This channel is amazing, not just the video lessons, but also the " shorts-section" is packed with extremely valuable concepts and ideas to work on. I never took trombone lessons, playing for 15 years though, but finally i really know now what to work on, to stop sucking on the horn. Thanks so much for all your content.
Timing couldn't be better lol. Just starting my first combo band class at school and my solos aren't really there harmonically. I can't wait to shed some of this and then try it out!
Very practical and useful lesson. Thanks Shawn. I like the idea of taking the tunes apart and re-assembling them. The key signature alone can be a starting point for all sorts of exercises, scale patterns, pentatonic patterns etc, which form a musical universe in which the tune spins. To infinity ... and ... beyond?
I have a few things outlined below that have been important to me over the years. This is by no means a complete list, just a few things that come to mind at the moment. This also assumes that the technical side of playing/improvisation is being taken care of to the best of one's ability. Listening to and learning music from many different styles. Even though I mostly talk about Jazz concepts on this channel, I play many different styles. The lessons I have learned play Afro Cuban music for example have been incredibly helpful for me as a Jazz musician. Playing with musicians who are better than you. This really helps push you and keeps you hungry to improve/learn. Finding my "voice" as a player. This hasn't really clicked for me until the last few years. For me this has meant connecting with the work I do as a composer and arranger but also from feeling confident in the fact that I don't/can't play like some of the more virtuosic players on the trombone (Carl Fontana, Marshall Gilkes, etc.). Coming to terms with the fact that I can still make valid, compelling creative statements even though I can't play super high or fast has been very freeing for me as a player. This has lead to a fair amount of growth in the last 4-5 years.
@@ShawnBellMusic Thanks for the thoughtful response, Shawn. Your transparent statement, "feeling confident in the fact that I don't/can't play like some of the more virtuosic players," hit home with me. I'm in my 8th year playing Sax and learning Jazz theory. The lack of confidence is always present despite people saying I have something special. I tend to think they don't know what they are saying. Part of it is the more I learn and get under my fingers, the more I realize how much more there is to master. Most people, including myself in the beginning, have no understanding of how difficult playing Jazz is.
@@joel6427 If you're at the "the more I learn, the more I realize I have a lot to learn" place in your playing, you are probably on the right path. That feeling is both the best and worse part about being a musician. Keep at it.
This is a bach 36 with a few modifications done to it. It has a removable lead pipe and a convertable bell section. I am using a brad close(brass ark) MV36 lead pipe in nickel.
I’m fine with learning music…. But standards as a standard is a bad way to associate some as a good musician…. Maybe I hate playing standards. I could learn it ya but if I lament playing it? Maybe we are antiquated in our mindset with horn music….. nothing more annoying then a buncha old dudes obsessed with the same old songs as a mark of being good. Pushes me away from the jazz scene. If you try anything new they all hide like snakes…. Not knocking the teaching just the concept of standards as a standard. Open your mind so many great players who will not memorize standards.
Why are you on a video about learning standards? The point is to make them your own. Monk, Coltrane, Miles all played standards and made them their own. Kind of a huge part of jazz.
When you say try anything new, do you mean suggesting a tune nobody else knows at a jam session, or a totally improvised approach ? Or do you mean resistance from musicians to learning a new tune at a rehearsal (rare as such things may be)?
@nateshiz9696 Thinking that standards are only for a "bunch old dudes" tells me how ignorant you are. Look at all the young players out there playing standards. They put their own spin on them. And they're called "standards" for a reason: they're universally-known, and allow players who've never before played together to play. Any decent jazzer knows "Rhythm" changes, for example, and so many tunes are based on that chord progression. If you hate playing standards, you probably won't make it as a jazz musician.
This is really an amazing style of explaining things! Thanks very much
This channel is amazing, not just the video lessons, but also the " shorts-section" is packed with extremely valuable concepts and ideas to work on.
I never took trombone lessons, playing for 15 years though, but finally i really know now what to work on, to stop sucking on the horn.
