Using the LIST Method to Learn Jazz Solos by Ear

GOOD FOR

Learn Jazz Standards Instuments
How Do I Turn Scales and Arpeggios Into Solos?

Welcome to episode 88 of the LJS Podcast where today we are talking all about a great 4 step process for learning jazz solos by ear. This is a practice that has a ton of benefits for your jazz musicianship and every aspiring jazz player should be doing this. Learn the LIST method and how it can help. Listen in!

Listen to episode 88

In last week’s episode with trumpeter Chris Davis, Chris mentioned an important practice that he did in his more formidable years: transcribing solos. Now, when he said transcribing, he didn’t necessarily mean writing it down (although you can). This term is sometimes used among jazz musicians as a way to just say “learn a jazz solo by ear.”

Learning jazz solos by ear is a powerful practice that has a multitude of benefits such as:

  • Helps you learn jazz language.
  • Helps you get inside the style and mind of whatever jazz artists you are copying.
  • Can help you learn how to improvise over a particular jazz standard or song form.

These are some great results you can get by doing this, but ultimately the goal is to discover and internalize.

So in today’s episode I talk about my LIST process for learning jazz solos by ear which is:

Listen

Internalize

Sing

Transfer

The LIST method is a great process for not only executing the learning element but actually getting results for all of your time and effort. Learning entire solos can be taxing and a lot of work, but if you do it right, the effort will be far worth the benefits.

To demonstrate, I use the first two A sections of a Dexter Gordon solo over a rhythm changes tune called “Apple Jump.” I also go in depth on each step of the LIST method and how to execute them properly.

Lastly, I give you a special challenge to start learning your own jazz solo by ear. Are you up for it?

Important Links:
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way

[vc_separator]

Read the Transcript

That’s right. What’s up everybody? My name is Brent. I am the jazz musician behind the website, learnjazzstandards.com, which is a blog and a podcast, all geared towards helping you become a better jazz musician. Welcome to another episode of the LJS Podcast, episode 88, and I’m glad that you’re here, whether you’re a regular listener or whether it’s your first time ever listening. I just appreciate you being here.Now, you know, last week we had a special guest on the show. It was Chris Davis, trumpeter Chris Davis, and he gave us a great episode. He gave us a lot of great lessons about the development of his musicianship. One of the things that he talked about in that episode, in his development, one important thing that he did for his jazz playing was learning jazz solos by ear.

Now, I love to talk about this, because, honestly, this is one of my favorite practices to do. When I was really putting a lot of hours in the practice room, in the more formative days of my development, I was learning a lot of jazz solos, and so I certainly believe in this practice. It’s funny because Chris, last week, he was talking about this. He used the term transcribing, and I think it’s funny because a lot of the jazz musicians I know, they refer to this practice of learning jazz solos by ear as transcribing, but they rarely mean actually writing it down.

While writing down a solo can be a great practice, in and of itself, this is really not what I’m talking about today. I’m talking about just learning solos by ear. By the way, if you’ve ever heard anybody say, “Oh, yeah, transcribe solos,” they probably … It’s weird that “transcribe” is the word is … you write it down, right? But oftentimes, that’s not what jazz musicians are doing. I just thought I’d clear that up right away. Now, transcribing solos, as I will talk about in a second, all around, will help you become a better jazz musician. A little added bonus: It just naturally trains your ears, as well, which, as you know, I preach is an important part of becoming a better jazz improviser.

So, today, I’m going to be talking about a very particular system for how to learn jazz solos by ear. I will be talking about the importance, but this system is called LIST, and that’s an acronym for you today: L-I-S-T, LIST. This is a great four-step process for helping you walk through effectively learning jazz solos. Okay, so let’s jump into today’s lesson.

(music)

Brent: All right, now, as always, if you’re more of a visual learner and you like to read stuff, you can find the show notes on our website. Today’s show notes you can find at learnjazzstandards.com/episode88, so you can find it there as well as a transcription of this entire show. Transcription, hey, that’s right on theme today, except for this time that actually means the written down version of it. So, now, whenever I talk about stuff like this, I always like to start with the benefits of doing any certain kind of practice because learning an entire solo, and I’m talking about an entire solo — not a lick or anything like that — does have a lot of benefits. I really do believe that it’s a powerful practice. I do believe, actually, that everyone should do it at least once. So, why would you do it? What’s the reason? What’s the benefit? Why should you invest the time and effort?

Let me tell you, I have three reasons why you should. Now, what are the benefits? Number one, you’re gonna be learning jazz language, okay? You’re gonna be learning jazz language — a lot of jazz language. You know, what are jazz standards made up of? They’re made up of chord progressions, and what do we improvise over in jazz? We improvise over chord progressions. So, we need to learn how to improvise over these chord progressions, and we want to understand the jazz language, the style of playing, the style of improvising in jazz. So, you’re gonna learn jazz language by learning these solos. Number two is you’re going to get inside whatever artist’s solo you are learning, okay? You’re gonna get inside of their playing, the way they phrase things, the kind of isms that they use, the things that they like to go back to.

How do they approach 2-5-1 chord progressions? What are some ways that they approach dominant seventh chords? I mean, these are all questions that can be answered, so whether you’re learning a solo by Sonny Rollins, or by Wynton Kelly, or by Paul Chambers, or Max Roach — any of these musicians — whatever instrument you play, you can kind of learn their style, the way they approach things. By doing so, you can grab onto these things for yourself, and it could be incredibly enlightening to go through an entire solo and just understand how not only their style, but how they actually developed a solo, right? How do they start the solo? How do they reach a climax? How do they even end that solo? So, all these things can be learned; you can really get inside of an artist’s playing rather than just learning a lick by them.

