Posts by jazz-guitar-licks

This blog article is related to the video tutorial published on JGL YouTube channel. It contains 10 II V7 jazz bebop guitar patterns with analysis and scale shapes.

These lines come from the first chapter of David Baker's book "How To Play Bebop Vol.2 - Learning the bebop language". They correspond to the first ten exercises of the section named "The Use of The II V7 Progression in Bebop".

You 'll find in this lesson a quick analysis of each pattern with scale diagrams (Dorian, Dorian bebop, Mixolydian, dominant bebop, Mixolydian b13, altered, mixo-blues and half-whole diminished).

"Solar" is a jazz standard written by Miles Davis in the key of C minor with four tonal centers that are  : C minor, F major, Eb major and Db major. Solar contains essential chord progressions as major and minor II V I. This lesson provides a short harmonic analysis and a chord melody arrangement for guitar with tabs, standard notation, chord shapes and audio file.

You will find here a free cheet sheat about major 7 arpeggios. This quick guitar lesson provides a brief description of major 7 arpeggios including neck diagrams and formula charts. This document is available in three versions : PDF (for printing), JPEG and PNG for on-line publication.

This free printable PDF files contains 6 easy guitar licks with tab, standard notation and anlysis for a better understanding of the tritone substitution.

tritone-substitution-licks-free-pdf-guitar-book-1.pdf (994.69 Ko)

What's a Tritone Substitution?

The tritone substitution is one of the most common substitution found in jazz. The basic application of a tritone chord substitution is to take any 7th chord and play another 7th chord that has its root a tritone away from the original. This guitar lesson demonstrates how you can play scales and arpeggios starting from the b5 (a tritone away) of the V7 chord in a II V I chord progression. This way you will highlight altered tones as the b9 and the #11. 

Octave playing is a big part of jazz guitar language, this technique has been popularized by guitarist Wes Montgomery one of the greatest improvisers and jazz genious of all times.

 Theoretically, the principle is quite easy to understand. You just have to play lines using two simultaneaous notes separated by twelve semitones. In practice, it is more difficult because of the fingerings.

Indeed, you have to move two fingers at the same time while keeping the same hand position. This lesson provides guitar diagrams and easy guitar lines for a good mastery of this technique.

Locrian Mode Cheat Sheet For Guitar 

The Locrian mode is the seventh mode of the major scale. It has a particular sound because of the b2, b3, b5, b6 and b7. It is probably the least used and the most misunderstood of all of the modes of the major scale. The Locrian mode is usually played over minor seventh flat ninth chords (m7b5).

The Aeolian mode is built with : root (1), minor second (b2), minor third (b3), perfect fourth (4), diminished fifth (b5), minor sixth (b6) and minor seventh (b7). 

locrian-mode-guitar-cheat-sheet.pdf (145.18 Ko)

Mixolydian Scale Guitar Cheat Sheet - PDF / JPEG

The Mixolydian mode, also called dominant scale is the fifth mode of the major scale. It is a major type scale. This is the mode to know when you want to play over dominant chords (not altered). The Mixolydian mode is widely used in jazz and blues music and one of the most important to master.

The Mixolydian mode is built with : root (1), second (2), third (3), perfect fourth (4), perfect fifth (5), sixth (6) and minor seventh (b7). 

mixolydian-mode-sheet-cheat-for-guitar.pdf (134.74 Ko)

Printable PDF / JPEG Dorian Mode Cheat Sheet

The Dorian mode is the second of the seven musical modes.It is a minor type scale because of its minor third (b3), often the first choice to play over minor chords and one of the most important scales to know.

The Dorian mode is built with a root (1), a second (2), minor third (b3), fourth (4), perfect fifth (5), sixth (6) and minor seventh (b7). 

dorian-mode-sheet-cheat-for-guitar.pdf (131.29 Ko)

Printable PDF / JPEG Ionian Mode Cheat Sheet

The Ionian mode (aka major scale) is the first of the seven musical modes. The other Greek modes are Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian and Locrian modes. The Ionian mode has exactly the same notes as the major scale and surely the first scale to learn for a beginner musician. 

The major scale consists of a root (1), second (2), major third (3), fourth (4), fifth (5), sixth (6) and major seventh (7). 

major-scale-sheet-cheat.pdf (138.61 Ko)

Octave playing technique involves playing the same note on two strings separate by one octave. An octave is 12 semitones higher than the root note. You will find in this blog post a new video from the YouTube Channel, containing 10 dominant octave licks with tabs and standard notation overlayed.

This music theory lesson provides some easy examples for a better understanding of what are inverted chords.

One note samba is a song composed by Antonio Carlos Jobim. The title refers to the main melody of the song, which consists of a serie of identical notes (F and Bb in this arrangement for guitar) with a syncopated rhythm typical of bossa nova and a number of chords typical of this genre.

Extended areggios, Extensions, Upper-Structure of Chords, Superimposition, Secondary Arpeggios, Chords

When learning how to play jazz guitar, one of the most important device to master is to play each tone of a chord in order to outline a specific progression.

This is what we call arpeggios.

They are great melodic tools when you want to highlight the chords you are soloing over.

This lesson is focused on diatonic seventh arpeggios and their extensions.

In this lesson you will learn how to build, play and recognize each of the three types of minor blues scales.