The Cracking the Code Mike Stern interview is here! In this intimate chat, the genial jazz master shares a wealth of improvisational insights, delivered in an extemporaneous fashion as effortless his playing.
Mike is a great interview: friendly, discursive, and wholly unguarded about his process as a technician and musician. If you’ve ever wondered how an expansive and usable improvisational vocabulary is built, this conversation is a valuable window into how that job is accomplished. From the opening minutes, Mike’s abundant and continued curiosity in seeking out uncharted areas of his well-worn Yamaha Pacifica fretboard quickly becomes apparent.
Mike outlines technique after technique for pulling new ideas out of familiar scales and shapes. This includes using patterns and sequences thought-provoking brainteaser-style experiments, adapting lines from other instruments, and more. He fearlessly demonstrates a number of “work in progress” phrases he’s still figuring out how to incorporate — on the spot in the talk, flubs and all.
In the 65 musical examples that accompany the interview, we’ve transcribed almost all of Mike’s brain-busting and finger-twisting harmonic explorations. But the idea is not that you’ll learn these, wholesale, as stock phrases. Instead, these are the seeds of future music, bits and pieces of which may hopefully emerge in surprising ways in your playing later on.
It’s this procedural aspect of what Mike shares that is particularly exciting. Thinking beyond the pentatonic box is hard work, for sure, but the term “practice” doesn’t really capture it. It’s really vocabulary building. And what Mike shows us here is that it’s not just the desire to grow as a musician that matters. It’s that, in order to actually experience that growth, you need to fight back against complacency with specific, hands-on methods to generate originality. It’s a stealthily subversive and powerful message, delivered in signature affable style by one of the nicest cats around.
The complete Mike Stern package includes the one-hour interview, 65 slow-motion examples with tablature, and six chapters (20+ minutes) of analysis chapters on Mike’s technique.
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We hope you enjoy the interview! If you have questions or comments, you can head to our forum or shoot us an email at any time.
Yeah!!! So looking forward for that!
The interview is awesome! I like the bit where Leni is cooking on the stove and Mike, in the nicest way possible, asks her to turn the stove off. It adds some charm to the interview. Mike is a super cool guy I’ve had the pleasure of seeing several times. I remember one time after a show, he ran through a crowd of people holding a box over his head yelling “WHO WANTS CD’s”!!!, He started waving Cd’s around like crazy and loads of people bought them. It was hilarious!
Every time I see him his technique and musicality amaze me. I think you mention that he is primarily a DWPS guy. It’s funny because I had to transcribe one of Mikes solos on Giant Steps for one of my recitals in college and I was totally able to do the entire thing with DWPS. I didn’t have to change much from what Mike did.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1haKrh6v4YHere’s the video of Mike on Giant Steps:
Here’s a video of me almost 2 years ago doing that solo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXL_PMWSYD4
Sorry about the camera angle I only had my music stand in the practice room to put my phone on.
Thanks Troy for the Stern interview!
When I lived in NYC back in the 90’s, the 55 on Wednesday night was my spot for two to three months straight! I sat down on the floor right in front of Mike just like you are in the video. Crazy I never really focused on his right hand! I was concentrating so much on the left hand stuff, the right hand stuff it just went by me! I didn’t realized I was trying to play Stern licks with UPPS McLaughlin style technique! I have been working on DWPS for the past few weeks! I will post a video soon! The sym dim stuff works great due to the four notes per phrase type of licks that are easily created created within it.
I’m looking forward to seeing this one! I’m going to settle down tonight with my iPad and watch it. Can’t wait to learn that fat time lick either.
Great interview, but I can’t help but feel a twinge of sadness when I hear Mike Stern refer to Jim Hall as “the greatest living jazz guitar player.”