Learning an entire solo, big difference, right? You’re learning much more of their process, trying to get inside of their brain, their head. Number three, the last reason, the last benefit I want to give for you is it gives you the opportunity to learn ideas or learn how to solo over a particular song or song form. For example, in our course, our jazz practicing course — 30 Days to Better Jazz Playing — learning solos by ear is actually a huge part of the course. It’s something that we really do a lot of in the course. Learnjazzstandards.com/30days, by the way, if you’re interested. But one of the solos in there that I suggest — it’s not required, but I suggest it — is Miles Davis’s solo on “Freddie Freeloader”.

Now, the reason I suggest that one is because it’s roughly a solo over top of a blues, okay? A blues … Blues is really important. It’s an important song form in jazz to work on, so you want to know that stuff forwards and backwards. So, the enlightening thing is you can see how Miles Davis took a solo over top of a blues form, and it kind of … If you’ve ever wondered, “Well, how do I take a solo over a blues?” That can start to unravel that for you, or maybe it could be a rhythm changes tune. How does Charlie Parker solo over top of a rhythm changes tune? How do I solo over chord changes, the 1-6-2-5, going that quickly? How do I solo over that B section, which has cycling dominant seventh chords? So, you can start to really understand this stuff by going through an entire solo, or also specific jazz standards.

How do I play over “Have You Met Miss Jones?”, or “Just Friends”, or “Autumn Leaves”, or “All the Things You Are” — any of these songs? You can find a solo from an artist and kind of get inside of that song and how to improvise and navigate those chord changes better, okay? So, really quickly through the benefits, you’re learning jazz language, you’re getting inside that artist’s playing that you’re learning, and you’re learning how to play over particular songs or song forms. Okay, now, quickly … I’m gonna do a little bit of demonstrating, by the way, in a second here through this process that I talked about — the LIST process — but a little bit more of explanation here. I want to talk a little bit about learning solos by sheet music versus by ear because I get a lot of emails about this, and I get a lot of pushback, because, on Learn Jazz Standards, we preach this a lot … is learning solos, learning jazz standards, by ear rather than sheet music.

It’s not wrong to learn solos by sheet music, but you’re missing out on a huge part of it, which is the ear training. The ear training, right? The ear training being so important for improvising. You’re missing out on that side of it, and you’re also missing out on half of the internalization process, being able to really drill that song into your head, really being able to get that inside of your playing, which is ultimately what we want to do. We want to be internalizing this language, not so that we can play it verbatim, but so that we are able to reproduce these things. It’s like learning a language. You have to learn the words. You have to learn the vocabulary. You have to learn how to say some sentences, and you might be memorizing some sentences at first, but eventually you’re not gonna be quoting sentences by memory, it’s just gonna be coming out naturally. So, that’s the benefit of learning solos by ear rather than by sheet music, like buying a copy of the “Omnibook” or something like that.

Now, I talked about the benefits of learning jazz solos by ear and that practice, but what are the goals? Because the goals are actually a little different from the benefits. The benefits are all great stuff, but, at the end of the day, why are you going to sit down and learn an entire solo? That’s an important thing to talk about. So, the goals … I have two main goals for this, two main goals that I get out of solos when I’m learning them. The first goal is discovery, okay? Discovery — my goal is to discover something new about jazz language, discover something new about playing over a chord change, or playing over a song, right? How do we learn something new? We have to just jump into a situation. We have to apply it to real life, and so learning solos does that for us. So, the first goal is to discover something. It’s discovery. Now, the second goal is internalization — just touched on that very briefly.

The second goal is internalization, which means that I am learning this language in order to adopt it into my vocabulary, in order to adopt these sounds into my dialect, per se, as if we were speaking. Now, here’s what is not a goal, okay? Listen to this really quick. This is really important. Along these lines, what is not a goal is to play the solo verbatim. Let me say it one more time. You’re not playing the solo verbatim. The goal is not to learn as many jazz solos as possible so that you can just be quoting other people’s solos all day long — no. That is actually not the end goal, okay? That is not the end goal, but it is internalization to be able to grab some of these ideas. When I’m soloing, I’m never quoting solos. I’m not even trying to. I’ve just learned jazz language, and part of that has been learning solos.
So, by internalizing this stuff, the more likely elements or essences of this stuff is gonna come out in your playing. So, discovery, internalization, not playing them verbatim. Okay, now, one more thing before we go over the LIST process here — picking a solo. How do you pick a solo? I get this question all the time. Now, I don’t really think there’s any rules. It doesn’t have to be of your instrument. In fact, most of the jazz solos that I’ve learned in my studies are actually not of my primary instrument, which is guitar. I’ve learned saxophone solos. I’ve learned piano solos. I’ve even learned parts of bass solos, and, man, I’ve learned probably almost every instrument. I’ve learned something from that, at least the main instruments that are usually being played in jazz. I’ve learned those solos. So, it doesn’t matter what it is. The only rule I really have is make sure it’s an accessible solo to you. Make sure that you can actually accomplish it.

