Breakthrough Practice

About Chris Cooke “I've never come across a person who could explain what, and how to practice as well as Chris can. “When I first saw Chris play at a jam here in Boston, I thought, that's the guy I want to take lessons with. Luckily for me, he's as good a teacher as he is a player.

weeks ago I bumped into one of your clips on the Internet. I actually believe that the whole thing was created for me:)”

Guy Shkolnik, Israel ________________________________

I would recommend Chris to anyone looking to take their understanding of music to a deeper level, I don't know

“After millions of methods about what to study,

finally a method that lets you understand how to study to reach your real musical goals! Thank you Chris!”

anyone who will give you a more honest, and passionate education.” Mike Tucker—Drummer and Band Leader—Boston, MA ________________________________

Maurizio Iosa, Rome, Italy ________________________________

"Chris is certainly the best jazz music teacher I've ever had, but he's more than that: he's one of the best teachers I've ever had--in any subject." He has a special talent for taking complex topics and breaking them down into the simplest possible parts.

“I’ve been a fan of Hal Crook’s books and method. Chris’ videos are the next step to

reinforce how to practice improvisation that compliment these books. ….a great

addition to a jazzer’s library of learning …but more practical than most books that try to help you to play jazz..”

Chris' lessons have been a huge help for me.

John Kozinski Becket, MA ________________________________

Ken Hiatt—Accordionist, Band Leader, Teacher—Waltham, MA ________________________________ “I’ve gone through a few of Chris’ courses. The concepts in here are essential to mastering your instrument. I struggle with knowing what to practice from the wealth of information that there is. Using Chris’ course, I’ve made

more progress in the last couple months than at any other time. I’ve also gained

“Man, what can I tell you…I’ve been working with The Monster Jazz Formula for only 10 days now, but it changed the way I practice. I’m much more focused……2

“You have a direct and genuine approach to the development and sharing of knowledge which makes the medicine go down with great ease. It is satisfying to have a kind of jazz-practice guardian-angel!” Liam Fionescu London, England ________________________________

confidence in playing which feels great…thanks Chris!”

“Thanks for all the advice, I feel you were talking to me, Thanks!”

Troy H., B.C. Canada ________________________________

C.L. Young ________________________________

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“Thanks for being the first person I’ve ever heard to say these things out loud, and with such creative awareness…., and

“Chris, You seem to always nail this thing down! Congrats to another great video that keeps us thinking different.

at the same time encouraging instead of discouraging…..I will look deeper!”

I used to make the same experiences and actually know that when you’re in that “space” the music just flows out of your instrument. But it needs the ability to let go of the fear of not playing well as Kenny Werner said in his book “Effortless Mastery”.

Smilin’ Steve ________________________________ “I’m a pro musician and music teacher myself and got a degree from Laval University (Québec). Chris you’ve got a vision and a passion that I’ve rarely seen from other teachers. I think you’ve got some ideas that can be a real revolution in the jazz

I also try to promote the art of playing music by ears as well on my website youcantrustyourears.com, but my focus is more on the aspiring or amateur musician to lay out a plan on how to accomplish this goal.

education and music education in general. Keep up the good work and the

However, your method is highly recommended for the “serious” student.”

inspiration!”

Dave Dubé ________________________________

Best wishes, Henry Krupp ________________________________

“Thanks for your enthusiasm for this subject, and most importantly, for giving the matter so much thought and study.

“I’ve made the transition from classical to jazz keyboard largely due to your monster formula as it help me set useful

I’m an older player, burnt out from teaching ,but really wanting to get back to PLAYING.

goals after many months of wandering in a fragmented way and getting nowhere. That was about 1 1/2 years ago.

This is exactly what I need to get to way ahead of where I used to be!”

Alex ________________________________

My latest focus has been listening, transcribing solos and playing what I hear in my head. As soon as i stop singing, I’m up in head thinking instead of hearing and feel lost. I can’t believe how this has changed my playing!! I’ve ordered Ran Blake’s Primacy of the Ear and can’t wait to read it. The psychologist in me is fascinated by the process of learning by hearing rather than more cognitive processing.

“Your method works ; it is efficient and it gives confidence.”

Thank you SO much for taking the time to share your knowledge.”

Albert D. Haut-Ittre, Belgium. ________________________________

Ginny Simonds ________________________________

Milton ________________________________ “Chris…I think your work will become transcendental… good job!”

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“Hi Chris! I own the monster jazz formula since 2009, and it really changed my life! Unfortunately, the modern life style is killing the wings of mind and free spirit, and people are not aware or do not believe what a human mind can do..Thank you for setting up my mind not only for musical, but life development also! True words of wisdom from a

modern philosopher!”

“Now, one can understand exactly what Michael Brecker and Bill Evans were talking about, when they said they were concentrating on very small portions of music and learning them as thoroughly as possible. Great job man and thanks a lot !!”

“The Monster Jazz Formula is a detailed and motivational approach to reaching your goals as a jazz musician. This is not

just a method for novices - reading through Chris Punis' books prompted me to rethink my own concepts and approaches to teaching and practicing - after 20 years of professional playing and teaching! I highly recommend The Monster Jazz Formula and plan to introduce it to my own students and fellow musicians.” Joel Yennior--Trombonist; Instructor at the New England Conservatory—Boston, MA ________________________________

“If you're serious about learning jazz I highly recommend you check out what Chris has to offer.” Braun Khan - Church Music Director, Private Instructor, Bassist ________________________________ http://learnjazzfaster.com/jazzpracticeblueprint

Armando Salazar Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic ________________________________ As a teacher I see myself improving and also passing the knowledge in a more effective way!!! Thank you for sharing jazz monster

Themis Nikoloudis ________________________________

Guy Shkolnik ________________________________

“The Monster Jazz Formula for me has been a delightful approach in learning the basics of creation, awareness and deep inner feelings, thank you very much”

formula!!!!

