Hi Aimee, While we're on the subject of swinging here's my Oscar Peterson anecdote. Back in the 70's, when I was in my teens, I managed to sneak backstage at an open air concert in Juan Les Pins. That night it was Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Pass and Oscar Peterson playing. Finally the great man finished his set, came backstage and took a seat on a bench surrounded by press photographers. I managed to elbow my way through the pack to request an autograph. Still mopping himself down with a large handkerchief, he gestured at me to sit down. As he signed the piece of paper he turned to me and asked....."Do you play piano?" "Yes I do", I replied. "What do you like to play?" he asked. "Scott Joplin rags" I replied truthfully. "Do you play them straight?" he asked. What do you mean "straight?" I asked. "You know.... straight... on the beat" he said. "Oh yes" I replied. "Well I envy you then" he said. "Why is that?" I asked, pretty certain Oscar could easily play Scott Joplin rags with his eyes closed. "Because I can't play ragtime straight" he said. "Why not?" I asked.... "Cos I gotta swing" he said, with a big laugh and that wonderful smile. Ever since I have boasted that Oscar Peterson said he envied my piano playing! Hope you enjoyed that fond memory of mine and Merry Christmas to you and your family Aimee.
esotericist that's an amazing story. Absolutely love it. I have heard that Joplin himself used to swing his rags. Not sure if it's true but they sound fantastic either way! Thanks for sharing!
I had a similar experience with Diz at Blues Alley in Georgetown in 1987, but I swung, was just getting into bebop, post bop, and the Afro-Cuban style.
It's sincere. I'm an old performing songwriter, and have gotten a little stale and uninspired lately. Watching only a few of these has already kinda jump started a desire to get back to the shed to work on fluid playing and expression, without thinking getting in the way. FWIW, what I love is encapsulated in the Jack Teagarden trombone solo in the Louis Armstrong All Stars Pennies From Heaven recording live at Town Hall in NYC, 1947. Not new, not swing, but I think he was plugged in almost unconsciously that night. For me, that's the thing.
Your video is fantastic! I usually don't discuss music instead of playing, but your instructions are clear to me. Thank you for sharing your insights! Chunk, chunk 😍
Aimee... my name is Brandon and I desperately needed to learn how to swing... I literally freaked out and thought “did I have a lesson with Aimee 3 years ago?!” 😂
I feel so lucky to have found your videos Amy. I was never a big jazz guy (I'm turning 72 this year) but you have really made me understand a lot more about why it's so cool and important. you're making me love it. Thank you so much. You are a great teacher and really know how to teach appreciation and infuse others with enthusiasm. I love following you. Please don't stop posting and performing.
What a great lesson. I thought I was swinging, but no. Now I have the tools to get swinging like Basie and Peterson. In less than 20 minutes, you've given me enough material and insight for a month of practice, which is fantastic. So much fun!
What comes across to me is that "chunking" or "swinging" means to really feel the rhythm, the pace, the emotional moving of the piece. And this is what makes a good musician. All the greats have it, regardless of music genres. Glenn Gould had it! Listen to him play Bach's Goldberg Variations. The music is coming right from his soul! Your "chunk" lesson is great for helping people to get this. But you really have to give yourself to it in order for it to work it's magic!
I learnt how to feel swing more fluidly by counting halftime, it also makes solos feel uncluttered for me and almost as though there is more space between the corners to through the back end of the notes around as much as I through the front of them... You are my jazz lesson inspiration by the way! I really respect your warmth and obvious mileage... Thanks for your efforts!
No doubt, Count Basie defines swing. I love your outlook and passion for jazz. It's always been my love and it is refreshing to see that in other people too. Thanks for sharing.
Well, that's a revelation. What makes your channel so good is your passion and the way you aim for the beautiful. It's so clear from listening to you that music is music, and not mechanics.
I'm a guitar player. My opinion on getting the swing feel is to practice with a metronome that you perceive on the 2 and 4 of the beat. And then play slightly behind that beat. It's a subtle thing. But it has that swing!
Congratulations Aimee, you are a wonderful teacher. I'm a 17 years old aspiring musician from Argentina and you have inspired me to swing harder (or at least try that). Thank you very much for your videos, cheers.
I LOVE how you crystallize the finest points in the fundamentals that so many of us can overlook. I have to agree with SeanLeonDrums that you produce the absolute best channel on UA-cam. There is lot's of great stuff on UA-cam, but this is the BEST!!!
AS a guitar player who doesn't play or listen to jazz I had never realized a pianist could accent their notes like this. Good to know. Also, I think I am starting to like jazz a lot.
Hi Aimiee, my tow cents in this discussion: The secret of the word "chunk" is twofold: "ch" marks be beginning of the quater note the end of the word, after we let "uuuuu" ring, the "nk" will eventually fall at the place where you need to place the second note to have this swing feel. The quality of the Freddie green comping was that he let the quater notes ring just enough that the end of it would be beginning of the horn player note.
