Have you spent years learning theory... yet still feel like playing authentic jazz is always just out of your reach?
Have you been shedding scales for countless hours... only to feel like your improv lacks soul or personal connection to you?
Can you play a bunch of riffs... but feel like you have no sense of freedom? And exhaust your "bag of tricks" once you've played all the cool lines you memorized?
You know your basic drop chord inversions... but still get nervous when it comes to comping? And would rather hang back and let the piano player cover it?
Hi. I'm Jordan Klemons. And if you're anything like I used to be, you probably answered yes to a few of those. Right?
The bad news is that playing jazz on a masterful level isn't easy. Anyone who tells you otherwise is either trying to sell you something or simply has no idea what our art form is really all about - which means they're trying to sell themselves on something. Either way... someone's paying the price.
The good news is that if you've been putting in some serious time on your instrument and are still struggling... it's perfectly normal. Because the way it is taught often makes learning jazz more difficult... it's not your fault. And once I show you what the masters are doing differently from the rest of us during their practice time and you begin implementing these ideas, you will start seeing big changes in your music... Quickly!
Not only were these guys NOT pushing me to think about more and more advanced things all the time, but they were oftentimes asking me to step back away from the complex stuff and get more personal and playful with the fundamentals. To work on application and creativity.
The industrial jazz complex attempts to boil down and teach jazz via two approaches - mental and physical. Meaning they want you to learn theory and ideas (mental) and they want you to develop muscle memory by shedding scales, arpeggios, riffs, chord voicings, etc (physical).
We're led to believe that as we learn more theory and memorize more scales, arpeggios, riffs, and chord voicings... that our musicianship will automatically grow along with this. This is an unspoken assumption passed on from teacher to student based on HOW jazz is taught in school, YouTube videos, books, and online program.
In the beginning, this is generally how things start. When we FIRST learn basic theory 101 and start discovering and practicing scales and arpeggios, we do hear WHAT APPEARS to be a growth in our musicianship... our creativity... the quality of our playing seems to improve. But this is sort of like putting training wheels on a bicycle and thinking that we're suddenly become a better cyclist. It feels like we're riding... but really... we're being artificially propped up.
... that you had a step-by-step process for internalizing the fundamentals of advanced, modern jazz harmony and improvisation, directly from the masters
... you could stop worrying about memorizing "more complicated chord scale theory" and start focusing on creating more musical progress
... every time you finished a solo, you walked away feeling like you really said something harmonically and melodically...
... you didn't need to rely on the same carpel-tunnel-inducing voicings or pre-memorized and academic sounding riffs that come across as disjointed and inauthentic and left you feeling unsure what to play next once you've used up all your "tricks"... but could actually improvise using simple fundamentals that allowed you to stay present and musical in the moment.
... that other musicians came by after you finished to tell you how much they dug your playing to ask what your approach to improv and harmony was...
Sounds pretty cool, right?
Well you don't have to imagine anymore. Because... it's here.
Each day in our '7 Days To Melodic Minor Mastery' jazz guitar accelerator program is laid out to help you declutter the mess of excessively advanced theory ideas that we're told we need in order to progress in our modern jazz playing and give us the breathing room to actually develop our musicianship.
I will help you simplify your thinking down using the fundamentals, and learning to apply them like piano players do... but on the fretboard. We will use short daily videos and pdfs with simple lessons and effective practices and challenges to help you start creating bluesy phrases, chromatic filled bebop and modern jazz lines, and intriguing chord voicings... all in context of melodic minor... but without any of the excessive clutter.
If you were to want to move to NYC to get a masters degree and play with, and get mentored by, John Scofield, Peter Bernstein, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Mark Turner, Stefon Harris, and others - like I did - you would end up spending around $70,000 in tuition... not to mention the living costs of being in NYC for two to three years.
If you were just looking for their wisdom, without the degree - and wanted to cram it all into one, explosive, jam-packed week of transformational learning... there's a cheaper way to get it. You could pick a few of your favorite musicians and take private lessons from them... a couple per day.
