3 Important Skills You Need To Work On Every Day

It is complicated to figure out what to practice, there are so many options and you have to watch out that you don't just waste your time by moving from topic to topic without getting anywhere. But if you split your practice into these 3 essential skills, it is easier to get the balance right.
Jazz Beginner - 5 Myths That Waste Your Time
• Jazz Beginner - 5 Myth...
3 Basic Jazz Chord Exercises That Will Change Your Playing in 2024
• 3 Basic Jazz Chord Exe...
Ear Training and Sight Singing: The Superpower you get from Music School
• Ear Training and Sight...
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Content:
00:00 What should you practice?
00:45 #1 Technique
00:49 The Classic Practice Session
02:05 The Classical Practice Session
03:38 Vocabulary On A Song
04:58 #2 Ear-Training
05:42 There's an APP now!
06:15 Not just exercises
07:15 Evaluate Your Practice
08:15 #3 Making Music
09:29 What about comping?
10:50 Like the video? Check out my Patreon page!
My name is Jens Larsen, Danish Jazz Guitarist, and Educator. The videos on this channel will help you explore and enjoy Jazz. Some of it is how to play jazz guitar, but other videos are more on Music Theory like Jazz Chords or advice on practicing and learning Jazz, on guitar or any other instrument.
The videos are mostly jazz guitar lessons, music theory, song analysis, and videos on jazz guitars.
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[@JensLarsen]

What are the important skills to develop? 🙂 3 Basic Jazz Chord Exercises You Want To Work On: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rWLViGyNqtaUgrs

[@RobKandell]

I remember when I was still playing very actively (bass) and met a jazz bassist at church. He recorded every performance, mostly to judge his intonation. (He played fretless.) I learned a lot from him.

[@thijs199]

So I saw this video on a guy who learnt like all positions all keys, you name it right. And then he had to solo and couldn't because he didn't focus on rhythm. So been playing along with blue bossa and all of me tracks this morning and just really emphasizing rhythm and it really just works out man, the notes that don't produce or ''wrong'' notes. It just doesn't really matter at all, or you can get away with so much

[@eric_james_music]

Haha step 1: Subscribe to this channel. But on the real, I took this advice to heart. I can attest that just learning 30+ standards, some by ear and some reading chords (because it can be quite exhausting), watching music theory videos and taking written notes in a notebook is what has worked for me. I also just noodle around and try to make strange chord progressions, sometimes even making songs out of them. Playing just a segment of a jazz standard chord progression with a loop pedal is how I practice soloing improv. First I learn the vocal melody which is usually simple by ear

[@JensLarsen]

Thank you! 🙏

[@gravelinacup]

I always love professional level musicians trying to play out of time on purpose to demonstrate things. It's so funny and sounds so uncomfortable and absolutely nothing like a beginner

[@JensLarsen]

🙏😁

[@arunkarthikma3121]

I remember a guitar teacher trying to teach "economy of motion". He tried to show an example of "flaring your fingers out" but he couldn't do it lol, and had to pull the pinky out using his right hand lmao 🤣😂

[@ericstrauch3215]

I practice technique, scales, arpeggios and reading chord charts all in one exercise. I take a song and first play through the song with scales on each chord. Then I play the arpeggios through the song. Consolidating these together saves time and I don't get bored.

[@JensLarsen]

Great! Just make sure to also learn the chords and the melody by heart. Your ears will thank you later 🙂

[@ericstrauch3215]

Thanka for the advice, I will do that!

[@AmandaKaymusic]

Great advice. Thank you.

[@JensLarsen]

Glad it was helpful!

[@brucepuckett3503]

Another great video! trying these methods right now, thanks!

[@JensLarsen]

Great to hear!

[@jof561]

Thank you very much ! I learn a lot from you !

[@JensLarsen]

🙏🙂

[@SkarphedinnWalz]

Great advice throughout! One thing which helped me when i was starting, was trying to learn not only guitar parts by ear but some of the other instruments also, like the horns, or even just the vocal melody. It helped me with my phrasing, my ear, and musical ideas in general. I would take a horn phrase i really liked and try to guitar-ify it. It made me have to listen for nuances, and all this really helped me. Play music! Thank you, Jens

[@thijs199]

find it also interesting because I know the melody of all of me extremely well with lots of inspiration, so lots of material to draw from. And I actually never heard blue bossa's melody. You just approach it in a different way

[@Michael-bt6ht]

Ty

[@AresJazzOfficial]

Great!

[@tomcripps7229]

Thanks!

[@JensLarsen]

Glad you like it, Tom!

[@elwoodcoppin6387]

Damn this was super helpful, thanks for making all these great vids

[@JensLarsen]

Thank you

[@chrissguitarshow206]

Love your lessons, would love to see more on how to play real fast like those fast turnaround lines like joe pass and john coltrane do there is never anything on you tube hardly

[@JensLarsen]

In Jazz the lines you play fast are not really that different from the ones you play slow, similar to how the vocabulary is very similar from instrument to instrument, so all lessons on turnarounds are also about fast turnarounds 🙂

[@jamescopeland5358]

Great ideas Jens

[@JensLarsen]

Glad you think so!

[@ingom6397]

Thank you Lens 👍

[@JensLarsen]

My pleasure!

[@cbolt4492]

Great video, lots to take in though Jens...

[@JensLarsen]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@EPICSOUNDTRAX]

This is 100% gold advice. One additional advice i could give you is this. Use a chord and experiment different scales with different names to develop you own style and flavour because there are no real jazz masters thay play All the time C maj scale over C maj chord ,believe me nobody does that. If you want your playing to be flat and dull play the name of the scale that fits the chord....mission accomplished So experiment different scales over one chord to understand what i wanna say..

