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I suggest reading a jazz theory book. I think that if you got through this Mark Levine book it wouldn’t be nearly as big of a mystery: https://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Theory-Book-Mark-Levine/dp/1883217040/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=jazz+theory+book&qid=1610722853&sr=8-1
This isn’t tied specifically to bass but it has a load of good info. Then if you want to get a Real Book (bass clef version), you can start really playing and improving jazz lines in bass easily.
Well, in that vein I would recommend daily mindfulness meditation, practicing letting go of thoughts so that you can get out of your own head.
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Spend more time in nature.
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LSD would also help but that's risky business.
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I realize these are weird suggestions but to me it sounds like your problem isn't directly musical. You obviously have the technical ability to play the notes you need. And the fact that you can't even hum or sing an improvised melody really says it all.
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You need to let go and play from the heart. Feel every note.
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Can you dance?
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Actually, I even have a practical, genuinely useful suggestion. Read this book!
https://www.amazon.com/Effortless-Mastery-Liberating-Master-Musician/dp/156224003X
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Switching to saxophone isn't going to solve anything and you know it. This is a psychological or even spiritual problem.
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Do you believe in God?
The Jazz theory book is pretty good (UK Amazon link: The Jazz Theory Book https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1883217040/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_1iIPBb6419EEZ)
Otherwise the ABRSM music theory books are pretty good as well but a little boring to read...
Learn as many melodies as you can. Transcribing solos has been mentioned, but melodies should come first. (Solos are just melodies that improvisers have already chewed over.)
Melody - not scales - is where your improvisation vocabulary comes from. Melody shows you how to make phrases, how to pick notes out of chord sequence and make rhythmic patterns.
If you don't already have a Real Book, get one (Bb edition for your instrument). Pick a few tunes you've heard of, play them, find recordings of them, listen to how the musicians play the tunes as well as how they improvise on them. You need the "accent" as well as the "vocabulary", and you can only get that from listening - it can't be notated.
"The Real Book" would be a good place to start. It is a widely recognised book of jazz standards which you can work through. This is the ideal place to practice and play through any of the tricks/theory that you learn elsewhere. Also, don't limit yourself to just flute specific resources!
The Art of Bop Drumming by John Riley is generally seen as the best introductory book (don’t be fooled - it’s plenty challenging even for intermediate drummers). Here’s an Amazon link but support your local bookstore if you can!
The Art of Bop Drumming: Book & CD (Manhattan Music Publications) https://www.amazon.com/dp/089898890X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_kagqEbX7EYR83
The stock answer is going to be to get The Real Book. There are plenty of other fake books out there, some I think are actually better either due to selection of tunes or editorial choices (I really like Sher Music's "The New Real Book" series). But a lot of these are just subjective issues of what tunes you want in some books.
Within reason, you can take a lot of tunes that might be considered quick and technical and just play them in a ballad style (or vice versa, playing a ballad up tempo).
What you're looking for is almost less song specific and more style specific... It's a real cocktail style. None of the lead sheets or fake books are really gonna give you that particular bit though. It's an issue of your interpretation.
But you seem to want them written out and I honestly am not familiar with too many books that actually are written out. However, you might wanna check out Doug McKenzie's youtube channel. You can buy a DVD of his arrangements with sheets and videos (and he'll also send you a link to a zip immediately). For the amount of arrangements it's an absolute steal.
I haven't gotten around to reading it myself yet, nor am I any good at playing/understanding jazz, but people around here seem to recommend Mark Levine's book on jazz theory quite often: http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Theory-Book-Mark-Levine/dp/1883217040
May progress na sa jazz guitar study ko. I can now create chord progressions in any key! Diatonic pa lang. Can also form chords all around the neck and apply basic solos. I plan to focus on rhythym and chord melody/comping, so I don't see myself doing Pat Martino solos. I like Joe Pass more.
I'm using this book. Bought this back in February. It's a shame I can't write a review on how good this book is dahil kulang pa daw ang Amazon purchase ko, lame rule. Maglalagay sana ako ng "ang bait ni kuya driver".
I picked up guitar kasi hirap pag bass lang alam.
Books aren't the answer for everything but for voicings I would pick up this book and burn on it til it's all second nature
https://www.amazon.com/Stylistic-II-V7-Voicings-Keyboardists/dp/1562240846
Here is the Amazon link I use with many students. I think you might find it enlightening, as would anyone who thinks the only music theory out there is found in 1st-year classical music studies. Seriously, I can write 4 part harmony, but many types of music aren't like that.... come on friend... open your mind, and get over your need to correct people on perceived tiny details.
https://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Theory-Book-Mark-Levine/dp/1883217040
I'd recommend the Jazz Theory Book by Mark Levine.
It's probably the most comprehensive book out there, but there are caveats: it assumes you can already play your instrument(s), that you understand score and you're willing to practice.
So not for beginners, but it's one of those tomes that you'll keep under your pillow for a lifetime of learning.
Good luck on the treatment!
Effortless Mastery: Liberating the Master Musician Within, Book & Includes Online Downloadable code https://www.amazon.com/dp/156224003X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_37BHP5ASJYV510SPBM8S
Becoming the Instrument: Lessons on Self-Mastery from Music to Life https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09M7RX4PK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_046ZGHTY6Y827NGD9DBY?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
I think it's a worthwhile investment. The examples are clearly written, and even if it's above your head, you'll grow into it.
https://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Theory-Book-Mark-Levine/dp/1883217040
Check out the images from inside the book and see if you think it's a good fit... Ultimately, with youtube and the internet, you can probably get everything you need to learn your major scales, and Patterns for Jazz will give you an abundant amount of material to practice them inside-out and upside-down...
So you don't really need Levine's book... but it seems like a standard for folks who want to go deeper.
Mahal pala ng buyandship. So bumili ako ng libro na worth 1,300 pesos. 2.3 pounds ang bigat. Tapos 'yung shipping fee nila 620 pesos per pound, rounded up pa haha. Tingin ko okay sa ibang items, 'yung 25-pack string ng D'addario, wala akong makita sa Pinas nun.
Sinubukan ko lang 'yung bilis ng delivery, pero hindi na ako uulit pag libro dahil ugi sa bigat. Mas okay pa 'yung direct Amazon na lang.
Have you got a Fake Book (Real Book) Yet? Just a book of a ton of Jazz Standards. Hook that up with the "iReal Pro" app and hours of Jazz Playing Fun!!!
Hope this helps
Peace
Personally, I agree with u/65TwinReverbRI that the best way to learn the tunes - to start with - is from notation, to get the melody and the basic chords.
Then listen to recordings of the song by famous jazz musicians - especially (in your case) pianists - to see how they treat them: how (or if) they adapt and phrase the melody, whether they adapt the chords, and how they improvise.
Most (if not all!) jazz beginners learn tunes from the Real Book - which should be an essential purchase. It contains around 400 standards, melody and chord symbols, transcribed from reference recordings.
If you're already a reasonably skilled pianist just begining with jazz, I recommend watching a few Hal Galper videos, to get an idea of the conventional jazz approach and attitudes to improvisation. Chick Corea also has good lessons on youtube.
I'd also recommend lessons with a jazz pianist, but for self-teaching you need to start by learning a handful of jazz standards. The most essential purchase is a Real Book - the bible of amateur and semi-pro jazz musicians for a few decades now.
Jazz is all about improvisation, of course, but that begins from amassing a vocabulary: which is partly the melodies of those standards, and partly licks and phrases from players you admire. IOW, there is the raw material on the one hand (tunes, chords, changes), and there is the style on the other (the way jazz musicians play). The "language" and the "accent", if you like.
So you obviously need to do a lot of listening and copying, as well as reading and playing. For tips on attitude, ways of approaching jazz feel and improvisation (for players already fairly skilled technically), another thing you can do is watch some Hal Galper videos.
It kind of sounds like what you're looking for is a Real Book, you can buy it in both Bb for your tenor sax and C for your piano-playing fiance. Lots of the standards she's asking about will be in there, and there will always be new things for you to work on.
