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I became a Patron of Jens a few months after watching his videos for free. I thought he deserved something in return. The Patron-only videos go into more depth about what he posts weekly on his free channel, and they tend to focus on teaching building blocks to create lines. He's a strong proponent of using ideas like these to compose lines rubato, with the long-term goal that this becomes natural and starts to come out in your real-time improv. It's taken me a few years to realise that any given youtube video (from Jens, or plenty of others) actually contains weeks if not months of content to be practiced, so you have to be really careful about picking what you like - what appeals to you and is within your understanding and technical abilities - sticking at first to the fundamentals, and then really focus on it, work it through different chords, apply it to changes, etc etc. He is also a strong proponent of practicing improvising and playing actual music.
I took his Jazz Roadmap course when he first released it, and got a lot of out of it. Before that, I was in the same position as others have mentioned - bouncing from one youtube video to the next without really improving. It's structured around a single tune, and builds concepts lesson by lesson. Each lesson you submit gets feedback from Jens and your peers. The info in the lessons themselves is all available for free, but in my opinion it's the feedback and structure you're paying for. You're also learning a template that you can go away and apply to learn new tunes.
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03-18-2026 12:27 PM
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This is the most valuable part of lessons. Paying someone to give you their honest opinion and steps toward improving.it's the feedback and structure you're paying for.
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Another thing I wanted to mention about Jens' free videos. When he started out, the topics were pretty advanced, but over time his stuff has become much more accessible. If you haven't seen his recent content (2-3 years or perhaps even later), I'd suggest giving it another chance.
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I also completed the jazz guitar road map and it teaches you step by step how to solo over a standard.
I can recommend it.
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Oh so, it's not that I've gotten better, but he's gotten simpler.
Originally Posted by CliffR
Stick a fork in me, I'm roasted.
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Lol. Maybe both? Originally Posted by AllanAllen
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I joined Jens's roadmap some years ago when it was first created. That was my first online encounter with Cliff, I seem to recall.
At the time my mindset was concerned with technique, specifically right hand technique, and being able to do the sorts of exercises that Jens preached the virtues of such as the diatonic seventh chord arpeggios at a reasonable tempo such as eighth notes at 200 BPM, as much as actually being able to improvise something nice.
These days I definitely won't claim to have totally slayed the technique dragon so to speak, but I do feel I've got to a place regarding that that allows me to move on to other things. If I remember correctly, he used the tune Take The A Train to teach... I wonder if I could still log in to see what it's like now, just for curiosity's sake...
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Yep, the B&£#! A Train it is!... Originally Posted by James W
It all makes a lot of sense too as it is in C. So perfect to learn stuff.
But I'm growing sick of playing that tune all the time.
No pain, No gain... so they say...
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Nah. Learn a new tune. It's supposed to be fun! (I think haha) ... Originally Posted by Zack
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I dunno. I think going really deep on a tune for a while can be very rewarding too. At least, that's what I like to tell myself after playing Billie's Bounce pretty much exclusively for quite some time now.
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True. But a good rule is if it's painful, stop... Originally Posted by CliffR
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Yeah, good point. Originally Posted by James W
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" I'll try to reduce my spending on wine ... maybe not."
Seems like a good plan either way.Last edited by Picker; 04-23-2026 at 01:36 AM. Reason: Clarity
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It's crazy, Jens is doing 2-3 youtube videos a week, plus patreon and an online school.
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I purchased Jen's course. If you watch this Marbin video, he outlines what you need to be able to do at a foundational level to improvise to a tune in time with a swing rhythm. Jen's course is basically a step by step of how to get to what Marbin demonstrates in the video, using the key of C and Take The A Train.
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Originally Posted by James W
Don't get me wrong, the course material is good and well structured. I saw someone commented that most peeps seemed not to go passed the 3rd lesson, well I'm on the 4th chapter now and confident I'll push on.
What's good is that I find myself able to understand the approach taken, the aim of each section in the program so far. That is something that was not always clear to me when working with books in the past.
I do work through other tunes on the side. Going through this course material provides me some assurance that I had been on the right tracks in my thinking.
Though not one of my fav, The A Train's still a good jam track.