Javier Vargas (Jazz Studies teacher at the National Conservatory in Santo Domingo)

________________________________ Your Monster Jazz Formula is spot on! Next to my senior recital, I've found defining and refining my own values, goals, vision and mission... to be the most productive and enlightening exercises I've ever done. Slide Ackerman, Boston, MA ________________________________

“The Monster Jazz Formula materials are in a class by themselves. Any musician would be miles ahead having these courses in their "repertoire".”

Darryl Ruff Kelowna BC Canada ________________________________ “The Monster Jazz was nothing else than a fresh re-beginning of everything I learned since ever: My Music (and so my

practicing) began to live and improved 10,000-Times!!!...thank you very much Chris now, practicing and performing is grand joy every day!!!...” Stefan--Zürich, Switzerland © 2008-2013 LearnJazzFaster LLC All rights reserved

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“The most thorough method to organize your jazz practicing to attain the most progress.” David Bond Mexicali, Mexico ________________________________ “I have been playing for over 45 years, and have studied with some of the world's best teachers. But as a teacher I see students become overwhelmed with the amount of available information and what to do with it in the limited hours of a day. Your systems allow for individualized pinpoint focus…This is

________________________________ Your knowledge is great, but on the top of that, it is the way you present that makes it unique. You do not make any tricks or give away half-hearted information and I have learned a lot from your materials. It is great that you cover up the mental topics as well, not just technical stuff. We are lucky to be

able to wade through your methods! Bruno T. Slovakia

something that I have never found taught in the field of music before, and I swear by your material. You are truly the Tony Robbins of the music education world,---keep it up. Chuck Decker, Woodbine NJ”

Breakthrough Practice In this short book I’m going to share with you one of the most important ideas I’ve ever learned about playing jazz - About practicing jazz, advancing with jazz and just simply getting better and better and better with jazz. But why does that matter to you? Well, simply put: I would bet that you want to be better player than you are; you want to take your playing to the next level. If you didn’t want that you wouldn’t be reading this book. You want to sound good in front of your teachers, your peers, your audience and for yourself. But you also want to be one of those cats that gets up on that band stand and just kills it - and takes the audience on wild musical ride. And of course you’d like to get the respect you deserve from the other cats in the band and at the gig. And there’s nothing wrong with that. But you want to earn that respect - by being a tried and true, bona fide Monster of a Jazz Musician. But here’s the catch: You can’t become a serious force on the bandstand, or at the jam session for that matter, if you don’t know how to get better, if you don’t know how to practice. http://learnjazzfaster.com/jazzpracticeblueprint

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Get Good at Practice. Get Great at Jazz. Now, I think it’s pretty important that you understand how I came to discover this musical life changing lesson so you can use it yourself and get the most out of it. First of all, I gotta say that I bet you and I have a lot in common. We love jazz. Cats like us just get it. We dig the sound and the swing and the attitude. Personally, Coltrane was my ‘gateway drug’ to jazz addiction. But, I quickly found Miles and Mingus, Ornette and Lennie, Duke, Bird, Dizzy and all the great players of the past and the present. And, ever since falling in love with this music, I wanted so badly to be one of the cats. To be a monster of a musician. I first started playing jazz when I was about 17 or 18 back at a small college in PA where I grew up. Something about this music just spoke to me and I knew that the jazz musicians were the baddest cats around. I had been playing in rock bands for a couple years but didn’t know a thing about jazz. I had no idea how to go about becoming a jazz musician. As much as the music touched me, it was a complete mystery to me. My early teachers all had me playing out of method books. And they all told me stories about how much this guy practiced, or how many hours a day that guy practiced. Well, those early lessons were cemented into my beliefs about music. My early practice, and actually most of my practice for the next 10 years was heavy on the method books, exercises and patterns. And it was extremely heavy on the hours logged in the practice room. Since I didn’t know anything else about practicing I latched onto the belief that it was all about how much you practiced. The other cats at school were the same too. We would all brag about how much we practiced the day before. “Yesterday I practiced 8 hours.” “Well I put in 13 hours. I didn’t even eat lunch or dinner.” “Well, I didn’t even sleep last night. I just practiced all night.” And our teachers encouraged that type of thing. It meant we had a good work ethic I guess. In fact we all believed that we had to put music first and sacrifice everything else. Well, this went on for a couple years. Quantity was king. The more the better when it came to practice. I never stopped to think about what I was actually accomplishing with that time. As long as I was practicing 15 different topics and working as many hours as I could possibly stand I was a real, genuine struggling jazz musician. This went on for years and years. Struggle, frustration, spinning my practice room wheels. Paying my dues, but not making the progress I wanted so badly. http://learnjazzfaster.com/jazzpracticeblueprint

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To tell you the truth, I did get really good at playing some of those exercises and patterns. But mostly I never achieved any real mastery over any of it, and I was never able to take much of it to the bandstand with me. It would be years before I would realize what I was doing wrong. I would practice, practice, practice and then still get my butt kicked at recitals and jam sessions. Playing jazz was still a serious struggle, despite all the hours I was putting in for those years. But I wasn’t able or willing to stop and slow down long enough to evaluate what I was doing, what was working and what wasn’t. And most cats aren’t. Most of us are like zombie practice machines. We’re like hamsters running on a wheel getting nowhere. Just plugging along. Paying our dues. Thankfully, I eventually came upon a big turning point in my life. I was still at Berklee in my third year. After getting my ensemble ratings up high enough, I registered for one of the top ensembles in the school. Hal Crook’s ensemble. I honestly thought I had finally arrived as a jazz musician. After all these years of struggle I was finally one of the cats at Berklee. I was awesome I thought to myself. Well, I lasted exactly one class and Hal gave me the boot. I was pissed to say the least. Disappointed, beaten and thoroughly bummed out. Hal told me I wasn’t ready for his ensemble; that I didn’t need to be a better instrumentalist; that, instead, I needed to go play with as many other musicians as possible then call him back next year to see if I was ready. After cursing Hal Crook under my breath for about a week and beating myself up as a failure, I finally shook it off and got busy. In hind sight I realized that Hal’s ‘Tough Love’ and total honesty with me was really the sign of a truly caring and compassionate teacher. He caused a profound turning point in my musical development. I did what Hal said. I played as many sessions with other cats at school as I could. And down the road several bands and lots of gigs came out of all that playing. And it changed my music forever. A year later I called Hal up and we set up a trio session to see if I was ready for his ensemble. I nailed it, got in to the ensemble the next semester and went on to study privately with Hal for over 10 years. Studying with Hal led to other breakthroughs in my playing and my practicing. I completely overhauled my practice routine and my practice habits. I continued to do my own research and study as well. I read countless books about all kinds of subjects from psychology to the zone to musician biographies to goal setting to principles of success to self-improvement to Zen Buddhism and on and on.

