You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - Burning Questions: How to Play Melodically FAST

Episode Date: May 29, 2020

Peter and Adam are going to be streaming and taking your questions live on Open Studio's Instagram every Saturday for the duration of the global health crisis. On today's edition of Burning Questions, Peter and Adam field some queries about how to get a modern sound for a solo and how to practice being melodic at fast tempos.Links From This Episode:Stuck wondering what to practice every day? We've got a course for that! The Piano Guided Practice Pass includes daily Guided Practice Sessions with Adam Maness (and the occasional guest), our new Guided Practice App, and plenty of resources to help your routine. Go here for more info.Today's Open Studio Live Events (All times in EDT):1:00 PM - Adam's Daily Guided Practice Session (for Members Only)8:00 PM - Peter Martin's Shelter in Place concert series continues on YouTubeFor the rest of this week's calendar, follow this linkIn light of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic, we understand that money is tight for a lot of people right now. That's why we've decided that for the duration of this crisis, we'll be running a Choose What You Pay campaign at Open Studio. Choose whichever course you want and then let us know how much you're willing to pay - that's it. For more info, click this link.Interested in more music advice? Go here to browse our catalog of jazz lessons and courses available for purchase. And be sure to check out our All Access Pass - every course from Open Studio on every instrument.Let us know what you think by leaving a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, or head over to our YouTube channel.Follow us on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Hey Adam. Yes. We are doing another podcast. Are you prepared? Because I don't see you across the desk. I'm looking. I'm looking. I'm looking.

Where's Adam? Where's Adam? I don't see him. Where are you? Well, I'm across your phone. But even when we were across the desk, was I ever really prepared? What an esoteric existential question, my friend. No, I wasn't.

I'm Adam Annis. And I'm Peter Martin. And you're listening to the You'll Hear It Podcast. Daily Music Advice coming at you. Coming at you today, sponsored by OpenSue. Go to Open StudioJaz.com. Hey, check out our piano guided practice pass. That's a mouthful.

But the piano guided practice pass gets you access to our daily guided practice session, which are daily guided practice sessions hosted by me. It gets you access to the guided practice app, which is a mobile app that, I don't know if you've seen it, Peter. Have you downloaded yet? Yeah, I have it on my phone. I was going to show it to you here, but we're on the phone.

It's pretty great. Have I downloaded yet? Come on, man. We've labored over it. Well, you guys labor it. But I, no, it is extremely. extremely dope. It's, you know what I think I love the most about it is the focus that it brings to, because you know, we kind of debated this. It's like we're always saying turn off your phone when you go into practice and stuff. So, but we, you know, we use different tools like any tune, um, metronomes and, you know, listening to music. And so I think that we knew that there was a way to do it, but we're trying to get people into that state, that meditative state when they're practicing where they can really focus and get a lot out of it, um, especially the different things that we talk about. But I think what we had. achieve with this app is a very focused and meditative situation by virtue of the content that we're

presenting in the audio format primarily. And your daily guided practice with your smooth jazz, not smooth jazz, but smooth jazz radio voice, as it were. Yeah, man. Yeah, if you don't know what a guided practice session is, it's where I turn on my metronome and we practice together. Like I say, we're going to do this B-flat major scale. One, two, ready, and we practice. And we and I give you tips and what to think about and how to play it. And we do all different kinds of things from bebop to chord practice to technical practice, all these different things every single day. Go check it out.

That's the piano guided practice pass over on open studio jazz.com. And today we're on Instagram, taking questions. How about our first question here from Mitchell? Mitchell asks, maybe this is not a great question, but maybe you can talk about how you two get a modern sound to your solos, e.g. pentatonics, wider intervals, intervals, the triad plus one concept that you've talked about, thoughts, ideas. Yeah, well, I think, I mean, all those are not necessarily, like, they're a step away from

how do you get a modern sound. Like, they're the tools. They're the nuts and bolts and the screws and the, you know, and the Allen wrench or whatever. Like, that's just, those are some of the pieces as well as I think a number of other things. I think the modern sound really comes out of having in You know, an openness to all, all, all the different styles up till now, especially now that we've heard and studied. So like we were talking about on yesterday's episode about bebop and is it relevant and stuff. And like, how do you take that and make that into a modern sound? So we have these melodic tools and nuts and both. And then we've got harmonic things and then we have rhythmic things.

