Spice Up Your Jazz Ballad Playing with Side Step 2-5’s - a podcast by Brent Vaartstra: Jazz Musician, Author, and Entrepreneur

Welcome to episode 236 of the LJS Podcast where today I show you a simple technique that will help you take your jazz ballad playing to the next level. One of the challenges of playing ballads is the slow tempo and chords that seem to last forever. Side step 2-5's will help you add more harmonic movement and have you sounding like a pro.



Listen to episode 236







Ballads can be some of the more difficult jazz standards to solo over top of because they're typically played at fairly slow tempos and there's usually a lot of space in between each chord. 



And now that may seem like a bit of a luxury for those who struggle with playing over up-tempos but believe me when I say that soloing over top of slow tempos on ballads can be just as difficult if not more difficult than playing on uptempos. 



So in today's episode, I'm going to be giving you a cool little technique called side step 2-5's that can actually help you fill in more of that space, create more harmonic movement and therefore, give you more options and more creativity in your jazz ballad playing.



In this episode:



1. Side Step #1: 2-5 replacing the V



2. Side Step #2: 2-5 replacing the vi



Important Links



1. LJS Inner Circle Membership (Access to ear training course)



2. LJS 59: 5 Tips for Playing Jazz Ballads Like an Expert

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Further podcasts by Brent Vaartstra: Jazz Musician, Author, and Entrepreneur

Website of Brent Vaartstra: Jazz Musician, Author, and Entrepreneur