It was my birthday party in the jazz club in Japan and I was explicitly told several days before I must play for the guests because this is a rule. OK. I practiced at home with the backing track, recording myself, listening, improving and so on, and was more or less satisfied. And guess what? In the middle of the playing I forgot the tema. Completely! Of course I didn’t have the scores sheet. And honestly, I was a bit drunk. But still... My question is: what people usually do in such situations? When you are in the middle of the tune and you do not know what to do next? Any immediate actions?

I break my practise up like this. 1. Warm ups and technique practise.This is where I use my exercises, as vehicles for focusing on intonation or bowing etc, but using actually jazz related language. 2. Learning.Taking down a lick or a solo that I like and want to study. I like to transpose anything I’m working on into at least a few keys each time, but all 12 is best. 3. Improv practise.Use the material you just learned and improvise around it over tunes you know. Dropping it in, changing it in the moment, making it your own. 4. Learning new tunes.I like to learn the melody by ear from singers versions and then try to work out the harmony by ear too, checking against a chord chart later. I try to give equal amounts of time to each of these if I have lots of time. However generally I might only focus on one or two of these aspects for a week if I only have small pockets of time. This is for me of course. I’ve been playing jazz for a long time and have specific things that I want to improve on. Everyone needs to focus on different aspects of jazz at different times in their learning journey. If you want help with your own practise routine, send me a message on here.

I answered @Kaia K question about bowing today on the Live Q&A. Here is a little clip. Paid members can get the full recording inside the classroom. Upgrade HERE

Here are 3 practical ways you can work on this. 1. Bassline style chord tones. Play through the form using just chord tones, 4 notes to a bar. This helps you hear the harmony clearly and find small movements between chords. It also drills the sequence into your head while you’re still improvising. Start slow 2. Double stops. Work out simple two note voicings for each chord. Start with roots and thirds or 5ths, but don’t worry about the root being the lowest note. You’ll start to find shapes using thirds, 6ths and 5ths that sit really well on the violin. Comp through the changes and try to do it without charts. 3. Piano or guitar. If you play a bit of piano or guitar, use them to learn the chords. Even basic voicings help. These instruments are built for harmony, and it’s no coincidence that pianists and guitarists almost always know the chords. As violinists we need to aim for the same level of understanding. I’ve also covered the first two approaches in the 10 Tunes You Should Know course in the classroom, with written exercises for each of the tunes if you want something more structured to work through. If you’re working on this, let me know which of these you’ve tried (or are going to try this week). Also interested to hear how you currently approach learning chords, what’s been working for you?

It can all feel a little abstract after a while of practising on your own. You will feel bursts of progress along the way but its not till you start actually getting out and playing with other (anyone) that you will make the most progress in your playing. When you play with others you learn to get into that "playing mode" and you can really see what has actually made its way into your musical subconscious. It makes you play tunes that you might not know that well, this will both help you learn more tunes as well as help you get better at playing tunes that you might not really know that well. It can be tough if you have been practising a lot recently to actually fully "let go" when you jump in to playing with other and you might get into your own head a little when you do it. I would recommend recording it and listening back with fresh ears a few days later and I can guarantee you will be surprised by how much better you actually sound vs how you thought you sounded on the night. But my main point here is to just find a way to get out there and get playing! The more you do it, the more fun it will be each time and I know that you will always come away with more ideas for what you should focus on at home. Finally, before you start heading out, the main thing you need to make this work is repertoire. If that's something you struggle with, head on over to the classroom and pick up the "10 Tunes You Must Know" course. Once you have all of that down, I guarantee you will be able to walk into any jazz jam session and be able to play with anyone! Right now it's included in the Jazz Violin Foundations Course too, only until next wednesday though! Its also included in all paid plans on here. Upgrade HERE