I have a slightly different approach because I am not a very good musician. For instance I find transcribing really difficult, I can't really tell the difference between two notes and sometimes confuse the same note played twice as two different notes. I think this is a problem many people who play music might share, in short some of us are not very good at music but I think that shouldn't stop us from getting better. In order to create solos I use arpeggios to figure out what the target notes might be and I come up with a basic 'head'. It is difficult to communicate but I am going to have a go at describing this process as best as I can in case it helps someone like me. So if we take the A section for whatever version of Rhythm Changes you are playing, the head would simply be two notes from 'lower structure, four note voicing' of each chord (because the chords change every two beats). For efficiency it is probably better to do this with the notes closest to each other because these will more easily translate to 'lines'; whichever notes you use I think it is is safe to say that you should do this in only one 'position' because this will help you to more easily 'sound like jazz' (the single position playing locks in the sound of inversions). I suspect that this is an important aspect to 'sounding like jazz' because a saxophone has probably a limited range of a couple of octaves which is pretty much the same as one position on the guitar. So after playing 2 notes per chord on the A section of rhythm changes you will obviously end up with a quarter note primary 'head' that outlines 'the changes' of the tune. It is really important to practice this arpeggiation until it sits nicely under your fingers and if you are playing along to a backing track, the groove will influence how you syncopate or swing the arpeggio. To add the other 'ingredients' you would then start thinking about using the upper structures of the chord on the 'ands' in order to create eighth note lines, again using the nearest notes (upper structure notes this time) to the lower structure arpeggio notes you are already playing on the 'downbeat' (primary head). This is especially useful on dominant chords because the b9, 9 and the #9 will connect the major third, root and the fifth respectively and the thirteenth will perform a similar function bridging the gap between the 5th and the b7. Introduce these elements one at time so you don't overcomplicate things too early starting with the 'and' of the 1 and then add the 'and' of the 3 etc which will give you partial eighth note lines until eventually when you have filled in all the gaps you will have an eighth note head than outlines the changes to make a 'secondary head'. On (non-dominant) major chords and minor chords, the 6th and 9th are very compatible and you can even use these in all cases in your primary 'head' instead of lower structure tones. For example if the lower structure primary 'head' notes you chose for Bb major are D (3rd) and Bb (Root), you can also safely use G(6th) and Bb, or C(9th) and Bb, those two notes are still outlining the chord of Bb major. This head will not necessarily be particularly musical but it will 'outline the changes' which is the thing that you want to happen before you go on to 'meditate' further on this. If you are able to play through this primary head and secondary head without thinking about it, you will be able to relax and make something that sounds like music and even sound like jazz as your mind is freed up from the basic functions of thinking about 'scales' and 'time', your fingers will always know where you are in a tune, both in terms of what beat you are on but also what chord you are playing over. You can think of this as analogous to the way people more talented than me can play chords on a guitar or piano and sing at the same time. Their fingers know the chord positions and they are not thinking about that aspect of their playing to any great degree. I wanted to keep this as short as possible so I would just add a couple of more notes. 1. On the section of Rhythm Changes with one bar each of four dominant chords (chorus or B section? not sure what to call it) play what you want just, try to make it have a journey, or tell a short story, I think even for a bad musician like me, it is the easiest section to play over because dominant chords, especially four in a row means you are in the chromatic realm. It doesn't seem to matter what notes you play as long as they have a overall theme. 2. If you are a beginner, don't spend too much time thinking about scales, think instead about arpeggios, for instance the scale C, D, E, F, G, A, B is not nearly as useful as the 'scalepeggio' (a word I didn't invent) C, E, G, B, D, F, A because this better describes the fundamentals of music. It spells out not only the diatonic chords of the major scale but also the diatonic upper structures. I hope this makes some kind of sense, I really don't know if the things above are a good approach because there are not many videos describing this approach to learning jazz. I am definitely not an expert so I am not suggesting this is useful for anyone above beginner level and I am sure there are some downsides. Thanks for listening, sorry it is such a long comment.
these days i pretty much watch one or two video of yours so just yesterday while watching one of your old old videos i realized how attentively you have been upgradig your video making process ,your script writing style ,your editing and your presenting/teaching style in the video itself... very important thing to learn for any content creator
Instructors used to say, " Don't just follow scales or chord tones. Let your guitar sing." I could understand what these words really mean. Thanks a lot, Jens.
George Benson told me that he was heavily influenced by both Grant Green and Wes. Following the conversation I went to tower records and purchased several Grant Green albums. I had some Wes treasures in my possession.