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Yea... I said Jens vids were great years ago... but...
You can't play Jazz unless you get your technical skills together. No teacher or vid... will get you there. You need to put in the time doing the technical, non musical BS. I Posted about this... back in the teens when I first was posting here.
Practicing a tune until memorized etc... Isn't playing jazz. Nothing wrong with that approach, but your not playing in a jazz style. You need to learn all the scales and arpeggios... and the different patterns of playing them... somewhat like the spider drills.
Also all the chords from all the scales, like the chord scale approach. It's just a tool to help you learn about the relationships between chords and scales, arpeggios etc.. on the Fretboard as well as with notation.
You also need mechanical speed study exercises with picking patterns with reference to rhythms.
This takes anywhere from 6 months to a lifetime. But you won't get there without putting in the time.
Longer sessions work best, but there is that life thing that gets in the way.
When you learn to play Jazz in slow motion... that's what you'll become. I use to say something about Jazz at the speed of Life... or Life at the speed of Jazz... I'm old, can't remember.
I use to post here too much, I'm going to start again... with vids etc. free LOL
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That's great Reg! I am sure a lot of people would find more videos from you helpful. Originally Posted by Reg
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As always, fantastic stuff, Reg. Originally Posted by Reg
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So, I'm at the point where I know my major scale and modes, harmonic minor, can play maj7/m7/dom7 drop 2s and drop 3s all over, along with a handful of other common grips (the common maj9, 7b9, 6/9, 13ths). How would one progress to the next level from here? Originally Posted by Reg
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Play a Jazz song? Originally Posted by pfelton
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Harsh but true. Originally Posted by GuyBoden
What songs are you working on pfelton? Can you post a clip?
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I guess my question more specifically is how to internalize the different arpeggio shapes that Reg mentioned. "You also need mechanical speed study exercises with picking patterns with reference to rhythms"
I'm working on Fly me to the moon presently. I'm working off Fly Me To The Moon Jazz Guitar Lesson - Melody & Solo this chart. So I'll play through to a backing track, using the kind of 'standard' drop 3 shapes, 5th fret dm7, 7th fret E7, and then on successive choruses work on subbing in the different inversions of drop 2 shapes which I largely got from here -
So that kind of makes sense how I can continue to expand knowlege and play the chords in different areas of the fretboard, string sets.
Where I'm losing the plot is the arpeggio based soloing - I can play the four note 7th chord arpeggios through the backing track but only in the 8th position basic C major shape. Every now and then I can add in some weak chromatic approaches which is fine that'll come with time. However, my primary interest is in how to learn this stuff: "You need to learn all the scales and arpeggios... and the different patterns of playing them... somewhat like the spider drills.
Also all the chords from all the scales, like the chord scale approach. It's just a tool to help you learn about the relationships between chords and scales, arpeggios etc.. on the Fretboard as well as with notation."
I do have a Tim Pettingale arpeggio book which is not bad but I would love a more structured approach to mastering arpeggio approaches
Thanks!
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Yeah you "need" to learn all those patterns "eventually". If you can't play the basic C Major arpeggios uptempo in time with straight 8th notes with smooth voice leading (!!) up and down the neck then you have no business learning other scales or arpeggios. What are you going to do with them? It's like trying to conjure up a recipe by adding in more and more random ingredients. First you have to make the dish once and develop some taste, then you can spice it up. Originally Posted by pfelton
Once you're able to do it in time without rhythm without thinking about it (no small task) then you can add rhythm and a little bit of language (enclosures, approach notes, etc.) to create some real lines. Then you can say you're playing music and start learning other patterns and scales that fit the harmony of the tune.
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After learning the basic arpeggio, add approach notes, enclosures, pivots. You can also drop the root and play them off the 3rd, so the chord becomes 3 5 7 9Where I'm losing the plot is the arpeggio based soloing - I can play the four note 7th chord arpeggios through the backing track but only in the 8th position basic C major shape. Every now and then I can add in some weak chromatic approaches which is fine that'll come with time. However, my primary interest is in how to learn this stuff: "You need to learn all the scales and arpeggios... and the different patterns of playing them... somewhat like the spider drills.
Jens explains it well here, the examples are great licks to learn.
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