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I attended master classes with Kenney Werner, Danilo Perez, Joe Lovano, Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts, Pat Martino, Dave Liebman, Rashied Ali and Ran Blake. It was light bulb moment after light bulb moment. I overhauled my listening habits, my rehearsals, my whole approach to learning, practicing and advancing with jazz. Over time I slowly developed a holistic approach and understanding of the whole process of being a jazz musician and of practice - in the practice room and beyond the practice room. I discovered that there was good practice and bad practice. Suddenly it was plain as day:

Good Practice Leads To Success, Progress And Respect. It’s fun. The progress creates more motivation. And it becomes a self-feeding cycle of musical growth and improvement.

Bad Practice Leads To Stagnation, Frustration And Pain. It’s boring and feels like your serving a practice room prison sentence. The frustration and lack of progress slowly chips away at your motivation and eventually it becomes nearly impossible to find the energy to carry on.

The choice for me was a simple one:

Get Good at Practice. Or Don’t Get Good at Jazz. Here’s an analogy for you. Would you build a house without a blueprint or a plan? If you didn’t know how to survey the land or lay a foundation, or frame the house or lay the floor - If you didn’t know how to put on the roof, install the plumbing, or electricity or insulation - if you didn’t understand the process of building a house - would you still try to do it just by ‘working on your house for 3-4 hours a day’? http://learnjazzfaster.com/jazzpracticeblueprint

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That’s exactly how most cats practice. They have no idea what to do next or how to do it. So they just get in there and start noodling and logging hours in the practice room. Then they wonder why 5 years later their musical ‘house’ still kinda sucks. Or even worse, they came up the way I did. If I was building a house the way I used to practice here’s what my day would be like. Hammer nails 45 minutes. Saw two by fours - 30 minutes. Dig holes 30 minutes. Sand wood 45 minutes. Etc. At the end of the day I’d have a pile of wood scraps with nails sticking out of them. But no house or any progress towards building one. Well, your practice sessions are not unlike that house. There are different pieces that must fit together. Of course you need that blueprint. And you need certain practice skills. You have to get good at those skills. You need to establish effective practice habits. You have to practice things in the right order. You have to manage your energy and time in the practice room and out of the practice room. You need a whole mess of different experiences to transform you into a solid jazz musician; like listening, playing sessions, jamming and gigging.

And you need to keep this all simple enough so you don’t get overwhelmed with the process, get bored and just quit. Or worse, procrastinate and get caught in a cycle of musical frustration. But here’s the thing, when you’ve got all your musical activities working together in harmony and you’re working in a way that is getting you fast progress, the whole thing becomes super fun, exciting and the process feeds itself. And it’s actually not that hard to do. (We’ll get to that real soon.) In fact when you hit that practice zone the hard part is getting yourself to stop practicing! And as you start to play better and better at the jam sessions and on the gig, the cycle just picks up more steam and practicing becomes even more fun and more important to you. It becomes a selffeeding cycle - an amazing alternative to spinning your wheels in the practice room, riddled with selfdoubt and frustration.

The Five Pillars of Breakthrough Practice Sessions http://learnjazzfaster.com/jazzpracticeblueprint

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Now. I’d like to introduce to you something I call the Five Pillars of Breakthrough Practice Sessions. Let me use that house and blueprint analogy for you again. If your practice room house is made up of music theory, ear training, listening, improvisation topics, learning tunes, instrument technique, etc - The Foundation that it all rests on is The Five Pillars of Breakthrough Practice Sessions. Now, a breakthrough practice session is a session where you actually get better, you move forward musically, by a tiny step each and every day. Let me blow your mind here with a little math. Imagine that you had your practice sessions dialed in to the point that you were getting just 1% better each day at whatever you were working on. After about 9 or 10 weeks you would be TWICE as good! Imagine where that gets you down the road when you have that kind of practice for a few months or even a few years. That is how you become a serious musical force. Now let me hit you The Five Pillars. We’ll put these pillars to work in the section called 5 Steps to Breakthrough Practice. But here is an overview of them. #1 The All Important State: This is your state of mind. This is your attention, your concentration, your energy and your focus. How mindful and fully engaged are you when you practice? Well, it makes a world of difference. Work on strengthening your mindfulness. Increase your level of attention & concentration and immediately you start getting better faster. Period. #2 The Universal Laws of Musical Success: 

The Law of Musical Balance – always strive to find balance in all things. Balance within your solos, balance with musical opposites (Loud/Soft, Dense/Sparse), balance within your practice routine, balance with your practicing vs. playing, balance with your practicing vs. listening, balance in your life, etc.

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The Law of Accumulation – all great musical accomplishment happens one tiny step at a time.

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The Law of Consistency – musical advancement happens through consistent, mindful daily practice – through thoughtful repetition of musical elements, topics, exercises, melodies, etc.

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The Law of Habit Force – first you create your habits and then your habits create you, your music and your life.

