Vibraphone

🎵 Play A Great Rhythm Changes In 3 Months – Week 5

Over the first four weeks of this series, we've focused entirely on harmony:

• Learning the form
• Internalizing common voicings
• Exploring different textures
• Developing comping rhythms and syncopation

This week, we shift gears.

👉 We're introducing line exercises.

Just like Week 5 of the blues series, we're beginning with one of the most important concepts in jazz improvisation:

👉 3rds and 7ths.

I am pleased to announce that my solo vibraphone book has now been published. The book is called "A Piazzolla Portfolio - 5 Nuevo Tango Pieces" arranged for Solo Vibraphone by Jerry Weir.  The five pieces in the book are:

I didn't know that Terry Gibbs played with Benny Goodman. He's playing a Deagan Imperial, which was known for a great warm tone. I had one in high school that I bought for $290. The guy I bought it from was convinced it had only 2 1/2 octaves, which was why he was selling it so cheaply. I showed him it had 3 octaves, but then my dad kicked me in the foot and said, "It's not polite to argue."

🎵 Play A Great Rhythm Changes In 3 Months – Week 4

Over the first three weeks of this series, we've built a solid foundation:

• Learning the form
• Internalizing common voicings
• Introducing basic comping rhythms
• Developing a feel for the harmonic movement of rhythm changes

This week, we take another step forward.

👉 We're introducing more syncopated comping rhythms.

🎵 Play A Great Rhythm Changes In 3 Months – Week 3

Over the first two weeks of this series, we've focused on building a harmonic foundation:

• Learning the form
• Internalizing common voicings
• Hearing the movement of the harmony
• Developing familiarity with rhythm changes

The rhythm was intentionally simple so all of our attention could be placed on the chords.

This week, that changes.

👉 We're introducing comping rhythms.

Many of the voicings in this lesson will already be familiar from Weeks 1 and 2. That's by design.

This is an exercise of blues solo. One chorus written using chord tones on the beats, and (mostly) blues scale and bebop dominant scale tones as passing notes.

🎵 Play A Great Rhythm Changes In 3 Months – Week 2

Last week, we focused on learning the form and internalizing a set of common rhythm changes voicings. The rhythm was intentionally simple so all of our attention could be placed on the harmony.

This week, we're continuing that approach.

👉 The focus is still harmony, not rhythm.

The written rhythm remains simple because we're trying to build a larger vocabulary of voicings before we start introducing rhythmic comping concepts.

🚨 New Series Alert – Play A Great Rhythm Changes In 3 Months

Over the past few months, we worked through Play A Great Blues In 3 Months, building a complete approach to the blues through comping, guide tones, lines, vocabulary, melodies, and chord melody.

Now it's time for the next challenge:

👉 Rhythm Changes

If the blues is one of the foundational forms in jazz, rhythm changes is the next major milestone.

From the New York Times;

A judge in Washington on Friday tossed a lawsuit filed by the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts against a jazz musician who canceled a performance at the venue’s annual Christmas Eve concert last year after the center’s board added President Trump’s name to the building.

In case you haven't seen this yet, you MUST watch it!