I’m always fascinated by the process of making things, and the internal struggles to overcome. One such example is reaching out to other musicians you…

So you’re writing a tune, you’ve got an idea or two but now you’re stuck! Here are some ideas to try to help you move…

TODAY I’m going to improve your soloing. Plain and simple. In the next 10 minutes. You’re going to find out if you can play a good idea. You’ll…

These are some of my favourite books and articles about music, musicians and the creative process. Drawing on the Right Side Of The Brain –…

1. Experiment. 2. Limpets. 3. Mentorial nudge. 4. Next. 1. Mess around. 2. Focus. 3. Edit. 4. Move on. 1. Gather. 2. Exclude. 3. Decide….

At one place I teach at, there’s a class where the students have to perform a new tune every week and improvise on it. I…

Sometimes, it’s good to get lost in the land of Nerd. To do things for no reason other than that it might be interesting. To…

The immersion I like is the kind that seems pointless. You don’t know if what you’re doing will result in anything. Probably not, but you…

Two notions for you to entertain: Painting is adding. Sculpting is subtracting. Adding means bringing things together. Perhaps there’s a sense of starting from nothing….

          Now you see it, now you don’t

The players are set up in a semi-circle. A woman sits alone at a desk at the front. Still. She says nothing for the first…

I love artists’ sketchbooks. The quick explosion of an idea. Captured on a page.

The scene is the people. It is not 52nd Street or music college. Those are places. Usually there will be lots of like-minded people there….

Do more daydreaming. It’s good for you.

Just did a gig with a bass player and a singer last night, and I haven’t done that for a while. It reminded me that…

  Drummer Leon Parker would sometimes play whole gigs with just a cymbal. Pretty daring, but what an amazing way to learn! If you want…

I said in a previous post that creativity is where imagination meets reality. It’s very easy to start the creative process. You just imagine something,…

What was the thing that made you want to play? What was the best experience you’ve had playing music? What was the best gig you’ve…

I like to play from feeling. I’m not so excited by the idea of ‘thinking’ when coming up with some music, be it improvised or…

Just resist what you normally do. Do you play solos that start low and end high? Start high then. Start with a barrage of 32nd…

  How do you define a thing? For example, if you ask, ‘what is a bus?’, you could start to define that by setting out…

  So the idea is to give yourself different ways to learn something. You may find if you try to, for example, demonstrate something you…

How does one become more aware? Have you ever listened to boiling water for more than, say, 9 hours straight? If not, surround yourself with…

I was at a party the other day and a chap told me a story about a friend of his. No idea if it was…

Here’s the playlist. Add the greatest groove/feel you ever heard on a record. One thing I noticed from doing the last four posts about moments,…

Here are two ideas to do with space The first comes from artist Betty Edwards. In her fantastic book, Drawing on the Right Side of the…

The idea is to solo over the chord progression above but you’re only allowed to use the root notes of each chord. Only play ‘A’…

1. Mess about with these cycles. 2. Find something you like. 3. Listen to it over and over and over. 4. Imagine a photograph to…

Here’s a listening exercise: Take a recording of yourself and a recording of someone else; someone whose playing you like, maybe. As you listen to…

  Imagination is Everything   How much time do you spend trying to get better at using your imagination? Do you think it’s one of…