Half-diminished seventh chords are minor chords with a flat five and are commonly used as the first chord in minor-key ii V I progressions. It’s important to have this type of chord with all its inversions under your fingers because they are used in almost every jazz standard. In this lesson, you will learn how …
Learn how to play jazz-funk guitar, combining smooth jazz chords with the rhythmic fills of funk.
This lesson covers the basics of funk guitar, including chord rhythms and soloing.
Tritone substitution is one of the most popular chord substitutions in jazz. The tritone concept is very versatile and can be used for soloing, comping and composition.
In this lesson, you will learn what tritone substitution is and how you can apply it on the guitar.
One of the most exciting guitarists of his, or any, generation, Mike Stern has created a unique voice in the jazz guitar world. Besides his signature tone and energetic time feel, Stern loves to use certain substitutions in his playing to create a tension-release vibe. One of the most common ways Mike does this is by …
Mike Stern Subs – ii V I Half Step Approach Chords Read More »
Chromaticism is an important concept for any jazz guitarist to study and master in his playing. In this lesson, we’ll look at how you can take all of the scales and arpeggios you have learned over the years and turn them into “jazzy” sounding phrases by using chromatic approach notes. This is a big obstacle …
Chromaticism – How to Add Chromatic Notes to Scales and Arpeggios Read More »
The harmonic minor scale is a seven-note scale that has the same notes as the natural minor scale with the exception of the seventh note that is raised by one semitone. This seventh note works as a leading tone to the tonic, that’s why it is used often on dominant chords going to a tonic …
All of Me is a great jazz standard to practice your solo and improvisation skills on.
In this lesson, you will combine chord comping and improvisation over the changes of All of Me (in the style of Joe Pass). Being able to mix single-note solos and chord comping is an essential skill for jazz guitarists of all levels.
Working on guitar technique can often seem as separate from your soloing workout. You learn technique, put that away, then work on soloing concepts, keeping both separate in the woodshed. But, it doesn’t have to be that way. When you choose the right exercises, you can build your chops and increase your soloing vocabulary at …
String Skipping – Guitar Technique Builder and Soloing Read More »
Phrasing is how we shape a line. But it’s actually more than that. In the bigger sense it is how we tell a story, and telling a musical story in a conversational sense is how we express ourselves. When we have a conversation, in the traditional sense, we use words to help get our meaning …
This lesson is the result of a survey among our subscribers. The question was “What is the best jazz guitar solo ever played?”.
The names that made it to the top 10 are Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, Pat Metheny, George Benson, Charlie Christian, Pat Martino, Jim Hall, Django Reinhardt, Kenny Burrell, and Grant Green.
When learning how to play arpeggios over the jazz blues chord progression, or any tune for that matter, the easiest approach you can take in is to learn the arpeggio shapes within one position on the fretboard. This means that you’ll be able to play arpeggios over each chord in the progression without moving …
Maj7 arpeggios are a must-know concept for any jazz guitarist, but they can be difficult to get under your fingers when working these shapes around the entire fretboard. Finding a system to organize your maj7 arpeggios can make playing and soloing with maj7 arpeggios easy, as you will be able to think less about the …
Upper structure triads are useful for bringing new elements into your solos and comping. Upper structure triads and superimposition are something that you will hear popping up all on recordings by just about every single well-known jazz musician. As with every new improvisational device, the most important part is getting your ear acclimated to this …
When learning how to play jazz guitar chords, one of the uncommon, yet cool-sounding shapes, which you will run across, is the maj7#5 chord (aka augmented major seventh chord). Though it is not as commonly used as the maj7 or maj7#11 chord shapes, the maj7#5 chord is an interesting sound that you can add to …