Hi I am amazed that I commented 5 years ago when I was just starting . This time I really paid attention and understood that separation of the left hand from the right. Thank you. Now I really understand that guitar chunk with the swinging melody. I guess the dislikes haven't understood it or may be got too excited and hit the button twice. A really valuable lesson 💖
As a guitarist and huge Freddie Green fan, I love hearing you talk about how good he was. Irving Ashby (who played guitar with the Nat Cole Trio after Oscar Moore--another great---had the best line on rhythm guitar in jazz: " Rhythm guitar is like vanilla extract in cake. You can't taste it when it's there, but you know when it's left out." Another great lesson! Another great jazz rhythm guitarist was Herb Ellis. He and Ray Brown recorded together a lot (obviously with Oscar Peterson but also later with Monty Alexander). Herb and Freddie Green made a great album together called "Rhythm Willie"
Nice lesson. Love to play bass. especially walking bass. My dad taught me how to play a boogie bass progression when I was 14. He actually taught it to me on my first 🎸 (A Sears Silver tone accoustic.) I have had jazz guitar lessons starting in the 80s. Really like the genre. Again very good lesson.
I think what you are already doing is going "k-chunk" instead of "chunk" without thinking about it. Maybe this can be easier to explain for a student how to swing? :) Great channel! Thank you!
Good point. And the" K" is the percussive sound of the pick raking over the dead strings on the upstroke, typically on (though not limited to ) 4 and. The dead notes on the upbeat are as much an integral part of a good swing rhythm guitar part as the downbeats on the chord. Without them, there is no swing feel. It's' just quarter notes.
love your sense of humor, as much as what you're saying and playing, Aimee. And I DO love your passion, and your chooses of artists, tunes, and "chonk". :)
Oh man! Love this lesson. I'm not a pianist, I'm not a jazz player, but this concept is SO critical, whatever style you play/sing. Thanks, Aimee. And yes, Freddie Green was The Man.
Aimee you are just such a delight! I really enjoy your lessons so much, thank you for doing them. I've just returned to the piano after a one-year break due to illness and I find your videos inspiring.
Loved this, Aimee! I just discovered your lessons today. I appreciate your enthusiasm and how you break it down. I remember seeing the Count back east in PA in about 1971. I was about 17 at the time, and learning to play jazz bass. They knocked my socks off. He even came over to our table and we got to chat with him a bit. Many years later I moved to CA and started a house concert series. All kinds of music events have happened here over the past 25 years (over 150 concerts). Just my good fortune to have been so close some true musical greats. Darius Brubeck and band, Jared Gold (B3 player from NYC), Ed Cherry (guitarist for Dizzy Gillespie for many years), and the amazing swing and bebop Hammond B3 organ player Barbara Dennerlein. Check out this swing blues (Stormy Weather Blues) from her with guitarist Christoph Widmoser. It starts out a little sleepy but really picks up. On the surface you could say it's blues, but listen closely and you'll hear the swing elements. Playing ahead of and behind the beat, lots of triplets and other goodies.
I'm always amazed at the talk of swing being sort of a triplet rhythm versus a dotted-eighth-sixteenth rhythm, but I've always found the accents to be as important, if not more so. Hiromi Uehara has a great swing feel.
Hi Aimee, music teacher and jazz piano player from Toronto Canada here. Love this video... I have a lot of "watch later" clicking to do, I'd love to hear some of your other tutorials! I use a fake book, don't have all the standards memorized, but love sitting at a grand in the corner of a room by a tree (usually fake) with a coffee and play for people! Thanks for what you do! Greg
I have NEVER thought of it like this, but what you said makes sense. I feel what Freddy Green, Ray Brown, et al are doing, but have always struggled to communicate it to the kids! Thanks, Aimee!
Hi Aimee. As a long-time jazz guitarist who is trying to learn piano, I appreciate your sentiment for Freddie Green. He was, for maybe 50 years, the glue that held together the great Basie band. Was particularly evident at the breath marks during the saxophone soli, when you could hear one good "chunk" sustain the momentum. Or when Basie was soloing with just the rhythm section.
"It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing" Great video. I love that Oscar Peterson album Night Train with C Jam Blues. It's gold. It definitely swings.
Brilliant Aimee! Speaking as a rhythm guitarist and bassist in various bands over the years, I'd say you really highlighted the essence of swing. Without the drums, bass and steady guitar the lead players wouldn't have anything to weave around. I'm guessing Basie, Peterson, Simone etc swung intuitively but for the rest of us - thanks for great lesson! Oh and remember, if your back needs a little massage ...
Love how chilled your character feels and passionate about music you sound :) you seem like an awesome person! Plus an awesome pianist! thank you for sharing! lovely lesson :)
The word Chunk is exactly swing! Holy balls! I play music with a friend who is a pretty new musician and I was trying to explain swing to him but this is so much simpler. If you want to emphasize that off beat you throne in a Ka-chunk!
