How Jazz Works: Creating Solo Phrases

In this video we break down my approach for creating jazz solo lines using rhythmic and melodic exercises.
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Hat tip to ‪@AimeeNolte‬ for her "point and sing" excerpt (used with permission). • My (Not So) Top Secret...
Solo excerpt by ‪@BenPatersonMusic‬ is from his KZbin performance of My Shining Hour: • My Shining Hour - Ben ...
00:00 - Creating Solo Lines
02:42 - The Problem With Learning To Solo
03:32 - Rhythmic Sentences
04:08 - Rhythmic Concepts
05:38 - Melodic Concepts
10:11 - Creating Musical Phrases

[@JoshWalshMusic]

🎹➡️ NEW: Take my free jazz soloing challenge course! courses.jazz-library.com/bundles/7-day-challenge

[@ksalcemd]

Perhaps one of the most honest,succinct, practical and inspirational tutorials I’ve ever watched. You’re going to help so many aspiring musicians reach their potential. Thank you!

[@JoshWalshMusic]

Oh my, thank you so much for this!

[@PianoWithJonny]

Great lesson Josh! I loved all the soloing techniques you suggested and the practice tips. Keep up the great work!

[@mcreycm]

Underrated.

[@user-jq3oo8pm6m]

Dear Josh, it's really a genius video. I'm excited as well, thank you !!!!

[@robinmarwick1982]

Thanks Josh excellent video, really helpful.

[@lukeanselmo]

only 800 likes and this has to be one of the best explained jazz solo videos

[@JoshWalshMusic]

Thanks Luke!

[@sirrobinhood3409]

Wow one of the most useful videos I watched all year. Thanks! great explanation. Melodic concepts were awesome!

[@JoshWalshMusic]

Thank you!

[@francisrichard5282]

The real key to success! Have fun practicing over & over your recommendation! Thanks

[@DuncanCustomAirbrush]

Dude, this could be applied to anything! We too often get hung up on the technicalities and neglect our hours/years of previous training and instincts! This is how people eventually loose their love for what they do - they forget their why and love for their craft. This is the same about people growing up and stop playing - this is what accelerates their aging! Have FUN dadgummit!

[@JoshWalshMusic]

So true, great insight!

[@DuncanCustomAirbrush]

@@JoshWalshMusic You da MAN Josh! Hey let me know if you see this and how you knew I replied to your comment (if you do happen see it) since for some reason additional viewer replies to a reply do not show up in Studio. I wish they did.

[@thearthurmigliazza]

Another great video! Thanks Josh!

[@JoshWalshMusic]

Thanks Arthur!

[@nilesloughlin6845]

You are a wonderful educator Josh. I have spent a ton of time in my life thinking of improvisation like how you have. These videos make me as inspired to go apply all my practice routines to actually soloing them out as much as they inspire me to teach the way you do!

[@JoshWalshMusic]

Thanks Niles! 😃

[@jesavius]

This! Clear beginnings and clear endings. No run on sentences.

[@philrademacher]

Thank you! I discovered your channel yesterday, another video helped me out a lot, but todays video will bring my so much further, I'm Sure! Oh, and the last 2 minutes were pure gold, a really inspiring speech, and great to see that other people feel exactly like I do 😅

[@JoshWalshMusic]

Aww thanks Phil. I really appreciate you sharing this. Welcome to our little community!

[@francoserazin119]

This is truly inspirational; i had somehow thought about it but still couldnt apply it up to now, thanks!

[@justin.johnson]

The BEST cheat code breakdown EVER. Thank you for all the hard work leading up to share these mechanics and thought process in this way.

[@JoshWalshMusic]

Thanks J!

[@Dannytyrellstudios]

Listened twice This is it

[@bill070593]

Probably the best and most helpful video I've ever watched about how to solo. Feeling inspired, thanks for sharing Josh 👌

[@JoshWalshMusic]

What a compliment!

[@miguelballon7357]

EXCELLENT

[@carson0119]

The best explanation on KZbin. Thank You!

[@alexanderhelt738]

Thank you very much for sharing good sir, lovely watch!

[@olebirgerpedersen]

I'm a saxophonplayer, but I can sure learn a lot from your ideas and teaching. Thank you.

[@thomaswagner1761]

What you described is me. I love learning theory. Returns lately have been diminishing lately and I play the same old stuff. Thanks for your videos. Subscribed.

[@JoshWalshMusic]

So glad to have you here as part of the community, Thomas.

[@88outro]

love this

[@beneficjenci]

Pure gold. Thanks!

[@daanmijnen2414]

Actually one of the most helpfull videos I have seen in a while. Thanks!

[@JoshWalshMusic]

Thanks Daan!

[@charlie69230]

I love the message at the end! Thankyou, it's encouraging ! :))

[@thephunk1]

A really great lesson! Thank you!

[@TheophileCastel]

Great video man !! Verry clear and enjoyable, thanks for sharing that content with us !!

