5 Jazz Guitar Exercises That Would Have Saved Me Years

Learning jazz guitar is overwhelming. There are so many things to practice, and if you focus on the wrong ones, you can waste years without any real progress. I know because I did precisely that. But looking back, These 5 simple exercises would have saved me so much time—helping me play better solos, more interesting chords, and actually sound like jazz. Let me show you so you don’t make the same mistakes I did.

A lot of this is about not trying to practice everything, but staying practical—focusing on the things that actually build your skills. It’s not about learning hundreds of scales or thousands of chords. It’s about learning the right things in the right order.

And the first thing I wish I had learned from the start is about scale exercises…

The Ultimate Scale Exercise

Most people get scale exercises completely wrong. When I started playing jazz, I was running scales, practicing patterns like groups of four, and drilling arpeggio positions. But that’s not what you need for jazz—or maybe for any kind of music.

If you check out jazz solos—and you should—you’ll notice that arpeggios aren’t separate from scales.

They’re built into the lines, part of the same thing. And they’re not played as big position shapes

—they’re usually one-octave arpeggios inserted into the solo lines.

I didn’t realize this until I went to The Hague for a Barry Harris workshop. Barry taught us to stop treating scales and arpeggios as separate exercises and instead connect the two—practicing vocabulary through scales, like one-octave arpeggios.

That changed everything. Suddenly, I was working on things I actually needed when soloing.

And in jazz, the best place to start is by learning to play diatonic arpeggios, because they are everywhere in the solos. That’s this exercise:

But the real ultimate scale exercise isn’t just running these arpeggios up and down—it’s making sure that your scale exercises are actually vocabulary you can use in solos.

For example, practicing the arpeggios as triplets helps you get comfortable with more interesting jazz rhythms right away:

Or take this approach—playing diatonic triads with an enclosure. I’m sure you can already hear how this could be a great building block in a jazz lick:

It’s important to focus on practicing things that you can actually use in solos. That’s how you make real progress.

And one of the best ways to expand your soloing and make your playing more flexible is this next exercise—taking a single jazz lick and turning it into something you can use everywhere.

How To Actually Learn Jazz Licks

My first Jazz teacher gave me a lot of licks to learn, and of course, it is very important to learn phrases and play lines so that you get a better feel for how melodies flow, how rhythms work, and how to phrase your lines. But just learning the licks is not enough. What I didn’t get a lot of guidance in was how to turn these licks into usable vocabulary—something flexible that I could actually use in my playing.

There are two ways you should explore this, and both are important. The easiest way to demonstrate this is with an example.

Let’s start with a lick like this:

To make this more useful, you want to break it down into something short—3 to 8 notes. Let’s take the first bar:

Now, let’s explore what you can do with this phrase. The first thing I would do is try adding to or changing the ending:

Or maybe something like this:

You can imagine how valuable it is to come up with strong variations like this, especially if you have a teacher to guide you with feedback and ideas on what you create.

Making It Work Anywhere on the Neck

Once you’ve created a few variations, the next step is making sure you can play them other places on the neck. One great way to do this is by taking the phrase through the scale along the neck:

At first, don’t worry about playing it in time—just go rubato so you have time to listen and find the notes. Later, you can work on playing it in tempo.

Using It in Songs

And you should take the same approach when applying the lick to a song. Here, I’m slowly taking it through 8 bars of Take The A Train. You don’t have to be too strict with the lick—the important part is shaping it into strong phrases that fit the chords.

This is not just about repeating the same lick everywhere. It’s about internalizing the essence of the phrase so that it becomes a natural part of your playing.

This way, you build a real jazz vocabulary and get the most out of the licks you study.

Let’s move on to chords!

Jazz Harmony With 3-Note Chords

When I started out, I thought I had to memorize hundreds of big chord shapes and weird voicings. I spent hours drilling them, but when I tried to use them in a song, it didn’t work. What I didn’t realize is that jazz comping isn’t about knowing a million chords—it’s about knowing a few great ones and learning how to use them well.

That’s where shell voicings come in. These simple 3-note voicings give you the core sound of any chord while keeping your comping clear and flexible. They’re the perfect starting point for learning jazz harmony.

