You've Been Playing Ballads WRONG!

[@DavePollack]

September 30th - mark your calendar! What do you wish you could be better at when learning jazz standards? Let me know!

[@s.horhota4790]

I hope you post more ballads! That was beautiful! I really love your methodical approach to everything and it works well with the application to ballads. Thank you for sharing your thoughtful and disciplined techniques with us.

[@DavePollack]

Thank you so much for the kind words! 🙏

[@pilafianp]

Powerful suggestion - to listen to a vocal rendition first and imitate the phrasing etc I also think it is very beneficial to sing the song, even if you are not a singer, because the actual words so often inform the melody, and then the notes make more sense. Excellent lesson, thanks so much, you are such a fine teacher!

[@DavePollack]

Thanks so much! In my new course you'll see how I sing through parts of tunes to learn them better.

[@parkerpolen]

Another edition of Dave's quality educational entertainment. Much love, man!

[@DavePollack]

Thank you!!! 🙏

[@waynepharo]

Thats was so nice and smooth!!! That's what I would like to learn--Ballards. Smooth jazz was so relaxing and your tone was unbelievable. I have purchase your Jazz Standards and so far I love your idea of breaking it down step by step. I think its going to be the best course ever!!! Thanks so much Dave!!! Wayne Pharo

[@DavePollack]

Amazing - thanks so much for the kind words Wayne!!

[@user-hatae]

Jazz vocalists try to imitate brass section while they try to imitate the vocalists.. That's what I love most about music. They get hints off of each other's sound

[@DavePollack]

100%!

[@glenntomassi3442]

Excellent! Thank you!

[@DavePollack]

You're very welcome!

[@robertgreen3702]

I loved the fill-ins by Dave Ii 😊

[@DavePollack]

He says thanks!

[@rosstones1]

Outstanding suggestions! Thanks!

[@DavePollack]

You’re welcome!

[@garydutton9098]

Great lesson dave. Thanks👍

[@DavePollack]

You're very welcome!

[@reggaebothsidesnow2772]

Autumn Leaves is the perfect song to use this approach with lots of 251's and use of Dorian and Harmonic minor scales.

[@DavePollack]

Absolutely!

[@carlholmqvist6427]

Spot on!

[@DavePollack]

🙏

[@floridaguy1955]

Excellent points my Jersey friend! Go Yankees! I have been incorporating many of these points over ballads for a good while. I am currently studying the chord progression to the ballad "I'm Thru With Love". I found a fabulous version, sung in Ab Major, by Diana Krall. She does adlib parts of the lyrics. However, she sings as smooth as silk so I have been paying attention to her phrasing and nuances. I play it over and over to ingrain that into my head. I usually do an additional step and that is I play along with the vocalist on my tenor then do some fills.

[@DavePollack]

Thanks so much, and go Phils!!

[@chi2140]

Thank you, Dave! Your videos are always really helpful. I’ve been wondering how to practice playing ballads, so this video is just what I needed! I’d be really happy if you could also post videos about tips for improvising in Latin and bossa nova!

[@DavePollack]

I go in depth on that inside my new course actually! Thanks for the kind words 🙏

[@FunkOsax]

Excellent as always, and thank you for introducing me to a beautiful tune. You'd think in all my many years that I'd have heard it before, but no, it's new to me!!

[@michaeldavis9954]

Same here

[@DavePollack]

It's my all-time favorite standard! I highly recommend checking it out and learning it.

[@FunkOsax]

@@DavePollack yep, that’s on tomorrow’s practice schedule. Thanks again Dave

[@FunkOsax]

@@michaeldavis9954 glad I wasn’t the only one 😎

[@larry4589]

Great ideas thanks so much

[@DavePollack]

You're welcome!

[@frederikmarohn6358]

In my experience, a lot of the improvisation and language we study is geared towards medium or up tempo tunes. A lot of that goes away when you sit on a chord for a long period of time and students struggle to create something melodic. I love working on ballads as a pianist because it allowed me to hone in my legato technique for melodies and bust out my big brain reharms 😈

[@DavePollack]

😂 love it!

[@robstevens9590]

Good method. I've noticed that on some ballads some musicians show off their chops and the embellishments become overpowering and one loses the feel of the original melody.

[@DavePollack]

Yes! That's why I made sure to say that if you practice this technique and use a lot of embellishment it's okay, but when actually performing you need to actually use restraint and think musically throughout!

[@derek_williams]

Great suggestion - I'll give this a go. Your alto playing is so beautiful I almost want to switch from tenor! Almost. :)

[@DavePollack]

Thank you!! And come on over to the light side!!

[@derek_williams]

@@DavePollack Thanks Dave. I'm busy with Jamie at GYST at the moment. Probably there'll come a time when my learning there will slow down and I'll be ready for something different.

[@patrickwalsh6873]

Ben Webster always learned the words. Isn't there a story about him stopping mid-song because he forgot the lyrics... something like that.

[@DavePollack]

Not 100% on the story, but yes he and many others always learned the words!

[@NadavHbr]

Learning the words gives me freedom when improvising

[@renzo167]

Beautifully presented melody, and lesson; thank you as always. Two questions, which vocal recording was your own reference originally? And, is there a version of this (of yours) somewhere at this tempo? Third question, when is the Dave does ballads album coming out?!

[@DavePollack]

Thank you so much! It was actually a combination of Chet Baker and Frank Sinatra for this tune. I don't have a strict ballad version, but there's a recording from a gig at Small's I did where it's a slow swing: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gIXNkHSvjt2SgNE And I don't have a plan right now for a ballads album, but I would LOVE that. Playing ballads might be my favorite thing to do!

[@renzo167]

@@DavePollack Thanks for sharing the link! Great fun! Well, while we await the album.. I'm going to check out some Chet Baker and Sinatra 😁 much appreciated!

[@hazelhemsley2930]

Thank you. Two questions: Do you learn the lyrics so you can sing long with the original song to get to know it well 2. Do you play it by ear or have sight of the score. I would like help in having some ideas for filling in the gaps

[@DavePollack]

There are multiple ways of learning it - in the "how to learn jazz standards" course I go in-depth about both learning the melody by ear and using sheet music. I give a ton of tips on both!

[@chi2140]

Thank you, Dave! Your videos are always really helpful. I’ve been wondering how to practice playing ballads, so this video is just what I needed! I’d be really happy if you could also post videos about tips for improvising in Latin and bossa nova!

[@khoocheepeng6030]

I saw Ella...i came in...and no Ella...i went out

[@DavePollack]

...but stayed long enough and felt compelled enough to leave a comment. Thanks for the engagement!