"I have been attending Buster's jazz workshops for a few years and was hooked from the start. Buster is friendly and approachable and is able to support and coach a group of really mixed ability and personalities. He ensures that every student takes away something to work on and has had an uplifting and positive experience. Buster is unfailingly enthusiastic about his subject and communicates this to the whole group. His sessions have been the most enjoyable and useful I have been privileged to attend since I started to try jazz."
Wendy - piano
Pathways
Short-term to medium-term goals
We always have too many things to work on and there's never enough time, so it's easy to end up wasting precious practice time wondering what to practice instead of actually practising! Also, there's an enormous amount of content on here, so it's easy to feel overwhelmed and not know where to start. To solve these two problems I have curated some of the content and put together these four pathways. Just pick which pathway you feel is right for you, jump in and get practising!
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Once you've worked through one of the pathways provided below, explore some of the other resources and make your own practice plan from the variety of courses and lessons available. It's a good idea to think about what you want to realistically achieve, make a plan, then spend a month working on it (ideally every day), then review your progress and adjust your plan for the next month.
Pathway 1
"I've had a long lay-off"
"It's all new to me!"
Aimed at those who have not been playing long. Maybe you have recently taken up an instrument and are still getting to grips with it. Maybe you are just getting back into playing after a long lay-off. This pathway will help you get back in to playing your instrument and take your first steps in improvising.
Pathway 2
"I'm new to jazz, but not new to my instrument"
Aimed at those who are competent on their instrument and at reading music, but have little or no experience at improvising. Maybe you are "classically trained" and have never improvised or played much jazz, but you like it and would like to learn more about it. Maybe you play in a jazz big band and are happy playing the written parts, but struggle with soloing. This pathway will help you develop some essential improvisation techniques and simple concepts that give you the confidence to take the leap.
Pathway 3
"I need more structure to my learning"
"My progress has flat-lined"
Aimed at those who have some experience of playing jazz, maybe having attended a few workshops or summer schools, but feel like their playing has flat-lined a bit. Maybe you are not sure what to work on next or how best to prioritise your practice time. Maybe you have learned a few things from some YouTube videos and one-off classes but are struggling to connect the dots. Maybe you have a reasonable understanding of how to improvise in theory but struggle with fluency in the heat of the moment. This pathway will give you some solid practice routines to work on essential musicianship skills so that your practical abilities can more closely match your theoretical knowledge
Pathway 4
"I want to raise my game"
"I want to sound more authentic"
Aimed at those who are fairly confident at improvising and performing in front of other people, but want to raise their game. Maybe you have a regular rehearsal band or attend jam sessions, but still find your head stuck in a Real book or iReal Pro. Maybe you wish you were faster and more accurate at playing by ear. Maybe you want to develop more authentic jazz language and phrasing, as transcribed from the original recordings, rather than learning tunes from generic lead sheet parts that miss a lot of the detail. This pathway will help you develop your accuracy and authenticity by focussing on the detail of not just what the masters played, but how they played it.