Like that's what never changes, whether it's modern, old fashioned or not. those three basic elements of music, I think that when you are open to the combinations of those three elements that make something sound modern. And look, a lot of things, I mean, we could be like, oh my God, Chick-Korea sounds so modern in 1969

on Now He sings, Now He Sobs. And he does, and to me, he still does. So the modern, I think, is just like, it's a sensibility. It's a mindset. It's not a, I heard it on the radio in 2020. I mean, there's some stuff, like some throwback stuff that doesn't sound modern at all.

To me, it sounds nostalgic. you know and I think that when we're improvising as jazz musicians you know that's always a constant battle we have nostalgia versus modern what is it modernity modernness whatever that is modernity modernity modernity that versus nostalgia like we always have to be careful because we preach and and look most jazz musicians learn solos learn tunes go back and delve into the history and lineage of the music for inspiration for vocabulary for ideas but it's It's like how do you use that without like holding it so firmly that you got your beret on and, you know, your Lindy hopping like it's 1939 because that's not modern.

That's not necessarily modern. That's corny. And I mean, not that style at that time it was modern. But if you try to transport yourself back in time, that becomes a nostalgic thing, which can be interesting, but it's definitely not modern. So it's like you have to be willing to accept those elements, but then be willing to kind of throw the playbook out, but still use this. them to do something modern. And, you know, the more you practice these specific elements and breaking things up, you know, what he or she is mentioning is more like melodic and harmonic things,

but don't ever forget about the rhythmic thing because that can be, sometimes you can take one of these three basic elements and alter it. And you can use other ones that are old and all of a sudden it sounds modern because you've made enough of an alteration to the rhythmic patterns. Yeah, I think what things like the pentatonics and the wider intervals and the triad plus one do actually more for us than the sound of the scale itself is especially with pianists the shape of our hands and the rhythmic qualities we're able to make with things like triad pairs or pentatonics it's different than with like functional harmony and and diminish scale harmony and theory you know what

I mean that is a whole like it's just a different that those bebop enclosures create a different rhythm than a pentatonic shape on our hand, and we can do different things. If you try to apply the bebop rhythm to the pentatonic shape, you're going to be surprised at how much it sounds like bebop and how less it sounds like modern stuff. Like, it sounds, the rhythm is exactly,

you were exactly right, and that the rhythm really sets the precedent of, like, what is this? So just consider that. When you're working through, like, the tri-plus one thing or whatever, like I chose those shapes because they can easily create,

like, modern patterns and rhythm, and therefore rhythms on our, lines. And I think that's where it starts. So again, not a modern record. Now He sings, Now He Sobs, but that's been the one I've been recommending for people to check out, especially pianists, that first track Matrix. That's kind of like when modern the pentatonic. I mean, besides, you know, not, of course, McCoy and all the beautiful 60s stuff, McCoy, but you can get a really clear sense of it on Now He Sing's, Now He Sobs, I think. It's very, like, pristine and clear

how to take those pentatonic or triad patterns and make something modern. Almost we could call it textbook in a way. It's not the only version, but it's a great version, a great reference version to learn from. And just to enjoy it too, that's another great thing. And also the Real McCoy, equally if not more so, for clarity. Agreed. All right. Thanks for that.

UN has asked some good questions in the past, so we're going to see if he's going to keep his streak up here. I think so. How would you practice trying to be malice? at fast temples. I'm going to give a kind of simple question for that is practice being melodic at slow temples and at medium temples.

And then just hope that you're able to slowly raise the temple. So you know, you got to get in the habit of playing melodically if you want to play melodically. Because the faster you do anything, the less time you're going to have to think about it. So whatever habits you've developed are going to come out when you,

play fast. If you don't have any skills or habits develop, what happens when you play fast is you are going to choke up and nothing's going to be able to come out. So that's kind of your two main points of failure. You're choking and not being able to do anything or exhibiting all your bad habits. And it's very much like when you get into a crisis situation, you see what people really think and believe, you know, that starts to come out, you know, everybody running to not everybody, but people that are looting the Walmart and stuff when there's a crisis, they were waiting to loot. They just now,

they might not have known it like, you know, not everybody becomes a thief during a, during a hurricane or something. It's just, but that brings that, it doesn't even bring it out. That's just what,

who they are starts to come out. So when we play fast, sorry, I didn't mean to go dark and negative there. Yeah, I was going to say, wow, how do we get to looting very fast?

