This is a nice solo to transcribe by Didier Lockwood. For the most part it’s not too tough but has some difficult fast double time sections. I think it was the first Didier solo I ever learned. https://youtu.be/DSucry3r6NU?si=PtzhJLgOSD58RUd-

Was thinking about this today and wanted to know your thoughts? Is it just someone who can improvise over chords? Is it someone who knows some section of the “jazz canon” (tunes from a certain era of jazz) Is it someone who plays “the language” in their solo? Is it someone who can swing? Some might say it’s all of these out together however sometimes one or two of these are missing or one of these points seems to be a min focus over all of the others? I don’t think you have to have ALL of the above but I reckon most of these need to be in there somewhere. What am I missing?

Go on, let’s hear it! My favourite living jazz violinist might be Ola Kvernberg https://youtu.be/ktVELUG8OKk?si=lR9AXKZSyQOXB6X9 My favourite jazz violinist from history is Stuff Smith. https://youtu.be/-yWnOCy3_qY?si=aeRaIy-ht3Zrrvuq

Hi all, Give me one thing you would like to get better with in terms of your jazz playing. Mine is my consistency across different keys. I feel like I play differently (sometimes worse) in certain keys and would like to transfer what I play in say C major, to Ab and Db. Let me know in the comments!

Transcribing is often cited as the best way to really take in jazz language. By that I mean learning a solo by ear and applying it to your instrument. I do this a lot and have done it loads throughout my time learning and practising jazz violin. However I know that many find it tough and do not have the time to dedicate to learning a whole solo. Whilst I think it should still be something you try to do if you can, this is my short hack for when you find yourself getting stuck. Just learn to sing it. This will help you understand phrasing. It will help develop your ear. It will help you hear swing and groove better. All of this will translate to your jazz playing at some point and you do not even need to pick up your instrument. You can do it as accurately as you want to. Even just learning to sing the general shape of a great solo will help to some degree and you can do it whilst washing up. Chances are that you will end up wanting to work some of it out on your instrument once you have got into singing it. ❓Which solo should we all try singing this week?❓