If they each charged an average of $150 per lesson (assuming they even teach privately outside of a school program - which some of them don't)...
Add in...
This is much more affordable than school, but it's still easily going to cost you over $5000.
Because, as I mentioned, after studying with my teachers for three years I was struck by major medical problems that caused me to forget how to play. So I've already taken the time to make sense of everything I learned and turn it into a curriculum. The same curriculum I used to relearn and still use today to continue growing musically.
And unlike attending a university masters program or studying privately with a bunch of the greats for a week, I'm not just going to help you progress only from where you are right now...
... but with every rut you hit moving forward.
Because...
All of the video lessons and the PDFs... they're yours to revisit anytime you want.
And look, the mistake most musicians make when it comes to learning jazz is they think to themselves, "Yeah, I already know the theory. I just need to transcribe and shed." Both of those have their place in the journey... but it's very easy to focus on moving to the right on our graph with these practices. if we don't know what to work on and how to work on it... we can quickly fall into the trap of chasing after more and more advanced theory and complex muscle memory. This can keep you running into dead ends, falling into ruts, getting stuck in plateaus, and feeling frustrated and unsure how to maintain your inspiration and progress.
And then what happens? You jump on YouTube and waste hundreds of hours searching around for videos of players teaching you more theory... and we're suddenly dragged back into the grips of the industrial jazz complex.
What I'm offering you is a way out. Less complexity, not more. Less mental clutter, not more. Less reliance on challenging, pre-memorized voicings... and more freedom... more progress... more musicianship and development. This is not just a "close your eyes and feel it," program! This is a step-by-step system that compiles all of the wisdom I learned from my mentors into a practical approach to help you finally simplify advanced jazz improv and harmony and step up your playing so you can stop sitting out and start sitting in!
But unlike me, you won't have to mortgage a kidney to learn this wisdom. You won't have to pay $70,000 for this wisdom like the big universities and jazz programs charge. You won't have to pay the $5000 like you would to fly to NYC and do a week long crash course of private lessons with all of your favorite players.
Hell... you won't even have to pay $500.
7 Days To Melodic Minor Mastery: A Jazz Guitar Accelerator is just a $79 investment. At that price, it's a no-brainer.
That would barely even cover parking your car at the airport to hop on you NYC-bound flight!
Plus, you can rest easy knowing I've taken ALL the risk out of the decision for you...
This is an interactive, group learning experience. Everyone will be working on the same weekly materials at the same time, and we will be meeting for live Q&A sessions throughout the week. The program begins on December 3rd. Registration closes in...
There is no guarantee that I will offer this experience again or that it will be the same price if I do. So if you're interested... ENROLL TODAY and don't miss out! Registration closes when the clock hits 0, and nobody will be allowed in once that happens.
The fact that you're reading this section means you already know that it's time to rethink the way you're practicing and to start digging deeper into the fundamentals and how to apply them to focus more on developing your musicianship and free yourself from the hamster wheel the industrial jazz complex has had you running on for too long. But perhaps you still have a bit of doubt. Hesitation.
Like maybe you're thinking that for $79, I can't possibly be offering anything THAT worthwhile.
Or maybe you don't think there's any way I can convey enough "information" in a week for you to see any progress.
You might be thinking, "I've never even heard of this guy," or, "This sounds too good to be true. How am I supposed to know if this is legit?"
With my Love It Or Hate It guarantee... you can have your money back either way. That's right. It costs $79 to reserve your seat and go through the experience. But whether you completely loved it or completely hated it... in the end... it costs you nothing.
You're getting wisdom straight from many of the greatest living legends today... an education that would cost you $70,000 to attend a major NYC graduate program to attain (or potentially about $5000 to spend a week in New York and take a bunch of private lessons with the legends... assuming they teach privately)... PLUS live Q&A sessions... PLUS a supportive group to connect and learn with... PLUS you can get the cost of the program back at the end whether you love it or hate it...
And you can get all of that for just $79 today!
This is an interactive, group learning experience. Everyone will be working on the same weekly materials at the same time, and we will be meeting for live Q&A sessions throughout the week. The program begins on December 3rd. Registration closes in...