Thanks for the video, Jens! I always love your approach to improvisation focusing on concepts rather than regurgitating "licks". That has helped me immensely in my own musicianship. Appreciate all of your knowledge and experience!
Jens, I just wanna say you've been a huge help to me and the quality of your videos has gone up consistently, watching you for a year now! I started jazz guitar in college a year ago and you've helped me in so many ways. As mainly a rock and blues player, jazz was very foreign to me in the beginning but i can't get enough of it now. Thank you so much for all your hard work.
A good trick I do to help learning how a song a should feel is I pick a key and play the 1 in a strumming pattern I like, and with my looper I record 2-4 bars of 1 chord. I'll usually play a bass line within the key going up and down the fretboard to find a little melody. Then I play chords on of the root chord and the melodic bassline. When I feel comfortable/arrogant enough to try lead I usually improves melody parts between incomplete chords (I think they're called the core notes or implied notes?). I usually stay within the root chord that's strumming in the background. I can't say I've gotten better at Jazz, but I definitely feel WAY more familiar with the feel of the song than I did before trying this out (it helps to learn bass lol)
A nice exercise is to deliberately insert fragments of simple melodies or harmonized parts of those melodies from familiar tunes (imagine the 3rd harmony of 'Pop Goes The Weasel", with a different phrasing. Silly, right? It opens your ears to some unexpected twists. You may surprise yourself.
It would be awesome to see some newer videos on more modern approaches to melody and harmony. I think learning some of the language that’s been popular with more modern or contemporary jazz artists like Kurt rosenwinkel or robert glasper would help a lot of us youngsters hear what the sound of jazz is today and recognize some of the influences it’s had on styles like modern R&B. Great video as always!
Yes, I actually already made 3 or 4 videos on Kurt and other more contemporary jazz guitarists, but there is very little interest so I don't do that very often.
Jazz peaked as an artform in the 1940s. Bebop marked the death of jazz as a cultural phenomenon. Part of what is wrong today is that ‘youngsters’ are trying to be ‘modern’ and the best jazz to study is guys like Armstrong, Kessel, and Django.
Thank you Jens for this great insight. I like to practice lines that weave in and out of chord progressions that I can repeat, rather than just scales and arpeggios.
This is a very good lesson Jens! As always, your point about thinking about making music rather than playing scales and arpeggios is so very important. It's all about phrases.
Veldig god instruksjon, Jens! Som i all matlaging, det viktigste er Den Hemmelige Ingrediens ;-) Forøvrig, «The isolated Danish mountains»? Er ikke det å ta litt hardt i?
You left out what I consider an essential aspect of your first two excerpts which is the voice leading moving down by steps. So many great bebop lines do this! Barry Harris’ 54321 exercise is a great way to practice this.
Not so sure I do want to learn bebop. Too many pointless notes. Of course I love the masters but that day has come and gone. I hear so many pointless notes,can’t dance to it and not much soul . It’s not New York 1949 anymore. There are things to learn from it though for sure.
Study early jazz, it develops your ear. Modern jazz sucks, it’s a subset of ‘modern art,’ which is basically a code word for ‘shit.’ It’s an orchestrated assault on beauty and aesthetics. People instinctively hate it, it’s an exercise in meaninglessness. Go back before bebop, before jazz got all mechanical and showboaty. Even bebop sucks, it’s really annoying shit. Licks are, by definition, canned and lame. You need to learn how to create an emotionally connected, melodic thread, and don’t let anything break it.
I’m not understanding why it’s better to think of the b, d, f, a riff as a b pivot arp. My brain was thinking b, d, f as 3, 5, 7 and then a as more of a leading note going down to the 5 of the next chord; also, the a reflects the Dorian scale for the ii chord. It seems weird to me to think of using a pivot arp based on the IV over the ii. You’re a Jazz guitar god so I know you’re right, but I don’t understand why. 😂. Not doubting you at all; I’m just hoping to improve my Jazz thinking/understanding.
Thank you Mr. Jens for the brilliant and enlightening videos about the secrets of jazz guitar. I have a doubt: When using enclosures, are the chord notes and target notes always played on the downbeat?
Thanks! No, you don't have to put a target note on the downbeat, it may be easier to hear but there are no rules that tell you that you have to (in fact there are no rules 🙂)
A carefully simmered Bb minor penta Bridges a quiet laid back tangy flavour Over the aroma of Wayne Shorter, Infant Eyes. Please fresh ingredients only.
Are you being serious with bread in Netherlands? Lol. Anyway, thanks for the good tips. My favorite video of yours was that about constructing solos based on sections - using an opening, repetition, building towards the climax and closing it out. That seriously helped me have at least some sort direction! I have the very basic ingredients now, I now need to learn basic recipes with this video.
