Transcribing Entire Solos is a Total Waste of Time, Right?
Here's an age-old question for ya:
Should you transcribe the whole solo or just the parts you like the most?
I've done both. And here's my take on what's the best use of your time in the shed...
First, let's state the obvious: transcribing an entire solo is hard.
But it's not just because there are lots of notes to figure out.
I think the real challenge of transcribing an entire solo is the patience, discipline, and determination required to make it from the beginning to the end, which in some cases can take weeks or even months.
But believe you me…the fruit is worth the labor.
You see, living with a solo for an extended period is like living with a person. You get to know a roommate far more than you'd know an acquaintance or even a friend.
And that long-term relationship with a single piece of music will help you better internalize everything from the notes themselves, to the subtleties of how the instrument sounds, to the nuanced phrasing with which the soloist plays.
You just can't get as deep by cherry picking a few cool lines from a solo you like.
Still, I'll sometimes lift a one-off lick here or there to build my vocabulary or dissect a melodic, harmonic, or rhythmic maneuver that caught my ear.
But the times when I've thrown myself into a single solo for weeks on end were also the times of insane growth in my playing, especially when it came to phrasing.
That's because phrasing is less tangible than pitches and rhythms. It's something that's usually absorbed on a subconscious level, like when a child grows up learning the local accent.
And here's the thing...subconscious learning takes time. That's why having long-term relationships with your transcribed solos can be more fruitful than a bunch of musical one-night stands.
Moral of the story: Try transcribing at least one solo by your favorite artist from start to finish.
And now that I've made my case for playing the long-game, I want to share with you some shortcuts and strategies that do make abstract concepts like time feel and phrasing more tangible.
Which brings me to Phrasing Secrets, my course that will teach you how to play as opposed to what to play. I make this important distinction because no matter how hip your lines are – if you don't phrase them well, you’re gonna end up sounding like a seventh grader in a middle school jazz band.
To be clear, you should still take the time to transcribe solos. But you can supplement your long-term studies with more immediate practical phrasing tactics, which can be applied to jazz, funk, and R&B vocabulary.
With that said, here's just a smidge of what you'll learn inside Phrasing Secrets:
Say goodbye to boring, lifeless phrases. This simple three-step system works on any instrument and will make everything you play sound GREAT (even if you hit a wrong note)
How to finally rid yourself of the "hokey swing feel" that has been sabotaging your solos since you started improvising
A weird but simple airflow technique (that even non-wind players can use) to smooth out any phrase and make notes “glide” right out of your instrument (don’t skip this one or you’ll end up sounding clunky and stiff)
How to use "the seesaw technique" to make your phrases come alive instead of falling flat
Why practicing with your instrument will make you sound worse if you haven’t yet completed steps one through three of the “Phrasing Secrets” system
Why the popular “triplet” and “dotted eighth – sixteenth” methods of learning swing are incomplete and leave you unsatisfied with your feel
PLUS – The little-known secret to becoming a “human metronome” (no more relying on drummers and backing tracks to keep you from getting lost)
I'm also super pumped to tell you about Phrasing Secrets right now because this week—and this week only—everyone who enrolls also gets access to an extra bonus called the Triplet Grid series.
This hot-off-the-press video series is a "practice-with-me" session where I'll walk you through an unusual rhythm exercise that will:
Strengthen your time to stop you from slowing down and speeding up
Improve your swing feel so that even the simple stuff you play will sound great
Give you the confidence you need for playing syncopated rhythms without having to rely on a metronome or backing track
And so much more
Also, I got fabulous discount code for you this week...enter 40SECRETS at checkout to save a whopping 40% on Phrasing Secrets.
Just remember, the bonus offer and discount code expire at the end of the week, so now's the time to get in:
Click here to learn more about Phrasing Secrets and get the free Triplet Grid bonus.
Happy shedding,
Jeff
P.S. Don't forget to click that checkmark after entering the code (40SECRETS), or the discount won't go through.
Enroll in Phrasing Secrets today before the discount and bonus offer expire.