Digital Pill – working musicians talk about their lives

Doug de Vries gives a lesson on how to doubble your chord output when playing jazz on the guitar. Using the standard “All the things you are” he quickly demonstrates how to add interest and contrast to your accompaniment using this simple technique.

Click > HERE < to download a pdf of this lesson

Have a listen to Doug’s music on iTunes

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Leo gives a sax lesson on how to keep the various registers of the sax in tune. Using the interval of the 6th and some handy tips he picked up from studying J. S. Bach’s cello suites.

Click > HERE < to download a pdf of the lesson

Listen to Leo’s music here

Leo’s website

And then there’s all the Oxo Cubans albums on iTunes

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Dean explains how to slide effortlessly into the altissimo register of the sax in one long continuously ascending note.
Click > HERE < to download a pdf of the lesson

Listen to Dean’s music here

The Pearly Shells

Zydeco Jump

The Vanguards

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Anton Delecca explains the uses of chromatic scales in jazz improvisation and as a warm up excercise for sax. In this video, Anton describes three excersices for warm up that improve tone and dexterity and are very useful to enliven passages of improvisation.

This video works together with a pdf of the lesson available here

Visit Anton website

Anton’s album is available on iTunes

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Paul Williamson explains the uses of bebop scales in jazz improvisation. In this video, Paul’s first post for Digital Pill, he describes the construction of bebop scales, jazz articulation, the use of a metronome and how bebop scales place the chord tones firmly ON the beat to create an “inside” sound in improvisation. The video together with the pdf download explain the uses of bebop scales over major, dominant and minor scales.

Click the links below to download a pdf of each of the lessons
Lesson 1
Lesson 2
Lesson 3
Lesson 4
Lesson 5
Lesson 6

Listen to Paul’s music here

Paul playing with Way out West on myspace

Way Out West – Old Grooves for New Streets available from iTunes

and from CDbaby

And last but not least check out this footage of Paul I shot at the gig

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Dave Evans explains the uses of the accordion bellows shake. In this video, Dave describes the uses of the double and triple bellows shake in jazz, zydeco and cabaret music. He includes detailed instructions about how to perform the shake as well as techniques for adding accents to play with the rhythmic aspects of accordion.

Listen to Dave’s music here

Dave playing with the Band Who Knew Too Much on myspace

The Band Who Knew Too Much CDs available here

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Doug DeVries shares some ideas on how to add harmonic and rhythmic variation to a piece of music. In this lesson he uses one of his own compositions – Astoria – as an example of voice leading in harmony as well as examples of how to increase interest by varying the rhythm.

Visit Doug on these links

His website dougdevries.com

Doug’s albums on iTunes

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Ray discusses using a combination of tone and slap sounds on the djembe to produce rolls of various lengths and their use in contemporary percussion soloing.

More information about Ray’s classes, projects and recording can be found at raypereira.com

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In part 2 of a series Doug DeVries shares some ideas on how to add rhythmic variation to a piece of music. In this lesson he demonstrates how to increase interest by varying the rhythm.

Visit Doug on these links

His website dougdevries.com

Doug’s albums on iTunes

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