When you practice Jazz Guitar, then the most fun part of practicing is to work on new things you can add to your playing and enjoy using it while playing music. But often the way you start working on new material actually also stops you from getting it into your playing, and that is what I want to discuss in this video, and of course, give you a few easy ways to fix it.
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When I look back at when I learned how to play jazz guitar then there are some things that I did which in hindsight clearly helped me get further and took me up sometimes several levels.
Most of these habits I didn’t think about in a strategic way, but I think that if you are trying to learn Jazz then these 5 tips are important for you to consider and will help you learn more and learn faster, which in the end also often means having more fun doing so.
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What is really great about Jazz chords or comping in Jazz is that you are allowed to improvise with the chords and choose what sounds you play, especially in terms of extensions but it can go a lot further as you will see in this jazz chords guitar lesson.
In this video, I am going to show you some really simple but also really great ways to add some chromatic notes and even entire chords to your playing. This works great if you are playing Jazz of course but it is also really useful in other genres that use extended chords.
In chord progressions and static chords
I am going to go over some different examples of how to mess around with a chord. I am going to show you how it works on a single chord but also how you can use it on a chord progression.
The first few are examples only moving one note in the chord and then it is going to get a little more extensive and you will learn how to start to add chromatic chords as well.
When it says Cmaj7 in the chart you can play a Cmaj7, but you can also play a C6. The difference between these two is a B and A :
We can play what we want as long as it sounds like the right chord in the context and as long as it does not clash with the melody or the soloist. For the different chords in this video, I will give you some examples of extensions you can use.
Why I Don’t Add Extensions to Chord Symbols
This way of improvising with the chords is also why I often don’t write extensions on the chords of a song: We are allowed to chose. (b-roll? comping You Stepped out of a dream with chord symbols)
You can also move from one to the other, and you can even add a chromatic leading note in between like this:
If you use this on a II V I then it becomes:
It does not have to be in the top note melody, it sounds great in the middle of the chord too:
The 9th – Another great extension
Another extension you can add to a Maj7 chord is the 9th. That can move down to the root:
The example is also moving the b13 to the b5 on the altered dominant. Whenever I chose a note to move to in the scale that works with the chord.
In example 5 I am moving the 7th and the 9th, but one of them alone
Stealing from Stairway to Heaven
So now we start moving several notes and before I go into chromatic chords, let’s have a look at how you can also move them in opposite directions (ala Stairway to Heaven)
Here are two ways of doing that on a Dm7. On a Dm7 you can use other extensions from the scale, the 9th and the 11th are pretty safe most of the time if Dm7 is the II or the VI chord in the scale.
Notice that the chord in between is actually an Fm7, but that is actually a coincidence which is why I did not write the chord symbol.
Chromatic Passing Chords on a G7
Now let’s add some chromatic chords. For a G7 you can play the G7 but also choose to add either a 9th or a 13th.
A 3-note version of adding some chromatic chords as leading chords could be something like this:
The idea is really just to move the chord a fret up or down when it resolves as you can see I do both in the first bar going down and the second moving up.
This is pretty easy to play on guitar so you should really explore that for more chords than just the dominants.
Another way to use this is to let the melody move one way and the chord another. This is what I am doing in this example:
Here the melody is the same in bars 1 +2 and bars 3 + 4.
The first example is using an Ab7 to harmonize the Ab in the melody, and the 2nd example is using a Gb7. The difference is that in the second example the melody is moving down while the chord is moving up (Gb7 up to G7).
If you want to explore more sounds and chords that you can use when you comp then check out this video where I am covering different inversions of chords you probably already know plus some great voice-leading tricks you can add to your playing.
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You can also download the PDF of my examples here:
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.
Even if you have lessons you know that most of the time you need to teach yourself and make sure you are improving while you practice guitar. You need to make sure that are getting something out of how you practice and spend your time.
In this video, I am going to talk about how you can easily add something to your practice sessions that will help you evaluate your playing and give you an idea about whether you are progressing. I will also go over 3 things to keep in mind to get the most out of this way of working.
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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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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
Learning to play jazz we practice a lot of scales and a lot of arpeggios. But you also want to make sure that you get as much out of your practice as possible. It is also more fun to work on making new lines and coming up with new things you can use in your solos, so you want to use arpeggios as much as you can and explore where they might sound good.
In this video, I am going to show you this process and help you get a lot more out of the arpeggios you know by finding more chords you can play them on.
To keep this simple, let’s take a Cmaj7 arpeggio and look at where we can use that.
You can play a Cmaj7 arpeggio like this:
I will probably use other fingerings as well in the examples, and in general, I think you should practice arpeggios in scales as diatonic arpeggios as I talk about in this lesson: The Most Important Scale Exercise In Jazz
#1 Cmaj7
The obvious place to start is using the Cmaj7 arpeggio on a Cmaj7 chord.
In this example, I am using inversions of the Cmaj7 arpeggio. The first part of the phrase is a descending 1st inversion Cmaj7 which is then turned into a 6 note phrase and repeated from beat 4 of bar 1. The second repeat is a descending root position Cmaj7.
The last part of the phrase is a series of descending chromatic 3rd intervals.
#2 Am7
If you have seen more of my lessons then you have probably seen examples of using the arpeggio from the 3rd of the chord.
Here I am using the Cmaj7 as the arpeggio from the 3rd of Am7.
Am7: A C E G and a great arpeggio option here is the Cmaj7 arpeggio: C E G B.
#3 D7
Similar to how the Cmaj7 works well on Am7 then it is also a solid option on the V chord associated with Am7: D7.
In this example, I am using the Cmaj7 at the end of bar 1. Similar to the previous example I am playing the Cmaj7 arpeggio as a triplet with a leading note.
#4 F#ø
The Maj7 from the b5 of a half diminished or m7b5 chord is a great very useful arpeggio. This is also related to the previous examples, but probably you would see this in the context of a minor key.
In this case, that is a II V I in Em and the F#ø is coming from the harmonic minor scale:
The Cmaj7 arpeggio is also a useful tool to use on a Fmaj7(#11) chord.
In this example, I am mixing it with material that really spells out the Fmaj7 sound: Fmaj7 arpeggio and Am pentatonic.
6 Abmaj7(#5,#9)
The final, more exotic, sound is using the Cmaj7 as a part of the augmented sound on an Abmaj7 chord.
The scale sound this is using is the Augmented scale.
The Augmented scale is a symmetrical 6 note scale that can be seen as the combination of two augmented triads or as the sum of 3 maj7 chords.
In this case: Abmaj7, Cmaj7, and Emaj7.
The scale consists of Ab B C Eb E G Ab
With a little enharmonic spelling (since this is an atonal symmetrical scale) you can construct the 3 maj7 chords.
The example here below is using first an Abmaj7 arpeggio and then continuing in a Cmaj7 arpeggio really bringing out the #5(E) and #9(B) over the Abmaj7.
A great Arpeggio Workout!
Here is a great foundation when it comes to working with arpeggios and pentatonic scales on a Jazz Standard:
You can also download the PDF of my examples here:
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.
Having good Jazz Chords for a minor II V I can be difficult. This progression is much more complicated than it’s Major counterpart. At the same time, it is a really beautiful progression. Especially because of the rich tonic minor chords and altered dominants.
15 Jazz Chord Sets
In this video, I am going to go over 15 sets of jazz chords for a minor II V I in D minor. They will give you some solid ideas with extensions, the melodies and also some inner-voice movement.
What makes this progression difficult is probably in part the IIø chord that is a little hard to get used to and also the mix of harmonic minor and melodic minor used on the V and the I chord. Very rich colors but also a bit hard to handle.
I am of course very curious about what you think about the video format, so if you have ideas for other topics that would work in a video like this then let me know!
If you want to download a Free E-book of 15 II Valt I licks then subscribe to my newsletter:
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Get the PDF!
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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In this video I am to cover some different types of Jazz Chords and talk about the order you should learn them. I’ll show you the basic idea with the chords and how you can use this order to gradually build a chord vocabulary that you can also make music with.
I don’t focus on the types of voicings, like drop2 drop3, etc. because they are just names, it is more important to chords you can play music with.
Level 1 – A Set For Playing Music and Songs
To play songs and easily find the chords we need one set with the root on the 5th and one set with the root on the 6th string. This is shown in the example here below:
If you are used to finding chords in other genres this is probably how you think about it. These chords are basic chord sounds, not too many extensions.
They are Easy to play.
Similar to the bar chords you already know
Include the root – full picture of the harmony
A Complete set of chords
Why start with these:
You can play the song alone and hear the harmony.
Works well in a duo
Easy to add extensions and develop
Easy to turn into very flexible rootless voicings
Level 2 – Rootless voicings for Bands and Flexibility
Now you can play the chords and to get some more options then the best place to go is to just take the chords from Level 1 and then remove the lowest note: The Root. The essential exercise is this:
We can now start making the chords more flexible and add melody by changing the top note and even adding an extra higher note as shown below in example 3 for a C7.
Why:
Works better in a band
Is much more flexible
You can play melodic ideas with the chords
Level 3 – Inversions and more melodic options
Now we can start working on inversions, and a good place to start is to take these voicings that we come across while adding notes to the 3-note chords.
The idea of a chord inversion is really just to find the same notes in another order on the neck. The chords we have are called drop2 voicings, and I go over how to make the inversions in the Drop2 lessons in this guide: How To Learn Jazz Chords
If I take the four basic chords and play those inversions then I have this:
How To Learn Using These Chords
Whenever you practice something like this it is very important that you also practice using it in songs. Learning a lot of stuff that you don’t use in music is usually a waste of time and you just forget it again.
Having different Minor Scale will help you not always sounding the same in your solos. It is important to have a solid vocabulary to chose a minor scale from. The minor scale guitar solos in this video demonstrate 7 different sounds and I also talk about what the notes are and how I improvise with the scale.
Maj7 Chords are one of the most important tonic chord types. This video will show you 7 different ideas that you can use when improvising over Maj7 chords. The concepts I cover are using different arpeggio types, triad pairs and super-imposed pentatonic scales both common and more exotic.