Great lesson Jens - i kept waiting for a "butter note" joke that never came though. These days i learn licks accidentally. I hear something i like, learn it, and then throw it in another tune in another key, but in the same or similar context. Mainly Bird, and Monk ideas.
I finally took your advice and starting learning Grant Green solos. I never really liked Green's tone, so it put me off a bit but holy crap that guy could play! Having been a saxophonist early on in my own musical development it really struck me how much Grant Green phrases like a saxophone (well...any horn really). I wish I'd started learning Jazz solos by ear years ago but, as they say: "Better late than never"😁👍
Grant green have like one of the most beautiful guitar tones out of anyone who played IMHO.. that's usually the thing that attracts folks to his playing.. THAT TONE
totally agree! I same reason why I stopped transcribing solos and instead tried to understand the context of what they did, or just parts that I really like and I think I can use. after memorizing a whole solo, it's hard to improvise because I keep hearing the lines that I memorized.
Looking back on a lifetime of trying, and failing, to understand and play jazz guitar I came to a few conclusions. These might help young people getting into jazz guitar. Play with others and learn from them. Don't waste your time trying to learn on your own playing around the house. Pick just a few, maybe 5, guitarists who you admire and study them.....learn what they do they makes you want to be like them. Maybe take some lessons from a jazz pianist who can walk you through chord changes of some well known jazz standards. Get a good instrument that is easy to play and that sounds so good you don't want to put it down. Finally, study clarinet players and vibe players. To me these are the most melodic single note improvisation specialists in the business. Alot of guitar players play a thousand notes but do not play melodically in my opinion.
How to make up jazz lines from scratch assuming you have some basic skills and some intuition from listening and a bit a transcribing is: practice scales, arps, intervals, and chromatics individually then combine them creatively into short and long phrases over the changes. Even listen to the Grant Green lick he demonstrates. It has bounce to it because it incorporates wider intervals than only 2nds or 3rds. Building lines from scratch theory wise isn't counter productive, you just have to do it right. Incorporate all 4 ways melody can shape, not only 1 or 2.
No matter how much I try to copy a solo or phrase, it invariably turns into something else. Still similar though. I just think I copied the solo, but still paid tribute and served the song. I recently read that food in the Netherlands is actually better than most Scandanavian countries. Any truth to this?
Jens you're such a great and important teacher and I've learnt so much from you in the past and the knowledge you share for free has always made me very grateful - but PLEASE, PLEASE why all the constant pop up imagery and corny stuff after every sentence? It's so distracting and the original message seems somehow lost. Can we just get back to Jazz and great content? Surely your creative energy can be so much better spent. Thank you for making us all better jazz guitar players and helping us on our journey.
In the end, I need to make the videos that I enjoy making to keep going, and if you don't like them then you should just not watch them. Surely there are 100s of other YT channels on Jazz guitar that make different videos from what I do if you don't like watching mine.
So instead of enjoying this video your choice is to comment pop up imagery... "When the wise shows the moon, the fool looks at the finger". Poor you dude ! If you want to get better at playing, one advice : stop this kind of "spirit". Just saying.
i like to take lines I hear from my favorite players and then make them my own by tweaking them. of course in the moment of improvisation, it never comes out the way I practice it (most of the time) but that is part of the fun of improvising.
@@JensLarsen BTW, I saw one of your older videos where you wondered why so many Heavy-Metal-guitarists want to learn jazz-harmonics without wanting to play jazz. Well, I am one of them, so I can tell you (at least my own motivation). I wanted to know how the jazz-scene thinks about harmony to widen the palette of my own style. I guess you didn`t watch John Petrucci because you wanted to play Prog-Metal either.
I didn't know Dobby from Harry Potter was a great improvisor :). It seems to me that learning scales and arpeggios are just one piece of the preparation to build a working knowledge of where the notes are, the relationship of notes to chords (how they sound and function) and the technical facility to navigate the fretboard quickly, efficiently and in time. It's still a very big leap to go from having some of this knowledge to creating interesting phrases. Transcribing some phrases from recordings and playing the phrases and in multiple ways on the fretboard (guitar/bass specific) in all keys is helpful and I would guess that just listening to a lot of great jazz recordings will help. I suppose if you continuously work on this that over time some pieces will fall into your playing. There are a bunch of other things like coming up with short melodic cells (2 to 4 beats) and playing them in all keys, finding ways to use chromatic approach notes to chord tones, targeting notes in each chords, targeting guide tones and following guide tones through chord sequences, creating melodic and/or rhythmic motifs and playing them throughout a song, etc...Then there are larger time frame options like using forms of repetition through choruses, developing motifs and ideas and sticking with them for multiple choruses rather than floating from short idea to short idea that are not related, etc...Wow, this is a boatload of work and after doing all this its not at all clear to me that your lines will be anything other than purely functional, meaning they fit over the chords but compared to the original melody they really aren't all that interesting. I guess my last point says that there is a less tangible component to improvising and that is developing a knack for making the improvisation sound really coherent with a clear direction that builds up over each chorus.
