Today I want to talk about something critically important for your jazz guitar practice session.

And it happens to be the easiest, most relaxing thing you could possibly do in your session.

It doesn’t require any theoretical knowledge, any technique, or..well…anything.

And yet, it’s perhaps one of the most important things you can do in your session. And skilfully using them can double your results in the practice room.

“What is this mysterious silver bullet you doth speak of?” I can hear you say.

Well, my friend, it’s simple.

Taking short breaks during your practice session.

“Huh? What’s the big deal about that?” (I knew you were going to ask that.)

Here’s the thing:

One of the biggest things I get asked about from my readers is this:

“There’s so much material I need to learn and remember in order to play jazz guitar! Not only is it overwhelming, I’m finding it takes too long in my practice sessions to memorize even a small part of what I need to advance my playing. What can I do?“.

The answer:

Scientists have discovered something very interesting when observing how humans learn – the primacy/recency effect.

When we spend a practice session learning material (e.g. vocabulary, scales, tunes, whatever), we tend to retain the most of what we covered in the start of the session, and at the end of the session. In the middle of a session, there’s a dip in retention.

But here’s the thing:

If you add a short break in the middle of your session, that means you create an extra ‘end’ (i.e. at the end of the first ‘mini’ session) and an extra ‘beginning’ (at the start of the 2nd mini session).

Which means…

You can double your retention of material you cover in your practice session, simply by adding a short break in the middle.

Go for a quick walk. Make a cuppa. Have a Kit Kat. Whatever.

Just do something that you like doing, that is relaxing and completely unrelated to your practice session.

Not only does it give your hands a break, it will take advantage of the primacy/recency effect described above.

That’s not all:

Because your mind is refreshed, having a short break will help better consolidate what you just covered – AND you’ll have more ‘attention energy’ available for the next piece of material you want to tackle on your to-do list.

Once you come back from your break, make sure you briefly review what you covered in the previous session – if you do, it will be far more likely to stick in your memory.

So go on, give it a try – take a short break mid-practice session. This is perhaps the easiest practice tip I could ever give you, but one of the most important ones!

Now the exciting bit:

If you're keen to have a structured, step-by-step approach to learning jazz guitar, it might be worth checking out my online learning system, the FretDojo Jazz Guitar Academy.

Here's what you get when you join up:

• Detailed step-by-step video lessons on new classic jazz tunes and essential jazz guitar skills added to the club website each month. Includes listening recommendations, demonstrations of the melody, analysis of the harmony, and detailed explanations on how to solo over the tune.

• Key improvisation concepts and techniques for soloing, and classic licks and example solos that relate to each tune, so you can continue to expand your jazz vocabulary and have more options when it comes to soloing.

• Detailed comping ideas to suit the style of each jazz standard covered

• Lessons on how to make chord melody and solo jazz guitar versions of tunes featured - play a complete jazz standard completely on your own like Joe Pass!

• Members only forum - A worldwide community of jazz guitarists from all around the globe.

• Regular workshops, masterclasses, and Q & A Sessions - get direct answers from me on anything holding you back in the practice room. Replays of all sessions are available to access for all members even if you can’t make it live.

• Massive searchable database of jazz licks and soloing concepts - the ultimate idea "grab bag" for your solos.

• Optional monthly challenges where members participate to get feedback on their playing, reach new milestones and be eligible for cool prizes.

The best part:

You can access this all of this and more for just $1 by signing up to a 14 day trial. Go here for more info: https://www.fretdojo.com/signup-offer

May the jazz be with you,

Greg

Last week I was editing together the recent interview I conducted with jazz guitar superstar Howard Alden, when something he said really stuck out at me:

“Spend some time playing without backing tracks, without even a metronome. Do this even if you’re just doing some single line soloing or playing a melody. This will build your internal sense of rhythm.”

I think this is one of the best pieces of advice you are ever going to hear to improve your jazz playing.

Too often, players get into the trap of using some sort of backing track any time they go to practice.