A lot of times, I find that students will just jump into a solo that they’re like, “Oh, that is so cool. I can’t believe … Wow, Sonny Stitt played this crazy thing, and that was so cool and so awesome. I want to learn it, that sixteenth note line that just was at blazing fast tempo.” Awesome. I’m glad you’re excited about that, but if you really don’t have the skill, or the technical ability, or perhaps you haven’t really been transcribing or learning solos for very long and picking that up by ear is gonna be really tough, then don’t do it. Find a solo that you think is doable for you, not something that’s gonna drive you nuts, drive you crazy. It’s not gonna be worthwhile in the end if you’re playing some weird, crumbled up line that just happened to magically come out of John Coltrane or something, but if you can’t really grab something from that then why would you learn it, right? So, you want to make sure that it’s accessible to you, something that you can reach.

That’s why, in the 30 Days course, I always talk about “Freddie Freeloader”, the Miles Davis “Freddie Freeloader” solo, because I just find that one so accessible to everybody, yet completely full of really awesome melodic information that everybody can grab something from, so don’t let your ego get in the way. Pick something that works for you, and also, if I were to add a second rule, I would say pick something that you actually like, that you really enjoy because I find that learning solos that you actually love in the first place, you’re gonna learn it so much better, you’re gonna internalize it so much better, and you’re gonna be far more motivated and more likely to stick it out to the very end, right? So, pick something that you like as well.

All right, now, I want to jump into the main event for today, which is talking about how to actually learn a jazz solo by ear and the process that I go through. For this, I’m gonna use an acronym for you that’s just to help you remember this, just to help you mentally keep tabs on this. It’s called LIST, L-I-S-T. So, I’m gonna go through each one of these letters in this acronym, LIST. The first one is “L”, right? It’s listen. Listen, okay? Very simple, right? You’re just listening to the solo, but it’s important to note that you are not touching your instrument yet. You’re simply listening to this solo. Now, again, you probably are picking a solo that you already like, which means you have listened to it, but what I’m talking about here is intentional listening, meaning there are no distractions around you.

You are zeroing into this solo and what it sounds like, so you are listening to the solo intently. Now, I’m going to use a little example here. I’m going to demonstrate the LIST process with this Dexter Gordon solo. It’s over a rhythm changes tune called “Apple Jump”. It’s an F Rhythm Changes. It’s really cool. I’m just gonna the first two A sections just to be realistic here. I mean, I could do a whole solo or something, but it would take us all forever, so we’re not gonna do that. I’m just gonna do the first two A sections. So, I’m just going to play for you the first two A sections of Dexter Gordon’s solo here, and then we’re gonna come back to the next step here. Listen in.

(music)

Okay, this is just a really quick, short example. In reality, the listening side would be you’re listening to the entire solo, or however many choruses that you want to learn of the solo. In this particular case, this solo’s actually insanely long, so sometimes it’s not necessary to learn the whole solo, but to … more than that, of course, is what I’m trying to say. You want to internalize the whole thing at once, okay? That’s my opinion. So, we’re just gonna be working with this. Now, the next step … We did “listen”, and the next step goes along right with listening and that is “I”, which is internalize. Internalize. So, what I mean by internalize is we are going to be listening … Like, Chris Davis, for example, in last episode talked about how he would be listening to the solo hundreds of times, like hundreds of times.

I’ll give you a story. The solo that I obsessed over most when I was studying was John Coltrane’s solo on “My Shining Hour”. I just loved that solo. It’s on “Coltrane Jazz”, I believe. I just loved that solo, and so I wanted to really get inside of it. So, what I would do is I would walk everywhere with that solo. I would have it in my ears at all times — if I was on the train, if I was walking around on the street. If I was at home, I would just be listening to it all the time. I was trying to really get it in my ear, really get to know that solo so well, and that’s the internalization side. A lot of people want to skip this. They don’t want to take the time to do this. They want to go just straight to getting it on their instrument, but really if you truly want to do this right, if you want to get serious about learning a solo, I highly suggest you don’t skip this internalization process of really getting it inside your head.

This has nothing to do with touching your instrument, okay? Nothing to do with it — just simply repetition so that you know it, know it really, really, really well. It’s gonna set you up for success. Now, this goes right into the next step, okay? The nest step, which is “S”, which is sing. So, we got “L”, “I”, “S”. “S” is sing. Now, singing furthers this process of internalization. I’ve talked about … If you were joining us for our ear training month last month, I talked all about ear training and how important that is, and one of the things they said is singing and how important singing is, because … you’ve probably hear before, if you can sing it, you can play it. Well, there’s actually a lot of truth in that.

It’s not that you can just play it automatically if you can sing it, but what it means is it proves that you’ve truly internalized it. It proves that you actually know it. So, the next step is singing. You want to sing along with the solo, or, in this case, I’m just gonna do the first two A sections of this Dexter Gordon solo, and make sure that I’ve got it, right? I’ve got it in my ear because I can sing it. So, again, I would have listened to this solo a lot more times and all this stuff, but I’m just gonna go … I know this solo, so I’m gonna go ahead and sing along with just this part so you can hear what I’m talking about.