For myself, I've never had any success learning licks and then applying them. If I do learn any licks it's usually something that I'm having technical issues with... and then what I'll do is take the lick, say it's a lick that you would usually apply over a dominant 7th chord, and then play that lick over a standard I-IV-V progression; just shifting the position. You can do something like that with almost any lick. I do "transcribe" solos, but often it's because it's a solo that I like.... usually I view the solos I learn as musical technical exercises, but even so I try to play them as musically as possible. When it comes to learning improvisation, I always go back to something Joe Pass once said in an interview. He said, "you can't play what you can't hear". So for me it's all about listening, listening, and listening again. Eventually the things that you hear will start to creep into your improvisational vocabulary. Oh, and one more thing..... don't be afraid to make mistakes. The way I see it, if you're not making mistakes, you're not taking chances..... and learning how to navigate out the hole that you dig is also part of the process.
You can’t play what you can’t hear which is precisely why transcribing solos is so important. You’re learning a language and if you can’t speak the language then what you play will sound like nonsense. Transcribing and then deeply analysing solos from the best players, which is how the greats learned to play, is such a good way to improve your vocabulary. Your own sound develops from the transcriptions and your own exploration.
You have to get out and play with others. The song is fluid and everyone is improvising. You have to listen and react. Charlie Parker said “Learn your instrument, learn the tunes, and then forget it all and play.”
An Italian roommate wanted to learn piano. He had some timing issues. He told me a phrase his dad would tell him: "Impara larta e metilla departe" "Learn the art, and set it aside." I am an oboist/reedmaker still. Oboe English Horn and alto sax in the USAF Academy Band in the 70's. guitar since 1975. Dad taught harmony and counterpoint at Yale as a piano student. He graduated in 3 years. Paul Hindemith was his professor! Dad never taught me shit but I turned pages for him since 8:years old. Id ask him about harmony and melody. He'd tell me... " ... just play anything..." So I say, learn Keith Richards... sound like Keith Richards... Learn George Benson... sound like George Benson or Wes Montgomery or Les Paul. Keep listening to everything good, and then play anything...EVERY DAY... then, you'll sound like you! BTW Jerry Coker Jazz Improvisation is my musical bible. And now, I have to practice Stars And Stripes on oboe for a July 4th concert LoL 1812 Overture too. Very "scale-ish" lol over and over, with a decelerando... That's Tchaikovsky. You want to learn more interesting melodies? Listen to Prokofiev or Poulenc ...now change your strings or clean them with a holy sock and denatured alcohol 🤪
What is it between you and Dutch Bread? There are so many different types of bread sold in the Netherlands. If you don’t succeed in finding something to your liking you must be doing something wrong.
@@JensLarsen Been there. Done that. Many times. I got all the t-shirts and the books. The quality in bread was absolutely no different from that in the Netherlands. I haven’t got the foggiest what you’re on about.
@@JensLarsen I know quite a few people for everywhere on this globe. Because they work at the university where I also work. Spanjards, Portugese, Brazilians, Chinese, Koreans. Never ever have I heard them complain about the quality of Dutch bread. You’re overreacting and hanging with the wrong people.
your videos have progressively gotten funnier and funnier and your joke about everyone in the netherlands knowing the ingredients for bread but…….. was hilarious
One other way is to immerse oneself in the culture. Especially if one’s knows nothing about music theory. It’s like a language, the more immersed one is in the culture, the easiier and more authentic the expression. Later on , learning about the language helps to understand and expend creative usage.
![FendiDa Rappa - Clock Dat ft. Shamar Marco [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/3NBU8KHdxYY/mqdefault.jpg)
Do You work on Licks, and what do you learn from it? 😎
The 5 Solos That Will Teach You Jazz Guitar! 🤯
ruclips.net/video/K7OO-s31pOU/видео.html&index=
I have a slightly different approach because I am not a very good musician. For instance I find transcribing really difficult, I can't really tell the difference between two notes and sometimes confuse the same note played twice as two different notes. I think this is a problem many people who play music might share, in short some of us are not very good at music but I think that shouldn't stop us from getting better.