There is no guarantee that I will offer this experience again or that it will be the same price if I do. So if you're interested... ENROLL TODAY and don't miss out! Registration closes when the clock hits 0, and nobody will be allowed in once that happens.
I know. We've all seen the countdown clocks before, right? Usually websites use them to try and urge us to make a decision. And a lot of times if you just refresh the webpage the clock starts over! lol
No, this one isn't going to start over or reset if you refresh the page. It's real. I'm not trying to be pushy... let me explain why I'm using it...
The 7 Days To Melodic Minor Mastery program is not just a course. Yes, there are pre-recorded video lessons and PDFs in it, but this is an interactive, group learning experience. I will be releasing the videos daily at the same time for everyone, I will be offering small challenges and encouraging everyone to film and share their progress, and I will be available during the week on zoom to hang and answer questions.
You will all get the new lessons and be given the new assignments at the same time on the same day. I'm doing this because I want to encourage you all to engage with each other, network, share videos, and help support and encourage each other. By giving you the same assignments on the same days, you can be there for each other to give and receive feedback and learn, not only from me, but also from each other. Also, by keeping you all working on the same material at the same time it will mean we will have similar questions coming up during each of our zoom Q&A sessions... which will help prevent us from wasting time and will get us more directly to the fundamentals we'll be covering. Nobody will be able to enroll in the program once we get started working together. This way, everyone in the program is working on the same material at the same time.
So the countdown clock IS REAL, and is there to let you know how long you have until the registration window closes. Once the clock hits zero, you won't be able to register. At that point, you will have to wait until I offer this program again... and there's no guarantee that I will do this again... nor is their a guarantee that the price will be the same. So make sure you sign up before the clock runs out.
If you're still reading and thinking about it, let me help by simplifying everything and laying out your options to choose from.
1. Do nothing.
Let's be honest. If you're still here it means you're interested. You probably feel it in your gut that you know you need to rethink your relationship to your music and change how you're practicing to change the results you've been getting. You probably know that if you wait and let the clock run out and miss the registration that you're going to regret it. You'll end up binge watching YouTube videos again looking for tricks to getting more hip and advanced ideas in "the 20%" of playing the right notes that Miles talked about. But you'll still feel frustrated wishing you could transcend that world and start working on your "80%" and creating the progress that you want and deserve. If that's you, I have an FAQ section below that might help answer any questions you still have, or you could reach out and talk to me directly. But honestly, with my Love It Or Hat It Guarantee... why not just sign up and give it a shot? See what it's all about. Worst case scenario is you let me know you want out, I refund your payment, and you can keep working on what you already were.
2. You want to learn, but you'd rather get it straight from the masters themselves.
Total respect. That's what I did, and if you can make it happen, I'd say go for it. Just know that you're going to have to take a lot of private lessons to cover all of the material I'm sharing in this program. And it's going to get really expensive. Not to mention that they aren't going to hand you a step-by-step process. It's going to come in bite size fragments and gems. They're all going to be mind-blowingly cool! But it's going to take a lot of time and effort on your part to figure out how it all fits together and how you can codify it into a systematic curriculum for yourself. Because I lost the ability to play, due to medical problems after studying with the masters, I've already taken the years of time to do just that and can share that information in a structured, practical, and connected way for less than the cost of a single private lesson with one of the greats. Again, with my Love It Or Hate It Guarantee... what do you have to lose by signing up and giving it a shot while you're planning your trip to NYC and setting up your private lessons with the legends? Worst case scenario, it wasn't what you were looking for, you need the $79 back to pay for airport parking for your trip, and I refund your payment.
3. You're ready to go...
No reason for me to keep you from it by making you read another entire paragraph then... Let's do this!
This is an interactive, group learning experience. Everyone will be working on the same weekly materials at the same time, and we will be meeting for live Q&A sessions throughout the week. The program begins on December 3rd. Registration closes in...
There is no guarantee that I will offer this experience again or that it will be the same price if I do. So if you're interested... ENROLL TODAY and don't miss out! Registration closes when the clock hits 0, and nobody will be allowed in once that happens.