(music)

All right, does that make sense? So, it’s important to note that you don’t have to be a great singer to be able to do this. If you’re not hitting the pitches perfectly, that’s okay. In fact, a lot of this is being able to match the rhythms with each other, right? Being able to rhythmically match what the instrumentalist is doing, so don’t be intimidated by that. You can also whistle; you can also hum. The whole idea is to produce the sound yourself in some way. Does that make sense? So, I’m singing along with this solo, and, again, that’s just a snippet of a solo. We want to do a lot more than that. Again, the idea is … we’re not doing licks or phrases, we’re doing large chunks of musical information, so be able to sing along with that.

That’s … Oh, man. That’s just gonna set you so much for success for this next step, which is “T” — the last letter in the acronym. “T”, transfer. Transfer this to your instrument. This is the last step.
Now, of course, if you’re a vocalist, if you’re a singer, well your step is one short, right, because essentially singing is what your instrument is. Your voice is your instrument, so you don’t necessarily have to go to this step, but of course practicing this all the time is furthering the internalization process, which I’ll talk in a second about. But now, at this point, you’ve listened to this so many times. You’ve sang it, which proves that you really know it. Now, you’re really just trying to connect your ear to your instrument. Again, I talked about this during our ear training month, about that process and how important that is. Now, we’re trying to make that relationship, secure that relationship so that we can … what we know in our head, what we know in our ear, can come out on our instrument and come out in muscle memory as well.

So, that’s the next step. So, I’m gonna go ahead; I’m gonna play with my guitar along to this solo now. I’ve gone through the work of doing this. Now, it’s important to note that you might want to do it in small chunks. You don’t have to do it all the way through. It’s gonna be so much easier that you’ve sung it already, but you want to do it in the small chunks. You know, [sings line]. That’s a pretty easy line, so that might not be so hard for you to do, but then there’s that next part in the next A section that goes [sings line]. You might want to break that up into two sections, right? Like, [sings line]. Okay, you learn just that part, and then [sings line]. You learn just that part. You can break it up into small chunks learning it on your instrument and figuring out where those notes lie. Okay, does that make sense? Okay, I’m gonna demonstrate this for you. I’m gonna go ahead and play along on my guitar with the solo.

(music)

Okay, so there it is. I’m playing that solo back on my instrument, even if I had to learn it in bits and pieces at times. Now, I hope you paid attention, that I was doing my best to try to match Dexter Gordon’s phrasing, the way he was playing it even though I’m not a saxophone player — I’m a guitar player. They are very different instruments. I was doing my best as a guitarist to get inside of how he was phrasing and how he was playing, how long he was holding out notes. I’m sure I could get even closer if I spent a little more time working on this, and I would, and you will, if you go through this four step process for sure. Now, something that I do want to mention here is that in the singing step, the last step, you’re really approximating the notes, right?

You don’t know exactly what the notes are. Now, in this step, it’s where you’re not approximating anymore, you’re getting the accurate, exact notes. For vocalists listening, this could be that process too with you going in on the piano or whatever other instrument that could be a secondary instrument and making sure that you’re singing each note pitch for pitch. Okay, so, for example, in this particular phrase that I played:

(music)

I had to pay attention to the difference between this:
(music)

Right, now, I wouldn’t have really necessarily heard that perfectly unless I had gone through the process of transferring it on my instrument, getting those exact notes in there. So, that’s an important part of this, is making sure you have the exact notes, and so, again, the whole LIST step process builds on it. It goes “listen”, you’re just simply listening, and then you’re internalizing, you’re really listening to that a lot, and then you’re singing it, ensuring that you have it internalized, and then when you’re transferring it to your instrument, you’re going to that last step of connecting that together and making sure that you have the exact, accurate notes on your instrument, okay? That’s the process. By going through this, man, it’s gonna really, really improve your playing. It’s an incredible study.

Again, I suggest everybody do this at least, at least once. Now, if I were to add one extra step onto this, which would not make a really sexy acronym, so that’s why I haven’t put it on there, but if I were to add that fifth step it would be to review, okay? To review. To go over this over and over again, right, because that’s the next step in the internalization process is to continually be coming back to this, and not coming back to it forever. I mean, you’re gonna eventually go to another solo. You’re gonna move on from all of this. You don’t need to worry about remembering that solo for the rest of your life, okay? Again, that’s not the goal, is to play it verbatim. It’s to internalize, it’s to have gotten that language really sunk in.

So, here’s your challenge for this week. I like to … oftentimes, when I do these lesson episodes, to call you to action, right, because all of this … I mean, you can listen to as many podcasts episodes, you could take as many lessons from private teachers or go to master classes, but if you don’t take action nothing’s gonna change, right? Nothing’s gonna improve in your playing unless you take action. So, I want to call you to action today. I want to say that if you’ve never done this before, if you’ve never learned a solo before, I want you to make that a top priority for this month, is to start working on a solo. Start working on a solo that you like, that’s accessible to you, that you think you can accomplish in a reasonable amount of time, and make that a part of your practice, if not a primary part of your practice sessions.

Now, if you’ve learned solos before, and maybe you’re like me, and this happens to me all the time, is I haven’t done certain things like this in a while. I’m kind of just like, “Ah, been there, done that,” and I kind of need to revisit it, right? Then take that challenge with me and work on another one today, okay? Work on … ’cause the more of this stuff you do, it’s really gonna help you out, the better you’re going to get at learning jazz language. So, I hope that you’ve gotten a lot out of today’s episode and that you will take this action, that you will take action and learn a solo. The benefits are going to be absolutely huge.

