3 Exercises To SKYROCKET Your Jazz Playing In 2026
Do you feel like your jazz solos just don’t sound like real jazz?
I used to get stuck playing the right notes and the right chords, but the sound still wasn’t right — until I found these 3 exercises that fixed my phrasing and rhythm. And they haven’t just worked for me. They’ve helped hundreds of my students add jazz feel to their playing.
So in this video, I’ll show you the 3 exercises that can help your solos and chords sound more like jazz.
We’ll start with rhythm and phrasing for solos, then move on to chords, and finally, a simple way to add more storytelling to everything you play.
#1 Better Rhythm and Phrasing
Let’s fix the #1 thing that makes beginner jazz solos sound stiff and mechanical: too much focus on the “right” notes, not enough on rhythm and phrasing.
You know the feeling: you’re playing a solo, trying to keep up with the chord changes, making sure every note is correct. But when you listen back, you think, “Why does this sound heavy and kind of boring?”
Here’s the diagnosis: you’re so caught up in thinking about the notes that you can’t add interesting rhythm and phrasing.
This is very common for jazz beginners—and the exercise I’m about to show you will help fix it, but only if you do it the right way.
How It Works
This is a very simple exercise that will force you to focus on what really matters:
Limit yourself to just two notes per chord.
Why does this work?
When you take away the stress of picking notes, your brain is free to experiment with rhythm, dynamics, and phrasing—the real ingredients of jazz feel.
For the first 4 bars of There’s No Greater Love
you could start with this:
And don’t underestimate how much you can do with this, even if it is very simple.
Let’s break down the process, then I’ll talk about some common mistakes you want to avoid.
Step #1
Before you start playing, go through the song and pick the notes so they are next to each other from chord to chord.
Because the exercise is more useful if you can connect the chords.
You should also choose notes that really sound like the chord, at least in the beginning. That makes it easier to hear melodies, but don’t use wide intervals, because they are not that melodic.
3rd and 7th are not a great choice here.
Step #2
Play them through the song, so that you know which notes go where and can hear how they sit in the song and the chords. This is especially important if you are new to jazz.
Step #3
Now you improvise! ; The goal is just to solo with the two notes until you get bored.
You want to challenge your imagination and make the solo interesting by using other things than note choice, so work with rhythm, but also dynamics and phrasing.
Taking away note choice from your solos can be very powerful in developing other parts of your playing.
But watch out for these common mistakes:
Mistake #1
The two notes are an interval. You don’t have to play it ascending all the time, try to start with descending phrases as well.
Remember that I only demonstrate this on a few bars in the video, but you want to do this on the entire song.
Mistake #2
Don’t change the 2 notes all the time, or each chorus.
I see this fairly often with students in my courses, and it can be an ok exercise, but you end up going back to focusing on notes rather than melody, rhythm, and phrasing, which was the original goal.
Mistake #3
Don’t get jazz dynamics wrong. When students first hear about dynamics, they think in the bigger moving lines going from a whisper to a scream, but in Jazz, the most important dynamics are inside the line as accents on individual notes.
Often, when you see students get started with dynamics, they make everything dramatic like Italian opera,
But what you should focus on is the dynamics inside every line you play in your solo; they are what add the rhythm.
Once your solos start to feel better rhythmically, it’s time to fix your chords.
Exercise #2 is about the two most powerful notes in jazz harmony — and how they help you turn chord symbols into music, not just shapes.
#2 The Two Most Powerful Notes In Jazz Harmony
Did you ever sit down to play through a song, only to feel stuck trying to remember big, complicated chords? Maybe you know the grips, but they don’t flow, and you can do nothing with them when you play a song.
I know big, rich voicings are fun. But the truth is, if you want your comping to lock in with the groove and have the right rhythms, then big chords are not flexible enough.
But there is a specific type of 2-note chords – used by all the pros – that is unbeatable for leveling up your rhythm, and later I’ll show you how they are great for melody as well.
Small Chords And More Music
Let’s start with the rhythm. For beginners, I always recommend using Shell-voicings—just the root, 3rd, and 7th.
