[jazzman1945]

Using ‘ghost notes’ (sounds that are swallowed) in melodic-rhythmic phrases of eights

These are very typical sounds for jazz – you can ‘hear’ them but they are not almost sounded – rather being ‘swallowed’. Ghost notes are always very short, placed between the other, sounding notes.
There are several ways to ‘articulate-not articulate’ these notes:
1) On the sound ‘Ts’
2) Playing such sound while exhaling rather than inhaling
3) Continuing performance while exhaling, weakening breathing only on the ‘ghost’ sound.
4) Muffling the sound by the tongue in Melodica’s inlet slit (without the mouthpiece).

Combinations of regular eights with ghost notes
(Best to start practicing these specific articulations without the mouthpiece).
1) Chain of double eights, in a swing rhythm:
“Tats-Tats-Tats-Tats”. Metronome: 66 – 96 MM:

Exercise 9

Ghosts notes