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The Law of Musical Memory – it’s all about your musical memory, your aural imagination and your ear. Feed, expand, deepen and strengthen your aural imagination every step of the

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way. 

The Law of Resistance – you will experience internal and external resistance as you take action to change and progress as a musician and a human being. Accept it and learn from it. Adopt a ‘pro attitude’ and show up to play and practice even when you don’t feel like it.

When you understand these laws you understand how musical success works. As you start to bring your practice sessions into harmony with these laws, which is actually pretty easy when you know how they work, your progress begins to accelerate exponentially (to sound a little nerdy). In other words you get better faster and faster. #3 Habit and Mastery: The whole point of practice is to make that which is unfamiliar into a that which is easy and habitual - whether it’s your embouchure or a fingering, or swinging or playing in a certain key. We practice so we can internalize these things and then let go on the band stand and let the music happen. That’s the 1st level of habit. The second level of habit is your practice habits - how and what you do in the practice room each day. These are your rituals, your habits of preparation, follow through, persistence, patience, and consistency. First you make your habits. Then your habits make you. #4 Practice Room Strategies: These are the ways you approach your practicing. 

Focus on your musical constraints - what’s holding your playing back more than anything else? Hit that first for maximum progress.

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Headroom. Take concepts, technical elements and practice topics a little further than you’ll need for the bandstand. This will give you a little ‘headroom’ and make you more relaxed on the gig.

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Wear many hats. Tap into the amazing capacities of the human brain by practicing like an artist, an athlete, a scientist or an actor.

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Topic Integration. Integrate some or all of your practicing across the board: your technical work, ear training, listening, tunes, jam sessions, and writing. All of it can be connected with a common musical thread for maximum musical progress.

#5 Practice Room Tactics: This is the nitty-gritty of the practice room. Here we’re talking about things like:     

Your practice routines. Your warm ups. The power practice paradigm. The natural learning method. How you maximize practice and handle time & energy by using practice/rest cycles.

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

Things like the inner hearing process, pre-improv tune workouts.

These are the tactics. We’ll go over the details of using these tactics and tools in just minute. As you bring these 5 Pillars into harmony and into your practicing you’ll begin to have some of the best practice sessions of your life. And of course having the best practice sessions simply means you’re gonna sound better and better at sessions and gigs and lessons. You’ll have more fun playing and you’ll start to get the respect you want from other cats. And that feels pretty damn good. Especially when you earn it. Make this your mantra:

Get Good at Practice. Get Great at Jazz… And you’ll change your music forever.

5 Steps to Rapid Musical Progress About five years ago I started publishing the Monster Jazz Online Newsletter. At first, I had no idea what area of jazz to focus on. So, I decided to ask my subscribers what they needed help with most. Overwhelmingly, the answers took the same tone: I don’t know what I’m doing in the practice room. I don’t know what to practice, how to practice or if I’m even doing it the right way. I thought to myself “this is good”. I can help these cats. I had been down that same road. And now I can share the formulas, blueprints, plans and practice strategies I discovered over the years. What I’m going to lay down for you today will hopefully do nothing short of transform your practice sessions, and by default your music.

Get Good At Practice. Get Great At Jazz.

*Good Practice Is Truly The Key To The Jazz Kingdom. Let’s get started.

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Five Steps to Rapid Musical Progress Step One: Get Fully Engaged The most powerful thing you can bring to the practice room is full engagement. In the simplest terms this means you are fully paying attention to whatever the focus of your practice is. You can really only focus on one element at a time. So the first step is to choose what you want to focus on. I’m going to explain this in detail in just a second, but it’s important that you understand what NOT to do. Mindful practice is not running scales and exercises mindlessly while watching TV. Mindful practice is not letting your fingers run over patterns that you’ve practiced while looking out the window and thinking about what you’re having for dinner. Mindful practice is not rushing through whatever you’re practicing, while actually thinking about all the other stuff you still have to practice. As you practice, so you play. If your practice is distracted and mindless, that’s what you’re gonna be like on the bandstand. And if you’re like that on the bandstand no one’s gonna want to play with you. Now, if you’re thinking to yourself, “damn it, I guess I’m never really paying attention in the shed. I’m screwed.” Don’t worry. Like everything else in jazz, mindfulness is learnable and improvable. One: Begin strengthening your mindfulness by working some breathing meditation into your day. This doesn’t have to be fancy, complicated or take a lot of time. Just sit quietly in a comfortable chair and focus your attention on your breath. In…and out. As your mind wonders - and it will - bring it back to your breath. Just do this for a few minutes each day in the morning or right before you practice. You will quickly start to see an improvement in your mindfulness by making this a daily ritual. Then bring this meditative spirit to your practice. Focus only on the detail you have chosen to put under that practice room microscope. As your mind wonders - and it will - simply bring your attention back to your practice, just like meditation. Take your time and be patient. This is the jazz musician’s paradox. Slow and steady is actually faster in the long run. Two: Close your open loops. Have you ever been working on your computer and noticed that it became really slow and sluggish? Maybe it even freezes up? Then you realize that you have 24 http://learnjazzfaster.com/jazzpracticeblueprint

