Chord Substitutions Workshop – Replay Now Available

In the 1950s, Lou Donaldson was a ferocious bebop alto saxophonist, a Charlie Parker disciple who later explained his devotion in just seven words: "Everyone else was just a saxophone player." By the late 1960s, he was squarely in the soul-jazz pocket, putting out equally classic if different music on Blue Note albums like Midnight Creeper and Alligator Boogaloo. The title track to Alligator Boogaloo was, in fact, one of his best-selling records, despite having been written in the studio to round out the album and featuring a melody consisting of about six notes in its entire twelve-bar, three chord melody. Reflecting on this, Donaldson said something to the effect of, "We made all this music, and that's the only one that sold. Music's a funny thing."

I'll say. The only thing for sure is that the people making it often have the least idea what's going to go over, or how. And I've learned that's nearly as true when it comes to teaching music. I was more than delighted to work with the eighty-some people in my Chord Substitutions workshop last weekend, and pleased that the combination of prepared materials and Q&A format evoked such a positive response. What I wasn't expecting was the number of emails I've since received asking if there was a way to take part in the workshop without attending live at the specific time and date. In effect, people have been asking to register after the fact, just to have access to the replay of the workshop.

I've got future workshops planned, and expect to offer this same workshop again sometime next spring. But I did offer everyone who attended the live event three months of streaming access to the replay afterwards.  In my mind, the value was in being able to participate live, asking questions and getting answers about the material as the lesson unfolded, but it seeems, like Lou Donaldson, I'm not the best judge of what the public wants.

So if you'd find value in watching the workshop after the fact, streaming the video and downloading the PDFs, I'm happy to make them available. For the next five days, I'm re-opening registration for Chord Substitutions And How To Use Them. To be clear, this means you can sign up, at the same price as the original workshop, for three months' access to the streaming replay of the November 14th event. It's not a new live workshop, so there's no opportunity for interaction or Q&As, but if you're one of those folks who had wanted to attend but were unable to for one reason or another, this will provide you a way to watch the class in its entirety and follow along with the included diagrams and tab.

To learn more about the workshop and register for the replay, click the link below:

Chord Substitutions And How To Use Them – Replay Access