Thanks so much for all your content.
★★★★★ You are such a talented teaching-and a swinging player. This lesson has helped me so much. THANK YOU!
Timing couldn't be better lol. Just starting my first combo band class at school and my solos aren't really there harmonically. I can't wait to shed some of this and then try it out!
A great lesson for musicians of experience !!
Very practical and useful lesson. Thanks Shawn. I like the idea of taking the tunes apart and re-assembling them. The key signature alone can be a starting point for all sorts of exercises, scale patterns, pentatonic patterns etc, which form a musical universe in which the tune spins. To infinity ... and ... beyond?
Cantaloop
Work song
.blue bossa
Autumn leaves
It could happen to you......
Assuming you don't think about the mechanics when improvising, can you describe the journey you experienced getting to where you are.
I have a few things outlined below that have been important to me over the years. This is by no means a complete list, just a few things that come to mind at the moment. This also assumes that the technical side of playing/improvisation is being taken care of to the best of one's ability.
Listening to and learning music from many different styles. Even though I mostly talk about Jazz concepts on this channel, I play many different styles. The lessons I have learned play Afro Cuban music for example have been incredibly helpful for me as a Jazz musician.
Playing with musicians who are better than you. This really helps push you and keeps you hungry to improve/learn.
Finding my "voice" as a player. This hasn't really clicked for me until the last few years. For me this has meant connecting with the work I do as a composer and arranger but also from feeling confident in the fact that I don't/can't play like some of the more virtuosic players on the trombone (Carl Fontana, Marshall Gilkes, etc.). Coming to terms with the fact that I can still make valid, compelling creative statements even though I can't play super high or fast has been very freeing for me as a player. This has lead to a fair amount of growth in the last 4-5 years.
@@ShawnBellMusic Thanks for the thoughtful response, Shawn. Your transparent statement, "feeling confident in the fact that I don't/can't play like some of the more virtuosic players," hit home with me. I'm in my 8th year playing Sax and learning Jazz theory. The lack of confidence is always present despite people saying I have something special. I tend to think they don't know what they are saying. Part of it is the more I learn and get under my fingers, the more I realize how much more there is to master. Most people, including myself in the beginning, have no understanding of how difficult playing Jazz is.
@@joel6427 If you're at the "the more I learn, the more I realize I have a lot to learn" place in your playing, you are probably on the right path. That feeling is both the best and worse part about being a musician. Keep at it.
Quick question what trombone are you playing on?
This is a bach 36 with a few modifications done to it. It has a removable lead pipe and a convertable bell section. I am using a brad close(brass ark) MV36 lead pipe in nickel.
Thanks for the reply
Can you please help me read the staff
I’m fine with learning music…. But standards as a standard is a bad way to associate some as a good musician…. Maybe I hate playing standards. I could learn it ya but if I lament playing it? Maybe we are antiquated in our mindset with horn music….. nothing more annoying then a buncha old dudes obsessed with the same old songs as a mark of being good. Pushes me away from the jazz scene. If you try anything new they all hide like snakes…. Not knocking the teaching just the concept of standards as a standard. Open your mind so many great players who will not memorize standards.
Gotta crawl before you run ...
Why are you on a video about learning standards? The point is to make them your own. Monk, Coltrane, Miles all played standards and made them their own. Kind of a huge part of jazz.
When you say try anything new, do you mean suggesting a tune nobody else knows at a jam session, or a totally improvised approach ? Or do you mean resistance from musicians to learning a new tune at a rehearsal (rare as such things may be)?
Anything new. Nothing made personal. Literally just playing off the sheet….
@nateshiz9696 Thinking that standards are only for a "bunch old dudes" tells me how ignorant you are. Look at all the young players out there playing standards. They put their
own spin on them. And they're called "standards" for a reason: they're universally-known, and allow players who've never before played together to play. Any decent jazzer knows "Rhythm" changes, for example, and so many tunes are based on that chord progression. If you hate playing standards, you probably won't make it as a jazz musician.