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windows open and 9 different programs? That’s not unlike how your brain works in the practice room. You could be thinking about any number of different things: A phone call you need to make, a bill you need to pay, something you want to practice, a concert you want to get tickets for or maybe an unresolved argument with a friend. Open loops are all the unfinished, unresolved things floating around in your head that distract you, limit your concentration and drain your energy. Make a list of all of those open loops. Write it down. Then go through the list and resolve them one by one. Either do the thing that’s occupying your attention immediately. Or schedule a time to do it later so you don’t have to worry about now. If you can’t resolve it this way, then just consciously decide to just let it go. Three: Respect your limits and build your mindfulness muscle. The idea is to practice for as long as you can while maintaining mindful engagement and concentration. And no longer. For you, that could be 30 minutes at a time. It could be 1 hour. It could be 15 minutes. If you can only focus for 15 minutes don’t be worried. Concentration is like a muscle. Practice in 15 minute chunks for a few days with a short break in between each chunk. Then take that up to 20 minutes until that becomes comfortable. Then up to 25 and so on. Pretty soon you’re back up to your original amount of practice but you’re 5X as productive because you’re actually present and engaged. Four: Use a practice/rest cycle. The typical limit for productive practice is just around an hour - for me it’s about 45-50 minutes. Then my brain gets tired and I start drifting away. At this point practice becomes less and less productive. It’s time for a break. I structure my practice this way. Practice for 50 minutes - short 10 minute rest. Practice - short rest. During the rest you can do whatever you want. Get a glass of water, go for a short walk, or meditate for 5 minutes. The practice part should be as long as you can maintain mindfulness. This practice/rest cycle will allow your brain to recover and allow you to refocus when you return to practice. Experiment and find the times that work best for you. Let’s move on.

Step 2: Focus on Your Biggest Musical Constraints Typically there is always 1 area of your playing that screams out for attention more than any other. Focusing on this area will have the most dramatic affect on your playing possible. This is your biggest musical constraint. The first thing you must do of course is identify your biggest constraint. Here are a few ways to do that:

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1. Record yourself playing. Listen back and critique your playing. What is the most glaring issue that pops out to you? Don’t over think this. Something will pop out to your ear that needs work. It could be your tone. It could be form. It could be your feel. It could be accuracy with the changes. 2. Think back to the last session or gig you played. What did you struggle with? What was hard for you? What did you sound best doing? What one area of your musicality, if it were stronger, would make the whole gig easier? 3. Ask other cats on the scene for their feedback. If you could only practice one thing what would they suggest you work on based on hearing you and/or playing with you? And, listen; don’t worry about getting this perfect. Even if you don’t nail this you’re bound to pick something that’s still very important. Once you have your musical constraint make it a priority in the practice room and get busy attacking it from all directions. Focusing on your musical constraints will have the biggest impact on your playing and will go a long way to keep you motivated and moving forward.

Hint: Many cats work on the same old crap in the practice room every day. They play tunes they already know. Or they work out of method books they’ve already been through. Or they just ‘play’. The real way to get better is to work on stuff you CAN’T play. That’s what the best players do. And they do it at the edge of their ability. They’re always pushing that edge forward day by day. More on that in a second. By targeting your biggest constraint you’re maximizing this idea of working on stuff you can’t do. The next piece of the Breakthrough Practice Puzzle is:

Step 3: Practice for Mastery. Mastery is a confusing word. It gets thrown around a lot in jazz and is perhaps one of the most intimidating and misunderstood words in the jazz practice lexicon. You gotta master your scales. You gotta master rhythm changes in all 12 keys. You gotta master the basics. But how the hell do you do that? Those goals are too vague, too broad and too overwhelming. Let me share with you a better way to think about mastery. You start by

taking one small musical detail putting it ‘under the microscope’ in the practice room. In other words you’re taking a whole solo or a huge concept like thematic development; or a whole tune and you’re zooming in on one tiny little aspect that you can improve today.

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Then you work on that tiny little detail until it is easy. Not until you can play it a couple times pretty well before making a mistake. Not until you can hack your way through it, sort of, most of the time. You practice it until you can you easily play it over and over, practically in your sleep. Now the size and scope of that detail must be challenging but doable. It should stretch your musical abilities during this learning phase. If it’s too easy you won’t grow. If it’s too hard you’ll go into practice panic mode and you won’t improve. It’s got to be right at the edge of your ability. That’s where real learning and musical progress happens. This is why when you hear serious cats practicing, they never sound bad. They’re always pushing forward, but never so far that they reach panic mode. They’re at that edge. They live in that practice sweet spot. So to the sum that up, the path to mastery is 1) choose a target and find the very next step. The detail you’re gonna put under the microscope. 2) Practice it until it’s easy, until you own it. 3) Then you find the NEXT step. And so on until you hit your target - learn the solo, the tune, the progression, etc. That’s the power practice paradigm. It’s so simple, yet so powerful. When you learn to live on that edge in the practice room and always reach the point of easiness with your topics you start to expect that feeling from everything you practice. Practice like that for a while and suddenly playing a ripping solo at a session becomes easy. Then you can focus your attention on making music instead of focusing on just hanging on for dear life.

Step 4: Record and Critique Yourself. A lot of cats know they ‘should’ be recording their practice. They know that their teacher recommends it and that many of the best players around do it religiously. But how do you do it, right? How much do you do it? Do you record everything you practice? Do you have to listen back to everything? Just once? Twice? More? If you do, you’re talking about more than doubling your practice time. So let’s shed some light on this. Recording and critiquing your practice and/or sessions is one of best things you can do. It’s a fantastic way to find out where you are with a topic. It’s a fantastic way to find out if you’re going in the right direction. And it’s a great way to become aware of details in your playing that you didn’t even know were there. So here are a couple ways to use this powerful tool. 1. Use it to discover your constraints. Record a gig, a session or just yourself in the shed playing over a tune you think you got down pretty well. Then listen back a few times - listen with the express http://learnjazzfaster.com/jazzpracticeblueprint

