Jazz Guitar Lessons

Building Your Jazz Blues Repertoire

A big part of learning jazz guitar means building his own repertoire of pieces. Here is a list of 10 jazz blues songs every beginning guitarist should know.

This short list covers a range of jazz blues chord progressions and their different variations (form, tonality, Harmonic structure) with a brief analysis and also represents the most played jazz blues tunes at jam sessions.

What's the Blues Arpeggio ?

Traditionally, when a student learns to improvise over a jazz, blues tune, he taught pentatonic scales, major triads or dominant 7th arpeggios, but there is something missing to get this specific and exciting jazz-blues sound, "The Blues Arpeggio". This is a very interesting and important device to use over this musical genre. It is a mix of a major triad and a minor triad, it contains both major and minor thirds, representing one of the most vital elements of the blues. In this jazz guitar lesson we will see how to build the blues arpeggio, how to practice it and how to play it on a blues.

In this lesson you will learn to recognize 14 important jazz chord progressions as minor and major II-V-I, turnarounds and their variations, how to use diminished passing chords...etc.

You will also find charts with roman numerals to easily transpose these harmonic progressions in different keys and some examples of comping with audio files, tabs and standard notation.

When a jazz beginner starts to improvise over a II-V-I progression, he generally plays arpeggios corresponding to the chords of the sequence.

In other words, he learns to play minor arpeggios over the minor chord (II), dominant 7th arpeggio over the 7th chord (V) and major arpeggio over the major 7 chord (I). This way the harmony is highlighted without taking risks.

In the long-run there is nothing exciting. That's why there is a nice trick used by number of jazz players to add smoothness to a dominant line. This is a little tip that makes all the difference which consists of playing a major 7th arpeggio over the V7 rooted on its b7 degree.

A new video has been uploaded on the YouTube channel. It is a Barry Galbraith comping study named "Like someone". This is the last study from the Barry Galbraith book "Jazz guitar comping series, vol #3" published by Jamey Aebersold. 

Most of the accompaniments studies (comps) in this book are designed to accompany a melody or an improvised solo with bass lines like a pianist would do. It is a very great book to practice jazz guitar comping.

Unlock new colors in your soloing with one of the most versatile tools in jazz guitar: the minor pentatonic scale. While it’s often associated with blues and rock, this simple five-note scale can create rich, modern sounds over dominant 7 chords when used creatively. 

A new video has been uploaded on the youtube channel. It is a jazz guitar transcription of the jazz standard "In a mellow tone" composed by Duke Ellington and performed by Kenny Burrell in 1990.

 Here is the Kenny Burrell version on which the transcription is based and the link to the album dedicated to Duke Ellington.

A“standard” or “jazz standard” is referring to a popular music piece and/or jazz music composition that is held in continuing esteem and is frequently used in musical repertoire.

Many of these “jazz standards” were not necessarily originally jazz compositions. Music publishers include the term “jazz standards” in a description or a title they nearly always are referring to compositions used as the basis for improvisation or jazz arrangements.

You will find in this post a non-exhaustive list of jazz standards and their original keys to practice at home or in jam sessions. 

Arpeggios are among the most essential tools to learn when beginning improvisation.

When played over their matching chords, they produce a more harmonically connected sound.

They also make it easier to clearly outline chord changes in solos and improvisations.

This guitar lesson introduces the simplest type of arpeggios, built from three notes, known as “triad arpeggios.”

The ii–V–I progression is the foundation of jazz harmony and one of the most important chord sequences every guitarist must master. Found in countless standards, it creates the essential tension and resolution that defines the jazz sound.

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to play jazz guitar chord voicings over a ii–V–I progression through five practical exercises, helping you move efficiently across the fretboard while developing a more authentic jazz comping sound.

In this lesson we will see how to use the minor pentatonic scale over a II-Valt-I sequence.

The principle being to play three minor pentatonic scales spaced apart of 1 semitone one from the other in order to bring out interesting colors to your jazz lines.

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to take familiar minor barre chords and gradually “jazz them up” by modifying or adding notes.

This approach not only improves your chord vocabulary, but also helps you understand how jazz guitarists create smoother, more sophisticated sounds from simple foundations.

The tritone substitution sometimes referred to as dominant chord substitution is one of the most popular harmonic technique found in jazz and other styles of music.

It involves replacing a dominant seventh chord with another dominant seventh chord located a tritone (or augmented fourth) away from the original chord's root.

A new video is online on the youtube channel. It is a quick jazz guitar chord melody arrangement with chord diagrams of the famous jazz standard "Stella by Starlight" (Victor Young). 

This lesson breaks down the m7b5 chord, shows how to play it on guitar, and explains how to use it in common harmonic situations like major and minor II-V-I progressions.

Seventh chords (aka four-note chords) represent the backbone of jazz harmony. It is common to extend them with extra tones.

These other notes form the upper structure of a chord which includes the 9th, 11th and 13th.

Adding extensions to chords help to get off the beaten tracks and provides some new harmonic colors to your playing (chord soloing, comping, and arrangement).

This lesson provides useful extended major 7th chord shapes to apply to your playing.