On the song that sounds like this::
But you can make your chords even more flexible by leaving out the root:
This is, by the way, the best way to learn to use rootless voicings. If you take the Bbmaj7, See the 3 notes with the root, but only play the two top notes
Then everything is still connected visually.
Let’s focus on rhythm, and how you can use these 2-note chords to really lock it in.
Step #1
Start by playing the 2-note chords through the song. This helps you learn where everything is and makes the chords easy to play.
Step #2
Next, try out different rhythms as you play through the song. Since these chords are simple, you can focus on practicing a rhythm pattern all the way through. For example, try this exercise. After that, I’ll look at a specific rhythm that takes a bit more effort but is also very important:
Step #3
Now, let’s talk about anticipation. This is a big part of what gives jazz its energetic, syncopated feel. All you do is play the chord just before the bar—on the “4-and” of the previous measure.
It might feel a bit strange at first, but it’s a huge part of the jazz sound. Here’s how you can practice it:
Working on exercises like this will help you bring these rhythms into your comping:
But, of course, rhythm is only one side of the story. These 2-note voicings are also a fantastic starting point for adding melody to your comping. Let me show you!
Melodic Comping Is Essential
Comping without melody isn’t really music. You want to add a melodic flow to your comping—otherwise, it’s impossible to have those small conversations with the soloist and the rest of the band.
Most people forget that melody has two parts: the notes and the rhythm. You’ve already got the rhythm down, so now let’s add the melody.
Keep It Practical
The key is to keep things easy to play. The moment it gets difficult, your rhythm falls apart, and your melodies won’t make sense.
So, let’s start simple.
The chords, like this Bbmaj7, already have a melody with the top note on the G-string, here that’s a d, and you can also add two notes on the B string; in this case, the F and G are easy to play.
Remember, the goal is to keep it easy so you can improvise with these notes. For the song, it could look like this:
I recommend first going through the song rubato—out of time—and just explore which melodies make sense across the chords:
This way, you’ll discover how the notes fit together and what melodies YOU think sound good.
From there, you can put it back in time and get something like this:
But there’s one thing you always need in your playing—whether you’re comping or soloing—and that’s a sense of story.
You don’t want your playing to be unrelated licks next to each other.
Let me show you how to do that.
#3 Play Real Music
Let’s be honest: If you’re just running through chord exercises and not actually playing songs, you’re missing the point.
The same goes for soloing —if you’re just looping a II V I or a turnaround without putting it into the context of a real song, you’re not getting the full picture.
But you are on the right track if you work as I suggested in this video: practicing on songs.
Why is this so important? Because harmony is much more than just II V I progressions.
You need to be comfortable playing all kinds of progressions in all kinds of contexts.
And when it comes to telling a story with your playing, the form of the song is essential. A II V I in F major isn’t just a II V I—it sounds one way in a song that’s in F major, and completely different if it’s in the bridge of a song in C major.
You’ll never learn these differences if you just loop a few chords. The form is part of the overall sound and structure.
When you practice real songs, you can lean on the flow of the harmony and the original melody to give your solo a true beginning and end.
The song’s form is the first place you start building real storytelling into your playing.
How The Pros Practice
Did you ever wonder why the pros sound great with no effort? It’s not just talent—it’s how they practice. If you’re tired of noodling through boring exercises and getting nowhere, then check out this.
In this next video, you’ll get practice advice from legends like Wes Montgomery and John Scofield.
You’ll show you a practice routine—using real songs—that makes scales, arpeggios, and chords click right into your playing. Check it out!
Learn Jazz Make Music
Make Sure You Practice Like This Every Day! – Jazz Guitar
Get the PDF!
You can also download the PDF of my examples here:
Get the PDF and GuitarPro on Patreon:
You can get the PDF and GuitarPro files on Patreon here:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/148159424
Get a free E-book
If you want to download a Free E-book of 15 II Valt I licks then subscribe to my newsletter:
Jazz Guitar Insiders Facebook Group
Join 15000+ Other Jazz Guitarists 🎸Join us in the Facebook Jazz Guitar Group Community: http://bit.ly/InsidersFBGroup
If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for topics, then send me an email or leave a comment here or on the video. That ias the best way for me to improve my lessons and make them fit what you are searching for.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.