5 Licks That Will Help You Understand Jazz Guitar
Did you know there are 5 licks that explain 99% of Jazz guitar?
Most jazz beginners get stuck with endless scales and arpeggios, but never learn to play solos that actually sound like jazz.
I studied lines from legends like Wes Montgomery and Joe Pass, and distilled this into 5 licks that break down how jazz solos flow and feel.
So in this video, I will show you the 5 licks so your playing finally nails that classic jazz sound.
Lick #1 Connecting To The Chords
Did you ever play a solo and feel like you were just skating over the surface, not really locking in with the song? That’s because jazz—especially bebop—is full of fast-moving chord changes, and the magic only happens when your lines actually connect to those changes.
Think of each chord change like a scheduled stop for a delivery driver. If your solo hits the right note when the chord changes, you check it off.
That’s exactly what’s happening in Lick #1:
The way that this lick connects to the chords is by using a lot of chord tones and especially hitting those chord tones on the heavy beats, so that we really hear how they fit with the chord.
Listen for how the lick lands on a chord tone when the chord changes. Here, it is the clearest chord tone, the 3rd: F on Dm7, B on G7, and E on Cmaj7.
These notes are like musical signposts, spelling out the harmony and making your solo feel glued to the progression. Most of the other notes are also from the chord, which helps lock everything in.
When you practice, try building your own lines that put chord tones, especially 3rd and 5th, right on beat 1 of each chord. Spend some time doing this slowly, even rubato, as if you’re composing.
You’ll notice your solos instantly sound more connected and start to flow through the changes like real jazz.
Let’s move on to the most important progression in jazz and the material you’ll need to create strong lines over it.
The Most Important Chord Progression in Jazz
The II V I progression is the backbone of jazz. You’ll hear it everywhere—from classic standards to modern tunes.
In the key of C major, that’s
To make it easy to solo over the chords, it’s essential to know the notes in each chord—the chord tones, or arpeggios.
These notes serve as the framework for the music, guiding your solo lines so they sound connected and intentional.
Here’s a practical way to build this skill:
Practice playing the arpeggios for each chord, all in one position on the neck. This keeps your lines flowing, without having to jump around the fretboard.
Working in one position helps your fingers—and your ears—easily make melodies that flow smoothly from chord to chord.
Once this feels comfortable, you’ll be ready to turn those arpeggios into strong, melodic jazz lines that really nail the changes.
And next, I’ll show you HOW you get that flow into your solos!
Lick #2 The Solo Needs Energy And Direction
If you want your solos to sound like real jazz—not just a string of random notes—you need more than just hitting the right chord tones. Your lines need energy and direction. Especially when going from chord to chord.
It’s like writing a story. You wouldn’t scatter sentences randomly across a page—each one follows the last, creating meaning. In jazz, each chord is like the next sentence in your story, and your lines need to connect them smoothly.
That’s where “target notes” come in—usually a strong note in the next chord, often the 3rd. Targeting these notes gives your solo real forward motion, making every phrase feel like it’s going somewhere.
Just hopping from chord tone to chord tone still sounds random and pointless.
What you want is a melody that leads the ear from one chord to the next. Like this:
Lick #2
Check out how the descending line on Dm7 heads straight for the B on G7. Then, on G7, you get a little melodic twist before a phrase landing on E—the 3rd of Cmaj7. Every phrase is aiming for a destination here.
Here’s how to practice this:
Try composing your own lines, deliberately aiming for a specific target note—like the 3rd—on each new chord.
Do this over and over, and you’ll start to hear how real jazz melodies are built. Soon, this sense of direction will become a natural part of your playing.
The Strongest Target Note
In these examples, I’m aiming for the 3rd of each chord. It’s the clearest, strongest note to hit—especially when you’re learning—because it really makes the chord change obvious in your solo.
With this approach, you’re not just playing notes—you’re telling a story that moves forward. Now, let’s explore some more building blocks to take your solos even further.