In a way, logically it makes sense. Unless you’re trying to play jazz guitar solo, having some sort of backing track to play along with would help prepare you for playing with other musicians at a gig.

Here’s the thing though:

There’s a problem with this approach.

You see, backing tracks are kind of like a ‘crutch’. It’s the same kind of thing as driving a couple of blocks down to your local store to pick up a few things, instead of walking. Sure, you’ll get the thing you were looking for, but in terms of your fitness? Not that good.

Similarly, if you use backing tracks to practice along with all the time, your ears will always subtly be responding to the cues of the chord changes on the track, rather than hearing them internally.

Likewise, your rhythm feel will be propped up by the backing track as well, and your internal sense of rhythm will never develop.

So, put away dem backing tracks for a little while.

If you’ve used backing tracks a lot up till now, it can feel strange and kind of… ‘naked’ to do this.

But naked is good.

Practicing single line soloing or melodies by yourself, and on your own, can do wonders for developing your inner sense of the music.

The result?

Once you have a strong internal feel for the changes, you can then start to be much more creative with both your phrasing and rhythm. You’ll no longer be responding to cues from backing tracks – your own creative impulses will be the driving force.

If you haven’t already, check out my interview with Howard Alden at the link below as today’s tip was just one of a truckload of practice techniques he talks about that every jazz guitarist should be aware of:

Click here to listen to the interview with Howard Alden now.

And while you’re at it, leave a comment below to let me know what you thought about this simple, but incredibly important practice tip I’ve shared with you today.

Now the exciting bit:

If you're keen to have a structured, step-by-step approach to learning jazz guitar, it might be worth checking out my online learning system, the FretDojo Jazz Guitar Academy.

Here's what you get when you join up:

• Detailed step-by-step video lessons on new classic jazz tunes and essential jazz guitar skills added to the club website each month. Includes listening recommendations, demonstrations of the melody, analysis of the harmony, and detailed explanations on how to solo over the tune.

• Key improvisation concepts and techniques for soloing, and classic licks and example solos that relate to each tune, so you can continue to expand your jazz vocabulary and have more options when it comes to soloing.

• Detailed comping ideas to suit the style of each jazz standard covered

• Lessons on how to make chord melody and solo jazz guitar versions of tunes featured - play a complete jazz standard completely on your own like Joe Pass!

• Members only forum - A worldwide community of jazz guitarists from all around the globe.

• Regular workshops, masterclasses, and Q & A Sessions - get direct answers from me on anything holding you back in the practice room. Replays of all sessions are available to access for all members even if you can’t make it live.

• Massive searchable database of jazz licks and soloing concepts - the ultimate idea "grab bag" for your solos.

• Optional monthly challenges where members participate to get feedback on their playing, reach new milestones and be eligible for cool prizes.

The best part:

You can access this all of this and more for just $1 by signing up to a 14 day trial. Go here for more info: https://www.fretdojo.com/signup-offer

Greg O’Rourke

I’m sure you’ve heard how important transcribing is for any serious jazz musician learning to improvise.

And it is important.

The reason?

Transcription is one of the time-honored means for improving your jazz vocabulary.

It can rapidly build your jazz vocabuary, and teaches you the subtle nuances of how to speak the language of jazz.

But here’s the thing:

Why does it work? Why is transcription so essential?

I’ll get to that in a moment. But first, I need to clarify something important.

Transcription works best when you do it by EAR – i.e., not writing it down (at least not until you can play along with the recording you’re transcribing). This point is important, and you’ll see the reason below.

Ok, so anyway back to our topic – What is the main reason transcription works so well in improving your soloing skills?

It works like this:

When you transcribe a solo from a recording by ear, it’s essentially forcing you to memorize the material off the recording!

Simply put, that’s all it is doing.

In fact, when transcribing a recording by ear there is no way to play that solo except from memory.

And this highlights the biggest mistake that so many jazz players make when they attempt to improvise.

Often aspiring players think improvising is coming up with something entirely new, that’s never been done before in the history of mankind…

But that can be very misleading.

