Posts by jazz-guitar-licks

Mastering arpeggios is inevitable for anyone who wants to improve its sense of improvisation and bring more musicality to its playing.

Practicing and mastering them is a necessity for all jazz guitarists, indeed arpeggios are great tools to improvise over chord changes and jazz standards. 

You'll find at the end of this lesson a basic blues study in C showing how to connect dominant 7 arpeggios and here a serie of Mini Lessons with tab, PDF guitar pro file and short video for practicing arpeggios a little more closely.

Drop 2 chords are very used and appreciated by guitarists of all styles, they are formed by dropping the second highest note of a four-note chord in close position down an octave.

This guitar theory lesson with diagrams and charts explains how drop 2 chords are built and how to play them.

Misty is a jazz standard written by Erroll Garner following a 32-bar progression in the key of Eb including some common chord sequences as II-V-I, I-VI-II-V. A very popular ballad that has crossed over genres of music for the past 50 years (1959). This lesson provides a guitar chord melody arrangement with a Youtube video and a brief analysis.

Mastering triads is necessary for any guitarist who wants to expand his fretboard and theory knowledge.

Even if these chords are not really considered as jazz chords because of their basic sound, but they can be efficient tools for comping and chord soloing.

Indeed, the strong point of these chords is the simplicity of learning and playing.

You will find in this guitar lesson 84 ways of playing triads (major, minor, diminished and augmented) using root and inverted voicings in close and open positions.

How Chords Are Built?

Chord formulas show all the notes which constitute a chord.

They reveal their structure and provide a link between scales and arpeggios.

Why Learning Chord Formulas

Knowing the structure of chords will help you find any chord position on the guitar when you only have the name.

This will help you better understand the difference between many types of chords.

Learning chord formulas is necessary for anyone who wants to expand their musical knowledge and increase their guitar playing skills.

The formula chart below show how the main types of chords are built.

A new video has just been uploaded on the youtube channel. This lesson contains the 21 most recent jazz guitar licks & transcriptions posted on the channel. 

Here is the summary :

1. 10 Kenny Burrell licks
2. II-V7alt-I lick 
3. Clifford Brown solo transcription 
4. Eric Gale solo transcription 
5. Grant Green airegin solo transcription 
6. Duet in F - Berklee 
7. John Scofield Wee #1 
8. John Scofield Wee #2 
9. John Scofield Wee #3 
10. Dominant 7th lick 
11. Soul jazz lick 
12. Jazz blues lick 

When you want to play altered jazz guitar lines over a dominant 7th chord, there is an easy and efficient option that is to play a major triad starting on the #11 of the chord you want to improvise over.

This way you highlight the b7, #11 and b9 and add tension to your playing.

Let's take an example with a II-V-I sequence in the key of C major. The progression is Dm7 | G7alt | CMaj7.

You'll find in this lesson some tips and trick for practicing scales, enrich and develop your playing or simply warming-up before a gig. 

A new video is online on the youtube channel since yesterday. This is a compilation of the best jazz guitar solo transcriptions posted on the youtube channel since one year. This video lesson contains transcriptions of great jazzmen as John Scofield, Charlie Christian, Grant Green, Wes Montgomery, Eric Gale. Here is the timeline:

Charlie Christian ( Benny's buggle) 00:00
Clifford Brown (Jordu) 01:23
Eric Gale (Too blue) 02:22
Grant Green (Grantstand) 02:59
Grant Green (Airegin) 04:00
Grant Green (N°1 Green street) 05:17
Jimmy Raney (Have you met miss Jones) 07:26
John Scofield (Wee) 07:56
Wes Montgomery (Full house) 08:50
Wes Montgomery (Full house) 09:42

This guitar lesson is about a Clifford Brown trumpet solo transcription in "Jordu".

Clifford Brown was an American songwriter and jazz trumpet player.  He composed two jazz pieces which have become standards, "Joy spring" and "Daahoud".

He has collaborated with jazz players as Art Blakey and Lionel Hampton before forming his own group with the drummer, percussionist and composer Max Roach. 

