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    Jazz Practice Ideas with Your Real Book: Jazz & Improvisation Series
    Jazz Practice Ideas with Your Real Book: Jazz & Improvisation Series
    Jazz Practice Ideas with Your Real Book: Jazz & Improvisation Series
    Ebook105 pages1 hour

    Jazz Practice Ideas with Your Real Book: Jazz & Improvisation Series

    By Andy McWain

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    About this ebook

    Thirty-Six Jazz Practice Ideas to Get the Most from Your Real Book

    You may know about the REAL BOOK, but what you probably don't know is how much MUSICAL PROGRESS can be accomplished with only a single fake book!

    Don't know what to practice? Don't want to waste valuable time?

    Based on years of university-level teaching, the author of this book gives jazz musicians:

    • Simple, focused melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic strategies on how to use their limited practicing time more efficiently
    • Easy-to-understand practice ideas for any jazz musician to apply over any real book tunes
    • A blueprint of improvisation tips to avoid the pitfalls of directionless practicing

    Here's the beginner/intermediate jazz strategy list you've never seen before:

    Thirty-six actionable melodic ideas, harmonic ideas, rhythmic and metric tips, ear training exercises, and basic arranging and composition blueprints, and more…

    • Do you know why many young musicians fail? Why intermediate-level musicians get stuck?
    • Do you feel like the secrets of WHAT and HOW to practice jazz improvisation are out of your reach?
    • Do you want to really deepen your connection to the music you play?

    Sometimes jazz musicians want to get better, but don't always know how — even with the help of a teacher. These thirty-six jazz practice ideas cover a wide range of modern jazz improvisation strategies, presented in clear topic chapters to provide the most effective results for beginner and intermediate players. 

    You want to know what to practice?

    Any real book or fake book tune.

    Okay, now what?

    Choose one or more of these 36 actionable practice ideas and make real progress with your musical abilities: improvisation and soloing, ear training, connecting harmony, and more.

    For jazz piano, jazz guitar, jazz saxophone, jazz trumpet, jazz bass, jazz voice, jazz trombone, jazz drums, and all other improvising instruments.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherFuller Street Music & Media
    Release dateJun 21, 2015
    ISBN9781513043661
    Jazz Practice Ideas with Your Real Book: Jazz & Improvisation Series

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    Reviews for Jazz Practice Ideas with Your Real Book

    4/5

    34 ratings3 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Some great ideas for intermediate or advanced but assumes a lot for a beginner. I took struggled through college theory and have been dabbling with improvisation for a couple years, but he lost me at the first practice idea
    • 5/5
      Thank you Andy for all those great ideas and for taking time to share them!
    • 5/5
      As an intermediate player, there are many many great ideas here. I'm inspired!

      1 person found this helpful

    Book preview

    Jazz Practice Ideas with Your Real Book - Andy McWain

    Introduction

    He who would leap high must take a long run.

    DANISH PROVERB

    Leverage Your Real Book and Maximize Your Practicing Time

    How many jazz real books and fake books do you own? Well, here's a beginner and intermediate jazz musician's practicing guide to get a lot more out of them! From improvisation strategies -- both melodic and harmonic -- to ear training and jazz composition, here is a collection of actionable steps, exercises, and ideas that you can use to get the most out of your jazz practice sessions -- all using your real book. [Intended for all instruments including jazz piano, jazz guitar, jazz bass, jazz saxophone, jazz trumpet, jazz trombone, jazz vibes, jazz drums, jazz vocalists, jazz arrangers and composers, and more.]

    Aiming for more efficient jazz practice on a wide range of topics:

    Applied jazz harmony, and structural ways to think about your material

    A range of modern jazz improvisation strategies including tritonics, tetratonics, pentatonics, hexatonics, chromatic approaches, blues scales, and more

    Practice strategies with rhythm, meter (including odd time signatures), and more

    Ear training and sight singing exercises -- all straight out of your fake books

    Jazz composition exercises: using the inspiration and the harmonic structure of jazz real book tunes (using contrafacts and other concepts)

    Planning your practice sessions (including the efficiency of your time; practicing in all 12-keys), and more.