All right, that’s all for today’s episode. I want to thank you for listening. I want to thank you for joining in; it’s always a pleasure to have you. Remember, you can find the show notes today at learnjazzstandards.com/episode88. Now, I did talk a little bit about our 30 Days to Better Jazz Playing course during this episode, so just a little shameless self-promotion here. This is a really great course. We have hundreds of students in it, and … Oh, man, it’s really one of my favorite things that we have going on at Learn Jazz Standards — really our courses are in general. But this is a great … If you’re serious about practicing and becoming a better jazz musician, this course is really for you. So, you can find this course at learnjazzstandards.com/30days, and learn more about that there to dive into an intensive of practicing, which, indeed, does have a lot of learning solos in it.

One last thing — I always ask this at the end of every single episode — if you got value from today’s show, go to iTunes or your favorite podcast listening service, and leave us a rating and a review that helps other people find the show. Greatly appreciate it.

All right, we have a special guest on the show next week. It’s drummer, Dorota Piotrowska. Oh, man, you are going to love her. She is so awesome. Actually, she was my former roommate, one of my former roommates before, but an insane musician, so I’m excited to have her on the show next week. That’s gonna be episode 89. I’ll see you back then.

TAKE YOUR JAZZ PLAYING TO THE NEXT LEVEL.

We help musicians of all instruments start improvising confidently over jazz standards in just 30 days without mind-numbing hours of practice or the overwhelm.

TAKE YOUR JAZZ PLAYING TO THE NEXT LEVEL.

We help musicians of all instruments start improvising confidently over jazz standards in as little as 30 days without mind-numbing hours of practice or the overwhelm.

“Jazz music is the power of now. There is no script. It’s conversation. The emotion is given to you by musicians as they make split-second decisions to fulfill what they feel the moment requires.”
WYNTON MARSALIS

YOU MAY ALSO BE INTERESTED IN

Learn Jazz Standards The Smart Way Ebook Cover

OUR PROVEN PROCESS FOR LEARNING JAZZ STANDARDS LIKE A PRO

A step-by-step guide for how to effectively learn jazz standards so you’ll feel confident playing them, and won’t forget them.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Welcome to LearnJazzStandards.com! We’ve created this page so that you (and any visitor to LearnJazzStandards.com) will understand the terms and conditions that govern your use of this website. If you continue to browse and use this website you are agreeing to comply with and be bound by the following terms and conditions, which together with our privacy policy comprise our (LearnJazzStandards.com’s) entire relationship with you.

Exclusion of Liability

The content found on any page of this website is for your general information and use only, and it is subject to change without notice. Neither we nor any third parties provide any warranty or guarantee as to the accuracy, timeliness, performance, completeness or suitability of the information and materials found or offered on this website for any particular purpose. You acknowledge that such information and materials may contain inaccuracies or errors and we expressly exclude liability for any such inaccuracies or errors to the fullest extent permitted by law. Your use of any information or materials on this website is entirely at your own risk, for which we shall not be liable. It shall be your own responsibility to ensure that any products, services or information available through this website meet your specific requirements.

Indemnity

By accessing our website, you agree to indemnify and hold us harmless from all claims, actions, damages, costs and expenses including legal fees arising from or in connection with your use of our website.

Copyright Laws & Intellectual Property

This website contains some material which is owned by or licensed to us. This material includes, but is not limited to, the design, layout, look, appearance and graphics. Reproduction is prohibited other than in accordance with the copyright notice, which forms part of these terms and conditions. All logos, trademarks, and other intellectual property found on LearnJazzStandards.com are the property of their respective owners. They do not indicate ownership, affiliation, sponsorship, or any other relationship with LearnJazzStandards.com. In addition, this website may also include links to other websites. These links are provided for your convenience to provide further information. They do not signify that we endorse those websites, and we have no responsibility for the content of those linked websites.

Unauthorized Use

Your use of this website and any dispute arising out of such use of the website is subject to the laws of the United States of America. Any unauthorized use of this website may give rise to a claim for damages and/or be a criminal offense. Thanks, and enjoy LearnJazzStandards.com!

Return Policy for Products

Refund Policy

For play-alongs and eBooks:

Because these are digital downloads, and not returnable, we have a strict no refund policy. All purchases are final and cannot be reversed. Please be sure that you fully understand the product you are purchasing and what is and what is not included. Of course, if you ever have any questions about a product feel free to contact us or visit our FAQ page.

For 30 Days to Better Jazz Playing eCourse

Please make sure you completely understand the product you are buying before purchasing. 14 Day 100% Money Back Guarantee
  • This guarantee lasts 14 days, which completely covers almost half of the course, enough for you to observe its’ effectiveness.
  • We can’t guarantee you will be Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, or John Coltrane in 2 weeks. We’d be suspicious of anyone who could promise that. Becoming a better jazz musician is a process and it requires work.
  • If you’re not happy with the quality of this program…send us an email and showing you did the work. We’ll refund 100% of your money (We’ll even eat the credit-card processing fees) and we’ll part as friends. We believe in the power of this course and so we’ll take responsibility for it.

For Inner Circle Membership

Please make sure you completely understand the product you are buying before purchasing. 30 Day 100% Money Back Guarantee
  • This guarantee lasts 30 days, which is enough for you to observe the membership’s effectiveness.
  • We can’t guarantee you will be Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, or John Coltrane in 30 days. We’d be suspicious of anyone who could promise that. Becoming a better jazz musician is a process and it requires work.
  • If you’re not happy with the quality of this program…send us an email and showing you did the work. We’ll refund 100% of your money (We’ll even eat the credit-card processing fees) and we’ll part as friends. We believe in the power of this course and so we’ll take responsibility for it.

