Mingus was notorious for demanding that his sidemen memorize his tunes and their parts. He was bizarre in so many ways, tempestuous and tyrannical, a colorful and controversial bandleader, but he understood the value of memorization. Mingus required his musicians to internalize the tunes. Very little written music was handed out at rehearsals. He would sing the parts to each musician (or play them on bass) and he was fond of calling this method of conveying music “head charts” because that’s where he wanted the tunes.

When you memorize things, you stretch your brain and keep it nimble. You build syntactical pathways and expand your capacity for storing knowledge. Be it a song, sonnet, or soliloquy, when you memorize something, you learn it better, understand it more deeply, recall it quicker, and more fully commit it to the deepest recesses of awareness. And what is the result when you memorize jazz standards in this way? You play better. You free up your mind so you can focus on creative expansion, and devote yourself to interpreting, embellishing, and riffing on the tune.

So why not set some goals regarding this practice. Make them reasonable and attainable. Can you thoroughly memorize one jazz standard in a week? Or do you need two weeks, or a month? It doesn’t matter how long it takes, only that you embark upon the process. Go slow, do it right.

It is so common to play too much, a bit overzealously or aggressively, when chording. It is equally common to play timidly, conveying no sense of time or feel. Remember-your job is to support the soloist, to lay down a harmonic progression with exquisite skill, with big listening ears, and sensitivity to the soloist.

The salient quality of any great player is the ability to exude the groove, regardless of what role they’re assuming…soloing, comping, adding texture, playing counterpoint, whatever. The groove is the thing. Regardless of genre. Our goal is to exude the groove. It’s always there, unassailable, rock-steady, inviolate. Toward that end, work on strumming 4-to-the-bar. One strum for each quartet note. All down strokes with the pick. Ask yourself what beat are you accenting. Where is the pulse? Work at “pulse-less” comping. Can you play even quarter notes without a pulse? Use a metronome beating on 2 & 4. This can be extremely telling, and beneficial. It can transform your playing. Use a metronome as much as you can. Hang in there, because it is vexing initially. Then add a slight pulse on beats 1 & 3. Eventually add a bass note on the and of 2. *These attacks are all down strokes. Accenting beats 2 & 4 results in a Django, or Hot Club, gypsy-like feel. It is profoundly different than accenting 1 & 3. You should be able to play both ways with equal mastery.

Expand your chord vocabulary. Learn the inversions on any given set of strings: Top 4 strings-(generally drop 2 voicings) Inner 4 strings-(generally drop 2 voicings) Low E,D,G,B strings-(generally drop 3 voicings) Start with any voicing containing four chord tones-the root, 3rd, 5th, & 7th. Follow the arpeggio order on each string as you move the chord up the neck to the next inversion or position. Regarding the chord tones, 1 always moves to 3. 3 always moves to 5. 5 always moves to 7. and 7 always moves to 1.

(Root position chords have the root in the bass. First inversion has the 3rd in the bass. Second inversion has the 5th in the bass. Third inversion has the 7th in the bass) Master these chord voicings before adding tensions (9, 11, 13), and moving toward modern chord voicings. More about adding tensions and modern chord voicings in future posts.

Because, you should treat yourself to something special, something serene, something relaxing and revelatory at the same time. You can’t imagine how beneficial or restorative it is to your spirit, your mind and body, to plop down on this gorgeous lake, study and play music for hours on end, and at the same time elect at any moment to rest, walk, canoe, swim, worship the water lily, dragonfly, or the sunfish. Bird watch, explore the Rideau Trail, or simply dote upon the lake. Trust me, this is an extraordinary place.

Share the link: http://paulrenz.com/camp

And while you’re in this idyllic place, let theory rain down on your head! Saturate yourself with the intricacies of jazz theory, improvisation, and music-making while grooving to nature’s inimitable rhythm. This is the best way to learn, immersed in a tranquil, contemplative setting where there is no pressure or obligation to connect to the outside world. A year’s worth of theory in 4 days. There is no interruption to the flow. Only pauses to catch your breath, relish good food, converse with your fellow cabin mates, and appreciate your surroundings.

I’m offering a jazz camp this summer, on the beautiful shores of Lake Rideau, in Ontario. A jazz retreat for adults-five nights and four full days of jazz study and jamming in an absolutely gorgeous north woods setting in Canada. We will cover a wide array of topics, things mentioned below-practicing methods, articulation and phrasing, as well as jazz theory, harmony, improvisation techniques and ensemble playing.

Classical musicians interested in the art of jazz and improvisation are welcome!

Playing fast is not playing better. Do not hurry when practicing or playing music. You should not be rushing to get something done, checking things off your interminable to-do lists, entering your practice space with a cluttered mind and misguided aspirations. If you can’t play one note, much less a scale or an arpeggio, musically, at a slow tempo, you have no business playing fast. Ah…what does “musically” mean? It means expressively and deliberately, controlling the tone, the overtone, the body, the nuance, and the duration of every pitch. With deference and open ears, as if Bach resided in every note. Listen to the space between the notes. This is a golden silence. Silence is the other side of a note. And silence, or rest, or breath taking is integral to phrasing. *Phrasing is one of the most difficult things to teach, and I will write a lot about this in upcoming blogs.

I’m not saying that fast playing is uncool or ineffective. I love rapid fire jazz licks, and passages, and admire guitarists who can execute them-Pat Martino, Al Dimeola, George Benson, Cal Collins, Larry Carlton, Mike Stern, etc., but in order to play rapidly and well, one must practice slowly, hearing every note and its quality, and increase your tempos incrementally.

Learning to play jazz is a life-long endeavor. You never master it and there is always another plateau to reach, another modern chord voicing to discover, another glorious combination of scales to play. You know how it’s said that to master an instrument one most devote 10,000 hours of practice. That’s roughly 3 hours a day for 10 years. Well I’ve maintained that practice regimen for three decades, so have practiced 30,000 hours, give or take a few thousand. I only mention this to illustrate my point. I never stop making exciting discoveries on the guitar, and always have areas that I want to refine and skills that need honing. For example, I want to have greater mastery in the execution of -7b5 arpeggios. Not just crossing all 6 strings, and comfortably navigating the entire neck. But deconstructing the arpeggio, utilizing snippets of it, and moving from one interior shape or position to a neighboring shape or position. That’s not to mention the ability to apply the same arpeggio over a related dom7,9 chord or -6 chord. *C#-7b5 arpeggio may be played with wonderful results over A7,9 and E-6, and Gmaj7. The student never realizes how long this process will take. The good teacher is able to explain it, and demonstrate how every improvement or advance is incremental. The good teacher conveys to the student that mastering an instrument is a life-long commitment, and incremental improvements are the stepping stones. Students often get frustrated because it takes too long to get better. Well it’s true. Studying music is arduous and time consuming, a fine art, and a discipline. That’s why it’s a fine art. The reward that the student always has in mind comes later, in the guise of playing ability and music-making prowess. But the real, often unrecognized reward is in the process. The daily dedication to bettering oneself, challenging oneself to excel at something, and a fierce commitment to do so, results in a lifestyle that ensures personal growth on a level never anticipated by the student.