I have a degree in jazz guitar and it still never clicked until I just started transcribing. You always need to keep in mind that almost all of the guys that made this music did it  without a teacher and just by playing, listening, copying, etc. and as soon as I started just copying other players, I got better almost immediately, a few weeks of daily practice maybe. Learn licks and force them into your playing, transcribe full solos and play them on repeat every day for like countless repeats, that kind of stuff. Crazy growth.

Thank you again for another great lesson. What makes this stand apart from a bunch of other transcribe type videos is that your focuses on the rhythm which I think is spot on. For me this really is the thing that matters it is given this least amount of attention by teachers

this is a very nice lesson

This is great. I have been messing around on rock, blues and classical guitar for decades but jazz is bizarrely intimidating and elusive as heck.

Yes, another great succinct and very clear lesson on how to start transcribing, and learning timing and feel, in playing Jazz.
I know I don't transcribe enough myself, there aren't any shortcuts. Only way forward is doing the hard work. Great roadmap here to start getting a Jazz feel. Great vid, thank  you Christian.

As someone who is really struggling to "break through" to competent solos that can cover a chorus or even an 8 bar section, this makes a lot of sense. The listening and singing always works like a really good primer to get my brain into gear and I think it might be because it also attunes me to the rhythms as much as the melodic language, exactly like you say here with the one-note exercise

Like learning a language by imitating the way people speak vs trying to construct sentences in real time with grammar rules. For those of us that have learned to speak new languages we know it's much more of the former and less of the latter.

Your website is great by the way.

Wise words - I’ll definitely try that one note exercise - rhythm is criminally overlooked I think!!! (If you play a tune most people know using the correct rhythm but with all the wrong notes, most people will still recognise it!!!)

Great advice thanks. I’ll try the one note exercise more often.

One way I self-discipline myself to not overthink my improv is to get central on playing with space. When space is applied, you can't really overthink things because you're not playing. The way I view it is, if I'm offended or frustrated by space, I'm probably over thinking it.

I do this with blues. It does indeed become a much faster process with practise. After a little time you might even find yourself identifying the actual note you want, perfect pitch style...

*Developing perfect pitch is unlikely though. Sorry

Edit: this is a great lesson 👍

great lesson. I'm just going back to transcribing Charlie Parker heads and lines this past week.

Great video, Christian. Honestly, I think what withholds many of us from better rhythmic playing is the focus on following the changes. That in itself can be so demanding that it leaves little room for rhythmical improvisation. I certainly agree, though, that that is a worthy goa.

I like the one note exercise! It was good enough for Neil Young anyway

It s def a fine line between overthinking and underthinking 😅 .

I ve met people on both extreme spectrums. People who copy phrases perfectly but dont try to somehow understand how they work so they dont know how to use them in other situations

On the other hand i also meet people who transcribe the notes and overanalyze the phrase to the point where they also cant use them in other contexts 😂😂

Anyway nice video

In my humble experience, it's learning the tune and not dissecting it into theory. Jazz tunes are living beings, not cadavers to be dissected and studied.

There's that scene in "Bird" where Forrest Whittaker is talking to Diana Venora's character about how he tried to jam two tunes together and "it didn't fit." That scene, in my humble opinion, really eccentuates the respect for, and understanding of, a tune as something whole unto itself. (He didn't say "Hey honey, I jammed on a I vi ii V while Dizzy played a I IV V mixolydian!" Pfft.)

To really give life to a tune, you need to mire in the tune, understand where it came from and even know the lyrics - even if it's just played instrumentally. I guarantee you'll never play, for example, "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" the same way after understanding Mingus's grief over the sudden  loss of Lester Young. You can't really give life to without it. Each tune has its own story to tell.

It can be tough to be courageous and do what your heart feels in a world of digital hyper-criticism and rigidity. But, playing jazz from your heart really requires letting go. Maybe, the path to genius is born in a little chance and chaos.

I watch a lot of the on line jazz (including Jens Larsen) but I started learning jazz on the guitar when I was 16. My teacher was my record player. There were no jazz guitar teachers where I lived (Central Jersey) unless you wanted to go to Manhattan.  And how does a 16 yr old get to NY? Any way there were some books you could buy but they were basically useless. But I'm glad I learned they way I did. Although I'm not a great musician I dont sound the same as a lot of others

Is it mostly Jazz players who learn songs from books, not Rock/Pop players? I don't really know, but another good video.

I think 99% of guitar learners UNDER-think. No such “think” as over-“think”… when it happens chances are the thinking is just incorrect or lacking completely!😅