    Jazz musicians, especially beginner or intermediate players who are becoming more serious about their music, need a wide variety of ways to develop their improvisational abilities. The book is designed around thirty-six (36) practice ideas and jazz improvisation tips that connect a range of modern jazz study topics directly to your real book -- any real book — or jazz fake book.

    Welcome to my new applied jazz improvisation book! I’ve wanted to write this material for a long time — and as a practicing musician — I think I always really wanted to read a book like this!

    I put this material together so beginner and intermediate jazz musicians could have a more direct outlet to useful, actionable information in a shorter and less expensive format than many other jazz theory, improvisation, and harmony texts.

    Why write this book now?

    One reason to write a book like this is that real books are everywhere. Musicians, trying to build a library of the widest possible range of jazz tunes, already have quite an investment in their (often) multiple volumes and editions of real books. And I want to make sure that jazz musicians understand how any of these books can be more central to their daily practice.

    The problem is that beginner and intermediate jazz musicians often see their various real books and jazz fake books as simply collections of tunes. To many students and young musicians I have encountered, these books are just a huge arsenal of songs and repertoire, and ‘vehicles for improvisation’ on gigs, jam sessions, and/or recordings. Being prepared for any song, right? That is true! That’s exactly what the real books are: massive collections of material perfect for jazz musicians to learn, play, internalize, and record.

    But they are also so much more.

    There are some very creative ways to use any fake book to study all the main aspects of this music: creative improvisation, jazz theory, jazz harmony, ear training, basic arranging, and jazz composition.

    In these pages, we’ll explore these strategies to be more comprehensive with your jazz practicing. We’ll cover various practice topics, structured in thirty-six (36) units which you can refer back to at any time, and in any order. [These jazz practice ideas start in Chapter Five, if you’re reading to dive in.]

    If you follow even some of these jazz practice ideas, you will likely not only get added benefits and enjoyment out of your fake books, but also seriously progress in your improvisational abilities.

    But first, let’s discuss the real book itself.

    Preface

    Jazz Practice Ideas: Thirty-Six Jazz Practice Ideas to Get the Most from Your Real Book

    You may know about the REAL BOOK, but what you probably don’t know is how much MUSICAL PROGRESS can be accomplished with only a single fake book!

    Don’t know what to practice? Don’t want to waste valuable time? Based on years of university-level teaching, the author of this book gives jazz musicians:

    Simple, focused melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic strategies on how to use their limited practicing time more efficiently

    Easy-to-understand practice ideas for any jazz musician to apply over any real book tunes

    A blueprint of improvisation tips to avoid the pitfalls of directionless practicing

    Here’s the beginner/intermediate jazz strategy list you’ve never seen before:

    Thirty-six actionable melodic ideas, harmonic ideas, rhythmic and metric tips, ear training exercises, and basic arranging and composition blueprints, and more…

    Do you know why many young musicians fail? Why intermediate-level musicians get stuck?

    Do you feel like the secrets of WHAT and HOW to practice jazz improvisation are out of your reach?

    Do you want to really deepen your connection to the music you play?

    Sometimes jazz musicians want to get better, but don’t always know how — even with the help of a teacher. These thirty-six jazz practice ideas cover a wide range of modern jazz improvisation strategies, presented in clear topic chapters to provide the most effective results for beginner and intermediate players.

    You want to know what to practice? Any real book or fake book tune.

    Okay, now what? Choose one or more of these 36 actionable practice ideas (starting in Chapter 5!) and make real progress with your musical abilities: improvisation and soloing, ear training, connecting harmony, and more.

    For jazz piano, jazz guitar, jazz saxophone, jazz trumpet, jazz bass, jazz voice, jazz trombone, jazz drums, and all other improvising instruments

    1

    About the Real Book

    The artist who aims at perfection in everything achieves it in nothing.

    Eugene Delacroix

    Let’s start at the beginning: Obviously you can learn a jazz tune directly from the recording, or by playing along with others by ear. These are probably the best ways, leading to deeper connections to the material as players are forced to really listen from the

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