I wonder if anyone has any tips for finding the 3rds (and 7ths) in a chord from the chord name and in time with the melody etc. I can play the whole arpeggio no problem but picking out a specific note seems to addle my brain!

This is my “medium term” practice project at the moment. Getting difficult concepts into your playing is something that often seems impossible. But for me it’s the same as getting anything into your improvisational language. It’s about consistency and looking at it in as many different ways as possible. Here’s what I’m doing: Picking a key each day and practising the scale up and down slowly with a drone. Finding a pattern within the scale and playing that up and down in first position, not worrying about application yet, just enjoying the melody that comes from the pattern. Picking a chord sequence that fits the scale, generally the V7 chord in a ii-V-I sequence, and creating a line that is semi improvised and semi worked out. Playing the line in different keys. Then trying to improvise over the same sequence and dropping in the line, letting different aspects of the scale come out naturally. All of this takes up about 30 to 45 minutes of each practice session. This approach works for any concept you might be working on. It might be a few notes from a transcription that grabbed your attention, getting an enclosure into your playing, or just playing melodically with the major scale over a ii-V-I. Everything I teach is something I use in my own practice every day as a professional jazz violinist. What are you working on at the moment? Drop it in the comments, I’d love to hear.

Il go first… I used to hang out with jazz guitarists. A lot of them said that technique is just something that you work out yourself and shouldn’t worry about, just practise the changes and it will come… Maybe that works for electric guitarists but that’s not going to translate to good violin playing. Not exactly bad advice but more of a mistake on my part for not filtering it as a violinist.

From June, VIP is going up to $125 a month. The reason for the increase is simple. I'm adding something new: a monthly 45 minute 1-1 session with me where we work on exactly what you need. That's on top of everything VIP already includes, all my courses, weekly Practice Club sessions and replays. If you've been thinking about jumping into the courses or joining the weekly Practice Club sessions, now is a good time to do it. Get into VIP before June and you lock in at the current rate without the price increase. Premier stays at $19 a month and includes three substantial courses covering jazz violin from the ground up, plus one Practice Club session a month. A great place to start if you want to work through things at your own pace. If you're already a paying member, your price doesn't change. You're locked in at your current rate for as long as you stay. The 1-1 sessions will only be available to members on the new $125 rate, but everything else stays the same for you. Any questions just drop me a message.

Hope your gig goes well today Matt and sorry I can't be with you. Was at Wigmore Hall last night - Beethoven Quartet 14 - an extraordinary and revolutionary work in completely different structure to traditional 4 movement quartets, which no one has followed in the 200 years since. Would Beethoven have been playing jazz if he was alive today?