Jazz Etude #1

by Per Danielsson

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Technique exercises are necessary in order to achieve flexibility and smoothness in your improvisation. In Classical music we spend a great deal of time learning and practicing etudes and scales. It gives you a solid foundation of your instrument, which is essential in order to play the classical repertoire. In jazz we often overlook this important part. Don't forget that jazz is based on the individual musician's freedom to improvise. The goal is therefore to be able to focus most of the attention on the creative part, the music. The only way to do that is to be skilled on your instrument so the technical part does not take away from the creative part. How do we do that? Practice, practice, and some more practice.

In an earlier article I wrote about the importance of transcribing when it comes to learning a certain harmonic language. Transcriptions can also be very valuable as etudes. The goal is to be able to play them technically and stylistically perfectly.

In the next couple of issues I will present etudes that deal with different scales and sounds. The purpose with these etudes are:

1. Knowledge of scales.
2. Develop a smooth technique by using correct fingering.
3. Develop swing feel.
4. Becoming comfortable with the indicated left had voicings.

Practice hints:

1. Work out a fingering that works well for you.
2. Practice the etude in different tempos. Start slow and don't speed up the tempo until you are sure about all the notes. You might have to spend some extra time with the harder keys. Use a metronome.
3. When you are comfortable with the voicings, try to be more rhythmic with your left hand.
4. Make it musical. Try to play with a nice relaxed swing feel.

These are the scales used in this etude:

Per Danielsson