Do you ever get that feeling when you're looking at your instrument sitting there in the corner and you just don't feel like picking it up? It's kind of a strange feeling because deep inside you're excited about music and jazz and you want to improve and you know you have that idea of practicing but then when you actually go to do it there's some kind of resistance there. And sometimes the reason that is is because practicing can sometimes be boring. That is if you practice in a boring way. So in today's episode, we're going to talk about five ways to make practice not boring so that you're having fun when you go to pick up your instrument and learn new things. In this episode:5 Ways to Make Practice Not Boring1.  Practice things you like to practice2.  Practice high-leverage activities, things that give you big results. 3.  Add purpose to your practice. Don't just be doing a meaningless task for no reason.4.  Practice in a fun way, ways that are fun for you to practice.5.  Practice with a goal in mind or goals in mind. Important Links:Free Guide to learning standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart WayLJS Inner Circle MembershipListen to the Learn Jazz Standards PodcastGet 50% off your first month when joining the Inner Circle: https://members.learnjazzstandards.com/sp/inner-circle-sales-page-podcast-direct/

If you're a complete beginner to jazz, this episode is for you. If you are an intermediate jazz player, this episode is for you. And if you consider yourself an advanced jazz player, this episode is also for you. In today's episode, we are going to be talking about the fundamentals of learning jazz. Whether you are brand new and you need to know this information or you're somewhere down the line, it is important for us to continually revisit what actually works and what we actually do need to know when it comes to learning jazz, improving as jazz improvisers and playing as we've never, ever dreamed we could. In this episode:The 4 categories for learning jazz:Category #1:  Fundamentals of learning jazzCategory #2:  Jazz TheoryCategory #3:  The 3 Pillars of Jazz ImprovisationCategory #4:  PracticingImportant Links:Free Guide to learning standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart WayLJS Inner Circle MembershipListen to the Learn Jazz Standards PodcastGet 50% off your first month when joining the Inner Circle: https://members.learnjazzstandards.com/sp/inner-circle-sales-page-podcast-direct/

So a common piece of advice when learning jazz and becoming a better improviser, learning songs is you should do it by learning it by ear rather than reading sheet music. And there are a plethora of reasons why teachers will say this is a good idea. However, for someone who is new to this idea or who was trained to read music or use tablature, this could be a very scary, foreign, and frustrating concept. So in today's episode, I want to go over ten tips that I regularly share with my Inner Circle members for how to learn music by ear. In this episode:10 Tips for Learning Music By EarTip #1:  Start smallTip #2:  Adjust your expectationsTip #3: Check your work with notation at firstTip #4:  Use a slow-downerTip #5:  Learn more tunesTip #6:  Practice melodic dictationTip #7:  Practice ear-training fundamentalsTip #8:  Mindfully listen to musicTip #9:  Sing before you playTip #10: Have a processImportant Links:Free Guide to learning standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart WayLJS Inner Circle MembershipListen to the Learn Jazz Standards PodcastGet 50% off your first month when joining the Inner Circle: https://members.learnjazzstandards.com/sp/inner-circle-sales-page-podcast-direct/

The best way to learn jazz and improve over time is simply to learn more songs, aka jazz standards. But those jazz standards, those songs are made up of chord progressions. The good news is that even though there are a lot of complex chord progressions, or at least seemingly complex chord progressions in jazz standards, a lot of them come up time and time again, over and over. So once you learn one jazz standard in two or three, you're going to start seeing those same chord progressions come up in many, many other ones. So what are the chord progressions that you need to know for jazz? In this episode, we're going to talk about nine of them that are really common and you'll see come up a lot.  In this episode:1. The major 2-5-1 chord progression2. The minor 2-5-1 chord progression3. The major 1-6-2-5 chord progression4. The minor 1-6-2-5 chord progression5. Chord progression #5 is when the 3 chord replaces the 16.  Chord progression #6 is when the sharp one diminished, replaces the 6th7.   The 1-4-3-6 chord progression8.  The chromatic 2-5s or sidestep 2-5s9.  The tritone sub of 5 Important Links:Free Guide to learning standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart WayLJS Inner Circle MembershipListen to the Learn Jazz Standards PodcastGet 50% off your first month when joining the Inner Circle: https://members.learnjazzstandards.com/sp/inner-circle-sales-page-podcast-direct/

Hey, my friends, Brent here from Learn Jazz Standards. Here on the podcast for the month of August, we've been doing a themed month called Free Masterclass August, where I've been giving away different Masterclasses that we've done in the past here on Learn Jazz Standards, whether it be from our virtual summits, retreats or otherwise, just to, you know, it's the summer, it's the end of the summer.  We're about to go into the fall coming up here soon, and I just kind of wanted to unleash a lot of value and information for you to kind of set you up for when perhaps you're going to be more active in practicing and getting back to it, improving and getting to your musical goals again.Today's masterclass, honestly, if I'm being really honest with you, I had a little bit of a hard time pulling the trigger on sharing this one with you. The reason for that is because this is kind of one of our most valuable Signature Masterclasses that I usually ask for an exchange of an email address to receive this Masterclass. So it usually is free, but of course, with the exchange of an email address. So I had a little bit of hesitation just kind of sharing this here on the podcast today. But again, in the spirit of the Free Masterclass August, I decided if it makes me feel just a tad bit uncomfortable, then it probably is a good thing just to unleash all the value on you this month and just help you improve. So in that spirit, I'm sharing with you our masterclass called Jazz Standards Mastery Formula, our signature masterclass. It really sort of gives the big overarching philosophy behind our company, Learn Jazz Standards. How do you learn to play jazz songs? How do you improvise over jazz songs? This is kind of like our approach and really is a lot of what we actually do in our Inner Circle membership. You will hear me give a little bit of a hard pitch for the Inner Circle membership at the end of Jazz Standards Mastery Formula here. But just know that everything I teach here in this masterclass can be used outside of our Inner Circle membership. Our Inner Circle membership just makes it easier for you to execute on some of these things. And also, just a little note as well is, obviously this masterclass was originally presented in a video format, so there are examples on the screen at times. There are visuals, there are slides. And so while you won't be able to see those today, you'll still be able to really get a lot out of just listening to the master class in itself. So, my friends, our signature masterclass Jazz Standards Mastery Formula. In this episode:1. Secret #1: How to learn jazz standards so you don't get lost or forget them.2. Secret #2: How to start improvising over Jazz standards from scratch, from zero to hero. 3. Secret #3: The 3-Step strategy for Skyrocketing your practice results, all while practicing less.4. What has pizza got to do with this?5. Applying the L.I.S.T. process.6. Less is always more.Important Links:Free Guide to learning standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart WayLJS Inner Circle MembershipListen to the Learn Jazz Standards PodcastGet 50% off your first month when joining the Inner Circle: https://members.learnjazzstandards.com/sp/inner-circle-sales-page-podcast-direct/