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goal of hearing more and more detail. What pops out to you as needing your immediate attention in the practice room? Don’t over think this. Trust your gut instinct. Then use that info to choose practice goals and get to work using The Power Practice Paradigm. 2. Check your progress/Expand your awareness. So now you’ve chosen some goals, you’ve broken them down into small targets for each day’s practice. Maybe you’re working on the first 8 bars of a Monk tune. When you think you’ve got it coming together, record it, listen back and critique it. What’s good? What’s working? What’s not? Be objective and be compassionate. If you listen and realize that the 6th bar of the phrase is really sloppy and something is just not right with the rhythm, well that’s where you focus. Bar 6. Zoom in on that, find the next step and practice it. Then record and critique again. Becoming a solid player requires expanding your musical awareness. And there is perhaps no better way to do that than recording and critiquing. If you have the means to do it and the hard drive space, record your whole practice session. You don’t need to listen to the whole thing. But if you’ve got the ‘tape rolling’ you can check in whenever you feel you need to. Here’s one way I use it in my practicing. (This is a two hour routine. Feel free to cut this in half if you only one hour to shed.) Hour 1: Play five 8-10 minute solos using an improvisation concept I’ve been working on. For instance, motive development. Record all five solos. Listen back to the worst or the best or randomly choose. It doesn’t really matter. Just listen back once to get your ears going and to work some listening into the first hour. Hour 2: Play one more solo using that same improvisation concept. But this time listen back to the solo five times. Keep your mind and your ears open. And just listen. Five repeated listenings will teach you tons about your playing. You can adjust the times however you need to fit your schedule. Do this for a few months and I guarantee you will be a different player. Okay, this last section is really more of a law than a step. But it’s powerful and it blew my mind the first time I heard it.

Step 5: Tap into the power of habit force. We are creatures of habit - through and through. Much of what we are is habitual - it’s programmed into our brains in the form of neural pathways and connections. Every pattern of thinking, believing and reacting is a program. How we brush our teeth, how we eat, how we walk and talk – it’s all part of our program. http://learnjazzfaster.com/jazzpracticeblueprint

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And of course how we practice and play music is too. All of it is habit existing in the form of wiring and connections in your brain. Your habits inevitably lead to your outcomes. And so the cats with the best practice habits - in the practice room and out of it - have the best musical outcomes in their lives. The cats with the worst habits have the worst musical outcomes. Now, I’ve got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that the brain is ever changing and ever evolving. Connections are constantly being created and strengthened or weakened. And since as human beings we have the wonderful gift of free will we can choose new thoughts, new actions and use mindful repetition to create new habits.

Remember: First you create your habits. Then your habits create you. And since you have the ability to change your musical habits, you can change the whole game and transform your music. Now the bad news. The bad news is that, being creatures of habit, we hate change. And we resist change literally at the cellular level. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t change. It just means that change will always and necessarily push us out of our comfort zone. In fact your comfort zone = stagnation. The edge outside of the comfort zone = progress. So as we try to bring mindfulness into our practice, our brains and habits will resist and we will tend to revert back to habits of distraction and lack of focus. As we try to focus on our musical constraints instead of practicing stuff we can already play, our brains and habits will resist and draw us back towards the familiar - the comfortable. As we try to use the practice paradigm, find the next step, own it and push the envelope - you guessed it - our brains and habits will resist. So what’s the secret to getting around these pesky habits? First, simply being aware of this resistance will help you endure it. And, some more good news for you, it only takes about 30 days to create a new habit. Here’s an analogy that may help you form new practice habits.

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When a rocket is leaving the earth on the way into space it goes through several phases before it can break free of earth’s gravitational pull. We get locked into our habits by a sort of gravitational pull. And to change, we must break free of it. In the first phase the rocket burns most of its fuel just to simply lift off the ground and get going. In the second phase it is still hitting quite a bit of resistance from gravity and still burning lots of fuel, but it’s gaining momentum and the really hard part is over. In the third phase the resistance starts to diminish and it finally reaches escape velocity, the speed needed to escape the earth’s gravitational pull, and it now breaks free of that pull. Well, creating a new practice habit - such as practicing for 30 minutes every day - is just like that rocket’s trip from earth to space. Days 1 – 10: At first it takes a considerable amount of energy and will power on your part to get going and start practicing. For the first 10 days or so it’s like that. You are literally defying the gravity of your old habits. Habits of watching TV, wasting time on Facebook or whatever it is you do instead of practice for 30 minutes every day. Days 11 – 20: Then as you get into the next 10 days things ease up slightly. You still experience resistance and get pulled back towards old habits. But you’ll start to gain some momentum as new habits form. Days 21 – 30: In the final 10 days - days 21-30 you start to coast. It gets easier and easier to pick up your axe and shed for 30 minutes. You’re now over the hump. That doesn’t mean you’re home free. You still have to be diligent. But the wiring is there now to support you. The longer you maintain that habit the stronger it becomes and the more naturally you are drawn to practice 30 minutes every day. Eventually it becomes completely automatic. Now it takes will power to get through this process. And humans actually only have a small amount of will power available. So don’t bite off more than you can chew. Make new habits at the edge of your ability too. If you don’t practice at all, start by trying to practice 5 or 10 minutes a day. No point going from nothing to 6 hours a day. You’ll fail and derail your efforts. Start with 5 or 10. Then go to 15, 20, and 30. 1 hour, 2 hours, etc. Pretty soon you’re up to the desired amount of practice again, but you’re doing it with great habits. You can quickly transform your music with these 5 steps to rapid progress. It can be very fast indeed, but not over night. Slowly put these new practice habits into place and you will pick up momentum and steam. Once mindfulness, musical constraints, mastery and recording & critiquing are natural and habitual parts of your practice, your progress will skyrocket. http://learnjazzfaster.com/jazzpracticeblueprint

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Small improvements can have profound effects on your music and your life. Even small 1% improvements can change your music and life. In fact, the power of 1% is truly amazing. I know it’s weird to talk about musical skill in percentages, but it’s pretty easy to imagine getting 1% better in a given topic every day or so. 1% better for 10 weeks is twice as good. For one year it’s 37 times! What would that mean for your playing? Seriously, think about that. If you worked on your biggest musical constraints and you were twice as good in that area in 10 weeks. How would that potentially change your music, your life? When you start to practice this way, and you start to put some of these different pieces of the practice blueprint to work for your music, dramatic changes can happen. What we just covered is basically the engine for your practice. Let’s move on and some rocket fuel.