Great! Great! And your energy makes it so fun to learn! I studied jazz vocals and this is...b-a-s-i-c, clear, easy to understand and so good to learn, relearn, rererelearn. Thanks for making this.
I LOVE your singing! More, please! Oh...and GREAT lesson, too. Love the way you break things down. But really...now I want to hear YOU sing "My Baby Just Cares For Me"! Will have to see if you have recordings out...just discovered you tonight.
I had the privilege to see Basie and Freddie Greene at UCSD in the early 80's. The magic is they have played so long, and with each other - that there was no effort. Enjoying each other, the music, their life, and the time. We can all aspire to this - and time will afford such, if you continue to practice with soul. Brandon is a good guy. He's like us all, and has a depth which needs to come out.
Aimee, Duke Ellington is also one of my favorites. If you want to hear a great album, listen to his BLUES IN ORBIT. Recorded after midnight in a great recording studio in New York...I wanna say early 1960s, Johnny Hodges just kicks ass, and that band! How it smokes. Sam Woodyard on drums. It swings so hard you cannot keep still. Turn it up!
Hello Aimee, Fantastic! job on all of your videos. As a guitarist it's so nice to hear other musicians give Freddie Green the credit he deserves. Keep up all the stellar work. Thanks again, Swing Heil
another great video! I consider myself to swing pretty hard, but you covered many ideas about swing that I had not thought of. One thing you did not mention that helped me immensely is the subdivison of the quarter note into triplets. I learned this from playing traditional african and carribean drums, most of which takes place in 12/8 time, ei 1tt2tt3tt4tt. This seems to be the foundation of swing, with things like dynamics/lagging behind or slightly ahead of the beat/emphasizing the 2/4 beats etc all build upon the 12/8 feel to make up the complex nature of swing. Take a jazz ride pattern for example. I find many of my drum students will try and subdivide it (where x is the hits) X234X23XX234X23XX234, but this is rhythmically incorrect and sounds quite rigid. Instead using a 12/8 timing we get X23X2XX23X2XX23. I have found that correcting how the student feels these internal subdivisions is the first step and can do wonders for their swing, and next comes all the nuances you mentioned in this video. Hope the notation wasn't too confusing, maybe we should make a standard for writing out music in youtube comments! Best wishes, on to your next video :)
Cooper Grosscup thank you, Cooper. I understand your notation and think you make some good points. I do think that people make a mistake in always thinking we need to subdivide into triplets. I feel like in order to swing very hard, it needs to be almost like the 16th notes or even higher, so that we are waiting as long as possible to hit The subdivision before the next quarter note occurs. My first scat tutorial video talks about this concept. I don't know many people who teach it, but to me, it's how to swing the very hardest! :)
ah yes, I see what you are saying! I could see that being the case especially in bop or other fast tempo contexts, as well as anytime you want to push the beat. I guess it all depends on the feel of the band :) if you can play with anyone you surely can swing!
Yes! That Nina Simone recording is fabulous. You're so right about what happens in the break - you can still feel the time in the silence. I frequently have students listen to Stevie Ray Vaughan's "Pride and Joy," or "Cold Shot" for examples of relentless hard swing, as well as anything Basie and the Miles Davis Kind of Blue album. There are lots of good examples. The key, as you say, is to really listen and then listen some more. Been watching a few of your videos a night since I discovered them a week ago. Love them all. Thanks for sharing your musical love and gifts.
My music training on the streets of L. A. Offered me the soul of the city. Yet , much like a work of art, it never is truly finished. Today, I'am just an older hippie wishing That I'd have studied theory as a young man, thereby, making jazz a little less mysterious. Thank you aimee, Thank you Indeed.
Just found you - great videos. I'm a drummer, and from time to time work with younger drummers, and the hardest thing to get them to do (even when they're playing technically jazz patterns) is to stop rocking and swing. It's a quality that's hard to quantify. I was working with a young man at the community college the other day and as he was trying to pick up the rhythm of a song we were listen to, he just had his hi hat going on 2 and 4, and just from that I could tell he was not swinging., "You're rocking - swing, man!" Will definitely be passing on your channel. Thanks for doing these.
Just saw that you've done some collaboration with Paul Pieper. I've played with Paul on a couple of occasions. He hosts a monthly open jazz jam at the Epicure Café in Fairfax VA.
Aimee, you are so engaging, thorough and gifted..ALL of you videos are as close to perfect as a musician can be....I only wish I could have convinced my parents that we musicians are real,and music is a true profession,. a wonderful gift to be shared by all.:-)))
Hi Aimee, One whole year I have used your chunk chunk for the Senior Professor's Jazz ensemble in Uppsala, Sweden. Our two guitar players just LOVE it. Merry Christmas!