Rights of use

All digital products are for the use of the individual customer only. Redistribution or reselling of our digital products is strictly prohibited and a violation of United States and New York State law.

PRIVACY POLICY

At Learn Jazz Standards LLC, we recognize that privacy of your personal information is important.

Here are the types of personal information we may collect when you use and visit LearnJazzStandards.com, and how we safeguard your information. We never sell your personal information to third parties.

Log Files

As with most other websites, we collect and use the data contained in log files. The information in the log files include your IP (internet protocol) address, your ISP (internet service provider, such as AOL or Shaw Cable), the browser you used to visit our site (such as Internet Explorer or Firefox), the time you visited our site and which pages you visited throughout our site.

Cookies and Web Beacons

We may use cookies to store information, such as your personal preferences when you visit our site. This could include only showing you a popup once in your visit, or the ability to log in to some of our features, such as forums. We collect this information to help send you only pertinent content that we believe you are interested in and will benefit from.

We also use third party advertisements on LearnJazzStandards.com to support our site. Some of these advertisers may use technology such as cookies and web beacons when they advertise on our site, which will also send these advertisers (such as Google through the Google AdSense program) information including your IP address, your ISP, the browser you used to visit our site, and in some cases, whether you have Flash installed.

This is generally used for geotargeting purposes (showing New York real estate ads to someone in New York, for example) or showing certain ads based on specific sites visited (such as showing cooking ads to someone who frequents cooking sites).

DoubleClick DART cookies

We also may use DART cookies for ad serving through Google’s DoubleClick service, which places a cookie on your computer when you are browsing the web and visit a site using DoubleClick advertising (including some Google AdSense advertisements).

This cookie is used to serve ads specific to you and your interests (“interest based targeting”). The ads served will be targeted based on your previous browsing history (For example, if you have been viewing sites about visiting Las Vegas, you may see Las Vegas hotel advertisements when viewing a non-related site, such as on a site about hockey).

DART uses “non personally identifiable information.” It does NOT track personal information about you, such as your name, email address, physical address, telephone number, social security numbers, bank account numbers or credit card numbers. You can opt-out of this ad serving on all sites using this advertising by visiting http://www.doubleclick.com/privacy/dart_adserving.aspx

You can chose to disable or selectively turn off our cookies or third-party cookies in your browser settings, or by managing preferences in programs such as Norton Internet Security. However, this can affect how you are able to interact with our site as well as other websites. This could include the inability to login to services or programs, such as logging into forums or accounts.

Deleting cookies does not mean you are permanently opted out of any advertising program. Unless you have settings that disallow cookies, the next time you visit a site running the advertisements, a new cookie will be added.

Email Addresses

If you share your email address with LearnJazzStandards.com via the contact page, we will only use it to contact you, and will NOT add you to any lists or newsletters without your consent.

In addition, if you sign up for the free newsletter, your email address will only be used to send special offers and updates from LearnJazzStandards.com. Addresses are recorded and kept secure through MailChimp, which we use to distribute information to our subscribers. Neither MailChimp nor LearnJazzStandards.com will give or sell your address to any third party, nor will you be added to any additional lists.

Right to Be Forgotten

If at any point you wish to be completely deleted from our databases, whether it be as a newsletter subscriber or an account holder on learnjazzstandards.com, you have the complete right to do so.

Contact us, and we will ensure your data is cleared from our system.

Data Control Contact

If you ever wish to reach out to us regarding the use of your data, we are reachable at [email protected]. Additionally, you can use our contact page, to reach out any time.

In short, your information is safe with us, and we greatly value your trust.

Thanks for using Learn Jazz Standards!

Terms of Use

Welcome to LearnJazzStandards.com!

We’ve created this page so that you (and any visitor to LearnJazzStandards.com) will understand the terms and conditions that govern your use of this website.

If you continue to browse and use this website you are agreeing to comply with and be bound by the following terms and conditions, which together with our privacy policy comprise our (LearnJazzStandards.com’s) entire relationship with you.

Exclusion of Liability

The content found on any page of this website is for your general information and use only, and it is subject to change without notice.

Neither we nor any third parties provide any warranty or guarantee as to the accuracy, timeliness, performance, completeness or suitability of the information and materials found or offered on this website for any particular purpose.

You acknowledge that such information and materials may contain inaccuracies or errors and we expressly exclude liability for any such inaccuracies or errors to the fullest extent permitted by law.

Your use of any information or materials on this website is entirely at your own risk, for which we shall not be liable. It shall be your own responsibility to ensure that any products, services or information available through this website meet your specific requirements.

Indemnity

By accessing our website, you agree to indemnify and hold us harmless from all claims, actions, damages, costs and expenses including legal fees arising from or in connection with your use of our website.

Copyright Laws & Intellectual Property

This website contains some material which is owned by or licensed to us. This material includes, but is not limited to, the design, layout, look, appearance and graphics. Reproduction is prohibited other than in accordance with the copyright notice, which forms part of these terms and conditions.

All logos, trademarks, and other intellectual property found on LearnJazzStandards.com are the property of their respective owners. They do not indicate ownership, affiliation, sponsorship, or any other relationship with LearnJazzStandards.com.