Jordu is a jazz standard written by Irvin "Duke" Jordan. He has been popularised by Clifford Brown and Max Roach quintet in the album that includes the two standards "Joy spring" and "Daahoud".

This is an AABA traditional jazz form in the key of C minor. Referring to the realbook the chord progression is :

A

D7 G7 | Cm | F7 Bb7 | EbM7

D7 G7 | Cm | Ab7 | G7

B

G7  C7 | F7 Bb7 | Eb7 Ab7 | Db7

F7 Bb7 | Eb7 Ab7 | Db7 Gb7 | G7

The transcription is focused on the A part only. This will allow you to understand how to improvise and which scale to play over two interesting jazz progressions :

• II7-V7-Im sequence (D7-G7-Cm) which is a minor II-V-I with a dominant 7th (V7) chord instead of the usual minor seventh flat ninth chord (II).
• II7-V7-IM sequence which is a major II-V-I with a dominant seventh (II7) chord instead of a minor seventh chord (II).

Download

A new PDF eBook is now available for download via the GUMROAD / PAYPAL interface. This jazz method contains 40 jazz, blues licks with tabs, scales charts and two jazz swing backing track in C7.

This PDF booklet is dedicated to the jazz guitar students who wants to improve their jazz, blues playing in the style of Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell, Grant Green, Charlie Christian, George Benson, Barney Kessel and more.

Package details :

• 1 printable PDF booklet containing 40 jazz blues guitar licks in C7 with tabs and scales charts.
•  2 blues jazz swing (one chord C7) backing tracks (120 & 150 BPM) - (Quality mp3 audio file).

MORE INFORMATION HERE 

Dominant chords are pivotal in many styles of music, from blues to jazz and beyond, making it essential for any guitarist to have a repertoire of scales to draw upon when improvising or crafting melodies.

Throughout this tutorial for beginners, we'll explore 12 versatile scale ideas tailored specifically for dominant chords.

Ecclesiastical modes, also named "Greek modes"or "church modes" or "Gregorian modes" formed in the Middle Ages a set of seven scales whose use has weakened because of the appearance of the major / minor tonal system. 

Several centuries later these modes have reappeared. They are very used in jazz improvisation as scales of chords and modal playing.

This guitar lesson explains what are the seven modes, how they are built and how to play them on guitar.

This lesson offers beginner jazz guitarists a chance to explore the style of Kenny Burrell, focusing on 10 dominant 7th bluesy licks.

By mastering these licks, you'll develop a strong foundation in improvising and comping over blues progressions, with an emphasis on phrasing and timing.

It's a great introduction to jazz blues for those looking to improve their technique and capture the essence of classic jazz guitar sounds.

A new printable PDF eBook dedicated to soul jazz guitar licks is now available for download. 

Soul jazz (sometimes called "jazz-funk) is a form of jazz commonly associated with hard bop. It has strong influences from blues, rhythm & blues and gospel. You can also go listen to Lou Donaldson, Big John Patton, Jimmy "Hammond" Smith, to soak up this style.
All these licks are two bars licks in the key of Bb7 and inspired by great guitarists as Grant Green, Melvin sparks, Wes Montgomery or Kenny Burrell. They are essentially built with notes from the minor, major pentatonic and minor blues scale.

Each lick is analysed and accompanied by a quality audio file. A backing track is also included in the package.

Why all these licks are in the same key ?

To simplify learning, it's easier to memorize them, then you can make the connection between each lick to built longer guitar solos.  Once you have learnt these licks, the aim is to play them in different keys, add notes and fret hand techniques (bends, hammer-on, pull-off, slides)  vary the rhythm...

9,90 $ DOWNLOAD

Package details :

- 1 printable PDF eBook with 25 soul jazz guitar licks in Bb7 with tabs, scales charts, guitar fretboard diagrams (5 boxes for each scales) and analysis. 

- 1 soul jazz backing track (Quality mp3 audio file).

- 25 soul jazz guitar licks audio files (Quality mp3 audio files).

MORE INFORMATIONS HERE

A new video is online on the youtube channel. It's about 20 jazz guitar licks with tabs.