| Another good thing to do is play with just the metronome: set it on 2 & 4 (and don't turn it aaround to 1 & 3) and play quarter notes on the chord tones. Start in root position but then as time goes on start from any note in the chord and try to hit the note closest to the one you're on when the chord changes.
Listen a lot. I like whoever said learn solos from trumpet players you have the technical ability to copy. Art Farmer, Miles, Kenny Dorham, all excellent. As your chops build up, move to Clifford Brown, Roy Eldridge (the best!), Buck Clayton, Freddie Hubbard. Don't neglect Louis Armstrong. Learn the history of the vocabulary of your instrument. It all has to sink into your brain, your ears, your soul. Eventually you want to build up a circuit between you ears and fingers so you can play what you hear without thinking about it. Takes a long time, but that's the goal.
Once you can play a chorus or two of a song playing eighth notes on the chord tones, you know it. I prefer the metronome to Abersold records.
My $.02
Michael McLaughlin
"First you learn your horn, then you learn the music, then you forget all that shit and just play." Charlie Parker
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Chicago MM |