I have seen many serious and dedicated young jazz players hit plateaus in their development. Often these students practice for many hours and do not get the results that they should be getting given the amount of time and energy that they are putting into practicing. Examples are students that are horn players repeating themselves in their phrasing, soloists getting stuck playing the same finger patterns on chord changes, drummers playing the same drum fills when trading fours, or guitarists/pianists getting stuck with the same comping patterns.
The results can be that students get upset with their own playing or they just get bored with their routines. I want to list three things that students can do to avoid being upset or discontent with their own progress. As jazz players we have to impose some structure or parameters on what we are practicing in order to improve on our skills. We can’t just jam out on standards in a practice room and expect to get better at music.
HOW TO GET AHEAD
Use a Metronome
A metronome is a CONCRETE measure of how well/fast/accurate that you can play something. This can provide accurate measure of success for a young player in their study. Jazz players can practice a variety of scales and arpeggios with a metronome but melodies of tunes and transcriptions could be practiced with a metronome as well. Young horn players working on articulations should certainly be using a metronome.
I would recommend that a student practice something and max out the tempo, write down the maximum tempo, then return the next day to try to beat that tempo. Over the course of days and weeks, a student should try to use the metronome as a tool to not only gauge progress, but to celebrate the marked success!
Set Goals
The expectation with all of my students right now is that they learn a minimum of one tune a week (melody and chord changes) and complete a minimum of one transcription every two weeks. These are concrete goals that provide a structure in the study of jazz music. Additional goals could be things like drummers learning various scale varieties on vibes, guitarists/pianists working on solo renditions or reharmonizations of tunes, or students writing contrafacts over jazz standards.
Transcribe
Transcription opens doors. These are a few things that can be learned from memorized transcriptions:
gaining more technical facility on our instruments
expanding the nuance and sound of our instrument by emulating an artist
new ideas for phrasing
new harmonic concepts
a deeper understanding of a harmonic concept
a deeper understanding of a set of chord changes
Jazz artists—what structures do you use to keep yourself engaged in your practice sessions?