The best jazz musicians have learned to improvise via a 3 step process often cited by the great jazz trumpeter Clark Terry:

“Imitation, Assimilation, Innovation.”

So, if you want to improvise and sound like a jazz player, you need to start from somewhere (i.e. imitate). This is the material you have transcribed and memorized.

From there, you seek to internalize and understand what is contained within the solo and use this as raw material throughout your own improvisations (assimilate). Finally, you then draw out the general concepts from the material you’ve learned but use those concepts as starting points for your own ideas (innovate).

Often players try to go to the very last step – innovation – without first going through the process of 1) imitation and 2) assimilation.

So, in summary, this is why transcribing works so well.

If you do it properly, it provides you with a large storehouse of memorized music, that serves as the raw material for your own improvisations – and, thus, is the first step on your path as a jazz player.

But here’s the thing:

Is transcribing the only way to memorize musical material?

No! It’s just that the process of transcribing naturally forces you to memorize large amounts of it.

So, ironically it is possible to get the main benefit of transcribing…without transcribing.

But you have to be careful in your approach. Here’s what you need to do:

Start by learning a few short lines that are based on the key chord progressions in jazz, such as major 251s, minor 251s, and dominant lines.

But (here’s the important part)…

Memorize them in a very attentive, methodical way, and make sure you’re able to play them without looking at the sheet music or TAB as soon as possible.

Then, test yourself by seeing if you can play the lines exactly as you learned them as you play along with a backing track.

The result?

This will give you the main benefits of transcription, i.e. imitation, without you having to spend hours going through the process transcribing.

From there, you can then go through the process of assimilation, and finally, innovation.

Cool huh?

Here’s the thing though:

Whichever way you go about increasing your jazz vocabulary, the main point to keep in mind is that you rigorously memorize good quality material. That will create a secure ‘treasure house’ of jazz vocabulary in your mind to naturally draw from and eventually make your own.

(Of course, there are other benefits to transcribing recordings which you won’t get through my ‘transcribing without transcribing’ technique, such as how great players structure a solo, learning the subtle aspects of articulation and feel, and so on – but that’s another story…)

Now the exciting bit:

If you're keen to have a structured, step-by-step approach to learning jazz guitar, it might be worth checking out my online learning system, the FretDojo Jazz Guitar Academy.

Here's what you get when you join up:

• Detailed step-by-step video lessons on new classic jazz tunes and essential jazz guitar skills added to the club website each month. Includes listening recommendations, demonstrations of the melody, analysis of the harmony, and detailed explanations on how to solo over the tune.

• Key improvisation concepts and techniques for soloing, and classic licks and example solos that relate to each tune, so you can continue to expand your jazz vocabulary and have more options when it comes to soloing.

• Detailed comping ideas to suit the style of each jazz standard covered

• Lessons on how to make chord melody and solo jazz guitar versions of tunes featured - play a complete jazz standard completely on your own like Joe Pass!

• Members only forum - A worldwide community of jazz guitarists from all around the globe.

• Regular workshops, masterclasses, and Q & A Sessions - get direct answers from me on anything holding you back in the practice room. Replays of all sessions are available to access for all members even if you can’t make it live.

• Massive searchable database of jazz licks and soloing concepts - the ultimate idea "grab bag" for your solos.

• Optional monthly challenges where members participate to get feedback on their playing, reach new milestones and be eligible for cool prizes.

The best part:

You can access this all of this and more for just $1 by signing up to a 14 day trial. Go here for more info: https://www.fretdojo.com/signup-offer

But now, enough of my ramblings – I have a question for YOU…

For those of you that have transcribed solos, what are the most useful ones that have taught you the most when it comes to building your jazz vocabulary?

Let me know by leaving a comment below, or otherwise, let me know what you thought about this article – how do you rate my point of view on this subject? It would be interesting to get your thoughts.

Cheers,

Greg

==

Greg O’Rourke,

Founder, Fret Dojo

World Leader in Online Jazz Guitar Education