Recently discovered your channel. Wow - very well done. You teach the very small but hugely important things like the k-chunk. Wish I discovered that 10 years earlier. Happy to know it now!
This explanation reminds me of all the tutorials of the gypsy/manouche jazz "la pompe" technique. My swing revelation came from the fact that the chord was played on the 1 and 3 and muted on 2 and 4, not the other way around as a swing hi hat might have you believe. Which really emphasizes the space that comes between the swinging "chunks" I"m hearing in this video more than anything. Space for the soul I guess!
Great exercise to help swing while comping or soloing is to tap your foot on the back beats (2 and 4). Makes it easier to feel the beat and then play a bit behind or on the beat.
I love your channel so much. 2 really swinging things: the MJQ on the Tanglewood LP "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" the intro is very John Williams straight time but when they hit the head, Milt Jackson swings SO HARD. The 2nd is Oscar Pettiford's solo on "Blues In the Closet" (his tune) on Jazz at Essen with Bud Powell and Kenny Clarke. Just swinging! Thanks for the jazz Aimee.
This. Is. GREAT!!! .....Thank you! I have such a hard time singing up-tempo/upbeat (and probably also playing it on guitar)! I am really a crooner, ballad singer naturally and kind of a lazy, laid back R'n'B comes quite easy to but I always wanted to do the other side to especially as a young guy but I never seem to get the timing quite right no matter how hard I try. I really think this can help me alot as I do really feel and hear it! I just needed something exactly like this I believe (predict!) to help bring my body closer to doing what I'm already hearing and feeling! I'll definetely be singing "(ka)chunkchunkchunkchunk"! It's not crazy at all!!! It's smart and intuitive! 😄😉
Hi Aimee,
While we're on the subject of swinging here's my Oscar Peterson anecdote.
Back in the 70's, when I was in my teens, I managed to sneak backstage at an open air concert in Juan Les Pins. That night it was Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Pass and Oscar Peterson playing.
Finally the great man finished his set, came backstage and took a seat on a bench surrounded by press photographers. I managed to elbow my way through the pack to request an autograph. Still mopping himself down with a large handkerchief, he gestured at me to sit down.
As he signed the piece of paper he turned to me and asked....."Do you play piano?"
"Yes I do", I replied.
"What do you like to play?" he asked.
"Scott Joplin rags" I replied truthfully.
"Do you play them straight?" he asked.
What do you mean "straight?" I asked.
"You know.... straight... on the beat" he said.
"Oh yes" I replied.
"Well I envy you then" he said.
"Why is that?" I asked, pretty certain Oscar could easily play Scott Joplin rags with his eyes closed.
"Because I can't play ragtime straight" he said.
"Why not?" I asked....
"Cos I gotta swing" he said, with a big laugh and that wonderful smile.
Ever since I have boasted that Oscar Peterson said he envied my piano playing!
Hope you enjoyed that fond memory of mine and Merry Christmas to you and your family Aimee.
esotericist that's an amazing story. Absolutely love it. I have heard that Joplin himself used to swing his rags. Not sure if it's true but they sound fantastic either way! Thanks for sharing!
esotericist
uz
I had a similar experience with Diz at Blues Alley in Georgetown in 1987, but I swung, was just getting into bebop, post bop, and the Afro-Cuban style.
esotericist "Ever since I have boasted that Oscar Peterson said he envied my piano playing!" Priceless. :)
esotericist: I love that story, thanks for sharing it. Cheers!
Don't mean a thunk, if it ain't got that chunk!
This is what it feels like to have a good teacher.
+WT Davidson 😍🙏🏼
It's sincere.
I'm an old performing songwriter, and have gotten a little stale and uninspired lately. Watching only a few of these has already kinda jump started a desire to get back to the shed to work on fluid playing and expression, without thinking getting in the way.
FWIW, what I love is encapsulated in the Jack Teagarden trombone solo in the Louis Armstrong All Stars Pennies From Heaven recording live at Town Hall in NYC, 1947. Not new, not swing, but I think he was plugged in almost unconsciously that night. For me, that's the thing.
if my impertinence could be forgiven, I have always thought of Aimee as my piano teacher. I picture her riding over on the skateboard...😍
Aimee, you rock! I mean Swing!
Your video is fantastic! I usually don't discuss music instead of playing, but your instructions are clear to me. Thank you for sharing your insights! Chunk, chunk 😍
Aimee... my name is Brandon and I desperately needed to learn how to swing... I literally freaked out and thought “did I have a lesson with Aimee 3 years ago?!” 😂
Aimee. Your enthusiasm and love for teaching seeps through the screen. I absolutely love your style.
Love this mirror image, a good angle for seeing how the fingers move rather than which keys they are playing.
Great lesson Aimee, thanks
Colin Edwards thanks, Collin! I will have to try it again sometime.