[@peterbodofsnik9429]

Thx. Learned something new.

[@nomanatcore]

The video I needed. Thank you SO much for this.

[@biasiode65]

Ciao Josh, è il tuo primo video che guardo e l'ho trovato molto interessante, sia per l'approccio mentale all'improvvisazione che per la tecnica musicale.

[@ehzamx9969]

Wow, very inspiring and high-level approach for learning to solo!

[@Wulfhartus]

The melodics concepts are a very nice source of inspiration. I swear to god, I just played just one of these arpeggios, and I directly got able to improvise a nice tune derived from it, nicer than what I usually produce. The exercices I needed !

[@JoshWalshMusic]

🙌🏻

[@holladrum7]

Fantastic clear explanations, digestible chunks of jazz gold. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

[@JoshWalshMusic]

Thanks Josh!

[@Dannytyrellstudios]

Good session

[@openocean09181]

Great video

[@leadcatpress]

Well done! I'll be recommending this video to some of my students. Thank you.

[@JoshWalshMusic]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing!

[@ksalcemd]

Thanks!

[@JoshWalshMusic]

Thanks for your support!

[@martynramsden]

Hi Josh, that was a really good engaging topic, you presented so clearly and inspired me to go and get cracking on this and add these to my practice routine. I'm looking forward to your next post 😁🎹👍

[@JoshWalshMusic]

Thanks Martyn!

[@akf2000]

This is great. THE PIT OF DESPAIR

[@8o8inSquares]

Wow, thank you! This is exactly what I've been looking for and I didn't even know what to search for. This is fantastic.

[@JoshWalshMusic]

Awesome. I’m glad it was helpful!

[@DojoOfCool]

Excellent lesson. People say the good musician's don't think when improvising and to me that on par with term avoid notes. I would say good musicians have practiced enough to program their brains so when improvising they trust there subconscious is making decisions for them in the background. I've heard some using driving a car as an example. When learning to drive make new drivers verbally say what they are thinking. Light changed, check intersection, press gas pedal, check mirrors, look ahead, etc and tend to be over cautious. Later once they have been driving for awhile it get in the car and just drive to where they need to be trusting all the practice driving and experience has programmed their subconscious to take care of the details. I realized this when I was talking about practicing with my Jazz guitar teacher. She was talking about her own approach to practice. It broke down into two main pieces her "warmup" and the "creative" part. Her warmup is the slow practice on scales, chords, exercises du jour, and playing improv ideas du jour thru changes. Then take a long break and rest of her practice day is the creative part working on tunes, improv on changes, reharm, comp'ing, etc. I realized she broken practice into programming her brain playing slowing and thoughtfully in her "warmup" then later coming back to creative playing like on the gig and trusting here brain to do what her "warmups" had programmed it to do. So there is a time to think and program your brain and a time to trust that what you have practiced will happen automatically like driving a car. Sorry I alway intend to write a short reply but they never end up short.

[@JoshWalshMusic]

I think the driving analogy is mostly on point. It’s probably more like NASCAR, but I think my overall point came across. I always appreciate your comments, no matter how long!

[@jimkangas4176]

That's all pretty good - no apologies needed. I think one thing that was not mentioned was reading. Back when I started (long ago) there was a common joke: "how do you shut up a guitar player? Put sheet music in front of him!" For years I played with sheet music (I still do some), but it's just another variation of thinking that you don't want to do when improvising.

[@biasiode65]

Ciao Josh, è stato il tuo primo video che ho guardato e l'ho trovato molto interessante e sincero. Complimenti. Hai trattato un po' tutti gli aspetti più importanti e basilari, secondo me, riguardo alla creazione di un buon fraseggio nell'improvvisazione. Suono la chitarra, ma certamente questi principi sono applicabili a tutti gli strumenti musicali. In verità il video è un po' breve, a mio modesto avviso, considerata la quantità di argomenti che presenti. Per questo vorrei invitarti a fare un video più lungo su questi stessi argomenti o a fare altri video per approfondire maggiormente ogni singolo aspetto che hai trattato in questo video. Sarebbe molto utile per me, e credo anche per altri, e te ne sarei molto grato. Grazie per il tuo impegno e auguri per la tua carriera musicale.

[@johnrothfield6126]

Most excellent discussion!! I think there should be more emphasis on singing in Jazz or any music to be continued. Vocalization of Jazz compositions is sadly absent on KZbin. It is very compelling to hear Barry Harris and his students sing bebop. It is very rare to find a great musician who is not a good singer. And Jazz , I think, has a strong tradition of being able to sing what you play. Pardon the following musicological rant: Rhythm: You touched on an important point: The importance of rhythm. As you mentioned briefly, one can start with a purely rhythmical phrase, and then overlay melody and harmony over it. And singing (reciting) the phrase is the best practice. This speaks to the primacy of rhythm. Brings to mind the dance of N. India. The dancer dances to a (complicated) rhythmic composition accompanied by tabla and an instrumentalist. The tabla plays the composition using the sounds of the table. The instrumentalist adds melody to the rhythmic composition. As you mentioned, a good way to compose! Instrumental and Vocals: 300 years ago in Italy, the children trained in the conservatory spent 10 years learning singing (as well as composition and harpsichord) from their maestros. A common way of teaching in N. India. How can you expect to be a good or great instrumentalist without being a good or great singer? Not that you have to have the vocal chops to perform.. However, I expect to be strongly moved by a great instrumentalist singing... Often I prefer the singing of instrumentalists to their playing! Criticism of music education: It behooves us instrumentalists to sing well! Sadly lacking in the US academic classical and jazz training I think.

