What is everyone practising right now? For some people, the weekend is the best time to get some practise in (not for me, I have a toddler at home so if I'm not gigging, I’m out at the play park!) If you are using the weekend to get some practise in, what are you up to? Tell us in the comments!

One of the things that signifies you’re past the early stages of learning jazz is being able to play a whole set without reading anything. That doesn’t mean you play everything perfectly, and it doesn’t mean you’ve mastered all the tunes that you play. But it really is the moment that you know that you’ve got past that early stage. I spent years being attached to the page, even if it was just for chord changes. And I see a lot of people with this issue as well. At jam sessions and gigs, needing to stare at paper or an iPad for the whole performance, even on simple tunes. In my opinion, at least 50% of the time, people don’t need to be doing this. But it becomes a crutch, and it’s a hangover from learning classical music. So how do you get out of this? It depends on where you are, but really the time to start is now. If you’re just getting into jazz violin, I would suggest trying to do everything from the start via your ear. That does mean learning simple tunes, and it does mean working with simple material. That’s where my Jazz Violin Foundations course is useful. It’s for people who have been playing the violin for a long time, but are new to jazz and want to get into it via their ear, working with simple but doable material. Get it here https://www.skool.com/jazzviolin/classroom If you’ve been playing for a while, it really is just a case of starting to do it. Give yourself a goal. Maybe the next time you play a jam, you don’t allow yourself to read anything. Or if you’ve got a gig coming up, spend some time committing the material to memory. You will end up in situations where you don’t know things, but that’s where you start to use your ear. That’s how you actually practise having a good ear. You just use it.

Challenge! Play this line and post it. I think I play something like this 100 times on every gig… There are 4 levels to this, you can pick which one is most doable for you right now…. 1- Exactly the same as myself, in C Major 2- Try it in a few different keys 3- Start like I do and finish it off a little differently. 4- improvise over a backing track and use this line in your improv My 46 lines course in the classroom has a number of lines that work in a similar way (they are a little more straight forward and all in G) all transcribed and explained fully. Get hold of it here https://www.skool.com/jazzviolin/classroom

When I first got to music college I was probably one of the least “together” players. I had had a disjointed musical journey, not really focusing on anything for longer than a few months. I didn’t have the usual trajectory of a violinist who was going to make it as a professional. My classical playing was pretty bad and my technique wasn’t great. I grew up around jazz though as my grandfather was a “trad” jazz musician. Also as a violinist on a jazz course, you really have to prove yourself tenfold for anyone to really accept what you do, or at least you did back when I was there. I hadn’t really managed to prove anything to anyone during the first year. I didn’t sound very good. Through blind determination however I had decided that this was going to work. I practised a lot. I took classes with a classical teacher to help with technique, I went to all the classes and I stayed at home through most of my student years practising. I was a couple of years older than everyone else so I wasn’t that bothered about going out clubbing. By the end of college I had certainly made some big jumps but the biggest jump was when I moved to London. I had gigs with different musicians 4 or 5 nights a week playing tunes I didn’t know. These were musicians I respected and were a lot better than me. I can’t say I “enjoyed” all the gigs as I do now but there was still an element of fun for sure. My advice to anyone starting out or looking to make some jumps in their playing is to find some time to get out and play at a jam or find someone who might be willing to just “have a play”. it can be hard when you don’t live in a big city to find the people but there is always some way to do it. Usually finding the closest jam session to you and making connections there. My 10 tunes course is a great way to get ready for playing with others. It has everything you need to move from the practise room to a jam session. Find it in the classroom, upgrade to access or buy it outright.

Tunes you need to to know. - hi Matt, just spotted that the backing track you link in Autumn Leaves is in G Major while the rest of the tutorial is in Bb Major. Threw me for a moment. Not a big issue but you might want to fix?