Josh Walsh @ Jazz-Library
Each week, receive a new jazz transcription of a solo, with observations and playing tips. Join our weekly Zoom workshop to explore and play together.
The voicing that changed my blues comping 🎹
This week's workshop: We're wrapping up our series on Beautiful Love by creating solo phrases and motifs over the harmony. RSVP Below Reader, For years, I struggled to make my blues comping sound anything other than basic. I had the changes down, but my voicings felt... thin. Then I discovered this voicing used by Monty Alexander and Gene Harris, and suddenly my blues playing had weight and character. Let me show you how it works. It's really approachable. Play this: This voicing has our...
The scale that makes dominant chords soar 🎹
This weeks workshop: Improvising over dominant chords in Beautiful Love. RSVP below. Reader, Our solos on Beautiful Love last week are harmonically correct. But do they sound interesting? On our last workshop, we covered the entire tune with just 2 scales: D harmonic minor and F major. It worked...but it was safe. Today, I'm showing you how to add color where it matters most: the dominant chords. Dominant chords exist to create tension, and as jazz musicians, we harness that tension to create...
6 minor moves to steal on Beautiful Love (transcription inside)
This week's workshop: Things we can play over D harmonic minor, and applying them to Beautiful Love. RSVP Below Reader, Most players think boring solos = not knowing cool enough notes. Wrong. It's what you DO with simple notes that makes them cool. Let me show you exactly what I mean... New here this week? Check out part one of this series here in the archive: Michel Petrucciani Transcription My students often feel like their solos are boring because they don't know cool enough notes. Not so!...
3 jazz piano recordings to study in harmonic minor 🎹
This week's workshop: Kicking off a new tune, Beautiful Love, and getting comfortable in harmonic minor. RSVP Below. Reader, I've always been drawn to minor key standards. Beautiful Love, Summertime, Alone Together... there's something about that haunting, sophisticated sound that major keys just can't touch. But when it came to actually playing them myself? I felt clumsy and unsure. I loved the sound but couldn't quite capture it under my own fingers. The breakthrough came when I got fluent...
Holiday Jazz Piano Workshops Start in Oct. Are you in?
This weeks workshop: Embellishing Body and Soul with lush voicings and fills. Click Here to RSVP Reader, Most players wait until December to get serious about playing holiday tunes. Then the stress hits and the fun disappears. This year we are changing that. 17 live play-along workshops over 9 weeks, starting Oct 28. We are learning 4 holiday tunes in 4 jazz styles in small group, interactive Zoom workshops. Tuesdays at 1:00 ET - Educational Workshop Thursdays at 1:00 ET - Office Hours Video...
Why most players can’t memorize changes (and the fix)
This weeks workshop: We're putting our memory to the test, and playing Body and Soul by using the memory tricks we learned the last two weeks. RSVP below. Reader, Ever gotten lost mid-solo because you blanked on the next chord? It happens to everyone. But the players who sound confident and free are not memorizing endless chord symbols. They are hearing the movements in their head. Last week we worked on memorizing the melody of Body and Soul. (If you missed it, you can read last week’s...
Why most players forget tunes (and how to fix it)
This weeks workshop: Memorizing the changes to Body and Soul. RSVP below to let me know you are coming. Reader, I embarrassed myself playing cocktail hour at a wedding a few years back. A lady came up with a request (and a $20 tip) for a song I’d played many times. But I got nervous, and I had to pull up the sheet to refresh my memory. There’s nothing wrong with glancing at a chart. But the truth is, we play freer and more confidently when the music lives in our head. As I drove home, I knew...