I feel so lucky to have found your videos Amy. I was never a big jazz guy (I'm turning 72 this year) but you have really made me understand a lot more about why it's so cool and important. you're making me love it. Thank you so much. You are a great teacher and really know how to teach appreciation and infuse others with enthusiasm. I love following you. Please don't stop posting and performing.
What a great lesson. I thought I was swinging, but no. Now I have the tools to get swinging like Basie and Peterson. In less than 20 minutes, you've given me enough material and insight for a month of practice, which is fantastic. So much fun!
As we teach, we learn. That’s one reason why I love teaching.
What comes across to me is that "chunking" or "swinging" means to really feel the rhythm, the pace, the emotional moving of the piece. And this is what makes a good musician. All the greats have it, regardless of music genres. Glenn Gould had it! Listen to him play Bach's Goldberg Variations. The music is coming right from his soul!
Your "chunk" lesson is great for helping people to get this. But you really have to give yourself to it in order for it to work it's magic!
I learnt how to feel swing more fluidly by counting halftime, it also makes solos feel uncluttered for me and almost as though there is more space between the corners to through the back end of the notes around as much as I through the front of them... You are my jazz lesson inspiration by the way! I really respect your warmth and obvious mileage... Thanks for your efforts!
No doubt, Count Basie defines swing. I love your outlook and passion for jazz. It's always been my love and it is refreshing to see that in other people too. Thanks for sharing.
Well, that's a revelation. What makes your channel so good is your passion and the way you aim for the beautiful. It's so clear from listening to you that music is music, and not mechanics.
allan henderson thank you so much, Allan. That's exactly how I feel.
Wow…you have an amazing ability to connect with your audience! Thanks.
Thomas A. Torr so nice of you to say. Thank you.
YOU and just SOMETHIN' ELSE! Not one person in a million can teach like that. Thanks for the music lesson - and for the teaching lesson too.
So glad I found you! I play classical, pop piano but wanted to start swinging. Lots of work for me because I think I may just be like Brandon.
I'm a guitar player. My opinion on getting the swing feel is to practice with a metronome that you perceive on the 2 and 4 of the beat. And then play slightly behind that beat. It's a subtle thing. But it has that swing!
That's what I've discovered, too, only for walking bass.
Congratulations Aimee, you are a wonderful teacher. I'm a 17 years old aspiring musician from Argentina and you have inspired me to swing harder (or at least try that).
Thank you very much for your videos, cheers.
This has changed my life completely, thanks so much!!!
Floyd Fernandes I'm glad, Floyd! Thanks for watching!
YOUR PASSION IS FLYING OF MY TABLET SCREEN, STRONG VIBES, FLYING ALL OVER THE PLACE.
THAT'S THE REALLY AIMEE. OH HOW I MISS HER.
WAW. THANKS.
Thank you Hilary Toussaint, very cool!
I´m so glad you highlight Freddie Green, a superior musician who was the secret behind Count Basie´s unique sound but always in the background!
THE MIRROR ALWAYS SPEAKS THE TRUTH. IN THE ARTS SO TOO.
I STAND IN AWE OF IT ALL. GREAT INSIGHTFUL LESSON.
Your examples of swing cannot be matched !....just excellent..😎
I LOVE how you crystallize the finest points in the fundamentals that so many of us can overlook. I have to agree with SeanLeonDrums that you produce the absolute best channel on UA-cam. There is lot's of great stuff on UA-cam, but this is the BEST!!!
Paul Lifsches much too nice, Paul. Thanks so much. 🙏🏼
That interplay between those quarter notes and the cool melody coming in and out of the beat, moving all around. Such a feeling!!
AS a guitar player who doesn't play or listen to jazz I had never realized a pianist could accent their notes like this. Good to know. Also, I think I am starting to like jazz a lot.
Hi Aimiee, my tow cents in this discussion: The secret of the word "chunk" is twofold: "ch" marks be beginning of the quater note the end of the word, after we let "uuuuu" ring, the "nk" will eventually fall at the place where you need to place the second note to have this swing feel. The quality of the Freddie green comping was that he let the quater notes ring just enough that the end of it would be beginning of the horn player note.
Hi I am amazed that I commented 5 years ago when I was just starting . This time I really paid attention and understood that separation of the left hand from the right. Thank you. Now I really understand that guitar chunk with the swinging melody. I guess the dislikes haven't understood it or may be got too excited and hit the button twice. A really valuable lesson 💖
As a guitarist and huge Freddie Green fan, I love hearing you talk about how good he was. Irving Ashby (who played guitar with the Nat Cole Trio after Oscar Moore--another great---had the best line on rhythm guitar in jazz: " Rhythm guitar is like vanilla extract in cake.
You can't taste it when it's there, but you know when it's left out." Another great lesson!