In order to create solos I use arpeggios to figure out what the target notes might be and I come up with a basic 'head'. It is difficult to communicate but I am going to have a go at describing this process as best as I can in case it helps someone like me.
So if we take the A section for whatever version of Rhythm Changes you are playing, the head would simply be two notes from 'lower structure, four note voicing' of each chord (because the chords change every two beats). For efficiency it is probably better to do this with the notes closest to each other because these will more easily translate to 'lines'; whichever notes you use I think it is is safe to say that you should do this in only one 'position' because this will help you to more easily 'sound like jazz' (the single position playing locks in the sound of inversions). I suspect that this is an important aspect to 'sounding like jazz' because a saxophone has probably a limited range of a couple of octaves which is pretty much the same as one position on the guitar.
So after playing 2 notes per chord on the A section of rhythm changes you will obviously end up with a quarter note primary 'head' that outlines 'the changes' of the tune. It is really important to practice this arpeggiation until it sits nicely under your fingers and if you are playing along to a backing track, the groove will influence how you syncopate or swing the arpeggio. To add the other 'ingredients' you would then start thinking about using the upper structures of the chord on the 'ands' in order to create eighth note lines, again using the nearest notes (upper structure notes this time) to the lower structure arpeggio notes you are already playing on the 'downbeat' (primary head). This is especially useful on dominant chords because the b9, 9 and the #9 will connect the major third, root and the fifth respectively and the thirteenth will perform a similar function bridging the gap between the 5th and the b7. Introduce these elements one at time so you don't overcomplicate things too early starting with the 'and' of the 1 and then add the 'and' of the 3 etc which will give you partial eighth note lines until eventually when you have filled in all the gaps you will have an eighth note head than outlines the changes to make a 'secondary head'. On (non-dominant) major chords and minor chords, the 6th and 9th are very compatible and you can even use these in all cases in your primary 'head' instead of lower structure tones. For example if the lower structure primary 'head' notes you chose for Bb major are D (3rd) and Bb (Root), you can also safely use G(6th) and Bb, or C(9th) and Bb, those two notes are still outlining the chord of Bb major.
This head will not necessarily be particularly musical but it will 'outline the changes' which is the thing that you want to happen before you go on to 'meditate' further on this. If you are able to play through this primary head and secondary head without thinking about it, you will be able to relax and make something that sounds like music and even sound like jazz as your mind is freed up from the basic functions of thinking about 'scales' and 'time', your fingers will always know where you are in a tune, both in terms of what beat you are on but also what chord you are playing over. You can think of this as analogous to the way people more talented than me can play chords on a guitar or piano and sing at the same time. Their fingers know the chord positions and they are not thinking about that aspect of their playing to any great degree.
I wanted to keep this as short as possible so I would just add a couple of more notes.
1. On the section of Rhythm Changes with one bar each of four dominant chords (chorus or B section? not sure what to call it) play what you want just, try to make it have a journey, or tell a short story, I think even for a bad musician like me, it is the easiest section to play over because dominant chords, especially four in a row means you are in the chromatic realm. It doesn't seem to matter what notes you play as long as they have a overall theme.
2. If you are a beginner, don't spend too much time thinking about scales, think instead about arpeggios, for instance the scale C, D, E, F, G, A, B is not nearly as useful as the 'scalepeggio' (a word I didn't invent) C, E, G, B, D, F, A because this better describes the fundamentals of music. It spells out not only the diatonic chords of the major scale but also the diatonic upper structures.
I hope this makes some kind of sense, I really don't know if the things above are a good approach because there are not many videos describing this approach to learning jazz. I am definitely not an expert so I am not suggesting this is useful for anyone above beginner level and I am sure there are some downsides. Thanks for listening, sorry it is such a long comment.
these days i pretty much watch one or two video of yours so just yesterday while watching one of your old old videos i realized how attentively you have been upgradig your video making process ,your script writing style ,your editing and your presenting/teaching style in the video itself... very important thing to learn for any content creator
Thank you Animesh! I really appreciate that you value aspect as well!
@@JensLarsen nowdays these things are invaluable and important while producing informative videos
Instructors used to say, " Don't just follow scales or chord tones. Let your guitar sing."
I could understand what these words really mean. Thanks a lot, Jens.
George Benson told me that he was heavily influenced by both Grant Green and Wes. Following the conversation I went to tower records and purchased several Grant Green albums. I had some Wes treasures in my possession.
I have basically everything that Grant ever recorded.. that cat was really great
Thanks for the video, Jens! I always love your approach to improvisation focusing on concepts rather than regurgitating "licks". That has helped me immensely in my own musicianship. Appreciate all of your knowledge and experience!
Glad you like it!
