When I was younger, I would spend hours with my sisters and my friends sitting around listening to records, sometimes the same record repeatedly for hours.   Sure, I would also spend a lot of time in a transcription mode, trying to learn the drum parts.   But, beyond the learning processes of becoming a musician, there was a significant amount of my recreational time spent just listening to music.

🎵 Play A Great Rhythm Changes In 3 Months – Week 10

Over the past five weeks, we've gradually expanded our rhythm changes vocabulary.

We've explored:

• Guide-tone lines
• Embellished 3rds and 7ths
• Chromatic approaches
• Diminished and bebop scale language
• Chord-tone based improvisation

This week, we begin bringing many of those ideas together.

👉 Chord outlinings, scale motion, and substitute chord changes.

🎵 Play A Great Rhythm Changes In 3 Months – Week 9

Over the past four weeks, we've been steadily building a melodic vocabulary for rhythm changes.

We've explored:

• Guide tones (3rds and 7ths)
• Embellished guide-tone lines
• Chromatic and flat 9 dominant language
• Diminished and bebop scale vocabulary

This week, we shift our focus to another essential improvisational concept:

👉 Using chord tones to build melodic lines.

Retired a while back and now have the time to get more serious about the vibes.  Thought the 15 week thing would be a good place to begin.  So here is my lesson 1 stuff.

My four root notes are F, Ab, B, and D.  I think of the vibes as an F-centric instrument, so F.  Going up or down a major or minor third takes it in more of a sharp key or flat key direction, so Ab and D.  And B is a tritone away, which takes you as far from the original key as possible.

Here we go!

From F - all modes, muting and open/close, improvisation all modes

🎵 Play A Great Rhythm Changes In 3 Months – Week 8

Over the past three weeks, we've gradually expanded our melodic vocabulary.

We started with:

• 3rds and 7ths
• Embellished guide-tone lines
• Chromatic and flat 9 dominant vocabulary

This week, we continue that progression by introducing two of the most recognizable sounds in bebop improvisation:

👉 The diminished scale
👉 The bebop scale

🎵 Play A Great Rhythm Changes In 3 Months – Week 7

Over the past two weeks, we've been developing melodic lines from the inside out.

We started by connecting the 3rds and 7ths, then expanded those guide-tone lines with more melodic movement and common harmonic variations.

This week, we take another major step toward authentic bebop language.

👉 Flat 9 dominant vocabulary.

Teddy Brown, showman AND technician!

🎵 Play A Great Rhythm Changes In 3 Months – Week 6

Last week, we introduced one of the most important concepts in jazz improvisation:

👉 Connecting the harmony through the 3rds and 7ths.

Those guide tones gave us a clear picture of the rhythm changes progression while keeping the melodic language relatively simple.

This week, we take the next step.

👉 We're keeping the same guide-tone foundation, but embellishing the lines.

I have been using an AI notetaker. When I practice I talk about things out loud. Then the app (Plaud) sums up everything and distills it down. Here's what it gave me today: 

I know some people are not into AI. But I love it. It writes my code now, records meetings and notes and my thoughts and just sums everything up for me! 

Here's my version of this cool solo by Milt Jackson on Bag's Opus.