3 Articulations to Unlock Jazz Swing Feel

[@adrianpaulwynne]

Quite possibly the best lesson on Jazz on KZbin, ever

[@JeremySiskind]

Wow! I’m honored. Thank you!

[@strat1227]

Oh man, I've been watching every jazz rhythm/articulation video on youtube trying to figure out how to internalize the swing, who knew "doo VAH doo VAH" would be the trick! I ran over to my piano and practiced for an hour, it feels like I unlocked something!

[@JeremySiskind]

Yay! I love to hear that you’re making progress!

[@snogglemonkey]

I am a rock guitarist and interested in adding more articulation to my leads and although I cannot play piano, I found your tutorial very enlightening. Thank you!

[@JeremySiskind]

No rock guitarists allowed! Nah, I'm just kidding! 😂 I'm glad to have you. I hope this helps. :)

[@davidgerber9317]

Spot-on info, clearly explained and demonstrated. You are an excellent teacher and a generous person for sharing. I am embarrassed to admit that I live on the same planet with someone who gave this a thumbs down!

[@JeremySiskind]

Aw, that's so nice, David! Thank for your time!

[@joeallen9420]

Classically trained, trying for years to do jazz - these are the best videos- at least for me .THANK YOU Jeremey!!

[@francescomanfredi]

Jeremy this is pure gold! Even Mary had a little lamb becomes interesting with this articulation! For us beginner this is the best jazz lesson ever!

[@JeremySiskind]

Thanks so much, Francesco! I'm glad you liked it. :)

[@don3141592]

Great videos. You have a gift for communicating and making the concepts intuitive. Thanks!

[@JeremySiskind]

Thanks so much! I'm so glad you're enjoying the videos!

[@janevonmaltzahn2667]

I know this is all in your book(s) because I have them, but it helped to watch the video and hear you sing/play the "doo-vah-dits" to get the emphasis and the legato. THANKS! It's, DUH if you're already a jazz pianist, but for those of us transitioning from classical this is our biggest problem.

[@JeremySiskind]

I'm glad the videos are helping. Yes - especially with articulation and rhythmic feel, it's so key to hear what's going on!

[@shantikosasih]

Thank you so much Jeremy, I have hard time doing the swing articulation and I keep listening my own recording, I know something’s not right but I didn’t know what was it so I googled jazz swing articulation and found this. Really appreciate what you did, thank you so much for sharing!

[@JeremySiskind]

Yay! So happy to hear it. Do a lot of listening, transcribing, and playing along with recordings to improve your swing feel.

[@frdagaa]

Great video as alway! One articulation that you didn't cover but I think is also fairly prominent is accenting the highest pitch note within lines-- the "peaks" on the music notation.

[@JeremySiskind]

Yes, that's true! Many pianist often emphasize their pinkies and their thumbs, the highest and lowest notes of a phrase. Thanks for that!

[@AlexHiltbrunner]

This video is just brilliant. 🙌🏼 Thanks a million Jeremy, finally someone who explains this in a way that even I can understand ❤

[@JeremySiskind]

Amazing - thank you, Alex! It's difficult to both give credence to how complex these issues are but also to actually say something helpful.

[@janeteh9950]

This is a great video! Thanks Jeremy. I bought your book Jazz Piano Fundamentals but was struggling to understand this part (no fault on your end, just my classically trained brain not cooperating) and this video has made it so much clearer!

[@JeremySiskind]

Oh good, I'm glad it helped! You know there are also videos for each unit you can access by scanning the QR codes right?

[@santiagomutolo9032]

amazing thanks!

[@JeremySiskind]

HI Santiago! Thanks for watching. I hope it helps!

[@joesauvage1165]

This is so awesome! Deepest thanks Jeremy!

[@alejandropando593]

SO GOOD!! Thank you! The Oscar example was very enlightening, i actually thought of Oscar a momebt before you mentioned the example. I will practice the articulation a lot, thanks!!

[@JeremySiskind]

Awesome! I'm glad you found it useful!

[@JohnsenseNonsense]

Amazon keeps half the profit… damn. if I would have known earlier then I certainly would have bought directly from your site. Love your book and you are an incredible good teacher. Glad I found you!

[@nycurbanist3616]

I am reading your book right now on Jazz Fundamentals and just looked up a video to get a better idea of what the swing should sound like. I didn’t even look at the channel name when I picked the video and then went to save this to my playlist and saw it was you, that made me laugh. Your writing is fantastic, I’m greatly enjoying the book!

[@JeremySiskind]

My evil plot is working! 😂 thanks for checking out the books. I really hope they help you!

[@amberchiangmusic]

Thanks Jeremy! I'm going to try this with my swing singing!

[@JeremySiskind]

Yay! You’re welcome, Amber! Good luck. :)

[@p1anosteve]

Excellent analysis of what jazz musicians seem to do naturally by copying what is heard. Articulation is the most difficult thing to explain without recourse to example in all kinds of music but especially jazz.

[@JeremySiskind]

Yes! It's a very under-examined part teaching and learning jazz. Of course, what I've outlined doesn't cover *everything*, but I think it's a good framework to start.

[@marymissmary]

This really helped me! Thank you!

[@JeremySiskind]

Yay, I'm so happy, Zeta! (or Fishes?)

[@carlosmiranda6419]

Hi Jeremy, great video !! where can we get more exercises about this ?

[@JeremySiskind]

Thanks for asking! My book, "Jazz Piano Fundamentals, Book 1" has a lot of this information on this! You can find it at www.jeremysiskind.com/shop/

[@brendaboykin3281]

Thanx, Jeremy 🌹🌹🌹😎

[@drakestube]

Love the Iverson quote.

