A page inspired by something that came up on Elvin Jones’s solo on the tune Crisis, which I partially transcribed last week. It’s not even a lick, it’s something funny that happened with his timing, […]
Reed tweak: paradiddle fill in
Some of these Reed systems are so sprawling that you can spend months working your way through them. This one is nice and limited. There’s exactly one thing to do, and relatively few lines from […]
Practice loop: McCoy swing
Here’s a crushing new practice loop I’ve been playing with a lot lately, sampled from the tune Little Brother, from McCoy Tyner’s album Song of the New World. People get so precious about their approach […]
Syncopation rhythms – dotted quarter note spacing
A page of practice rhythms, with dotted quarter note spaced notes, and no more than two notes in a row with an 8th note spacing. Most of these are already scattered all over the book […]
Transcription: Elvin Jones – Crisis
Does the site need another Elvin Jones transcription? I don’t know. I’m just putting in my devotional time listening very closely to Elvin. What you all do with it is up to you. This is […]
Todd’s five-note pattern
Here’s a five note pattern that I play all the time, without ever knowing what I’m doing with it. I’ve written about a couple of these accidental items before— an 11 note pattern and my grocery […]
Linear Reed tweak
This is a sticking system for a Reed linear solo/fill method, which I improvised while practicing. In the past, I mostly improvised the stickings, which is not a bad way to practice, but it’s limiting, […]
Very occasional quote of the day: a thousand answers
“Teaching requires just as much time and effort as playing. There are a thousand ways to ask one question and a thousand ways to answer it. You’ve got to have the time to understand your […]
Freehand sketching
A couple of interesting art books available “free” on Scribd, for anyone interested in art, or in getting into art, and trying some non-music related creativity. … which I highly recommend. I gave myself permission […]
Subtractive patterns for feathering the bass drum
A collection of subtractive patterns for developing feathering the bass drum in jazz— for sketching it in, and making punctuations, anyway, since this will mostly not have you playing running quarter notes. Learning to support […]