In most Jazz practice routines there are two things that you probably don’t focus on as much as you should. In this video, I am going to go over what the problem is and give you some suggestions on how to solve that problem, and I think it is more a matter of how you think about practicing and structure your practice routine than anything else.
Get the PDF of the exercises and examples on Patreon
This is a question I get very often. And that is in no way strange. Starting to learn Jazz guitar is the beginning of a long journey with a lot of interesting stops along the way.
In this video and post, I will try to give you some places where you can look for the things you feel you need to check out and of course also what you think is interesting.
Learning Jazz, or any other style of music is not a set path the fits everybody. We all take different routes and need to work on different things longer or shorter. That is also the reason that there is no set way to go through this and why I am calling it suggestions. You need to figure out for yourself where to go next. If I have a student learning Jazz it is common that I take a few lessons to figure out what to work on and how to work on it, so expect that when you start working as well.
That said, I will try to make this a little less complicated and stop the information overload a little because I don’t think that is really necessary.
To keep it a bit short I am going to focus on three main topics:
Technique and Scales
Chords
Improvisation and Songs
Technique and Scales
Keep it simple. Start with the Major scale. Don’t overdo technique practice.
Start with one position and one key. You can add positions and keys along the way, with basic exercises.
Start with these exercises:
The Scale
The Scale in 3rds
The Diatonic 7th chords (Maybe Triads first, but many don’t have to)
For more information on what to do work on and how to use it:
It is practical to learn some jazz chords so that you can play chords on songs. As jazz guitarists, we spend more time comping than soloing. It is also a huge help to be able to hear the harmony that you are soloing over.
Especially I would start with a set of diatonic chords for the major scale which is exercise one or two of this lesson: How to play Jazz Chords on Guitar
From that material you can gradually expand chord vocabulary, learn songs and progress into rootless voicings and more complex comping and harmonization ideas.
Improvisation and Songs
This is the most important part of how to learn jazz guitar because this is where we talk about playing music. So it is about using the material that is practiced in the scales.
If you want to play jazz you need to spend time playing the songs and improvising and you should start doing this from the very beginning. Even if you can’t really play solos that sounds like jazz, just by trying you are building repertoire and skills to use later.
Maybe you already feel comfortable with the things I covered here, and you are looking for more challenges and explore the music further. Of course, you can browse the YouTube channel and my Website.
Another option is to join the 6000+ members of the Jazz Guitar Insiders Facebook group and ask there, get inspired by the posts and comments of others:
My online course is a series of lessons set up so that you start at the beginning and work towards playing solos and making lines.
✅ An organized approach for practicing and learning Jazz Guitar
✅ How to get you started playing solos that sound like Jazz
✅ What you need and how you start coming up with Jazz lines
But don’t take my word for it:
“This is by far the best Course out there for anyone wanting to get into Jazz Guitar and overwhelmed by the amount of study material available. Jens Larsen has a way of providing you with what you need at the level you are at and you will be amazed at how much improvement you will see both in your playing and understanding of Jazz Guitar and associated Jazz vocabulary.
Thanks, Jens and I look forward to a follow up course if possible!” – Ger Leahy
Or join me on Patreon where you can support and help shape the content on the channel in the future. Patreon is really what has made all these lessons and the channel possible. Check it out here: Jens Larsen YouTube Lessons on Patreon
Sonny Rollins needs no introduction in Jazz. He is one of the most influential Tenor players that we have with an amazing and long career. In this Sonny Rollins lesson, I am taking a look at some of the great phrases from the Jazz Blues Tenor Madness. We can learn a lot from his very musical and natural approach to both blues and reharmonization in this solo.
When I was studying at the conservatory we referred to Tenor Madness as the dictionary, because it has so many important lines and chord changes that you want to know for your own Jazz Blues vocabulary.
The PDF with examples for this video is available through Patreon. You can check out my Patreon Page here: https://www.patreon.com/jenslarsen
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If you have any questions, comments or suggestions for topics then please let me know. Leave a comment on the video or send me an e-mail. That is the best way for me to improve my lessons and make them fit what you are searching for.
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Learning Jazz Standards is an important part of learning jazz. To yet again quote Peter Bernstein: “Learn the song and let the song teach you.” It is important to learn songs as a part of learning Jazz or Jazz Guitar. You want to have progressions where you can use and improve your skills as an improviser. In fact, learning Jazz Standards is also important for being able to play with other people and going to jam sessions.
In this video, I am going to show you how you can use the songs you already know to make it easier to learn new songs. I will also give you some examples of why it is great to think in functions and chord progressions rather than just each individual chord. The way I demonstrate this is by analyzing some jazz standards lead sheets These things are very much connected and also a huge help in learning songs. It is also important to use the music theory that you learn and benefit from analyzing jazz standards.
Content:
0:00 Intro 0:57 Efficient Music Theory 1:20 Improve the way you learn songs 1:58 Analyzing 5 Jazz Standards 2:06 Understanding the Form 2:12 The Blues Form Comparison 2:37 Learning Standards By Ear 2:43 Using The Form when transcribing 3:32 Thinking in Functions – How it helps 4:20 Thinking in Smaller Progressions as Building Blocks 4:44 Song #1 There Will Never Be Another You 4:52 The Basic Form 5:21 Main Analysis 8:38 Learn Jazz Songs, not Steely Dan, Coldplay etc. 8:58 Song #2 It Could Happen To You 13:42 Song #3 But Not For Me 15:44 Conclusion: Analysis side by side 17:06 Other Common Forms in Jazz 18:18 Song #3 Out Of Nowhere 18:42 A Double Diminished Chord! 19:50 More #IVish than German and Augmented 22:51 Out of Nowhere compared to the previous songs. 23:58 Song #4 Just Friends 27:50 Think “Top Down” when learning songs. 28:19 Think in Functions not only Chords 29:19 Like The Video? Check out my Patreon Page
Using Reharmonization in Solo
When you can analyze and understand a chord progression you also have the freedom to start changing the chords and create some really cool surprising melodies.
The PDF with examples for this video is available through Patreon. You can check out my Patreon Page here: https://www.patreon.com/jenslarsen
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If you have any questions, comments or suggestions for topics then please let me know. Leave a comment on the video or send me an e-mail. That is the best way for me to improve my lessons and make them fit what you are searching for.
Rhythm is much more important than notes. This is very true for jazz and certainly for comping. The easiest way to learn some new rhythms for your comping is to come up with some small riffs and practice playing those through a chord progression. In this jazz rhythm guitar lesson, I am going to show you 5 great variations on some great Comping rhythms and how they sound through a Blues In F.
If you want to practice them with me then you can go to the second examples via the link in the description of this video. I’ll talk a little about that later. This way of really thinking in rhythms as phrases are really important because you can’t think about the notes, you have to hear them.
If you want to check out more material that you can use for both soloing and comping on an F blues then have a look at this Study Guide: F Blues Study Guide
The Shell-Voicings
Instead of using the voicings that I use in the example you can also simplify that part by using shell voicings. In the end this is much more about rhythm than it is about the chord voicings so that will still teach you the most important part of the material in this lesson.
Practice with the video!
In this video I have added the count-off to the perfromances so if you want to play the rhythms together with me then you can do that. If you are a Patron of the channel then you can also download the mp3 backing track via my Patreon Page
The Shell-voicings are shown here below.
You can go through these voicings and use them while practicing the rhythms in the 5 exercises.
#1 Charleston Rhythm
The Charleston rhythm is a great place to start! It is in many ways the most simple rhythm that has it all. It clearly shows the chords by stating that on the 1 and the groove and swing feel is clear from the 2& that follows it.
If you are playing with people you don’t know: When in doubt, Charleston!
#2 Pulling Forward
This rhythm is a little more busy. Here the goal is to state the groove with the first two 8th notes and then use the 3& to really pull the song forward. The 3& sound adds tension or energy and the following chord on the 1 resolves that tension.
#3 Clear Groove
This example is a little busy if you play it too much, especially if the tempo is higher than a slow medium.
It is however a complete groove and a way of laying down the harmony and the groove in a very clear way. This can work as a a great solid background for a soloist, but for some it may also get in the way.
#4 Up-Beat Energy
This rhythm is a little lighter and a great way to break things up a little. It is important to be able to play comping rhythms that are not on the 1st beat all the time.
#5 Leave it to Bass and Drums
Another exercise is to play rhythms starting on beat 2. This exercise helps you feel(or think) the first beat and then play on the 2nd. Internalizing the rhythm and the meter like this is really useful for your overall timing and time-feel.
Get more ideas for comping
If you want to expand your comping and check out some more ideas then check out this lesson in my WebStore:
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If you have any questions, comments or suggestions for topics then please let me know. Leave a comment on the video or send me an e-mail. That is the best way for me to improve my lessons and make them fit what you are searching for.
In this video, I am going to talk about the Bebop Language, what that means, how to study Bebop Language. So I will go over some of the different ways you can practice and study to get this language into your ears and your playing.
Learning to play Jazz usually starts with being curious about how to get a certain sound that you have heard on a recording. And once you start exploring jazz you probably become aware that it is, in fact, a complete musical language that you need to understand and internalize. In the same way, you have internalized other languages like for example rock or blues.
This video is not a lesson going over what bebop is, it is an overview of the different ways you can study bebop and learn that language.
The PDF with examples for this video is available through Patreon. You can check out my Patreon Page here: https://www.patreon.com/jenslarsen
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If you have any questions, comments or suggestions for topics then please let me know. Leave a comment on the video or send me an e-mail. That is the best way for me to improve my lessons and make them fit what you are searching for.
It is important to know how to practice jazz guitar so you don’t waste your time or focus on the wrong things. Here are three topics that I think too many jazz guitarists spend practice time on and think that they need to know which they really don’t. Most of this is related to a myth or misunderstanding and I think this is really worth talking a bit about because it doesn’t help you and it really works against you.
This may also be the first video I ever made telling you to not practice something instead of giving you stuff to practice.
Of course I would love to hear what you think, because maybe it’s different for you or maybe I am completely wrong?
The PDF with examples for this video is available through Patreon. You can check out my Patreon Page here: https://www.patreon.com/jenslarsen
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If you have any questions, comments or suggestions for topics then please let me know. Leave a comment on the video or send me an e-mail. That is the best way for me to improve my lessons and make them fit what you are searching for.
Please subscribe to my YouTube channel and feel free to connect with me via Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook to keep up to date with new lessons, concerts, and releases.
If you have to make a 30 minute Jazz Practice Routine, what should you include?
We are all different so there is no one solution that fits everybody, but you don’t want to waste time or leave out important things to practice.
In this video, I am going to go over what I think a 30-minute practice session should include. I am of course a guitarist so it will be aimed at jazz guitar practice, but I am sure the philosphy and topics will fit all instruments. Some of the topics that I think are important for a jazz practice routine would be:
I am really curious about how your practice routine is, so if you have a routine then please leave a comment with a list of stuff you work on. This is useful for people looking for inspiration and certainly also for you to evaluate how you work. I will do the same 🙂
The PDF with examples for this video is available through Patreon. You can check out my Patreon Page here: https://www.patreon.com/jenslarsen
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If you have any questions, comments or suggestions for topics then please let me know. Leave a comment on the video or send me an e-mail. That is the best way for me to improve my lessons and make them fit what you are searching for.
Please subscribe to my YouTube channel and feel free to connect with me via Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook to keep up to date with new lessons, concerts, and releases.
Here’s a video Q&A with me and Brent Vaarstra from Learn Jazz Standards answering your questions! We cover quite a few questions and both Brent and I give our perspective on the questions which isn’t always the same.
Brent runs a great channel and PodCast with LJS he is certainly worth checking out. I have been invited as a guest teacher, but the list of interesting topics and teachers is very impressive. Learn Jazz Standards is a great resource for everybody trying to work on anything jazz.
The PDF with examples for this video is available through Patreon. You can check out my Patreon Page here: https://www.patreon.com/jenslarsen
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If you have any questions, comments or suggestions for topics then please let me know. Leave a comment on the video or send me an e-mail. That is the best way for me to improve my lessons and make them fit what you are searching for.
Please subscribe to my YouTube channel and feel free to connect with me via Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook to keep up to date with new lessons, concerts, and releases.
All The Things You Are is a great standard that we all need to have in our repertoire. In this video I am going to go over a thorough All The Things You Are Harmonic Analysis. Talking about how the song is constructed with Form, modulations, chord movement and scales for improvisation.
I also dedicate a part of the video to discuss pivot chords and how they work in modulation, and some of the subtleties we loose when we start turning the chords into jazz chords.
Being able to analyze harmony is a huge help in learning jazz standards and becoming a better improviser.
The PDF with examples for this video is available through Patreon. You can check out my Patreon Page here: https://www.patreon.com/jenslarsen
Jazz Guitar Insiders Facebook Group
Join 1500+ 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 please let me know. Leave a comment on the video or send me an e-mail. That is the best way for me to improve my lessons and make them fit what you are searching for.
Please subscribe to my YouTube channel and feel free to connect with me via Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook to keep up to date with new lessons, concerts, and releases.