Fast, see? That's what I'm saying. Be like, it's just, it's the same thing in terms of it speeds up and, and amplifies who you are as a player. So if you want to be a melodic player, you've got to spend a lot of time practicing under tempo where you can kind of control things and be able to be conscious a little bit more conscious in real time as far as what you're playing. And then just really work on edging things up because I think it's a lot harder to be able to think about all the things you need to think about to be an effective improviser when you're playing at very fast tempos.

It's harder to do that or to learn to do that than it is to develop really. good habits and then work on the technical barriers overcoming the technical barriers to playing fast and then kind of letting those habits come out automatically because they will i mean it's just like you were talking about you went for a run before and after a few minutes you're like i'm not feeling but then you kind of felt a little better you probably just on instinct sped up a little bit you're because just like okay your body's feeling a little better but you don't want to have to think about well let me keep my form together because you can hurt yourself like you start to speed up and if you're having to think about oh let me lift my leg in this way you're not going to have time to

so very much the same way when we're improvising. But there is the technical aspect. That's another thing that can trip you up, no matter how acute you are at hearing and thinking and playing music melodically. If you don't have the technical skills to do it when you play fast, it's going to all be for naught. Yeah, relax, relax, relax. And attempt, I remember this last guide of practice session that Jeffrey Kaiser just did for us.

He kind of broke down and he's like, let's do a chorus of blues where you're just playing the blues with blues scales. Let's do a chorus of blues where you're doing a chorus of blues with bebop. Let's do Pentatonic and Modern. And then he said, let's do one with pure melody. And that was a little insight to how I saw Keys or thinks about phrasing things, right? So to play pure melody, you have to really be able to hear something that's about to happen, or else you're not really playing melodies.

Like melodies by definition are things that melodic content is something that is easily heard and digested by humans. So you have to relax and let the melodies. sound like melodies, not like bebop or pentatonic or anything like that. I mean, that's all melodic content, but I think what you're talking about here, Ewan, is melodic at fast tempo's. Playing melodies requires a simplicity almost in your technique, in your mindset. And so I would say key is to relax, relax, relax.

Yeah, and I love, you know, what goes along with that too is our friend, and Rogers always breathe, breathe, breathe, relax. So breathing is just really a trigger for you to be able to relax, you know. And it's kind of a reminder. And it's good to keep from dying because if you can't breathe, you know, if you're not breathing. I love not dying. It's like one of my favorite things to do every day. You're so positive.

So, but that can be a thing where, you know, you've got the melodic ideas. You know you can do them. You're like, well, I'm in the habit of playing melodically, but I'm a little scared of playing fast. and maybe my technique isn't quite there or maybe you feel like, okay, I think my technique is, but I, until I can prove it to myself,

I don't know. Sometimes you've got everything, but you're so tense because you don't think you can do it or you're nervous because of the temple that you tense up and even what you have in you can't come out those great habits.

So that's where the breathing comes in. Take your time, let the notes go by, and then just come in, you know. But it's amazing how much just, just the breathing and relaxing and whatever combination you need and some other things can help you get over that hump.

Then you believe it. And I'm going to put a bow on it and just commend you and on the question. Because just thinking about how can I play more melodically at fast tempos, you are, sir, are on the right track with how to do anything at fast tempos. That's the right question to ask, I think. Exactly. It's not like, how do I play fast? How do I play flash?

It's like, yeah, how can you play melodic? Anybody can run their fingers over any instrument and play fast, but how do you play melodically fast? That's right, right, right. Cool. Well, thank you, everybody. Great questions for this episode. We are, again, live on Instagram.

Send us your question. Jazz piano, jazz theory, whatever related. We're here every Saturday at 2 p.m. Eastern Time. And don't forget to go to Open StudioJazz.com. Check out our piano guided practice membership. Man, the daily guided practice sessions, we were talking about them earlier, are really a game changer.

I think especially during this time where people have a chance and are more sort of a solitary situation. What a joy to be able to see all the folks practicing with you every day in real time. And then also like we have special guests with Keyzer doing it the other day. That was super exciting.

I mean, to me like that's leveraging all this technology in such a positive way and very exciting to see. I agree. Yeah. Cool. Well, until next time. You'll hear it.