While MANY of the concepts I teach in other programs transcend guitar and can be used on just about any instrument, the ideas in this program are specifically designed to help guitar players learn to think about and execute jazz harmony and improvisation more like piano players. So the material in the program will not translate well to other instruments.
The concepts CAN be applied to other instruments... however due to the very short timeframe of the week long program, I would only recommend joining us to learn these concepts IF you're already fairly adept at those instruments and comfortable thinking on your feet and adapting to new practice ideas. It can be done. It will simply require that you get a little creative with HOW you adapt the ideas being presented.
There is NO substitute for hitting the shed. Hard. But as someone who was self-taught the majority of my playing life... I learned more during the three years working with the masters than I did in the previous two decades practicing on my own... even with the 6-8 hours a day for years on end I was putting in. And I genuinely believe that I learned more during those three years with my mentors than I ever would have figured out on my own throughout the course of my entire life just shedding and gigging with nobody to help guide me.
My experiences relearning and teaching have shown me that 1000 hours of practicing the right things, with the right mindset, in the right ways is going to be more fruitful than just logging your 10,000 hours in the shed working on random, and possibly misguided, things.
Practice doesn't make perfect.
Practice makes permanent.
It's EASY for self-directed practice to turn into a hamster wheel... where you're working your tail off running like crazy, but you're not really going anywhere.
Ultimately, there are two variable that determine how much you will learn from a teacher.
(1) How good is the teacher? Do they understand what the fundamentals of music are that must be mastered? And can they point you in the right direction. And...
(2) How open is the student to receiving this guidance?
If the teacher doesn't know which way to point, how to monitor the student to diagnose problems, and how to help the student progress down the path... learning will suffer.
If the student carries the unconscious belief that, "I already know everything and don't need anyone to help me,"
... again, the learning will suffer.
Ultimately this is a personal question with a personal answer. I, and ALL of my mentors are big advocates of viewing ourselves as lifelong students of the music and always being open to learning from others. If you view things differently, then that's cool too.
Do what you feel most moved to do!
Just remember...
Miles Davis didn't drop out of Juilliard to sit at home and practice alone for 10,000 hours or even to transcribe hundreds of solos. He did it because he met Charlie Parker and realized he could learn more from having a mentor who provided the right mindset and guidance than he could from the industrial jazz complex, practicing alone in a room for 10,000 hours, or transcribing endlessly.
Yes, there is an absurd amount of knowledge to be found online. And by all means, you should approach your music in whatever way feels most authentic to you.
But if you're curious as to why you might want to invest in a program in general, here are a few reasons...
(1) The goal of a YouTube teacher is to keep you coming back for more. Whether they consciously think about it this way or not, this is the business model, the mindset, and the behavior that the YouTube culture creates. The goal is to get more views to earn more in ad revenue. Along with wanting to bring viewers back to their channel, they also need to attract new subscribers. Most well-known online creators do this by performing "keyword research"... meaning they literally spend time looking up what their "target audience" is searching for online and then creating videos on those subjects. Yeesh. I know online marketing and research is important to growing a following in the 21st century. But when learning from people in that world, it's worth remembering that whether they're well-intentioned or not... this is the culture. And I don't find it conducive to creating a truly prosperous teacher/student relationship. This is VERY MUCH part of the industrial jazz complex that so many get caught in.
(2) You never know who made the free content or how good it is. Practicing the wrong things or in the wrong way will not necessarily help your progress... and oftentimes can hinder it. I can't tell you how many musicians I've worked with who have been playing longer than I've been alive that aren't where they want to be. Some of these situations have occurred because they were studying with someone who may have meant well, but didn't lead them in a healthy direction. And so it slowed their progress.
