever. Some licks just feel or sound nice in one or a few keys. In others, not so much. So I wouldn't just do it for the sake of it. Only if it makes sense (and sometimes it does).
Here is where many people found they used a transcription or a lick well and put it away, but, there is a next step which is the most important part! You see it highlighted in the Brecker notes above:
3. Permutate, change and twist the idea.
You see in the Brecker text that many of his fellow musicians describe how Brecker would start to play and fool around with these lines. This is crucial for a few different good reasons:
---> Repetition works well as a tool to learn/remember, altered repetition works even better (according to research)!
Your memory learns through association, so give your memory the chance to have variations on the same theme.
--->You'll have double extra gains: you remember the basic idea better + you have more ideas from one source
---> It is more fun and less sterile this way.
--->You gain more conceptual training and insights on how to vary motifs on the spot (aka improvise). See Paul Desmond as an absolute master of this craft, he barely played licks or the same ideas.
Do you do this already?
No worries if not. This is the pattern we'll start exploring and cultivating together and teach you.
We will weekly:
1.1 Select a great line/lick
1.2 Transpose it for you into all 12 keys (Pdf). (This will be one full post)
2. 1. Dedicate a lesson to the line
2.2. Give you idea's on how to use the line and add variations on it. We'll write them out for you in one key to keep it clear (imagine if we'd give you 6 variations X12 keys, that would become insanely much material and would become overwelming. See my comments on practing in all keys above)
3. Optional: give an extra lesson on eartraining or specific techniques when something special it occurs in that week's line.
Does this sound good to you?
Let us know in the comments!
See you soon with a new Lick of The Week!
/Jorre
2 months ago | [YT] | 39