Jens, I just wanna say you've been a huge help to me and the quality of your videos has gone up consistently, watching you for a year now! I started jazz guitar in college a year ago and you've helped me in so many ways. As mainly a rock and blues player, jazz was very foreign to me in the beginning but i can't get enough of it now. Thank you so much for all your hard work.
prince's Band Does an incredible version of Now's The Time on That Sign O The Times Concert Film
A good trick I do to help learning how a song a should feel is I pick a key and play the 1 in a strumming pattern I like, and with my looper I record 2-4 bars of 1 chord. I'll usually play a bass line within the key going up and down the fretboard to find a little melody. Then I play chords on of the root chord and the melodic bassline. When I feel comfortable/arrogant enough to try lead I usually improves melody parts between incomplete chords (I think they're called the core notes or implied notes?). I usually stay within the root chord that's strumming in the background. I can't say I've gotten better at Jazz, but I definitely feel WAY more familiar with the feel of the song than I did before trying this out (it helps to learn bass lol)
What is it about the «isolated Danish mountains»? Cheers from a Norwegian mountain monkey.
Thanks for this Lesson! Just Travel to germany for good Bread 😅
Hahaha! Indeed, always a relief to be there!
"Of course you do want to learn Bebop…" That's the spirit! 😅
So much great advice, condensed into such a short video.
Thank you, JL!
Exactly! 😁
Hello from france ! 🥖
Hi 🥐
"If the melody moves up, try to make the enclosure move down... and the other way around of course." Simple, but profound. Thanks Jens!!!
Thank you 🙂
A nice exercise is to deliberately insert fragments of simple melodies or harmonized parts of those melodies from familiar tunes (imagine the 3rd harmony of 'Pop Goes The Weasel", with a different phrasing. Silly, right? It opens your ears to some unexpected twists. You may surprise yourself.
I wasn't prepared for how much I would enjoy hearing a jazz guitarist bread-shame an entire country!
😂🙏
I second this. I laughed out loud.
It's definitely not an easy journey, Jazz, and that's why all the advice and tips really go a long way. Cheers.
i've thought that if i wanted to play jazz guitar i would imitate jazz pianists and do what they do
Ha! "it's good, even if you don't want to learn bebop... but, of course, you do want to learn bebop." LOL Yes I do.
😁
0:26 astonishing how past jens doesnt look any different from present jens… he hasn't aged a day
Some people are before their time, I just always looked old 🙂
Hey thank you what you say is true
Excellent video ! Light years away from the "jazz scales" approach that has done so much damage to students of this music !
It would be awesome to see some newer videos on more modern approaches to melody and harmony. I think learning some of the language that’s been popular with more modern or contemporary jazz artists like Kurt rosenwinkel or robert glasper would help a lot of us youngsters hear what the sound of jazz is today and recognize some of the influences it’s had on styles like modern R&B. Great video as always!
Yes, I actually already made 3 or 4 videos on Kurt and other more contemporary jazz guitarists, but there is very little interest so I don't do that very often.
Jazz peaked as an artform in the 1940s. Bebop marked the death of jazz as a cultural phenomenon. Part of what is wrong today is that ‘youngsters’ are trying to be ‘modern’ and the best jazz to study is guys like Armstrong, Kessel, and Django.
Great video as always. I must say, though, that I usually think of that pivot arpeggio as a 3-5-7-9 in Gm7 rather than a Bbmaj7 arpeggio
But does that mean that you don't use it on Bbmaj7 or on Eø? 🙂
@@JensLarsen I guess I do now! :)
Sad bread😂🎉Haha, i love how " we" think in analogies
Thank you.
Glad you like it 🙂
Thank you Jens for this great insight. I like to practice lines that weave in and out of chord progressions that I can repeat, rather than just scales and arpeggios.
Glad you like it, Rick!
I am so sorry to learn of the sad bread crisis in The Netherlands, Jens. You put on a brave face, nevertheless!
Haha! Thank you James!
This is a very good lesson Jens! As always, your point about thinking about making music rather than playing scales and arpeggios is so very important. It's all about phrases.
Thanks Jim!
Great teaching as always, but that 2:33 was very distractive.
I I'll pass that on to my (Italian) editor 🙂
Veldig god instruksjon, Jens! Som i all matlaging, det viktigste er Den Hemmelige Ingrediens ;-)
Forøvrig, «The isolated Danish mountains»? Er ikke det å ta litt hardt i?
Tusind tak 🙂
You left out what I consider an essential aspect of your first two excerpts which is the voice leading moving down by steps. So many great bebop lines do this! Barry Harris’ 54321 exercise is a great way to practice this.
