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Learning Jazz Violin
124 members • Free
5 contributions to Learning Jazz Violin
26d •
The recording that made you want to learn
Hi all, I wanted to see what was the recording that made you decide you wanted to play jazz in the first place? I remember my grandfather (a jazz clarinetist) telling me about Django and Stephane, he told me about Djangos injured hand when I was about 14 and gave me a CD compilation of the hotclub quintette. I remembered the story wrong and thought it was Stephane who only had 2 working fingers. This is the tune that I listened to a lot around this time, it was a while before I started trying to play jazz but I loved this recording of the Bach double Concerto.
1 like • 20d
@Kevin Aldrich , I had a similar experience but different venue. I was in my twenties and listening to a Western Swing band in a bar. A fellow the band knew jumped up on the stage with his fiddle and began playing swing improvisations with the band. It was so exciting for me to see this up close, such a real possibility in front of me, that it inspired me to do it myself. I had no musical background, but I remember thinking of things I could do very well at the time even though I had started out badly at each of them. I remember vowing to swing fiddle like that someday no matter what effort it took. The next day I bought a fiddle for $25 and began working on scales and imitating records of fiddling I liked. Eventually, I bought a fine violin which inspired me to practice even more. Still love it, and good to see you here with Matt.
20d •
Try my Practise Club For Free
Send me a private message on here to try out a practice club session for free. The Jazz Violin Practise Club is a weekly guided practice session on Zoom. It’s not a lesson. We take apart my own etudes and transcriptions of great solos, break them into clear, playable exercises, and everyone practises along with me by ear. It’s all about learning real jazz language through repetition and doing, not talking about it. It keeps you accountable, builds your ears, and gives you a practical way to develop improvisation every week.
0 likes • 20d
Matt, I was out of town last week and couldn't connect, but I'm back home and would like to try this practice session out on Zoom. I like playing along on Zoom while I'm muted so I can find the tones, make a few mistakes, get in the groove, without crashing anybody else. Am looking forward to that. I really like finding the language and getting the feel. I did that once with Evan Price of the Hot Club of San Francisco and many times with Katie Glassman and have loved falling into the sound of swing during those kinds of sessions. Let me know how to join.
Nov 4 •
No time to "transcribe" a solo with your instrument?
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?❓
1 like • Nov 4
This is also an encouragement to learn to sing lyrics. Not too surprisingly, the lyrics will form the pace and rhythm of the melody, which can then be translated into the improvisation.
0 likes • Nov 4
@Matt Holborn, you know, long ago, Matt Glaser, former head of Strings at Berklee School of Music, was giving a workshop, and he encouraged us all to know the lyrics to tunes. At the time, I thought it was just another thing to learn just because, but thought it didn't have much to do with my violin playing. Then one day I was working in the yard with a headset on, and a familiar tune came up to which I happened to know the lyrics well. I was singing along, and when the song went into a second part with an improvisation, I kept singing the lyrics and realized how the syllables were matching the pacing and pauses of the improvisation. The light bulb went off when I realized then the convenient importance of knowing the lyrics.
Nov 3 •
what’s ONE improv exercise that actually helped you?
Looking to hear one thing you have practised a lot that has helped you make large leaps in your playing. I’ll go first... Forcing myself to play a certain amount of phrases within a certain amount of bars. For example, taking an 8 bar section of the form and saying: "I have to play three improvised phrases within this section." What’s yours?
1 like • Nov 4
I've been playing along with the "Beginner Jazz Soloing for Violin", and just at the start, doing the Chapter One playing along by ear repeating phrases and doing it in rhythm to the backup. It has been tremendous. I found myself catching the phrases by the second time through, and then by the third time, I could really concentrate on matching the rhythm and getting the right emphasis on the note sequences. Felt great. Thanks.
Nov 1 •
What skill or concept slowed you down the most at the start?
When you first started learning jazz violin, what practical thing held you back? Swing feel, learning tunes, improvising, technique… something else?
1 like • Nov 4
Melodies come to me because on the violin, we play melodies, but learning chords to a song and tracking them as they play has always been a challenge for me. Guitar players quite naturally learn chords as they progress through tunes, and I'm thinking it's a necessity to chunk chords out repetitively for an entire tune so you get them down before you play melody and improvise. I don't know any other way, what do you think?
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Active 2d ago
Joined Nov 3, 2025
Eden Prairie, Minnesota