Scott's jazz accelerator course

[lownote]

Just starting a thread for us cool cats to cuddle, huddle, beach and see where we go

[lownote]

I cannot believe the BC sanitiser changes the word that sgnifies a girly dog to beach....  

[Bilbo]

I am wincing a little at the ad. 'The secret of all these great players is that they have all studied music' - no Shinola, Sherlock. 🤣

[lownote]

... and we're off. Well, the first week is about developing a bass(ic) line to a Bossa Nova based on roots and fifths and a third if you're feeling brave. Well structured course with good resources so far, delivered in an accessible way for newbs and more experienced folk, although whether you'd need the course if you were really much more than a newb is a moot point. Yeah, it recapitulated most of his jazz lessons from way back when but then it does, so if I said that I'd keep saying it and that would be boring. 10 days to go before we get technical.

[lownote]

Week 2.  Two things emerging.  One: this course goes right back to the basics of bass playing, so you may need patience if you're more advanced. Two: the subject matter can be accessed for free from Scott's archive of free lessons from years ago, or by taking out a free trial subscription to SBL and accessing his jazz course there.  But arguably the accelerator is more thorough and also much more structured using Scott's new technique of topic threading, taking a 360 in depth look at various standards to reinforce core techniques learned.     

[lownote]

Week 3.  The workload is building, now into melodic embellishment which I'm not sure I knew was a thing. And chords, which would be great only I'm an unlined fretless player. I suspect someone with perfect pitch would disagree violently, but I'm quite surprised how close to being 'in' I am.  I am genuinely impressed with the course and the improvement in my playing so far and I'm not his mum 😉 .

Edited November 22, 2021 by lownote

[EBS_freak]

On 04/11/2021 at 10:31, Bilbo said:

I am wincing a little at the ad. 'The secret of all these great players is that they have all studied music' - no Shinola, Sherlock. 🤣

I felt the same.

I also felt a bit uneasy about his negative slant about learning stuff from Youtube. Not so long ago he was saying how he wished that Youtube was available at a resource when he was a kid as there is so much good stuff out there for free.

 

It felt he was being a bit "UK politics" in that particular approach. There's a whole abundance of GREAT resources out there without having to sign up to SBLs. SBLs just puts a bit more structure around it.

[lownote]

Week 4 begins with an opening slide which contains two - TWO! - grocers apostrophe's [sic]. How bad is that?  I am sure the important thing is the music but that doesn't mean we should condone a decline in standards.  No.  This week it's soloing and improv.  Once again well thought out material, well presented. A phrase I might as well repeat every week for the next 11. But as always with Scott I'm struggling.  He's super brainy and also super work ethic'd and I suspect can't quite realise that some people aren't. S'OK, I'm learning stuff. Still in for the long haul. Plus it's useful for my sax side, which is a bonus.   

[Guest]

I’ve got some bad news; there is no such thing as an accelerator when it comes to jazz. I recall an amusing quote from Mark Levine’s Jazz Theory Book when talking about standards - something like “if you want to play in New York you had better know most if not all of these tunes” - referring to several hundred standards.
I’d categorise jazz as “slow” learning - sure, you can learn scales, modes and chords, and learning some piano will definitely move you forward - but you need years of listening, transcribing (if you want to) and playing stuff you don’t know and can’t play. Improvisation is great fun but it can be a mountain to climb initially because there are so many possibilities. If I were looking for value I’d spend the money on buying a load of jazz albums - and wear them out. One more quote from the same book: “all the answers are in your record collection”.

[Bilbo]

Absochuffinlutely.... 

[nekomatic]

I think the theory and the listening have to go hand in hand - you’ll get more out of the listening if you know some of the things you’re listening for, but there’s no point taking on board a whole load of theory if you don’t also find out and internalise what it sounds like when actual jazz musicians play it. 

[WishICouldWalk]

I've been studying jazz with a great teacher for over 3 years and I'm just scratching the surface despite practicing 2-3 hours a day. The most important things with jazz are patience and consistency. Slowly but surely you'll get there but people need to understand that the work finishes on the day you die 😁