Meet Chris Punis

Here's My Story. It ain't all pretty but… 

I used to practice my butt off, but never quite felt like I was getting there. I wanted so much to be a great jazz musician.

I remember hearing Coltrane for the first time and being BLOWN away. I mean the energy, the feel, the sound! That led to Miles, Monk, Duke and on and on. I dug into the music. 

I used to hear these guys and think “Yeah, I want to do THAT!”

I remember my first concert like it was yesterday. It was The Elvin Jones’ (you know, Trane’s drummer) Jazz Machine.

At the end of the show, Elvin stuck around and said hi to everyone (he was a great guy too, not just a great drummer). He shook my hand and said ‘Are you a Drummer? You’ve got that drummer’s grip”. I almost fell over. 

Now, I’m sure he knew I was a drummer by the complete look of shock and amazement on my face and the fact that I was staring at him, with my jaw dropped, open mouth, complete with a little drool in the corner. Not from any ‘drummer’s grip’. I pretty much stayed like that for the entire 80 minute set straight through to the part where he shook my hand.

I was pumped up for weeks after seeing my hero.

But that’s what jazz does to you and me. We ‘get it’. We ‘feel it’. And we want to play on that level. We want to experience ‘THAT’.

Imagine being on stage with a world class jazz band, playing your own music and nailing it; playing your butt off to a crowd of cheering fans.

Imagine the energy in the room, the powerful swing, the band connecting ‘deep’ and the crowd giving it right back! You’re up there on stage, in the ‘zone’; the music is just pouring out of you. You’re fingers, your hands, your whole body is working in sync and you’re playing the baddest, hippest music you’ve ever played.

Going to a concert like that is even more awesome to me now. But even better is doing it; on the band stand with a great band and a pumped up audience and experiencing ‘THAT’.

The best part is that I get to do that every week now here in Boston. I get to play with players who were "way beyond me" back in college like Timo Shanko from Fully Celebrated Orchestra, Steve Fell from Wild Sextet, Joel Yennior from Either Orchestra, Jef Charland and Andy Voelker from Gypsy Schaeffer. I get to play with top Berklee profs like John Lockwood and Jeff Galindo. And I get to play with Charlie Kohlhase a saxophone legend who was truly 'untouchable' to me back in college. I only mention this to illustrate the point that a few short years ago all of these guys were untouchable to me. I never believed I would be so fortunate to play with musicians of this caliber. And the music keeps getting better and better.

But it wasn’t always like that for me. Like I said a minute ago I used to practice my butt off. I mean 6, 7, or more hours a day. But I never seemed to make the progress I wanted.

Sometimes I felt like the more I practiced, the less I seemed to improve. I wanted so bad to become a great jazz musician. I wanted to play with great bands, make CDs, record, perform, and write.

All I wanted to do was play jazz and become a respected and ‘heavy’ jazz musician. A monster!

I knew it was possible. But deep down I secretly doubted if I would ever ‘get it’. I wasn’t sure if I had what it took.

I used to think I was too old; that I started too late.

I didn’t know if I had the talent to become a great jazz musician.

I never knew what to practice. So I tried to practice it all. I had ridiculous practice routines; for drums and piano.  I used to switch topics all the time because I never knew if what I was practicing was the ‘right’ stuff.

I never felt like I was good enough. I was always afraid of blowing it at gigs. My playing was just so inconsistent. I didn’t know if it would ‘work’ all the time.

I used to actually purposefully NOT tell people about my gigs because I was afraid I would screw it up. I hated looking stupid up on the band stand.

Then something happened that really shook me up. I had been waiting for years to get into one particular ensemble (Hal Crook’s Ensemble-the cream of the crop) at Berklee (where I went to music school). Finally, I got in. I registered and was probably as excited as I was at the Elvin Jones concert.

I showed up for the first class and got my butt kicked! I mean I just couldn’t hang with these guys.

I was promptly thrown out of the ensemble. This was a crushing blow. But it was also a turning point for me. I decided it was time to get serious and figure out what was holding me back.

I began a search to discover what it was that the great players did differently. I knew if I could figure that out, that I would be on my way to becoming a great jazz musician; A Monster.

I took hundreds of lessons, read hundreds of books and played thousands of sessions. And continued to practice my butt off.

But now it was different. I was on a mission. Little by little, lesson by lesson, book by book I began to figure out what I was doing wrong. With each experiment in the practice room, in the rehearsal space and on the bandstand I got closer and closer to ‘figuring it all out’.

Fast forward. It’s been almost ten years since I’ve been out of Berklee (I took Hal’s ensemble the following year, nailed it and went on to study privately with him for seven years). I’ve got my practicing down to a science. I get more done and make more progress in 1 or 2 hours of practice than I used to get in 6!!!

Gone are the days of stage fright and butterflies in the stomach; that slight feeling of dread when I got called for a gig.

Now there’s nothing better in the world then getting on the band stand. I’m proud to announce when I have a gig. I love when other great musicians show up at my gigs. I love feeling like ‘one of the cats’.

I finally got to the ‘bottom of it’ and worked out a simple and easy ‘system’ that works for any instrument or musical goal. I drew from many sources, some musical and some not.  I figured out a method that works. I figured out what I was missing and what I needed to do more of.

I streamlined my practicing and my rehearsing, worked out the bugs and began to hit my musical goals one by one by one. Now, I feel like I can learn to play anything! That’s an awesome feeling. And I’m very grateful for the wonderful teachers I’ve had the pleasure of knowing, and all the fantastic players I get to play with each week.

Anyway, a while back one of my students said he thought I should get this information out there. He’s also like you and me and never learned about this stuff in school. Nobody ever talked about it. Not even the great players who obviously did something right!!! So he struggled along trying to figure it out.

So, since things were starting to make sense for him, he thought I should share this with all the other aspiring jazz musicians out there.

I thought about it. I didn’t really want to do it. Not because I didn’t want to help other jazz musicians. I do. I love to teach. And the idea of helping other players avoid all of the same mistakes I made was very cool to me.

I wasn’t sure because I was afraid it would take away from my own time to play and practice.

All I want to do is play jazz, practice jazz, listen to jazz, and gig!

But, he talked me into it. So I got to work trying to put this ‘formula’ down on paper. It took me over 2 years to get it all down. I took my step by step formula for musical success, as well as strategies for practicing, rehearsing and listening and put them all together into one course.  I even worked in a piece about musical confidence and another about how to get more gigs.

I’m really excited about it. It took me so long (a very long and bumpy road) to figure this stuff out, and honestly I’m pretty proud of it. I’m also very eager to share it with the jazz world.

There were so many other musicians like me at Berklee who were struggling with music. Many of them don’t even play anymore. They’ve lost their dream. If I can help a few jazz musicians achieve their potential and realize their musical dreams, I think that would feel pretty good!

This course can teach you how to practice; how to get the best results from your practicing. You’ll learn how to choose what you practice.

You’ll finally feel confident in what you’re practicing, say goodbye to doubt and watch yourself getting better day by day; each and every day.

You’ll learn and improve at a faster rate than ever before; the whole time becoming a stronger, more confident and creative musician. You’ll get more gigs and achieve more with jazz than you ever thought possible.

Now, this is no magic pill. There are no magic licks, or supernatural scale patterns. This stuff still takes practice. But you know that. Every jazz musician knows that practicing is important. This is just a formula for musical success. Once you learn it, you can accomplish anything with your music!

That's essentially what this website, what LearnJazzFaster and what the Monster Jazz Formula is all about–helping jazz musicians accomplish anything they put their minds too.

Chris Punis