Another great jazz rhythm guitarist was Herb Ellis. He and Ray Brown recorded together a lot (obviously with Oscar Peterson but also later with Monty Alexander). Herb and Freddie Green made a great album together called "Rhythm Willie"
Mark Rhodes ooo I will look that up!! I got to meet Herb Ellis once. Love his playing. Thanks Mark!
Nice lesson. Love to play bass. especially walking bass. My dad taught me how to play a boogie bass progression when I was 14.
He actually taught it to me on my first 🎸 (A Sears Silver tone
accoustic.) I have had jazz guitar lessons starting in the 80s. Really like the genre. Again very good lesson.
I think what you are already doing is going "k-chunk" instead of "chunk" without thinking about it. Maybe this can be easier to explain for a student how to swing? :) Great channel! Thank you!
+perfk yes yes. You got it. With the k super short and barely said at all
Have a great weekend!/ Per
Yes! That fits better with her definition in other videos of swinging the 8th notes.
Good point. And the" K" is the percussive sound of the pick raking over the dead strings on the upstroke, typically on (though not limited to ) 4 and. The dead notes on the upbeat are as much an integral part of a good swing rhythm guitar part as the downbeats on the chord. Without them, there is no swing feel. It's' just quarter notes.
Per Fenger-Krog k-nice! Great point :D
Thank you, it’s super
Love you and your teaching
Daniel
UA-cam felt I needed to see this again now. So great. Thank you
Spectacular way to learn. Eureka! Thank you for making me see a different dimension of swing, and guiding me to study some great musicians.
erikkohl i'm glad you think so! Thanks so much for watching. :-)
love your sense of humor, as much as what you're saying and playing, Aimee. And I DO love your passion, and your chooses of artists, tunes, and "chonk". :)
Freddie Green! You're so talking my language. Your vids are very literally the best. Period. Thank you.
Aimee Nolte, Thanks for all your videos!! I really love the way you explain everything
A hug from Medellin Colombia
Oh man! Love this lesson. I'm not a pianist, I'm not a jazz player, but this concept is SO critical, whatever style you play/sing. Thanks, Aimee. And yes, Freddie Green was The Man.
You entirely changed my playing style. Thank you so so much! Lots of love from Malaysia
Most soulful swing lesson ever ! Thank you for sharing
Aimee you are just such a delight! I really enjoy your lessons so much, thank you for doing them. I've just returned to the piano after a one-year break due to illness and I find your videos inspiring.
Kaya Serra that's awesome. Welcome back!
Loved this, Aimee! I just discovered your lessons today. I appreciate your enthusiasm and how you break it down. I remember seeing the Count back east in PA in about 1971. I was about 17 at the time, and learning to play jazz bass. They knocked my socks off. He even came over to our table and we got to chat with him a bit. Many years later I moved to CA and started a house concert series. All kinds of music events have happened here over the past 25 years (over 150 concerts). Just my good fortune to have been so close some true musical greats. Darius Brubeck and band, Jared Gold (B3 player from NYC), Ed Cherry (guitarist for Dizzy Gillespie for many years), and the amazing swing and bebop Hammond B3 organ player Barbara Dennerlein. Check out this swing blues (Stormy Weather Blues) from her with guitarist Christoph Widmoser. It starts out a little sleepy but really picks up. On the surface you could say it's blues, but listen closely and you'll hear the swing elements. Playing ahead of and behind the beat, lots of triplets and other goodies.
Oh, you're just so inspiring person!!! thank you for sharing your passion to jazz with us!!!
I'm always amazed at the talk of swing being sort of a triplet rhythm versus a dotted-eighth-sixteenth rhythm, but I've always found the accents to be as important, if not more so. Hiromi Uehara has a great swing feel.
Hi Aimee, music teacher and jazz piano player from Toronto Canada here. Love this video... I have a lot of "watch later" clicking to do, I'd love to hear some of your other tutorials! I use a fake book, don't have all the standards memorized, but love sitting at a grand in the corner of a room by a tree (usually fake) with a coffee and play for people!
Thanks for what you do!
Greg
I was a clarinetist, but it's been a long time. I just LOVE the Basie band!!!!
I have NEVER thought of it like this, but what you said makes sense. I feel what Freddy Green, Ray Brown, et al are doing, but have always struggled to communicate it to the kids! Thanks, Aimee!
Tanks Aimee, congrats from Portugal...
Avelino Oliveira obrigado, Avelino
Very clever teacher God bless you
Hi Aimee. As a long-time jazz guitarist who is trying to learn piano, I appreciate your sentiment for Freddie Green. He was, for maybe 50 years, the glue that held together the great Basie band. Was particularly evident at the breath marks during the saxophone soli, when you could hear one good "chunk" sustain the momentum. Or when Basie was soloing with just the rhythm section.
Matthew Goldberg I agree! So true.
"It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing" Great video. I love that Oscar Peterson album Night Train with C Jam Blues. It's gold. It definitely swings.