One Big Idea That Will Change Your Music Question: Is it possible to get better much faster than you are right now? Yes. Is it possible to conquer tough musical obstacles and play at the level you really want to? Yes. Is it possible to stop struggling with the same old musical issues and start killing it on the bandstand? Yes. Can you even do it without practicing? Unfortunately, the answer to that last one is no. We all gotta practice. But you CAN get better faster, have fun doing it and ultimately become the player you want to. Now the choice becomes simple. Are you going to practice in a way that wastes your time, makes little progress and creates bad musical habits in the process? Or are you going to practice smarter, get results in the practice room faster and transform yourself into a killing player. http://learnjazzfaster.com/jazzpracticeblueprint

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For me the answer is obvious. The concept I’m about to share with you is not new or magical. In fact its how most cats learned back in the day. Unfortunately, nowadays, the way a lot of would be jazz musicians learn music is unbalanced and completely backwards. And, unfortunately their musical growth is often permanently stunted and they never, ever learn to improvise fluently. Their playing is drowning in theory and exercises. But they never learn to ‘speak jazz’. You see, jazz is a language rich with tradition and vocabulary. There are sayings and phrases and meanings and deep, deep culture and history. The same way there is with a spoken language. And one of the best ways to learn jazz is to do it the very same way you learned your 1st language.

Learning jazz is all about vocabulary. Your vocabulary. It’s about building your vocabulary by drawing straight from the tradition. Then making it your own and learning how to communicate with it. To tell musical stories on the bandstand. With the end result being that other players say, “Man, that cat can play!” You learned to speak your 1st language by observing and absorbing. You heard parents and siblings and Aunts and Uncles and Grandparents talking all around you. You heard language on the radio, on the TV. You heard it at the grocery store, on the street and everywhere your parents took you. Then you imitated what you heard. At first by just making weird abstract sounds. Baby talk. Then by forming simple words. Gradually you started to attach meaning to these simple words - words like Mom and Dad, hungry, toy and tired. At the same time you were practicing and applying this new vocabulary in a real world context. There was some theory thrown at you. Like the alphabet and maybe spelling simple words. Maybe your parents read to you and you followed along, slowly connecting the words on the page to the sound and to the meaning. But most of your practice was intuitive and natural - observation, imitation, application. And it was done out of necessity. You were hungry or tired or thirsty and you needed something from your Mom or Dad. You started with sounds, then simple words, then simple phrases. Gradually your communication skills grew in complexity and you were able to communicate more articulately and on a deeper level. You learned how to form sentences, communicate with others and develop more complex thoughts by observing, imitating and practicing.

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And this is as it should be with music too. Most cats start off playing jazz with scales and theory. Play this chord scale on that chord. Practice all these scale patterns and arpeggio patterns. Then play the ‘right’ notes on the right chords and viola, jazz. Do it all in every key and take it around the cycle of fifths and you’re golden. How’s that working out for you? Don’t misunderstand me. There is a place, a very important place for scales, scale patterns, theory and all that stuff. And, of course you can use the Power Practice Paradigm, Mindfulness and all the other jazz practice blueprint techniques to master that stuff. And you should. But that alone will not make you a jazz musician. The foundation mandatory for speaking the language of jazz, comes in the same way you built your 1st spoken language.

Your Vocabulary Originates From The Jazz Tradition, From The History, From The Culture. And you get that by observing and absorbing the music - recorded music and live music. Then Imitating what you hear - the sounds, and then simple phrases. Then practicing and applying those phrases to music in the practice room, with your friends, at jam sessions and ultimately at the gig. This is a big, big concept. I want you to meditate on this for minute. If you’re the kind of cat that has put in some time shedding your scales, and patterns and all that stuff. If you already have those kinds of chops on your axe but you’re struggling to play jazz that sounds, well like real jazz this could be a pivotal change for your playing. Start to absorb and develop some vocabulary and your playing will profoundly change. Not over night. But quicker than you probably think possible. Especially, if you use the other practice strategies we’ve talked about. And suddenly you’ll be playing music instead of just pushing down the right buttons, keys or strings at the right time. You’ll be connecting and communicating with the other cats in the band. Telling your musical story. You’ll be playing jazz. Should you work on scales and theory at all? Absolutely! http://learnjazzfaster.com/jazzpracticeblueprint

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But think about it this way. Do you think great writers get that good by spending most of their time conjugating verbs, or practicing grammar rules and syntax? No. They read the masters. And they imitate the masters. They write. They critique what they write. They read more and write more. They build on the tradition. Until finally they develop their own voice. That reminds me of the great Clark Terry quote:

Imitate. Assimilate. Innovate. Now let’s get down to business. I’ve got a step by step method for you. It should go without saying that you must listen to jazz. A lot of jazz. If you love jazz as much as I do, this shouldn’t be a problem. Work it into your daily practice routine. Listen with a purpose, listen mindfully giving the music your undivided attention. And always listen with the expectation and desire to hear more detail in the music. Because you will always find something deeper when you listen with open ears and mind. Absorb the music you love, internalize it, imitate it and then make it your own. That’s the gist of it. Now, let me share with you a simple step by step method to cop a new piece of vocabulary and make it your own. This method will make sure that you fully absorb the new vocabulary into your aural imagination and that you connect that sound to your body & instrument. This will go a long way towards helping you play what you hear and improvise easily and fluently. Now, it’s time to cop some vocabulary. I break it down into 10 simple steps for ya. Step 1: Choose the lick, line or phrase Choose the vocabulary you would like to assimilate and get a recording of it. Keep it short and simple at first. It must be something you can wrap your ears around. Something at the edge of your ability. And make sure it’s something YOU really dig. Step 2: Listen to the recording Many Times Just soak it on in. Using transcription or recording software can be very helpful so you can loop the phrase. Also try listening a few times, then stopping the ‘tape’ and letting it play back in your imagination. Step 3: Start Asking Some Questions http://learnjazzfaster.com/jazzpracticeblueprint