The Essential Shell Voicings

You only need two sets of shell voicings:

Root on the 6th string

Root on the 5th string

These fit together so you can smoothly connect chords in a progression. For example, here’s a II-V-I in C major using both sets:

II-V-I with Root on the 6th String

and with the root on the 5th string

II-V-I with Root on the 5th String

How to Really Learn Jazz Chords

Instead of just memorizing shapes, focus on these three things:

✅ Play Songs – Use these voicings in actual tunes, not just exercises.

✅ Focus on Rhythm – Great comping is about time and groove, not just fancy chords.

✅ Split the Chord – Separate the bass note and chord tones to have more to improvise with.

Here’s an example of how you can split the chord on a II-V-I:

Expanding Your Chord Vocabulary

Once you’re comfortable with shell voicings, the next step is to take them through the scale, just like arpeggios. This helps you connect what you know and makes it easier to add variations later:

And the ones with the root on the 6th string. Here I start on the 4th degree, Fmaj7:

Diatonic Shell Voicings – root on 6th

This foundation makes it much easier to later explore rootless voicings, extensions, and substitutions. But the key is to first play clear harmony with solid rhythm—because that’s what really matters in jazz.

Now, let’s explore an equally important skill for soloing!

Solos Without Direction

When I was just getting to the point where I could improvise over the chords then, I ran into another problem: I could play something on all the chords, but it didn’t make sense as a solo, it was just notes and licks next to each other. But there is a way to start fixing that. If you check out solos from great artists like this next example from a Joe Pass Rhythm changes exercise then they are not “just on the chord” they are moving forward.

Something that is a huge part of the Bebop sound!

Notice how the lines are moving to the next heavy beat, so beat 1 or beat 3. On D7, first it is to the C then you have a phrase that is moving to the A on beat 1 of the next bar, continuing to F# on beat 3

Before moving to the G7 with a bit of extra tension with the b9 and resolving to a very clear chord tone, B, the 3rd of G7.

That is how you want your lines to flow, and the way you get that into your playing is by getting used to creating lines that aim for a target note on the next chord. To get started, just use the 3rd of the chord, keep it simple. For the II V I in C major that would give you these target notes:

You want to start by practicing this rubato (or out of time) and just use a few notes to get to the target note:

Notice that on the G7, it doesn’t matter that much if there is a huge skip after the target note as long as it flows to the next chord. Like this:

Once you’re comfortable with that, start playing the target notes in time and turn them into melodic lines that smoothly connect from chord to chord.

As you can tell, this isn’t just about what notes you play, it’s about how you play them. A strong solo isn’t just a series of licks—it’s a story that moves forward, phrase by phrase. Let’s move on to a great exercise that completely transformed my playing.

The Fastest Way to Learn Jazz

My teachers didn’t really encourage this in my first years of studying Jazz —and that’s a pity. Because this is probably the fastest way to learn jazz. It’s also one of the most fun and rewarding ways to practice, though it can feel like a challenge at first.

I’m talking about learning solos by ear and playing along with the recording. I still practice this today, and I love it! It’s a fun way to get into the music and, more importantly, a great way to get the music into you.

Why Learning Solos by Ear Works So Well

When you learn a solo by ear, you’re developing multiple skills at once:

✅ Phrasing – You naturally pick up how to articulate and shape lines.

✅ Technique – You train your fingers to move in ways that fit jazz.

✅ Timing – You absorb the feel and rhythmic placement of a great soloist.

✅ Vocabulary – You internalize real jazz language, not just scales and theory.

And the best part? Because you spend time figuring out the notes yourself, you don’t need to practice them as much to play the solo.

How to Get Started (And Make It Easier!)

The important part is choosing the right solo. You don’t want to start with something that’s too fast or complicated. Instead, look for solos that are:

✔️ Short – A full chorus or even half is fine.

✔️ Not too fast – Aim for a moderate tempo so you can hear the details and that it is easy to play.

✔️ On simple songs – Standards you know, or a Blues?

Pro Tip: Before you even try to play the solo, listen to it 50-100 times. Just loop it while you’re driving, cooking, or relaxing. It will make figuring it out 1000x easier and help you remember what you learned.

Want Some Great Beginner Solos?

If you’re looking for easy jazz guitar solos from the people you need to check out like Grant Green, Charlie Christian, or George Benson, then check out this video where I break down some great options that will boost your playing and make this process even easier.

See you over there!

Learn Jazz Make Music

https://jenslarsen.nl/5-easy-solos-to-learn-by-ear-and-boost-your-jazz-guitar-skills/

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