[@JensLarsen]

Thank you! I don't know, I think it is more important what you can do with a scale than which scale it is.

[@tomazferreira6990]

​​@@JensLarsenI humbly agree with you! All scales can be thought of as deriving from the major scale anyway.

[@EPICSOUNDTRAX]

@@JensLarsen there is a small interview and lesson with the bass player Gary Willis where he demonstrates exactly what i am talking about. For years i have been playing the corresponded scales to chords and I though there is always something missing. When i saw Gary Willis explanation something clicked immediately. Also analyzing solos for example of pat metheny never made sense (playing over some chords)but after learning this method now i know why that it. It gives them a different flavour. Example What makes Metheny sound like Metheny or Willis ,Willis? Example Al Di Meola constay uses diminished scale half step next to the maj chord. You immediately recognize that. They use scales that are completely different names over chords. Same does Scott Henderson in his lesson. I will check Gary Willis video and post his ideas here.

[@cbolt4492]

9:55 Gold 🥇

[@edd166]

Heh-heh. Just happened to be restructuring my practice routine this morning. Nicely timed. 😊

[@JensLarsen]

You got this!

[@BeatsAndGuitars]

You bring up a good point Jens. So when do you know when to use a specific inversion or when should you give time to one inversion over another?

[@JensLarsen]

Learn shell voicings and don't think about inversions, think about the melody and the rhythm

[@MartirosHakopianMarHak]

Ear and finger coordination is the hardest so for me I can say that nothing happened progressive in my playing until I trained my fingers to move as I wish. The secret is the finger gymnastic skills, LOL Once the fingers go where the ear wants everything starts to make sense.

[@ingeronnabakk6844]

1) Everything in C, F, Bb, Eb 2) Everything in Ab, Db, Gb, B 3) Everything in E, A, D, G

[@drdealgood1]

Trey Anastasio guitar at 5:08

[@uptempotransport28]

Curious if you also play classical music on a nylon. Which is my expertise

[@guitar_journal]

So Jens, just curious about your opinion: when you improvise a solo, do you "hear" the solo inside your head so that you could sing it instead of playing it on guitar (if you wanted)? Or does the solo kind of emerge... kind of like when talking to someone you don't necessarily hear what you're saying before you actually say it? (Enjoyed this video, btw!! 😁)

[@JensLarsen]

I don't think it is that conscious, there are times when you "hear" notes very specifically, but it is not in a way that you are thinking each note while singing it in the way you might do solfege.

[@williamlaven]

What defines something as an etude and what distinguishes that from practicing one's favorite solo?

[@JensLarsen]

As I say in the video, a solo you learn is also an etude 🙂

[@Guilherme-nc5li]

Why Bach specifically for jazz though?

[@JensLarsen]

Very similar forward motion in the melodies

[@Guilherme-nc5li]

@@JensLarsen this is so interesting. Maybe it could be a good idea for a video? How bach can teach you about jazz. I am definitely looking up on this topic. Thanks!

[@JensLarsen]

@@Guilherme-nc5li I think there are a lot of videos out there on that already 🙂

[@warrenbacker6458]

Anyone have a link to that side-singing app?

[@JensLarsen]

Functional ear trainer, just search the app store 🙂

[@barrymaher3922]

Good advice. One additional suggestion: keep a practice journal. I don’t make an entry every practice, but I do make notes 2-3 times a week, noting what I’m working on, at what metronome setting, observations, etc. At the end of each month I summarize what I accomplished and learned, and I plan out goals for the upcoming month. Great way to document your progress, although not as good as recording yourself I do that too, but not as frequently.

[@JensLarsen]

That's a great idea!

[@donnd511]

#4) record your playing ….very important practice tool. Particularly important for advanced musicians to critically listen for accuracy, rhythm and phrasing.

[@JensLarsen]

Did you watch the video? 😁

[@donnd511]

My apologies, I only watched up to about 10 minutes and then had the urge to practice guitar. Sorry about that….great video as always and obviously motivational!

[@JensLarsen]

@@donnd511 Well, I give that advice in the video, but I don't call it a skill, that's not really a good description of that

[@thijs199]

gotta leave space though, and then it gets harder with creating substance, but if you just noodle you can fool a lot of people

[@tomhynes2908]

Again learn as many song as possible. Listen to Bach, Parker, Brahms, Parker, Chopin, Ellington , Ravel, Wes, Rachmaninov, Martino. Learn solo and songs from these Greats. Don’t go to KZbin and have them show you the solos. USE YOUR EARS. The music takes care of the necessary techniques. You don’t improve your ear by buying a Rick Beato book. LISTEN. I have taught 1000’s Also Barry Harris method is much more than adding a 1/2 step between 5&6. This is what Beato teaches. Good luck Jens. I know you believe, but I don’t see enough players using their ears. We need to use our ears. Know what we are listening to. Play without you IPhones and iPads

[@chrispoulin5902]

where were you 30 years ago when I needed you lol?

[@JensLarsen]

Studying math and computer science in Denmark 😬

[@JoelVitu123]

I jace a lot od difficulties to find chords 😖

[@nicolasmecaj]

Is that arrogant? Or stupid?🤣🤣🤣

[@mer1red]

"Most jazz music is tonal" ? I doubt that. Bebop (including the Barry Harris system) is not tonal. Most jazz since bebop is not tonal, including: modal jazz, free jazz etc ... . Many old jazz standards before bebop were tonal, but that's it.

[@graxjpg]

modality predates tonality in history. both are forms of centric music. to correct jens, most jazz music is centric.