Jazz is a musical language, we talk about learning vocabulary and learning phrasing all the time. But I do see a lot of students only
practicing what notes to play and really missing out on how to learn to phrase so it sounds like jazz.
So let’s say that you can make a line like this one:
It sounds good, but it sounds a lot better if you play it like this:
That’s what I want to talk about in this lesson!
Listen for the phrasing and the techniques used
First I am going to give you some examples of the different techniques you can use and then I am going to go over how you can start using it in your own playing for arpeggios, jazz blues and making scale runs much more interesting.
In a way this is a video on legato technique, but it is really more about how you use it make better lines.
How does it make it sound better?
In the example below I am using a slide to move from the chromatic leading note to the root. This brings out the more interesting chromatic note that “doesn’t fit” and it makes the resolution more subtle.
At the end of the 1st bar you can see a 3 note grouping starting on G. The pull-off gives the G an accent which sits well in the groove. The next phrase is the same phrase that is move down a half step and executed in the same way. This shifts the 3-note group but also ties together the line across the two chords.
The trill on beat 3 of the 2nd bar is also a way to add movement in the 8th note line.
More rhythm, more phrasing!
The example here below uses some of the same techniques but is a lot less dense.
The G# leading note is sliding up to the A, again using the concept of bringing out the “interesting” chromatic note and not the resolution. This is also what happens at the end of the line going to G.
The pull-off in the triplet is here more functioning as a way to make the melody more playable.
How do you get this into your own playing
For you to start working with this type of phrasing and techniques you should start looking at the lines you make and spot how you can add to the phrasing.
Example 4a here below is a really basic Gm7:
This can be embellished with a leading note as shown in 4b which makes it sound a lot better:
Adding Dynamics to spice it up
Legato is a great way to add some dynamics and make a lick less monotonous.
Try playing this line:
Instead of playing this by picking each note and make it pretty even you can add a lot of life to it and get it to sound a lot better:
A key ingredient of Jazz Blues
Using grace notes and slides are really what makes Blues work in Jazz lines. Try to listen to these two ways of playing the same melody, first with and then with out the embellishing phrasing:
And without:
Leading notes to arpeggios
A great and easy way to add some interesting phrasing is to use leading notes. This works especially well with arpeggios as shown in the example below, where I am adding an F# in front of the Gm7 arpeggio.
Keep it practical
If you want to practice this then you could explore exercises like this one. Notice how I am using slides in some places and hammer-ons in others. It really just depends on what is easier to use in each case.
Making your scale runs more fun to play
Scale runs can quickly become boring. In this section you have two licks with scale runs and I will shouw you how to make add some more movement with simple embellishments.
Example 7 has a scale run in the 1st half of the bar. This is turned into a triplet rhythm with a slide and hammer on/pull-off. What really helps here is also that the direction now changes within the run so it is less predictable.
Example 8a and 8b use a similar approach for the first part of the bar. Here the scale run also introduces a larger interval from D up to the G on beat 3.
Build your own phrasing!
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