It’s one thing for your instructors to say “ Just learn the tune from the recording!” and another thing for you to actually close the fakebook and do it. You’ve got to live with a tune for a while, to love it even, before you can truly tell a story with it.” Quickly memorizing notes and chord symbols and moving on. “Get away from the production-line mentality in learning jazz standards. Instead of the same old approach to repertoire, we’re going to show you a process for learning tunes where you’ll actually remember the melody and harmony, and be able to create music.

No more long lists with hundreds of tunes, staring at pages in the realbook, or fumbling through another set of chord symbols at jam sessions and gigs… If you’re like me, you’re ready for a fresh start with the jazz repertoire.

The result? A bunch of uninspired tunes that sound like memorized notes and chords.īut shouldn’t the process of learning jazz standards be more than a trivial memorization exercise… However, you’ve been down this road before…Īfter a few days, your cherished goal of learning more tunes slowly morphs into a “ musical chore” that you force yourself through in the practice room, checking off songs one by one. Song titles scribbled on a piece of paper, lead sheets saved on your phone, and videos of your favorite players killing the changes. You’ve got a list of tunes that you’re excited to learn.

Jazz standard lead sheets