[@JeremySiskind]

Yeah, Ethan has a way with words. Thanks for the comment, Michael!

[@theoooms7277]

Nice, when you mentioned quarter notes I was thinking about walking bass lines which are to be played legato I suppose?

[@JeremySiskind]

Yep - you're exactly right. Walking bass lines should be legato, so I suppose you can consider that an "exception" (or maybe i should specify that my tips refer to swing *melodies*).

[@parkerpolen]

Thank you for a great video, Jeremy. Quick question. If you are emphasizing the off beats in your swing eighths, doesn't it outline all of the extensions rather than the chord tones?

[@JeremySiskind]

No, it's not really that simple. Sorry! (I'd say usually chord tones do fall on the beats more often than not)

[@parkerpolen]

@JeremySiskind so if you take a ii V I line like D F A C G A B F E, and I make the bold notes the accented notes, the proper articulation is C# (approach) d F A C b A g F e? Or is it D f A c B a G f E?

[@JeremySiskind]

@@parkerpolen I assume these are 8th notes starting with D on the downbeat. The better swing articulation would be the first d F a C etc.

[@parkerpolen]

@JeremySiskind okay, thank you. Turns out I've been doing it correctly, and I appreciate your conformation. The only thing that made me second guess it is that the resolution tones (3rds) are not highlighted, but the 7ths are. Thank you for your assistance!

[@jeremiecoquillart322]

Hey jeremy thanks again for your amazing sharing of knowledge. I ve bought your book and i love it, really clear and full of informations. I have an extra question, can you suggest me a short list of 5 to 10 jazz standards you think they are the best to apply your concept? For example what are the best swing ballads to practice, medium swing songs to practice. Maybe it's somewhere in your book ? But i didn't find it. Thanks again take care

[@JeremySiskind]

Hey Jeremie! Thanks for writing (and I love the spelling of your name, haha). I’m so glad you like the book! Many of these concepts could be applied to nearly any standard tune. For example, I think you could play the same ballad as a “Stop-Start Rubato Ballad,” a “Repeated Quarter Note Ballad,” a “Stride Ballad,” etc. I guess that’s part of the fun of using “Danny Boy” in all the examples. I definitely don’t feel like there’s a “best” in any category...maybe a “most common”? Some common medium swing songs - Autumn Leaves, Bye Bye Blackbird, There Will Never Be Another You, Take the A Train; some common ballads - Body and Soul, Misty, Skylark, Someone to Watch Over Me, etc. I think there are some lists out there of the “50 Most Common Standards” that you could find with a google search.

[@jeremiecoquillart322]

@@JeremySiskind thanks a lot for your response. It was my idea to use the same song to practice different technique on it. Like your suggestion with Danny boy. Thank you

[@daniela-ur4hr]

Great!!!

[@BethanyLowe8773]

Jeremy can you explain any of WHY we emphasise the off-beat eighth note in jazz? I get that it's something to do with African polyrhythms and keeping it spiky and interesting. But although I've practised it lots from your book on Fundamentals, it still feels LIKE emPHAsiSING all THE wrong sylLABles in A counTERintuITive way XD

[@JeremySiskind]

If we emphasize the downbeat then the downbeat is both longer and louder and the downbeats get really heavy. Jazz is all about syncopation, so it makes sense that the accents will emphasize the offbeats.

[@kidpoker007]

So when I was taking guitar lessons years ago and tried to play with swing feel he said it wrong cause it sounded like a horse galloping..but doesn't the Doo-Vah kind of have that same sound of a horse galloping? Thanks for great video

[@kidpoker007]

How do we keep a triplet subdivision in our head?

[@JeremySiskind]

I’d either count “one-and-a-two-and-a-three-and-a four-and-a” or think of the ride cymbal pattern from the drums (“ting-tin-ka-ting-tin-ka” etc)

[@kidpoker007]

@@JeremySiskind I’m a guitarist but like your content

[@pantelispp]

Do you have an improvisation book also? Thanks

[@JeremySiskind]

Thanks for asking! My new book, "Jazz Piano Fundamentals" covers a lot of improvisation.

[@prodbyaye8751]

Jeremy I see many jazz pianists song in that their left hand not only play the chord but it does a lot what do they do ???

[@JeremySiskind]

Wow, that’s a long answer! There’s so many things the left hand can do...melodies, counter-melodies, stride piano, baselines; the list goes on and on! I wrote a whole book about it, really... I’m happy to give you more info if you’re interested.

[@prodbyaye8751]

@@JeremySiskind yes can u tell what Yohan kim does with his left in his improvs like jazz funk fusion, latin jazz pls answer

[@caseydahl1952]

so basically all you have control over is the length and the loudness of the note? That's all you can work with with a hammer hitting a string which is then muted, yes?

[@JeremySiskind]

And the timing? But Yeah, when you really think about it, our options are pretty limited…

[@caseydahl1952]

@@JeremySiskind By timing you mean the swing ratio?

[@davidreidenberg9941]

As the tempo increases, the swing 8ths get closer to straight 8ths.

[@JeremySiskind]

Yep - you got it!

[@mr.z9609]

This idea of all the 8th notes being accented in a line of 8th notes seems to be pretty controversial. I get such mixed messages about it, and very strong opinions from many jazz musicians and educators. What are your thoughts on that?

[@JeremySiskind]

Hmmm, I would definitely agree that different musicians accent lines differently and things like historical era and tempo also effect accentuation. I think this is a really good place to start while recognizing that there's much more nuance possible.