Lick #3 The Strongest Melody In Jazz
What is the strongest melody in jazz? It’s not a famous song or a complicated lick—it’s the arpeggio. Arpeggios are like ready-made melodies you can drop right into your solos. And the best part? Each chord has more than one arpeggio you can use to create fresh, melodic lines, I’ll show you in a bit, first check out this lick:
Lick #3
Here’s what’s going on:
Over Dm7, I use the Dm7 arpeggio. But on G7, I play a B half-diminished (Bø) arpeggio
that’s the arpeggio built from the 3rd of G7. It adds a new flavor, and since it’s played as a triplet, it also gives the line a fresh rhythmic twist.
A quick bit of Music “science”:
If you look at a G7 arpeggio and a Bø arpeggio side by side, you’ll see they share most of the same notes. The difference? The Bø adds a 9th to the sound, giving your line a little extra color.
You can use the same trick on Cmaj7: the arpeggio from the 3rd is Em7.
So, arpeggios aren’t just for hitting the “right” notes—they’re a shortcut to stronger, more melodic lines. And once you’re comfortable with these, you’re ready for the next step: adding a little spice (pause) with some “wrong” notes.
Lick #4 Try Some Funny Notes
Have you noticed how many jazz lines have a few surprising notes here and there? That is often thanks to chromatic notes, the notes between notes of the scale that create tension and make everything more interesting.
Let’s break down how to use them in this example:
Lick #4
First, let’s look at the trickier chromatic phrases, then we’ll get to the easy ones.
The first chromatic phrase on the Dm7 arpeggio is also the longest. It creates tension, driving the line forward, for the next chord. This is called an enclosure—think of it as circling around the target note before landing on it.
In this case, with some chromatic notes in there. Here, the enclosure leads to a B on G7, making the transition from Dm7 to G7 even stronger.
You have an example of a shorter enclosure on the G7, doing the same job: guiding you smoothly from G7 to Cmaj7. This specific type is sometimes called “diatonic above, chromatic below.”
That might sound complicated, but they are useful in countless ways in jazz! Diatonic just means a scale note above the chord tone, and chromatic is, of course, a half step below.
Finally, on Cmaj7, there’s a single chromatic passing note—the F#—which moves up to the G, the 5th of the chord. You don’t always need a whole phrase; sometimes just one chromatic note can add a lot of flavor.
How To Use Chromatic Phrases
You can easily start working with this by using chromatic notes and enclosures in your solos, especially targeting chord tones on strong beats. That way, they are easier to hear and have a strong logical resolution.
But you can experiment with more than just the notes. You can also change the chords. Check out how that opens up even more creative possibilities!
Lick #5 Changing The Chords
You can go further than just making up licks over a chord progression—you can also start improvising with the chords themselves. If your progression is going from Dm7 to Cmaj7, you actually have a ton of freedom in how you get there.
A simple way to start is by changing the G7 to a G7(b9)—just adding that b9 note.
This adds a bit more tension and helps your lines flow more naturally into the Cmaj7.
Lick #5
Here’s what’s happening in this lick:
First, I’m using the arpeggio from the 3rd on Dm7, plus a short scale run up the Ab, the b9 of G7.
Over the G7(b9), I’m playing a B diminished arpeggio. That works because B, D, F, and Ab are all part of the G7(b9) sound—they’re just the chord tones starting from the 3rd.
This idea opens many doors. You can take it further with altered dominants, harmonic minor, and more. But for now, just try out the b9 and experiment with diminished arpeggios over the dominant chord. It’s a great way to add new colors to your playing without getting overwhelmed. Try it out in your next solo and see how it changes the sound!
Joe Pass’ Jazz Chord Strategy
When it comes to chords, Joe Pass had a simple approach that not only gives you easy-to-play shapes but also makes it easy to extend them for chord melody and chord solos. I break that down in this video, and it is hands-down the best place to start with jazz chords.
Check it out
Learn Jazz – Make Music
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