The Voice Leading Lab:
Hearing Your Way Through Tunes
You’ve learned some standards. You know what 9s, 11s and 13s are. You’ve studied some modes. But what the hell do you do with all that? Why are you still getting lost on the changes, either failing to remember or failing to hear them? Why is it so hard to connect the intellectual understanding to the practical application?
It’s largely because you haven’t learned tunes thoroughly enough - not just with your mind, but with your ears. It turns out there’s a toolkit of simple exercises that solves that problem. You can apply these tools to any tune and streamline ear training, repertoire and the foundations of improv into one cohesive practice.
These exercises changed my playing and my ears by game-ifying practice and allowing me to discover melodic pathways through the changes.
If you want to stop losing your place in the tune, forgetting the melody and feeling unsure about what to play over certain chords, this will change things for you. It did for me.
I’m a Berklee College of Music alum and full-time musician, poet, and teacher based in California. You may already know of me through my instagram following, which to my surprise has ballooned in recent years to over 36K people. I post about things I’ve learned studying jazz, poetry, and songwriting. I have a sizable clientele of private students, but for a long time I’ve wanted to create a course where I can work with more advanced students on the organic approaches that made learning jazz and harmony infinitely more rewarding for me.
Voice leading is the art of arranging melodic and harmonic lines to move smoothly - that is, with minimal movement. It lies at the core of good playing and good writing. It’s the principle behind developing melodic motifs over the changes and behind elegant comping.
The way to learn voice leading is by experience - through certain games and exercises that train your ears, mind and body to voice lead in real time over a real tune. It takes work, but it’s a rewarding and very organic process. If you work this way, it will take longer to learn a song - but you’ll go much deeper. You’ll never forget the changes or the melody, and you’ll always be able to hear where you are.
Who this is for:
This is for intermediate/advanced students who:
Know what 9s, 11s, and 13s are, but can’t necessarily recall what the 9th of an Eb7 is off the top of their head
Know most of the notes on the fretboard
Know some jazz standards, but have a hard time remembering changes, still get lost on certain parts of the tune, or are fuzzy on the exact melody
Know (at least) their 12 major scales
Understand modes but don’t necessarily see the application to soloing
Understand basic functional harmony, intervals and 7th chord construction
Are willing to do the necessary work detailed in this course
What you will learn:
How to voice lead through standards using melody and chords
How to lay a foundation for effortless soloing, chord melody, and comping
How to recall any chord tone or extension for any chord
How to infer harmony from the melody alone
How to memorize and never forget chord changes and melodies
How to always know and HEAR what note you’re on, and how it relates to the harmony
What colors are available on various chords
Course Overview
Part 1: Prep Work
Learning the notes on the fretboard
Chord spellings and memorization techniques
The importance of singing what you play
WTF do I play over this chord: an overview of available colors
Part 2: Learning Tunes
Learning the bass motion
Common cycles of harmonic movement
Learning the melody/inferring harmony
How to memorize changes and never forget them again
Part 3: Voice Leading
Voice leading exercises
Discovering chord voicings through exploration
Application of the voice leading principles to further study
What the Course Includes
One year of access to the video modules outlined above
A whole host of supplementary pdfs
Monthly 90-min group calls/Q&A - these are crucial as you can ask me clarifying questions and also learn from the other students. The vibe is fairly relaxed and informal - you can ask me anything that’s coming up based on the curriculum. Everyone is in a slightly different place musically, so I want to get to know you and help you as best I can.
Access to a community board where you can post questions and progress and connect with other students. I will check these posts regularly and do my best to answer all questions. I’ll also provide updates here as the curriculum will be evolving - your feedback and questions will shape this course!
Pricing
$997 / year - Founders Price
As founding participants in this course, your feedback is not only welcome but encouraged. If anything isn’t clear or you want to see something more, speak up! We’ll be updating the content regularly and it will be tailored to the needs that you express.