Most Popular Lessons

🚨 Play a Great Blues in 3 Months – Week 9

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been expanding our line vocabulary using real jazz language:

• Guide tones
• Chromaticism
• Augmented sounds

This week, we take another important step by focusing on two essential dominant sounds:

👉 Whole tone
👉 Diminished

These sounds show up constantly in jazz improvisation, especially over dominant chords, and they create a strong sense of tension and forward motion.

Check out the attached PDF!

I'm working on Monk's Pannonica, which was written for Pannonica de Koenigswarter. Monk spent the last 10 years in the upstairs of her Apartment in New York. 

This is a great tune. I've been working on it for a little bit now. Ballads are great because you can use the pedal more and your sound can be 'wetter'.

Here are two versions of the tune. Of course a Monk version and then a Chick Corea version. He does it a little quicker.

Also is attached is an etude and an mp3 of the etude. I did the etude on my malletkat. I think I have a good vibe sound!

🚨 Harmony Without Chords – Pt. 3: Chromatic Approaches with Dominant Alterations

In Part 3, we continue working with chromatic approaches to the 3rds and 7ths of dominant chords, but with an important addition: altered tones introduced in the second bar of each dominant. These alterations create stronger harmonic tension and help pull the line more clearly toward the next chord change.

What do you guys think? This is what I think and how i approach all this for better or worse!!!! 

I mention the Gary Burton Coffee Hang in this lesson. Here's the link to it. 

https://www.vibesworkshop.com/video-embed/gary-burton-june-coffee-hang/tonymiceli/060125

Here's my version of Waltz New - a contrafact of Someday My Prince Will Come

Great lesson to break into playing tunes solo. 

Here are links to all the other vids: 

Misty Intro

Lesson 1

Lesson 2

Check out the attached PDF!

Just some stuff to think about with double sticking as well as a way to practice double sticking. 

i do feel that we want to do as much alternate sticking as we can. I know some disagree including David Friedman. So take it for what it's worth to you. But I give you some ways to work on double sticking.

Workshop Recap - 3rds and 7ths Pt. 1 by Behn Gillece

🚨 Tune Deep Dive: “Wave” – Pt. 2: Guide Tone Movement in the Intro 🚨

In Part 2, we dig into the intro vamp of Wave (Dm7–G7) and explore guide tone movement. This exercise builds from a single voice to two, three, and finally four voices, showing how harmonic richness can grow naturally out of simple lines. By working through these patterns, you’ll train your ear and hands to connect chords smoothly while keeping the groove intact.

In this lesson we’ll: