Tag Archives: how to play jazz blues guitar

Jazz Blues – You Need To Know Triads!

If you had any doubt, why Triads are amazing in your solos then you just check out this video and see how strong melodies you can create and how many options you have when you solo on a jazz blues. Trust me, you will never regret practicing diatonic triads and inversions.

A triad is easy to learn and great for melodies, just listen to Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik or Metallica’s One.

We can practice many things, but the great thing about triads is that they make very solid melodies so you can easily use them and sound great in a lot of places, as you will hear in this video.

The Solo – Triads only

Let’s first check out how a solo chorus only using triads sound and then I will show you what triads go where and how to find them for different chords.

When you only play super-imposed triads it often sounds quite modern, but of course, Charlie Parker and Wes used triads as well, so it is also a part of more traditional bop vocabulary

F7 and Bb7 – The Magic of Diatonic Triads

The first phrase on the F7 is an A diminished triad. When it comes to choosing triads then the easiest way to search is to look at the scale in thirds.

F7 is the dominant in Bb major, so if you have that scale in thirds:

Bb D F A C Eb G Bb

The F7 is arpeggio is then:  Bb D F A C Eb G A Bb

And the top part of that is A diminished A C Eb

In this way, we can filter out possible candidates by choosing triads that have common notes with F7.

Bb major doesn’t work, but Dm, is good, F and Adim are part of the arpeggio, and Cm is also a fine option, as you will see later. You can get away with Eb major as well because the Eb is a strong note on F7.

Dm, F, Adim, Cm, Eb

The same process on Bb7: Bb7 is the dominant in Eb major

Eb G Bb D F Ab C Eb

Gives us:

Gm, Bb, Ddim, Fm, Ab.

Here I am using Bb major on the Bb7.

The next bar uses a Cm triad on F7, which fits with what I already showed you.

Now that it is clear what is available on the regular dominants then let’s have a look at the Altered dominant and later the dominants from the diminished scale.

Next, we have an F7 altered which for many is a difficult chord to solo over, but Triads can actually work as a type of Shortcut.

Thoughts on Practicing Triads

The most important way to practice triads is to learn them in the scales you use, so working on diatonic triads is extremely useful, and if you want to take it to the next level then playing the inversions through scales is also a great exercise.

Altered Dominant Triads

F7 altered is the same as Gb melodic minor. Soloing over an altered dominant can be tricky, but as you can see here the triads help you make stronger melodies that still really connect to the chord.

The theory is a little bit less clear, but still not rocket science:

The Scale in 3rds: Gb A Db F Ab Cb Eb Gb (I am writing A because it is an F7 chord)

The Gbm triad is b9, 3, b13

A augmented triad: A Db F works as well

Db is not that strong without an A, it almost sounds like an Fm chord and a little close to the Bb7.

F dim is not that strong, we really miss the A and the Eb.

Abm has the Eb so that works.

Cb or B major works really well, that is the triad of the tritone sub B7

Ebdim is an F7b9 so that works as well

So we have: Gbm, Aaug, Abm, Cb, Edim

This is a bit context-sensitive so you can probably get other triads to work as well, but for now, I am going for the “easy” choices that sound fairly obvious.

The Altered Shortcut

The line in the solo is using Cb and Gbm triads to create a very logical melody. And in general, that is something you can use with the altered dominant: The triads resolve up and down in half steps:

F7alt: Bb7: Gbm Fm

Aaug Bb:

Abm Gm:

Cb B:

Ebdim Ddim:

And you could make similar lists for resolving to other chords like Bbmaj7 or Bbm6.

Diminished Chords and Some Great Triad Options

The Bdim in bar 6 has a lot of triad options.

The arpeggio itself has 4 diminished triads: B D F Ab

Which gives us B D F, D F Ab , F Ab B, Ab D F

The scale I would use here is C harmonic minor, and a great triad in that to use would be the G major triad, which is what I use here.

The G triad is used to lead back to the Adim on the F7.

Minor II V I trick

The Aø D7alt is the minor II V to the Gm7, the II chord.

A great really simple way to make lines on this progression with triads is to use the same triad, first in major and then in minor.

That is what I am doing here: On the Aø you see the major triad from the b5: Eb major, and on the D7alt that becomes an Ebm triad, which fits because D7 altered is Eb melodic minor.

Let’s have a look at being symmetric without sounding symmetric with the diminished scale.

Dominant With Diminished Scale

On the C7, I am using one of the best ways to play melodic lines over a dominant using the diminished scale: Making melodies with the 4 major triads.

For the C7 that gives us C, Eb, Gb and A major.

