It is not unusual for young men and women who are full of God given talent and music enthusiasm to want to dive right in and begin sitting in with musicians who have been around for many years and know how to capture an audience with their playing. To the young “want-to-bees” they just can’t wait for their chance to show what they can do. But for many of these young musicians, their first sit-in with experienced musicians did not yield a happy ending.
One of the problems young musicians have with trying to break into the jazz scene, accord to many seasoned jazz musicians, is they don’t know the tunes. It just stands to reason, “How can young musicians play with seasoned jazz musicians if they don’t know the tunes?” The only way for up and coming musicians to learn and memorize a large number of jazz tunes are through hard work and many hours of practice. Practice, practice, and more practice is the key to becoming an exceptional jazz musician who will eventually be able to play with the best, anywhere at anytime. Getting to that point is not an impossible feat, but it takes a level head and strong determination to achieve. But first, above all you must learn the correct changes for every song you play. This is key!!
In the old days, there was no internet, nor sophisticate music software applications, nor notation software that could bring the music to you in a laid out form. Musicians of old had to spend the time necessary to figure out chord changes, melodic patterns and solo arrangements. Many musicians put an album on the turntable and turned the speed back in order to “cop” the runs and solo changes played by Oscar Peterson and many other great jazz pioneers.
Today it’s a different story. If you want to learn the tunes- which basically mean the jazz Standards- and play them well, there are a number of internet based sites available to get you there. An internet site that is very visual and jazz education based is the site sponsored by Doug McKenzie at http://www.bushgrafts.com/jazz/home.htm. Doug McKenzie also has great educational videos on YouTube for jazz pianists. It’s a great online tool for all jazz instrumentalists.
A great new online jazz practice tool is provided at www.studiobypass.com. StudioBypass allows you to select from over 400 jazz and Latin tunes, listen to and manipulate the song of your choice, edit the final output, then download it onto your computer for future practice sessions. It is a fantastic practice tool for new up-and-coming jazz musicians, and also for seasoned jazz professionals. It’s a new day for jazz musicians, and space age tools are available to help you to become better-than-average jazz musicians.
By: Akhila Choudhary