HOW TO PLAY BETTER SOLOS 

You've got your scales down cold, you practice arpeggios with a metronome, and you use a tuner when blowing long tones.  You've been at this for a while. You show up regularly at open mics and jam sessions, but, your improvised solos are lacking.  Here's how to fix that:

Transcribe.

Meaning, transcribe solos. There's only about a billion to choose from. Find one you like, and copy it as best you can with your own instrument.  Then, do it again, and again, and again. That's called studying the masters. All artists do this, whether they are painters or writers or accomplished musicians.

So why don't more intermediate-level jazz and blues improv students transcribe? Because it is a time-consuming and challenging process, especially in a world that offers you ten killer saxophone licks in three easy lessons.

Let me break it down and simplify the process for you.

1. Choose a solo within your skill range. Giant Steps? Not at first. The goal is to be able to play what you hear, and, to finish what you start.

2. Play it over and over. And over and over again. Listen. Repeat. Do this so much that in time you can sing the solo note-for-note. Yes - sing it first. I studied with a jazz tenor monster player named Robert Dove for a while, and I recall him saying "You can't play it if you can't sing it."

3. Now pick up your instrument and start the process by playing short passages and then replicating them. Mimic as best you can the performer's shading, dynamics, bends, as well.  Some think you should write the transcription down. I find it more valuable to transcribe directly to the horn and memorize the solo at the same time you are learning it.

4. Make it easy on yourself. Use any of the many software programs and apps available to assist you in transcribing. Back in the day when I was a kid, we had these things called turntables and we played records on them. You'd pick the needle up and put it back down, over and over and over, until you could get the passage into your head. Now, I use Transcribe!

5. The benefits of transcribing are many: learning how a master craftsman develops a solo line and handles harmonic changes, development of your critical listening abilities, enhancing your ear training, and improving your memory, to name a few.

The final step in this process is to play along with the recorded version. Remember to go easy on yourself -- it takes as long as it takes, so give the process time. Transcribing is hard at first. It gets easier with repetition, so finish what you start.

A shortcut is to purchase solos from the catalogs of the many transcribers our there and play along with the recorded version. Charles McNeal is a great source of material.  Good? Yes. But in my opinion, you will get so much more from learning with your ears instead of your eyes. Do that first, and then study a manuscript.

I'll leave you with this: transcribing a solo is the single best thing you will ever do to learn the craft of improvisation.  Only do it if you want to get better.

Key words: transcribe, sax improvisation, saxophone lessons, jazz, transcription, John Coltrane, Giant Steps, Transcribe!, Charles McNeal, Robert Dove