As I say in the video, it is based on mistakes that I made, and I didn't make that mistake 😁
Please make more tutorial about jazz Bebop....thanks
Did you check out these? ruclips.net/video/td2f43uohMc/видео.html
Not so sure I do want to learn bebop. Too many pointless notes. Of course I love the masters but that day has come and gone. I hear so many pointless notes,can’t dance to it and not much soul . It’s not New York 1949 anymore. There are things to learn from it though for sure.
Study early jazz, it develops your ear. Modern jazz sucks, it’s a subset of ‘modern art,’ which is basically a code word for ‘shit.’ It’s an orchestrated assault on beauty and aesthetics. People instinctively hate it, it’s an exercise in meaninglessness. Go back before bebop, before jazz got all mechanical and showboaty. Even bebop sucks, it’s really annoying shit. Licks are, by definition, canned and lame. You need to learn how to create an emotionally connected, melodic thread, and don’t let anything break it.
how can bread be bad? im asking seriously
Maybe go to The Netherlands and check?
I’m not understanding why it’s better to think of the b, d, f, a riff as a b pivot arp. My brain was thinking b, d, f as 3, 5, 7 and then a as more of a leading note going down to the 5 of the next chord; also, the a reflects the Dorian scale for the ii chord. It seems weird to me to think of using a pivot arp based on the IV over the ii. You’re a Jazz guitar god so I know you’re right, but I don’t understand why. 😂. Not doubting you at all; I’m just hoping to improve my Jazz thinking/understanding.
Very good point these jazz legends didn't have youtube or jens larsen to teach them
I SO want to learn bebop 😂
lol brood haha
I feel strangely hungry now.
🙏😁
Did you have an Albert Heijn sandwich before you made this video?
my little brother is cook and he just basically throws in a whole lot of stuff in the pan and it tastes good so yea
Thank you Mr. Jens for the brilliant and enlightening videos about the secrets of jazz guitar. I have a doubt: When using enclosures, are the chord notes and target notes always played on the downbeat?
Thanks! No, you don't have to put a target note on the downbeat, it may be easier to hear but there are no rules that tell you that you have to (in fact there are no rules 🙂)
A carefully simmered
Bb minor penta
Bridges a quiet laid back tangy flavour
Over the aroma of Wayne Shorter,
Infant Eyes.
Please fresh ingredients only.
😂👍
"you do want to learn bebop" 🎯
👍
Everytime I watch masterchef Jens’ ❤️ cooking I feel hungry, not just for bebop but all the fine dining.
Thaank you! 😁
Not so many jazz teachers in the Danish mountains?😂 I see what u did there 😂
🙏😁
I love how you inject acting and humor with education. You don't have to do it, but you do, and it's so entertaining
Thank you 🙂
Are you being serious with bread in Netherlands? Lol. Anyway, thanks for the good tips. My favorite video of yours was that about constructing solos based on sections - using an opening, repetition, building towards the climax and closing it out. That seriously helped me have at least some sort direction! I have the very basic ingredients now, I now need to learn basic recipes with this video.
Have you ever tried it? 😂 It is a super common topic among expats
@@JensLarsen I would say most of the dutch food but I don't want to be rude 😂
@@alexsixstring Well..... 😁
Great teacher always
Lasagna asked fried rice😂😂. Aside from the valuable guitar lessons I've gotten from your channel, the sense of humor brings me back every time.
Thank you 🙂
Dankjewel Jens! In the Netherlands, everything is complainable, but bread is a refreshing take :-)...
Haha! Really?! It is such a common topic among expats 😂
Great lesson Jens - i kept waiting for a "butter note" joke that never came though. These days i learn licks accidentally. I hear something i like, learn it, and then throw it in another tune in another key, but in the same or similar context. Mainly Bird, and Monk ideas.
Haha! Next time 😁
That clip at :14 is how I sound when I play changes 😏
Is this going to be live stream or a video edited down?
It's a video not a live stream. I think they always are when it says "Premiere"?
But come hang out in the chat, it is usually a lot of fun 🙂
Yesterday I was playing this solo. Doesn’t the Grant Green phrase 3:30 starts on the down beat 1 of Gm7?
Not the one I used, maybe you were thinking of another one?
I already knew how great you are as a player.Your video editing is now conveying your humour and personality too.
Truly great all-rounder.Thank you
Thanks a ton!
This is an insightful lesson, Jens. (And I'm sorry about your bread.)