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As you listen ask yourself some questions to get your ear ‘looking’ for answers. Looking for musical details. What’s the shape of the line? What are the dynamics like? Is it loud? Soft? Is it dense? What’s the mood and energy level? How’s the tone quality? What’s the time feel like? And so on. Step 4: Let It Soak In To the Old Aural Imagination Eventually, with enough listening, you want to be able to hear the phrase in your aural imagination in your inner ear - as loud and clear as possible. Take your time. Slow and study wins the race. Especially with the ears. And the stronger your inner hearing the more rapid your musical progress and growth will be. Step 5: Sing Along With the Recording Once you can hear the phrase or line play back in your aural imagination it’s time to start singing along with the record. Again, take your time. Start by aiming for accuracy with the pitches and rhythms. Then start to match the articulation, dynamics and other musical details you hear. Step 6: Sing the phrase Without the Recording Once you can easily sing along it’s time to sing it without the record. Go slow of course, pitch by pitch if you have to. And, don’t worry about trying to sound like Frank Sinatra. This is for your ears not your singing career. Step 7: Bring It to Your Axe The next step is to take it to your instrument. If you’ve done your homework this should come pretty quickly. Depending on your experience you may have to hunt and peck to find the notes. That’s fine. As you learn more and more vocabulary using this system you will get faster and faster at bringing it to your instrument. Eventually, when your ear/body connection is strong enough it will be a near instant experience. Step 8: Go Back and Forth as Needed This is not always a nice, neat linear process. You can feel free to go back and forth between listening, singing and playing as you need to. Step 9: Move towards Mastery Continue to practice, moving back and forth as needed, until you can easily perform, inner hear and sing the phrase with the same ease that you can sing happy birthday. If you struggle hearing it, singing it or playing it then you’re simply not done. This is exactly where the Power Practice Paradigm comes in. You find the next step - maybe the first three notes of the line. You practice hearing, singing and playing it until it’s easy. Then push on to the very NEXT step. Step 10: Make It Your Own Once you’ve achieved mastery over this small piece of vocabulary, in other words you can play it easily and without thinking, experiment with it and make it into your own vocabulary. Play it backwards, invert it, chop off notes or play around with the rhythms. Use it as source material to improvise on. Stay very close to the original at first, changing just one note here or there. Play around and see what you can find. It won’t all sound good. But you’ll find some gems in there. http://learnjazzfaster.com/jazzpracticeblueprint

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You could also take it into other keys. Apply it to tunes. For instance, if the line you transcribed was a Two Five Lick, practice purposefully plugging it in to certain Two Fives in a tune you’re working on. It’s sort of like rehearsing the line in a musical context. Much like you would practice saying things like “Where is the Bus Stop” or “May I have a Glass of Water” in a new language you were learning. Word to the wise. There will most likely be a little learning curve here. As in the first time, and maybe the first few times you do this it will be a bit challenging.

Remember, If It’s Pushing You to the Edge of Your Ability, Out Of Your Comfort Zone, You’re Gonna Get Better. And it will get easier and easier as your ear grows stronger and you connect that ear more and more deeply with your instrument. And the effects this deep connection will have on your playing and your creativity will be nothing short of profound. You’re musical creativity will take off. And you’ll now be able to feed your creativity with new vocabulary at will. You’re playing will be flowing and fluid. You’ll start to play what you hear, and what you hear will become more and more clear to you. You’ll be communicating with your music instead of just plugging in the right scale at the right time. And when this happens, trust me, the audience and the band will notice. So there you have it. Jazz Vocabulary. Work this into your practice sessions and combine it with the breakthrough practice principles we’ve already covered and you’re unstoppable. Listen, the fact is that anyone can take their playing up to the next level. Thousands upon thousands of musicians before us have proven it. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel and figure it all out for yourself. You can simply go down the path that other great players have gone down ahead of you. There’s no need to spin your wheels in the practice room anymore. But what about talent, you ask? The really good players out there must just be really talented right? Forget about talent. Talent only matters if you’re talking Charlie Parker or Mozart, those kinda cats. The once every generation kind of cat. And in truth they were both very good at practicing. Put the principles of musical success to work in your practice room. And suddenly you’ve got what’s called learned talent. And that’s how most cats become serious players. I wish I could tell you that if you use the blueprint it’s gonna happen overnight. Like, tomorrow you’re gonna be a monster. But it just doesn’t work that way. You gotta put in some work in the shed. You gotta put the pieces of the jazz puzzle together. I know a lot of people don’t like to hear that. They want some kind of instant magic solution. But, hey it’s the truth. http://learnjazzfaster.com/jazzpracticeblueprint

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And ya know what; the work in the shed is part of what makes being a jazz musician a noble pursuit. It’s what gives your music value and depth at the end of the day.

But that time in the practice room doesn’t have to be a frustrating struggle.

Practicing Can Actually Be Fulfilling, Inspired And Absolutely Fun. You can move forward quickly day by day, week by week on your way to reaching your musical potential. And anyone that’s willing to work at it can do it. It doesn’t matter how old you are, or what country you’re from or when you started playing. When you know how to get better and how to advance in the practice room there is no stopping you. And it can happen A LOT faster than you might think. Just not overnight.

Get Good at Practice. Get Great at Jazz. ~Chris Cooke

P.S. Shoot me an email and let me know what you think. I’d love to hear about how you practice or how you put these Breakthrough Practice concepts to work in the practice room. P.P.S. If you can see the value in these concepts and ideas then you’d probably really dig The Jazz Practice Blueprint. In fact what you’ve just finished reading is just a small fraction of the practice tips, tricks and strategies you get with the Jazz Practice Blueprint. You can find out all about it here: http://learnjazzfaster.com/jazzpracticeblueprint

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