In this case, I am using A and Gb major to really bring across the C7(13b9) and C7(b5).

When you improvise with these triads then it is easy to not sound symmetric: Don’t play symmetrical melodies, which is how I approach this line playing different melodies and inversions with the triads.

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Jazz Blues – How To Get The Phrasing Right

In this jazz blues guitar lesson, I am going to teach you how to convert jazz line to Jazz Blues. This can be done by adding blues phrasing so that your phrases find that In this jazz blues guitar lesson, I am going to teach you how to convert jazz lines to Jazz Blues, by adding blues phrasing and find that sweet spot where both genres exist.

Most of us learn have learned to play blues licks along the way. This usually means playing pentatonic blues phrases which is what is the biggest part of that genre. You probably also have learned to play jazz phrases. Melodies that are based on the chords and use arpeggios.

The problem arises when you play a 12 bar jazz blues. Then you want to play something that connects both worlds. You want to follow the changes and you want some of that blues sound.

Most of that is about phrasing.

The basic Jazz Lick – A little Bebop

Let’s take a phrase from a Bb blues. So a Jazz phrase could be something like an arpeggio some scale melody and of course some chromaticism.

When we play it like this it sounds like jazz or a bebop lick but not really like blues.

#1 – Grace notes, slides and Hammer-ons

In these examples, you can see how I add sliding grace notes to the line. The melody is essentially the same but I am adding a few extra notes.

The grace notes are mostly resolving to basic chord tones and are really there to add some extra variation and movement to the line. In blues, you will often do things like this with bends and vibrato as well, but these techniques are less common in Jazz.

#2 -Enclosures and Bluesy Approach Notes

In Jazz Blues leading notes and enclosures are probably coming from the piano. Ironically piano players probably took it over from especially slide guitar players. That is also how it went in Rock and Roll with Chuck Berry.

Adding the enclosures and leading notes to the melody mean changing it a bit, but the basic shape of the melody is still there.

In the first example, here below, I have added an enclosure before the D so that the D is moved to beat 2.

I have also added a leading note between the C and the Bb

In the example below the single leading note is placed before the first D.

Leading into the 3rd like this is very typical for blues and certainly something you want to be able to do.

Another variation of this is to add a trill instead of a leading note. Below,the trill is added on beat 1. It uses the 3rd(D) and the leading note for it (which is the minor 3rd)

Very often Jazz guitarists emulate bends with trills. This is what the example above illustrates.

#3 – Double-stops

Using double-stops is another technique that we borrowed from piano players. By now that has become an important part of the Jazz Blues sound.

It is also a great tool to get other sounds into your solos in an easy way. Just to change up the single-note lines.

The example below is first using a low D as a pedal point before moving to a melody that is in fact harmonized in 3rds.

This second example is more focused on harmonizing the melody in 3rds. The phrasing here also includes grace notes both in a single voice and in both voices at the same time.

Another very common blues device is to have a high pedal point 2nd voice. You don’t hear it too often but Wes Montgomery and Scofield use this.

More Bb Blues Phrasing in a complete solo

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How to Use the Blues in a Jazz Solo

There is something special about the Jazz Blues Guitar sound and that type of phrasing! The blues is a very important part of Jazz, but it can be difficult to get those bluesy phrases to work on a jazz song, the way Joe Pass or George Benson do.

In this video, I am going to show you how to do that, a common mistake we make and also talk the different ways great guitarists like George Benson, Joe Pass, and Emily Remler use blues phrases in jazz solos.

Other videos on Joe Pass, George Benson, and Emily Remler

George Benson – This is The Best Jazz Blues Solo I know

Emily Remler – How To Reinvent a Standard

Joe Pass – How to Keep Solos Interesting

Content

0:00 Intro

0:17 Blues Phrases from George Benson, Joe Pass, and Emily Remler

0:34 Example #1

0:47 Benson’s Major Blues Sound

1:38 Play Blues From The Key of the Piece

1:58 The Blues As Leading Notes

2:48 Altered Dominant? Blues!

3:21 Example #1 Slow

3:38 Benson’s Blues Approach

4:04 Pat Martino On Benson 

4:20 Example #2

4:29 Joe Pass – Watch What Happens

5:24 Joe Pass’ Minor Blues

6:43 Example #2 Slow

6:55 Blues In Major and in Minor songs

7:19 Example #3

7:32 Using Blues in a Minor Key

8:11  Emily Remler – Softly As In A Morning Sunrise

8:53 From Blues to Triplet Groupings

9:20 Example #3 Slow

9:36 The Things You Want to Do To Use Blues in Jazz Solos

10:22 Like The Video? Check out my Patreon Page!

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