I chatted today in practise club a little about playing fast. For me it goes like this… Muscle memory (scales, enclosures and learnt lines)for eighth notes Your ear for more “soaring” long notes that are more melodic Think in rhythms above all else. In the session today We worked on playing a scalic line through the changes that goes from the top of first position, down to the bottom. Listen to me play here at my gig last night, I did something like that about 10 times… Pick a starting point and an end point on your instrument and change the scale you use to fits the chords. For playing fast, it’s really got to be something that fits under your fingers and feels good to play, otherwise it just isn’t coming out. It’s not quite “beautiful” music of course but it’s how I manage to keep up with creating something interesting at fast tempos. Message me or comment on this post if you want to try a practise club next Monday at 6pm.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7k2gO5VJzo4&list=RD7k2gO5VJzo4&start_radio=1&pp=ygUcc29ubnkgcm9sbGlucyB3aXRob3V0IGEgc29uZ6AHAQ%3D%3D

I’m on the Isle of Wight this weekend for a family holiday. (I’m away a lot this month, family calls!) But I’d love to know what everyone in this great community is up to. Maybe you’re hard at in the practise room, maybe you are just working on making better sour dough bread? Matt

What BPM is Rhythm Changes usually played at?

Benet Maclean might be one of the best in the world. He ls based here in London and is a true musical genius. He plays jazz piano and is an extremely good classical violinist too. I don’t know him very well (we violinists hardly ever get to meet) but really love his playing and have a lot of respect for him for his true artistic dedication! Check this really cool example (perhaps the only example Iv ever seen that actually works) of using a loop pedal in jazz.