Brilliant Aimee! Speaking as a rhythm guitarist and bassist in various bands over the years, I'd say you really highlighted the essence of swing. Without the drums, bass and steady guitar the lead players wouldn't have anything to weave around. I'm guessing Basie, Peterson, Simone etc swung intuitively but for the rest of us - thanks for great lesson! Oh and remember, if your back needs a little massage ...
Love your enthusiasm
I love how your passion for this stuff comes through in your videos. Keep on swingin'!
Your passion for chunk gives me life
Love how chilled your character feels and passionate about music you sound :) you seem like an awesome person! Plus an awesome pianist! thank you for sharing! lovely lesson :)
The word Chunk is exactly swing! Holy balls! I play music with a friend who is a pretty new musician and I was trying to explain swing to him but this is so much simpler. If you want to emphasize that off beat you throne in a Ka-chunk!
I think I've found my jazz teacher here. I've never heard someone articulate swing so perfectly in my life
Hi Aimee, You're a GREAT teacher! Your vids are amazing! Thx!
Okay, so now you've got me listening to the Duke. Love your stuff. Turned my daughter onto it last night.
You are helping me to learn how to listen to music and enjoy it like I never did before ! Thank you!!
Great! Great! And your energy makes it so fun to learn!
I studied jazz vocals and this is...b-a-s-i-c, clear, easy to understand and so good to learn, relearn, rererelearn. Thanks for making this.
I LOVE your singing! More, please! Oh...and GREAT lesson, too. Love the way you break things down. But really...now I want to hear YOU sing "My Baby Just Cares For Me"! Will have to see if you have recordings out...just discovered you tonight.
LMAOROF...you are so good! Your comparison to not swinging is hilarious...and spot on. Jazz girls are a force of nature!!
Thank you so much, amazing video!
LOVE to see you being so passionate! Thanks for a great lesson! Now I really have something to think about... :)
"A little bit loco?" Some of the best are/were pretty locally loco. Beautifully coherent, Aimee. Thanks
I had the privilege to see Basie and Freddie Greene at UCSD in the early 80's. The magic is they have played so long, and with each other - that there was no effort. Enjoying each other, the music, their life, and the time. We can all aspire to this - and time will afford such, if you continue to practice with soul.
Brandon is a good guy. He's like us all, and has a depth which needs to come out.
Great stuff Aimee. Well explained and easy to understand!
Enlightening video, both for content and passion. Thank you! (also applies to dancing!)
You dont know how precious this lesson was for me (and only me of c.)
jeff wackenthal I'm so glad. 🙌🏼
i meant (not only me of c.). :)
Aimee,
Duke Ellington is also one of my favorites. If you want to hear a great album, listen to his BLUES IN ORBIT. Recorded after midnight in a great recording studio in New York...I wanna say early 1960s, Johnny Hodges just kicks ass, and that band! How it smokes. Sam Woodyard on drums. It swings so hard you cannot keep still. Turn it up!
Hello Aimee, Fantastic! job on all of your videos. As a guitarist it's so nice to hear other musicians give Freddie Green the credit he deserves. Keep up all the stellar work. Thanks again, Swing Heil
Andrew Cole heck yes! I will give him credit all day. :-)
What an inspiring clip. Thank you.
another great video! I consider myself to swing pretty hard, but you covered many ideas about swing that I had not thought of. One thing you did not mention that helped me immensely is the subdivison of the quarter note into triplets. I learned this from playing traditional african and carribean drums, most of which takes place in 12/8 time, ei 1tt2tt3tt4tt. This seems to be the foundation of swing, with things like dynamics/lagging behind or slightly ahead of the beat/emphasizing the 2/4 beats etc all build upon the 12/8 feel to make up the complex nature of swing.
Take a jazz ride pattern for example. I find many of my drum students will try and subdivide it (where x is the hits) X234X23XX234X23XX234, but this is rhythmically incorrect and sounds quite rigid. Instead using a 12/8 timing we get X23X2XX23X2XX23. I have found that correcting how the student feels these internal subdivisions is the first step and can do wonders for their swing, and next comes all the nuances you mentioned in this video.
Hope the notation wasn't too confusing, maybe we should make a standard for writing out music in youtube comments! Best wishes, on to your next video :)
Cooper Grosscup thank you, Cooper. I understand your notation and think you make some good points. I do think that people make a mistake in always thinking we need to subdivide into triplets. I feel like in order to swing very hard, it needs to be almost like the 16th notes or even higher, so that we are waiting as long as possible to hit The subdivision before the next quarter note occurs. My first scat tutorial video talks about this concept. I don't know many people who teach it, but to me, it's how to swing the very hardest! :)
ah yes, I see what you are saying! I could see that being the case especially in bop or other fast tempo contexts, as well as anytime you want to push the beat. I guess it all depends on the feel of the band :) if you can play with anyone you surely can swing!
Cooper Grosscup n
Yes! That Nina Simone recording is fabulous. You're so right about what happens in the break - you can still feel the time in the silence.
