Time to hit the woodshed. Let's shed together!
New Repertoire Shed Sessions for VIP members!
From Feb 2026, I’ll be trialling this new initiative. Hopefully, if we get enough interest, it's something we can keep as a regular feature…
Increasing your repertoire of jazz standards is an ongoing process, but it's too easy to ping-pong around various tunes without really learning any of them. Spending a month focusing on one tune is a good way to really get to know it, providing you with something you can confidently improvise on at jam sessions or rehearsals.
Each month, we will feature one jazz standard as our “tune of the month”. The tune will be picked from one of the pieces already covered in the jazz standards lesson vault, which means you already have access to a 1hr lesson giving you a clear strategy of how to improvise a solo, plus full band parts, handouts, licks, custom-made backing tracks, etc. Everything you need to prep for the session.
Towards the end of the month, we’ll do a live Zoom practice session. We’ll work through each section of the tune, to clarify your objectives and soloing strategies, and then spend some time playing with the high-quality “Quartet” app play-along tracks, which are included in your VIP subscription. As usual, everyone will be muted, so you can wail away to your heart’s content without worrying about who is listening. Let's shed together!
Weds 25 Feb 7:30pm (UK)
This month's tune is the classic recording of Close Your Eyes by Gene Ammons. There's lots you can do to prepare for the shed session, which I've made easy for you to access here...
Anyone can listen to the original recording on our YouTube channel HERE.
This tune was covered in our 1hr jazz workshop #74, which VIP members can get in the jazz standards lesson vault HERE.
I've transcribed some licks from the Gene Ammons solo, which you can download from the workshop resources folder. There are some warm-up scale pattern exercises on the harmonic minor scale included in there too.
This tune features the minor ii-V-I chord sequence, which was featured in our 1hr class #78, which VIP members can get in the theory & musicianship lesson vault HERE. That would be well worth reviewing.
The tune is in concert F minor, so it would also be worth doing some practice on that key centre, which is covered in our "Check Out Your Key Centres", which VIP members can get HERE.
We'll be using the brilliant, high-quality "Quartet" app "live" play-along for this shed session, which VIP members can get HERE.
I hope to see you at there!