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Strum Bowing Groove Academy
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Jazz Violin Academy
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Learning Jazz Violin
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6 contributions to Learning Jazz Violin
24d •
What are you working on right now?
I'm working on playing the melody of Charlie Parker's "Anthropology" in all 12 keys at the moment. As always, doing it sets of thirds. Today I worked it out in Bb, D and F#(not pleasant!) I find doing this means I can work it out in 3 keys a day and have that cycle of keys to practise in my spare time, rather than starting it in 12 keys and just giving up halfway through. Tell us all in the comments what you are up to!
1 like • 17d
Like @Michael Cormican I struggle when leaving the top of the circle of fifths into the multi-sharp/flat keys. It’s not so much the unfamiliarity as that the notes don’t seem to fall nicely under the fingers on a fiddle and open string options disappear. I can see the advantages of the mental discipline of putting licks into all keys but for me the question is how much time to spend getting fluency and speed of playing in these keys I would never play in reality vs spending more time on the keys where I would actually play. For instance if I can play a phrase in an unfamiliar key (Db) at 60 bpm and 120 in a familiar key (G) is it worth getting them both up to the same speed or will I have got the optimum training benefit from the mental effort of getting to 60?
29d •
10 tunes course DONE!
Hi all, I finally finished this course. It took me a LONG time to put it together, there is so much detail in it. I put together a list of ten tunes that I think you will be able to play with just about anyone, but it’s a lot more than just a list with some chords and the melody. It’s a step by step guide for learning these as your first ten songs in your jazz repertoire. I picked them for both ease of playing with other musicians, but mainly for learning how harmony works. Each tune has: - The barebones of the original melody to be learned by ear - A version of the melody played with a more jazz feel - The harmony explained clearly with colour coded lead sheets - A recording of me playing chord tones over the harmony like a bassist, with transcriptions - A recording of me playing a double stopped harmony over the chords, with transcriptions - Some improv tips - A sample of me soloing over the changes with a short explainer I’m certain that if you get all the way through this course, you will be ready to play at any sort of jazz jam all around the world with any jazz musician. Until Monday it is only $30 on here, soon to be going up to $50 when it’s finished. Get in now to get the discount and have access to the course for life. Or get it by signing up to a Premium or VIP plan on Skool. find it here https://www.skool.com/jazzviolin/classroom
1 like • 23d
Hi Matt, this content is great. Just working through the first of these support my new year resolution of one per month throughout 2026 I think there’s might have been asked before but is it possible to have a PDF download available of the material for each tune that I can load into forScore?
Feb 19 •
Got a question about learning?
I'm going live in an hour answering a few questions. Let me know if there is anything you want me to cover! Wqtch the stream live in from the "Classroom"
0 likes • Feb 19
How to get more rhythmic interest? I tend to practice my chords, approach notes, licks, cadences in runs of quavers with rests between. Unfortunately this comes out the same when I play. Any thoughts on how to get more interest and syncopation in there. If I put it all together (harmony and rhythm) it all palls apart in practice. May be the obvious is staring me in the face - separate them? But any resources for ‘interesting’ patterns to use ?
Jan 9 •
Transcribing Clifford Brown on Cherokee
Working on this transcription I’ve been trying for a while. It’s super hard. I’m focusing on getting at least the rest of the first a section down before I start trying to get it up to speed. Let me know what you are up to!
1 like • Jan 9
That’s tough! I’m memorising Indifference. Got the A section down but find in the shifts on the B difficult to remember.
Jan 7 •
January Questions Recording
Answers to questions by @Julia Farrants and @Vera Algoet. Thanks for joining and checking this out!
1 like • Jan 7
Thanks Matt. A great set of answers.
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@nick-cheetham-4718
UK based classical violinist looking to play more freely.
Active 1d ago
Joined Oct 31, 2025
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