(3) While lessons on YouTube, facebook, and forums may not cost money... there is always some kind of cost. How much time are you willing to spend searching out videos? Watching bad lessons? Practicing bad ideas? Sitting through ads? Reading through comments and reviews to figure out if the teacher knows what they're talking about? Unfortunately there is a culture that (as I've mentioned many times) sees the journey of mastering jazz as an intellectual pursuit - memorize theory, shed scales and riffs. But as I've tried to show from all of the quotes I mentioned, many of the greats... including the ones I personally played and studied with... work on things WAY differently. Because most jazz guitar instructors didn't mortgage their kidney to move to NYC and learn directly from the greats, they also don't teach it the way the masters do. Which means you're likely keeping yourself stuck in the (as Bill Evans put it) "Intellectual Theorem" culture. The people obsessing over trying to make the notes sound like the hippest thing ever (Miles' 20%) rather than developing their ear and their heart so they can let their attitude (the 80%) bring the notes to life... whatever notes they decide to play.
(4) As for why you should invest in THIS ONLINE PROGRAM...
Because it's not simply a course. It's an interactive, part course/part live, learning experience. You will get the best of the course world mixed with having an actual human being available to help you, PLUS small daily challenges and an encouraging group to share those challenges with. As a course creator, unlike a YouTube creator, I have a vested interest in making sure not only that you learn and see progress, but that this is the most mind-blowing, life-changing learning experience you've ever had. Otherwise... unlike YouTube where you would just close someone's video down and try watching their next video a week later... I'm out of a job.
:)
Yes. Along with standard notation there will also be guitar tab. And sometimes there will be chord and scale charts as well.
It's only one week. And as long as you're able to find 10-30 minutes a day for that week, you should see some cool changes in your playing.
But that said... life happens!
It's totally fine. We will all be moving through the material as I present new lessons each day, but you will be able to maintain access to the video lessons and the PDFs forever. So if you get busy with life and fall behind, you'll be able to continue working through at whatever speed suits you whenever you're ready to jump back in.
No big deal at all.
The live zoom hangs are optional. They're to make sure you have personal attention and guidance so you never feel alone, lost, or confused. I'm available to provide feedback and direction and to answer your questions so you know you're understanding the material in a healthy way and see how to apply it and grow.
If you can't make one of them, or even all of them, or if you just need to be late or leave early... that's totally fine.
They will all be recorded and posted online for you to watch later during our week together. Plus you'll still have access to the course materials, and you can always reach out to any of the other musicians going through the program with you to chat with them.
Oof. I don't want to disrespect anyone by accidentally leaving anyone off the long and growing list.
If we include private lessons, mentorship, masterclasses, hanging and talking music shop, and real world learning playing with them in a group setting...
Jim Hall, John Scofield, Peter Bernstein, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Wayne Krantz, Brad Shepik, Dave Stryker, Adam Rogers, Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Lenny White, Kenny Werner, Mark Turner, Stefon Harris, Ari Hoenig, Jean-Michel Pilc, Alan Ferber, Michael Rodriguez, Lenny Pickett, Rich Perry, Billy Drewes, Ron McClure, Michael Richmond, Martin Wind, Tony Moreno, and probably a dozen other players I'm forgetting to mention at the moment.
Yes. Melodic Triads is a term I came up with to describe the approach I put together for myself to relearn after my medical issues caused me to forget how to play. This program will be based on one topic within that framework - specifically... modern jazz harmony and improvisation using one single triad to create a deeper level of musicianship within the realm of melodic minor... but with multiple dimensions (lyrical phrases, bluesy inflections, bebop and modern lines, and hip voicings).
Yes, I do work one-on-one with a small handful of students through Zoom lessons, and I also run an online mentorship program. I have a few ways I can help musicians from anywhere in the world. I will share more about these programs and opportunities at the end of our 7 day program for anyone interested in continue to work together.
This is an interactive, group learning experience. Everyone will be working on the same weekly materials at the same time, and we will be meeting for live Q&A sessions throughout the week. The program begins on December 3rd. Registration closes in...
There is no guarantee that I will offer this experience again or that it will be the same price if I do. So if you're interested... ENROLL TODAY and don't miss out! Registration closes when the clock hits 0, and nobody will be allowed in once that happens.
Fill in your name and email, submit, and you will be officially entered to win one of the three prizes for my giveaway!
No additional steps needed