Jump to content
Why become a member? ×

Preparing for jazz workshop - advice needed


project_c
 Share

Recommended Posts

Need a bit of advice from those who have a bit of jazz experience. I'm going to a jazz practice group in just under a month, it's going to be my first time playing jazz with other people, and they will all be more experienced than me, some of them quite a lot more experienced, so I want to do a decent job and try to not make a complete ass of myself, if at all possible...

I'm going to try to prepare for it as much as I can, but I would love a few words of wisdom and advice. Here's how I'm preparing at the moment:

- I know the tune we'll be playing, I've learnt learn the melody and I can walk around the tune relatively ok, and I'm also in the process of transcribing a few basslines to add a bit of colour to my slightly sketchy improvised lines.
- I'm at a stage where I can comfortably take a solo, so I may well take a backseat but if there's time, I'm also going to find a good solo and learn that, and if I feel brave on the day I might play it.
- I'm also studying walking around minor II-V-I's because the tune is in C minor, and my knowledge on minor keys is pretty basic at the moment
- Apart from that, I have a regular routine of playing the jazz blues in all keys as part of my practice so I should be ok with that if it comes up.
- I'm practicing with iRealB, as well as with a few versions of the actual tune.

Does this sound about right? Am I missing anything, and is there anything else I should be preparing for? Any general words of advice or things I should avoid?

thanks for you help!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know the tune we'll be playing, I've learnt learn the melody and I can walk around the tune relatively ok, and I'm also in the process of transcribing a few basslines to add a bit of colour to my slightly sketchy improvised lines.

Learning some lines will have value in helping you learn to find your way around the changes but try not to 'reproduce' your learned lines. It won't work and you won't know why.

I'm at a stage where I can comfortably take a solo, so I may well take a backseat but if there's time, I'm also going to find a good solo and learn that, and if I feel brave on the day I might play it

Learning other people's solos has enormous value but playing someone elses solo in a live performance also never works and for exactly the same reasons

- I'm also studying walking around minor II-V-I's because the tune is in C minor, and my knowledge on minor keys is pretty basic at the moment

Spend some time with it. It is important that you 'hear 'it' rather than you 'know it'.

- Apart from that, I have a regular routine of playing the jazz blues in all keys as part of my practice so I should be ok with that if it comes up

Absolutely - you will be doing this for the next 30 years. And it will some up pretty much every Jazz gig you do forever.

- I'm practicing with iRealB, as well as with a few versions of the actual tune

Time well spent.

Does this sound about right? Am I missing anything, and is there anything else I should be preparing for? Any general words of advice or things I should avoid?

You are overpreparing. What you need to try to do is to internalise (not learn) all of the above and to let it come out when you 'hear it' as opposed to when you 'think it'. The only way I can explain it is to say if you were going to have a conversation about The Beatles Sgt. Pepper Lp this afternoon, you may read up on the album, learn what tracks are on it, who produced it, what year it came out etc. You would prepare. You would not go to a book on the suject and learn everything by rote so you could regurgitate it in one great big diatribe at what you felt to be 'the right moment'. If you did that, you would end up looking like a nut-job :) Get it all in there and let it filter our in real time as part of the organic debate, do not throw it out there as a 'set piece'.

And it will help to learn the changes of the tune and then practices your lines without the chart in front of you. Play the changes with your eyes closed and let you ears guide you. Listen to what everyone else is doing. That is where the Jazz is. Play the time straight. Don't over play and try to put it monster fills, just stick to straight quarter-notes all the way. When you have that mastered, you can start to think about the fiddling about. It is all a LOT easier and a LOT harder than you think but, at this stage, just enjoy it. It will show.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Bilbo. Can you expand a bit on how you differentiate between internalising something and learning something, when it comes to applying it to a daily practice routine? I understand the thinking behind it, but apart from loads of repetition and paying close attention to the tune, I'm wondering if there's anything else I can do to internalise it. I spend quite a lot of time just improvising around the tune, which I think is helping with this, but I'm curious to see if you have any better methods.

ps. I made a typo above, it should actually say "i'm NOT at a stage where I can comfortably take a solo", which is why i'll be taking a back seat from that..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think internalising and finally 'hearing' what you practice just takes time. Right at the start of my Jazz 'beginnings' I forced myself to listen to the chord tones, creating chord tone based melodies/phrases over II-V-I's. Over time I started to incorporate these ideas in my own playing, fitting them into little lines I create and now my playing sounds more melodic than when I began.

Some things just don't come that quick and some do. Everyones different.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sing the tune, sing the bass lines, scat some solos, just get used to hearing it. If you can, play your scatting on the bass. Just get used to hearing how each note works against the harmony. Don't force it, just enjoy it. And don't turn it into a monster you are afraid of. It's just a tune like any other.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Beyond strictly the musical, I would also say be prepared to learn!

If there are more experienced players, make good use of their knowledge and ask [i]lots[/i] of questions even if you think it might make you look a bit daft. The cleverest people are the ones who don't mind asking questions and speaking up when they don't get something - only a truly stupid person minds looking stupid in the pursuit of knowledge :) I teach and I see this far too often: people who are more interested in looking smart than actually learning.

Maybe if there are bits of tunes you're uncomfortable with, ask other players how they approach them? Or ask what they recommend you do to improve? You could take a notepad/audio recorder to make a record of things that you want to practise in the future.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All top advice! One thing I found out quite quickly is that a 'safe' or potentially boring bass line sounds much better than getting lost in the changes or hitting a load of wrong notes. So if a tune comes up that you're not too sure on just play it safe =)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...