I frequently have students listen to Stevie Ray Vaughan's "Pride and Joy," or "Cold Shot" for examples of relentless hard swing, as well as anything Basie and the Miles Davis Kind of Blue album.
There are lots of good examples. The key, as you say, is to really listen and then listen some more.
Been watching a few of your videos a night since I discovered them a week ago. Love them all. Thanks for sharing your musical love and gifts.
+Scott Velardo great examples!!! And thanks for watching tons! Woohoo!
My music training on the streets of L. A. Offered me the soul of the city. Yet , much like a work of art, it never is truly finished. Today, I'am just an older hippie wishing That I'd have studied theory as a young man, thereby, making jazz a little less mysterious. Thank you aimee, Thank you Indeed.
I play no instrument but your explanations are amazing. Thanks for sharing.
Just found you - great videos. I'm a drummer, and from time to time work with younger drummers, and the hardest thing to get them to do (even when they're playing technically jazz patterns) is to stop rocking and swing. It's a quality that's hard to quantify. I was working with a young man at the community college the other day and as he was trying to pick up the rhythm of a song we were listen to, he just had his hi hat going on 2 and 4, and just from that I could tell he was not swinging., "You're rocking - swing, man!" Will definitely be passing on your channel. Thanks for doing these.
+Chip Hammond thanks so much, Chip!
Just saw that you've done some collaboration with Paul Pieper. I've played with Paul on a couple of occasions. He hosts a monthly open jazz jam at the Epicure Café in Fairfax VA.
Aimee, you are so engaging, thorough and gifted..ALL of you videos are as close to perfect as a musician can be....I only wish I could have convinced my parents that we musicians are real,and music is a true profession,. a wonderful gift to be shared by all.:-)))
Amazing charism and understanding! Thanks!!
Hi Aimee, One whole year I have used your chunk chunk for the Senior Professor's Jazz ensemble in Uppsala, Sweden. Our two guitar players just LOVE it. Merry Christmas!
Woohoo!
I love that you love Freddie Green - Thanks Aimee
I really love your passion.
Recently discovered your channel. Wow - very well done. You teach the very small but hugely important things like the k-chunk. Wish I discovered that 10 years earlier. Happy to know it now!
You are an inspirational player and personality. Oh, and a great teacher too.
This explanation reminds me of all the tutorials of the gypsy/manouche jazz "la pompe" technique. My swing revelation came from the fact that the chord was played on the 1 and 3 and muted on 2 and 4, not the other way around as a swing hi hat might have you believe. Which really emphasizes the space that comes between the swinging "chunks" I"m hearing in this video more than anything. Space for the soul I guess!
I love this "lesson" Aimee. Luckily someone steered me in your direction. Subscribed!
Great exercise to help swing while comping or soloing is to tap your foot on the back beats (2 and 4). Makes it easier to feel the beat and then play a bit behind or on the beat.
What other songs swing as hard as these?! I'm in absolute awe right now..... Thank you tenfold for this.
+Stephanie Smith you’re so sweet! Add me on fb. We have a running list of hard swingin’ tunes!!
giddy x100000 haha kasbdfljks I'm so excited!
Not only is this lady a killer musician- she is hilarious in addition.
Muchas gracias, Felipe!
Aimee Nolte Music
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That is a wonderful class - thank you so much.
I don't play piano but I learn WAAYYY more here on your channel then on any other channel on youtube. Thanks!
+Chuck 🙌🏼🙏🏼😍
I love your channel so much. 2 really swinging things: the MJQ on the Tanglewood LP "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" the intro is very John Williams straight time but when they hit the head, Milt Jackson swings SO HARD.
The 2nd is Oscar Pettiford's solo on "Blues In the Closet" (his tune) on Jazz at Essen with Bud Powell and Kenny Clarke. Just swinging! Thanks for the jazz Aimee.
This is my favourite moment in internet history thus far.
Chunk chunk chunk chunk chunk chunk. Way cool! Love how chunk chunk your reflection is looking right at the camera too. Chunk chunk
You beat me to it. Your chunkin' swings waaaay more than mine 🤣
This. Is. GREAT!!! .....Thank you!
I have such a hard time singing up-tempo/upbeat (and probably also playing it on guitar)! I am really a crooner, ballad singer naturally and kind of a lazy, laid back R'n'B comes quite easy to but I always wanted to do the other side to especially as a young guy but I never seem to get the timing quite right no matter how hard I try. I really think this can help me alot as I do really feel and hear it! I just needed something exactly like this I believe (predict!) to help bring my body closer to doing what I'm already hearing and feeling!
I'll definetely be singing "(ka)chunkchunkchunkchunk"! It's not crazy at all!!! It's smart and intuitive! 😄😉
+Charlye'Charleston I’m so glad! :)
Aimee Nolte Music 😊🙏