Jason Lyon Music

Category: a) Soloing Scales & Modes

  • What the Fugue?

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    You go back to Bird and I’ll go back to Bach Here’s a piano exercise I find really useful. I’ll run it down first, then tell you why it’s useful and how you can use it as more than just a practice drill. We’re going to take the changes to a standard (one with quite slow…

  • The Third Rail

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    Jason
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    Or the noble art of electrocuting yourself and living to laugh about it Jazzers of a certain vintage used to refer to what we mostly now call “avoid notes” as “the third rail”. It’s a train analogy. The third rail carries the current, so you really don’t want to step on it or you’ll be late…

  • Clearing Up the Leaves

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    Jason
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    Seems an appropriate time of year for this thought. The hardy standard Autumn Leaves… Harmonically, it’s a very simple tune. It’s basically just turnarounds in a related major and minor key pairing. So why is there usually either an unusually lengthy discussion before it’s played or a cock up? It’s all about the key, and…

  • Right, Said Fred

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    I’ve been working with a student recently who’s concerned about getting more out of her piano soloing. And my suggestion has been to commit piano heresy – practise with the right hand alone. Before the ghosts of generations of piano teachers break free from the special circle of hell reserved for them to torment me,…

  • Quite Frankly My Dear…

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    Jason
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    I was chatting to a musician the other day about nerves. She was horribly afflicted (visibly quivering) and eyeing the awaiting stage with a sense of dread. The conversation ranged a bit, but ultimately boiled down to a rather glib sounding piece of pep talk. In my view, the secret to a good performance is……

  • The Amazing Disappearing Jazz Student

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    Jason
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    A Suggestion for Practice It won’t come as news if I say that the best way to really get your jazz chops together is to transcribe. Nor would you be surprised to hear that playing along with the original recordings is also a good idea. But some of the most powerful practising I’ve ever done…

  • This is Just a Four-Note Solo…

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    Jason
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    …built upon the same four notes, Other notes are bound to follow but not far from those four notes, Now the new notes are the consequence of the ones we’ve just been through, And you get more structure in your solo using just those few. There’s so many people who can play and play and play,…

  • Deciphering Jazz Chord Symbols

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    Jason
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    Jazz relies on a shorthand system of chord notation, which is not universal, not standard, and not terribly logical or consistent, at least at first sight. This article is intended as a brief general guide for people who are new to this quixotic system and aims to give you a grounding in what any given chord symbol…

  • Pausing for Breath

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    Jason
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    Here’s another video. Apologies for writing less recently, but it’s that ho-ho-ho time of year and I’ve got other things on. Anyway, this video is a stone-cold classic. Here’s Bud Powell in Copenhagen doing Anthropology (not, as a friend of mine who played with us the other week and cocked up the head described it…

  • Circling the Square

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    Jason
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    I’ve been asked to post something on piano fingerings for jazz. I’ll do my usual – half-answer the question and then talk about something I think is far more important. With precomposed music, you work out a fingering in advance but it’s largely based on standardised ways of working with scales and arpeggios. With improvised…