LJS 90: How to Get the Very Most Out of Your Jazz Solo Transcriptions

Welcome to episode 90 of the LJS Podcast where today we are answering a question from a listener who wants to know how to analyze solo transcriptions to get the most out of them. This episode discusses what you should look for, and how you can break the solo down to identify the most important parts. Listen in!
Listen to episode 90







Back in episode 88, I talked about my LIST process for learning jazz solos by ear. By using this method, you will learn a solo properly and internalize it to a high level. That's what we are after when we learn jazz solos.
But how do you go further to make sure you've extracted everything you can before moving on? That's the exact question a listener had, Cormack from Detroit, Michigan, when he emailed about this. He wanted to know how to analyze his solo transcription.
Analysis is important when observing jazz language. Learning material by ear is great, but it can be helpful to pair that with trying to get inside the mind of the musician you are transcribing.
So what exactly do you look for? That's exactly what I answer in today's show. A lot of time and energy gets put into learning an entire jazz solo, and I want to make sure you get everything you can out of it.
Here are some of things I talk about in this episode:

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Writing down the solo, and what to do if you don't know how.

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Analysis: what should you be looking for?

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Common chord progressions

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Uncommon or difficult chord progressions

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Phrasing- use of space and length of lines

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Solo development

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Chord tones and extensions being targeted in specific licks



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Taking parts into all 12 keys.


A particular lick or phrase

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If you're really ambitious, and entire chorus




So much can be learned from doing this and so I hope you take action today and spend the extra time to analyze a solo you have learned.
Important Links:
5 Sonny Rollins Licks Over "Tenor Madness"







Read the Transcript
All right. Welcome to another episode of the LJS Podcast. My name is Brent. I am the jazz musician behind the website LearnJazzStandards.com, which is a blog and a podcast all geared towards helping you become a better jazz musician. Thank you so much for being here today and hanging out with me, listening in. Whether it's your first time ever listening to the show or if you are a returning listener, I really appreciate you being here.
Today I've got a great show for you, and it's all inspired by an email I received from a listener. His name is Cormack. He's from Detroit, Michigan, and he wrote me an email that says, "Hi. Could you please do a podcast or a blog post on how to get the most out of transcriptions of solos after you've transcribed them? How do you analyze a solo so that it can be of most help to you?"
This is a great question, especially because back in episode 88, just a couple episodes ago, I talk about my LIST process for learning jazz solos by ear. LIST is an acronym. It stands for Listen, Internalize, Sing, and Transfer. So if you haven't listened to that episode, I encourage you to go back to episode 88 and check that one out. But today, I'm going to talk about, after you've done all that work ... because it is a lot of work, whenever you're learning an entire solo, it's really a time investment,