In addition, this website may also include links to other websites. These links are provided for your convenience to provide further information. They do not signify that we endorse those websites, and we have no responsibility for the content of those linked websites.

Unauthorized Use

Your use of this website and any dispute arising out of such use of the website is subject to the laws of the United States of America. Any unauthorized use of this website may give rise to a claim for damages and/or be a criminal offense.

Thanks, and enjoy LearnJazzStandards.com!

Return Policy for Products

Refund Policy

For play-alongs and eBooks:

Because these are digital downloads, and not returnable, we have a strict no refund policy. All purchases are final and cannot be reversed. Please be sure that you fully understand the product you are purchasing and what is and what is not included. Of course, if you ever have any questions about a product feel free to contact usor visit our FAQ page.

For 30 Days to Better Jazz Playing eCourse

Please make sure you completely understand the product you are buying before purchasing.

14 Day 100% Money Back Guarantee

  • This guarantee lasts 14 days, which completely covers almost half of the course, enough for you to observe its’ effectiveness.
  • We can’t guarantee you will be Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, or John Coltrane in 2 weeks. We’d be suspicious of anyone who could promise that. Becoming a better jazz musician is a process and it requires work.
  • If you’re not happy with the quality of this program…send us an email and showing you did the work. We’ll refund 100% of your money (We’ll even eat the credit-card processing fees) and we’ll part as friends. We believe in the power of this course and so we’ll take responsibility for it.

Rights of use

All digital products are for the use of the individual customer only. Redistribution or reselling of our digital products is strictly prohibited and a violation of United States and New York State law.

Learn Jazz Standards Messaging Terms & Conditions

Effective Date:

This SMS message program is a service of Learn Jazz Standards. By providing your cell phone number, you agree to receive recurring automated promotional and personalized marketing text messages (e.g., SMS/MMS cart reminders, sale notices, etc) from Learn Jazz Standards. These messages include text messages that may be sent using an automatic telephone dialing system, to the mobile telephone number you provided when signing up or any other number that you designate. You give Learn Jazz Standards permission to send text messages to the enrolled cell phone number through your wireless phone carrier, unless and until you end permission per these Terms & Conditions. Consent to receive automated marketing text messages is not a condition of any purchase. Message & data rates may apply.

Message frequency may vary. Learn Jazz Standards reserves the right to alter the frequency of messages sent at any time, so as to increase or decrease the total number of sent messages. Learn Jazz Standards also reserves the right to change the short code or phone number from which messages are sent and we will notify you if we do so.

Not all mobile devices or handsets may be supported and our messages may not be deliverable in all areas. Learn Jazz Standards, its service providers and the mobile carriers supported by the program are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.

By enrolling in the Learn Jazz Standards messaging program, you also agree to these messaging terms & conditions (“Messaging Terms”), our Learn Jazz Standards Terms of Use and Learn Jazz Standards Privacy Policy.

Cancellation

Text the keyword STOP, STOPALL, END, CANCEL, UNSUBSCRIBE or QUIT to the telephone number, long code, or short code that sends you our initial confirmation message to cancel. After texting STOP, STOPALL, END, CANCEL, UNSUBSCRIBE or QUIT to the telephone number, long code, or short code that sends you our initial confirmation message you will receive one additional message confirming that your request has been processed. If you change your preferences, it may take up to 48 hours for it to take effect. You acknowledge that our text message platform may not recognize and respond to unsubscribe requests that do not include the STOP, STOPALL, END, CANCEL, UNSUBSCRIBE or QUIT keyword commands and agree that Learn Jazz Standards and its service providers will have no liability for failing to honor such requests. If you unsubscribe from one of our text message programs, you may continue to receive text messages from Learn Jazz Standards through any other programs you have joined until you separately unsubscribe from those programs.

Help or Support

Text the keyword HELP to the telephone number, long code, or short code that sends you our initial confirmation message to receive a text with information on how to unsubscribe.

No Warranty

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT ALLOWED BY APPLICABLE LAW, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT THE MESSAGING PROGRAM IS PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED.

Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT ALLOWED BY APPLICABLE LAW, YOU AGREE THAT IN NO EVENT SHALL EITHER OF Learn Jazz Standards OR ANY PARTY ACTING ON BEHALF OF Learn Jazz Standards BE LIABLE FOR: (A) ANY CLAIMS, PROCEEDINGS, LIABILITIES, OBLIGATIONS, DAMAGES, LOSSES OR COSTS IN AN AGGREGATE AMOUNT EXCEEDING THE GREATER OF THE AMOUNT YOU PAID TO Learn Jazz Standards HEREUNDER OR $100.00; OR (B) ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE OR ANY OTHER DAMAGES. YOU AGREE EVEN IF Learn Jazz Standards HAS BEEN TOLD OF POSSIBLE DAMAGE OR LOSS ARISING OR RESULTING FROM OR IN ANY WAY RELATING TO YOUR USE OF THE Learn Jazz Standards MESSAGING PROGRAM. Learn Jazz Standards AND ITS REPRESENTATIVES ARE NOT LIABLE FOR THE ACTS OR OMISSIONS OF THIRD PARTIES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO DELAYS OR NON-DELIVERY IN THE TRANSMISSION OF MESSAGES.

Indemnity

To the maximum extent allowed by applicable law, you agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless Learn Jazz Standards, its directors, officers, employees, servants, agents, representatives, independent contractors and affiliates from and against any and all claims, damages, liabilities, actions, causes of action, costs, expenses, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, judgments or penalties of any kind or nature arising from or in relation to the these Messaging Terms or your receipt of text messages from Learn Jazz Standards or its service providers.

Dispute Resolution

  1. General. Any dispute or claim arising out of or in any way related to these Messaging Terms or your receipt of text messages from Learn Jazz Standards or its service providers whether based in contract, tort, statute, fraud, misrepresentation, or any other legal theory, and regardless of when a dispute or claim arises will be resolved by binding arbitration. YOU UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT, BY AGREEING TO THESE MESSAGING TERMS, YOU AND Learn Jazz Standards ARE EACH WAIVING THE RIGHT TO A TRIAL BY JURY OR TO PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS ACTION AND THAT THESE MESSAGING TERMS SHALL BE SUBJECT TO AND GOVERNED BY ARBITRATION.
  2. Exceptions. Notwithstanding subsection (a) above, nothing in these Messaging Terms will be deemed to waive, preclude, or otherwise limit the right of you or Learn Jazz Standards to: (i) bring an individual action in small claims court; (ii) pursue an enforcement action through the applicable federal, state, or local agency if that action is available; (iii) seek injunctive relief in aid of arbitration from a court of competent jurisdiction; or (iv) file suit in a court of law to address an intellectual property infringement claim.
  3. Arbitrator. Any arbitration between you and Learn Jazz Standards will be governed by the JAMS, under the Optional Expedited Arbitration Procedures then in effect for JAMS, except as provided herein. JAMS may be contacted at www.jamsadr.com. The arbitrator has exclusive authority to resolve any dispute relating to the interpretation, applicability, or enforceability of this binding arbitration agreement.
  4. No Class Actions. YOU AND Learn Jazz Standards AGREE THAT EACH MAY BRING CLAIMS AGAINST THE OTHER ONLY IN AN INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY AND NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY PURPORTED CLASS OR REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING. Further, unless both you and Learn Jazz Standards agree otherwise in a signed writing, the arbitrator may not consolidate more than one person’s claims, and may not otherwise preside over any form of a representative or class proceeding. You agree that, by agreeing to these Messaging Terms, you and Learn Jazz Standards are each waiving the right to a trial by jury or to participate in a class action, collective action, private attorney general action, or other representative proceeding of any kind.
  5. No Class Actions. YOU AND Learn Jazz Standards AGREE THAT EACH MAY BRING CLAIMS AGAINST THE OTHER ONLY IN AN INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY AND NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY PURPORTED CLASS OR REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING. Further, unless both you and Learn Jazz Standards agree otherwise in a signed writing, the arbitrator may not consolidate more than one person’s claims, and may not otherwise preside over any form of a representative or class proceeding.
  6. Modifications to this Arbitration Provision. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in these Messaging Terms, if Learn Jazz Standards makes any future change to this arbitration provision, you may reject the change by sending us written notice within 30 days of the change to Learn Jazz Standards’s contact information provided in the “Contact Us” section below, in which case this arbitration provision, as in effect immediately prior to the changes you rejected, will continue to govern any disputes between you and Learn Jazz Standards.
  7. Enforceability. If any provision of these Messaging Terms is found to be unenforceable, the applicable provision shall be deemed stricken and the remainder of these Messaging Terms shall remain in full force and effect.

Changes to the Messaging Terms

We reserve the right to change these Messaging Terms or cancel the messaging program at any time. By using and accepting messages from Learn Jazz Standards after we make changes to the Messaging Terms, you are accepting the Messaging Terms with those changes. Please check these Messaging Terms regularly.

Entire Agreement/Severability

These Messaging Terms, together with any amendments and any additional agreements you may enter into with us in connection herewith, will constitute the entire agreement between you and Learn Jazz Standards concerning the Messaging Program.

Contact

Please contact us with any inquiries or concerns at [email protected]

OUR PROVEN PROCESS FOR LEARNING JAZZ STANDARDS LIKE A PRO

Get our FREE eGuide “Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way” and follow the 5 simple steps for crushing it with jazz standards.

Learn Jazz Standards The Smart Way Cover

OUR PROVEN PROCESS FOR LEARNING JAZZ THEORY LIKE A PRO

Get our FREE “Jazz Theory Made Easy Fast Track Guide” and follow the 4 simple steps that make learning jazz theory easy.

Jazz Theory Made Easy Fast Track Guide Ebook Cover

OUR PROVEN PROCESS FOR IMPROVISING JAZZ SOLOS LIKE A PRO

Get our FREE “Jazz Improv Made Easy Fast Track Guide” and follow the 3 simple steps for improvising amazing jazz solos.

Jazz Improv Made Easy Fast Track Guide Ebook Cover

DOWNLOAD THIS CHORD CHART

Get our FREE "Using the LIST Method to Learn Jazz Solos by Ear" chord chart and our entire library of 200+ jazz standards!

Chord Chart

DOWNLOAD THIS CHORD CHART

Get our FREE "Using the LIST Method to Learn Jazz Solos by Ear" chord chart and our entire library of 200+ jazz standards!

Chord Chart

DOWNLOAD THIS CHORD CHART

Get our FREE "Using the LIST Method to Learn Jazz Solos by Ear" chord chart and our entire library of 200+ jazz standards!

Chord Chart