[@JoshWalshMusic]

John - I’m nominating you for comment of the year. Wow, so thoughtful!

[@kennyb1063]

Hi Josh very interesting lesson could you make a video on improvising with chord tone and how you can connect them to make interesting phrases thanks in advance

[@precisionhoops3652]

I desperately need help practicing this !!

[@JoshWalshMusic]

What can I do to help? I’m here for you, man!

[@CyrkProductions]

Great lesson, Thanks :) I would very much like (basic) ideas for practicing arpeggios (and scales) with enclosures - to me the possibilities seems endless and therefore a bit overwhelming! Cheers 👍

[@JoshWalshMusic]

Cyrk - cool sounds like a fun idea. Thanks for the comment!

[@jimkangas4176]

Instead take a tune. And play the third every measure. Now surround it with an enclosure. It's obviously not virtuosic, but it's a great start. Now try another note. Then alternate, etc,

[@davesax11]

Nice. Please add the sheet music graphic to the video. Bonus for chord. Thanx

[@JoshWalshMusic]

This is an old video, before I had the know how to do such a fancy edit! Haha. I’ve figured it out since 😋

[@timburdick3031]

More like this please. I got chords and scales but I ain't got rhythm

[@JoshWalshMusic]

This is totally in the works. Stay tuned!

[@scidoc]

Could you please do a video on how to learn and practice ending off the beat. Thank you.

[@JoshWalshMusic]

That’s a great idea. Thanks for sharing. There’s no trick to it really except to listen a lot to other musicians, copy their lines, and work it out slowly. So many people think jazz is about hugely complex theory tasks / technical challenges, and those are fun, but it’s also full of really simple ideas like this. Simple in concept does not mean easy, and too many people run past this stuff to find the complexity. A shame really.

[@moehoward21]

When do you recommend moving on from one excercise, to another (moving on from triads with leading note to arpeggios with enclosures)?

[@sanferrera]

I would love a whole video on building phrases based on a firm rhythmic figure, as I can't play musically without missing the '1'. Aebersold #1 recommends this approach too and I am trying, but a video on this topic would be fantastic for me.

[@JoshWalshMusic]

Good recommendation, Santiago. Thanks. I struggled with this too. (Still do, actually). A trick that helped me was to understand how the segments relate to each other rhythmically. For example, I know that an enclosure starts 1 beat before the target, so I practice making lines that end on enclosures on different parts of the measure. Your brain will figure it out and do it rather “automatically” after a while if you practice in isolation like this.

[@sanferrera]

@@JoshWalshMusic Great advice! Thank you.

[@willzang3000]

Say “uh” on beat one

[@sanferrera]

@@willzang3000 thank you. That's a great advice. I will practice that.

[@frankvaleron]

Super vidéo as always. I've been working through Garrison Fewell and Burt Ligon books recently and I feel I'm approaching the point you mention. It never ends of course, and I agree with you, that is the lifelong pleasure. Would you consider looking at Bill Evans or Monk phrasing / harmonic / line building concepts in 2023? Would love to hear your take

[@JoshWalshMusic]

I think there’s always something to learn. I love to study Bill Evans. I love listening to Monk, but he confounds me at times lol 🙃

[@frankvaleron]

@@JoshWalshMusic Monks melodies are reasonably simple. Harmony not so much :D Happy new year!

[@charlesmccormick2625]

Assemble the “nouns, verbs,pronouns” in musical sentences! Building my solo language; great tutorial, again!

[@plouf1969]

you're way smarter than you think Josh!

[@handicappuccino8491]

Fun fact, I’m learning music before I even know how to drive if I ever because I am a quadriplegic and I can’t drive and will probably have Self driving cars

[@JoshWalshMusic]

Playing music is way more useful than driving. With a car you can drive away from annoying people, but with music you can drive THEM away with free jazz.

[@handicappuccino8491]

@@JoshWalshMusic when you’re writing creepy music, you don’t want to resolve

[@handicappuccino8491]

Well, usually you wanna resolve except for when you’re writing creepy music

[@Malcolm.Y]

You say, "even though I could use theory to describe." Describe is the right word. Music theory isn't theory. It's desriptive statistics.

[@mhtbfecsq1]

Learn the theory and then forget it

[@Mr.Caribe]

Great video