Get The Real Book. and play through each song. You'll start to recognize patterns and repeated chord sequences.
if you are talking about this edition, it says online audio, so you just download the tracks.
If you mean a used / older copy, it had a CD I believe.
Check out The Art of Bop Drumming and Beyond Bop Drumming if you haven’t already.
Well that’s a different take on what I thought you were saying. Check out this book. https://www.amazon.com/-/es/dp/1562240846/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_imm_39E0JXXA84SGAS396TFQ
The best jazz pianist I know swears by this and so do I. If you were to practice everything in this book as it is written, you’d be a virtuosic jazz pianist. You’d have a full knowledge of changes and how to employ them.
Edited for spelling. I’m on mobile.
How much jazz do you know?
How many jazz standards can you play? (Melody and chords)
How many jazz standards can you play from memory?
This is what you need to learn, not more theory. Theory is useful for helping you understand chord sequences - at least in being able to see the patterns in standard progressions - but the most important thing you need is familiarity with the material. And that's melodies first, chord second.
Naturally you need reasonable technical skill too, good knowledge of your instrument. but after 10 years playing you should have enough - enough to get started anyway. Just make sure you're familiar with keys of F, Bb, Eb and Ab! Especially ii-V-I's in each key and in their relative minors too. (Studying some standard progressions will soon get you familiar with them.)
I second the recommendations to get a Real Book - make that your bible. (Yes, it's the "C instruments" one you want.)
There's also the iReal pro app for practice.
The Real Book. Though he also mentions that players should rather rely on their ears, because the Real Book contains words that have been propagated since its first version.
Also, this book: Jazz Guitar, Complete Edition (Book & CD) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0739066374/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_hyboFb0RRZDK5
I don’t have this book but from what I see in it and from what reviewers have said, it looks like a more complete and easier to learn from book than the Mickey Baker book I previously mentioned. The Mickey Baker book kinda requires that you already know a good amount of music theory, which I do. If you are a newbie, the Jody Fisher one might be better.
My friend! Check this book out. Effortless Mastery by Kenny Werner. The ideas in it helped me immensely when I was going through a rough patch in my life and music. As a pianist, you may appreciate Mr. Werner's perspective. I still refer to it from time to time when I lose the path...
Additionally, here's something my dad wrote to me years ago that I'd like to share with you:
>"So you are beginning on a path of wisdom! You can do it with music. That way is as good as another. In Zen, we sit with our problem. We sit with our pain. We watch it. We don't try to end it or get out or it. We don't try to make it go away. This takes a kind of courage. When you watch it, you are outside of it. Then you can see that the pain is not you. It is just what it is. It is just pain all by itself. When you really get to that realization, quite naturally, the pain is no longer inside of you. It might just evaporate, or you might see all of the reasons for why it came upon you. Most likely you will not be finished with it, and will have to deal with it again and again. Some of these things are short term problems, and some of them are lifetime projects. But what else do we have to do. What comes up is our own problem to solve. It is our own challenge. Don't think that anybody gets a free ride here. We are not here by accident. The things that are happening to us may appear to be random from our limited perspective, but then some thirty years later you will discover why that thing happened to you."
It's great that you're seeing a therapist... you should be proud of yourself that you have the emotional maturity and self-awareness to speak to someone regularly... that is unique!... also, coming here indicates you are resourceful. These are powerful traits.
Wishing you the best!
A fakebook is a book of sheet music that gives the "skeleton" of a bunch of songs, so to speak. Instead of providing a completely written out score it just gives the melody and chord symbols... and maybe lyrics. It allows a skilled musician to "fake" their way through a song they don't really know.
Jazz musicians often use the (in)famous fakebook called "The Real Book" which you can get on Amazon or most music stores: https://smile.amazon.com/Real-Book-I-C-ebook/dp/B002FL3JA0/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=the+real+book&qid=1598140410&s=books&sr=1-1
A lot of elitist jazz musicians criticize the use of fakebooks and feel the only way to "really" learn jazz is by listening to recordings and transcribing/learning tunes that way. That's true to some degree, but nobody knows every tune, so having a fakebook handy is nice in a pinch. And I think fakebooks are indispensable for someone who's just starting out.