Thank you (on both counts 😁)
I finally took your advice and starting learning Grant Green solos. I never really liked Green's tone, so it put me off a bit but holy crap that guy could play! Having been a saxophonist early on in my own musical development it really struck me how much Grant Green phrases like a saxophone (well...any horn really). I wish I'd started learning Jazz solos by ear years ago but, as they say: "Better late than never"😁👍
That is great! Go for it 🙂
Grant green have like one of the most beautiful guitar tones out of anyone who played IMHO.. that's usually the thing that attracts folks to his playing.. THAT TONE
I'll have the Bebop burger with swing fries and an Ice cold Albert Collins pick'in shake... To go.
😁👍🙏
Dorian! 🤣
😁🙏
why do I have The Feeling That you know Joe Bowie
totally agree! I same reason why I stopped transcribing solos and instead tried to understand the context of what they did, or just parts that I really like and I think I can use. after memorizing a whole solo, it's hard to improvise because I keep hearing the lines that I memorized.
The bread is very, very sad 😢😂
Looking back on a lifetime of trying, and failing, to understand and play jazz guitar I came to a few conclusions. These might help young people getting into jazz guitar.
Play with others and learn from them. Don't waste your time trying to learn on your own playing around the house.
Pick just a few, maybe 5, guitarists who you admire and study them.....learn what they do they makes you want to be like them.
Maybe take some lessons from a jazz pianist who can walk you through chord changes of some well known jazz standards.
Get a good instrument that is easy to play and that sounds so good you don't want to put it down. Finally, study clarinet players and vibe players. To me these are the most melodic single note improvisation specialists in the business. Alot of guitar players play a thousand notes but do not play melodically in my opinion.
You are a genius Jens. Lasagne and fried rice is fucking awesome 👌
🙏😁
How to make up jazz lines from scratch assuming you have some basic skills and some intuition from listening and a bit a transcribing is: practice scales, arps, intervals, and chromatics individually then combine them creatively into short and long phrases over the changes. Even listen to the Grant Green lick he demonstrates. It has bounce to it because it incorporates wider intervals than only 2nds or 3rds. Building lines from scratch theory wise isn't counter productive, you just have to do it right. Incorporate all 4 ways melody can shape, not only 1 or 2.
So what are you saying......how do you become better at phrasing?
I am saying to not just play arpeggios and scales but also learn the recipes that make them into interesting melodies in your solos.
honestly your humor is just as good as your playing
Thank you! 🙂
No matter how much I try to copy a solo or phrase, it invariably turns into something else. Still similar though. I just think I copied the solo, but still paid tribute and served the song.
I recently read that food in the Netherlands is actually better than most Scandanavian countries. Any truth to this?
That Barry Harris reference tho 😂😂 2:30
😁
What mountains? 💀 2:50
Jens you're such a great and important teacher and I've learnt so much from you in the past and the knowledge you share for free has always made me very grateful - but PLEASE, PLEASE why all the constant pop up imagery and corny stuff after every sentence? It's so distracting and the original message seems somehow lost. Can we just get back to Jazz and great content? Surely your creative energy can be so much better spent. Thank you for making us all better jazz guitar players and helping us on our journey.
In the end, I need to make the videos that I enjoy making to keep going, and if you don't like them then you should just not watch them. Surely there are 100s of other YT channels on Jazz guitar that make different videos from what I do if you don't like watching mine.
So instead of enjoying this video your choice is to comment pop up imagery... "When the wise shows the moon, the fool looks at the finger". Poor you dude ! If you want to get better at playing, one advice : stop this kind of "spirit". Just saying.
Hahahaha I totally feel you about Dutch bread... 😅
Yes, and most of them don't even know about it😂
Definitely gets easier to invent jazz for yourself when you play to a swing backing track, meaning absorb what you hear by osmosis
i like to take lines I hear from my favorite players and then make them my own by tweaking them. of course in the moment of improvisation, it never comes out the way I practice it (most of the time) but that is part of the fun of improvising.
ngl, that clapton-lick sounds kind of refreshing.
Pity I had to cut out the next part with Sunshine of your love moved 3 8th notes 😁
@@JensLarsen BTW, I saw one of your older videos where you wondered why so many Heavy-Metal-guitarists want to learn jazz-harmonics without wanting to play jazz. Well, I am one of them, so I can tell you (at least my own motivation). I wanted to know how the jazz-scene thinks about harmony to widen the palette of my own style. I guess you didn`t watch John Petrucci because you wanted to play Prog-Metal either.
These videos are getting AMAZING!
Jazz Lines
Good analogies😂.
Thank you! 😁
I didn't know Dobby from Harry Potter was a great improvisor :). It seems to me that learning scales and arpeggios are just one piece of the preparation to build a working knowledge of where the notes are, the relationship of notes to chords (how they sound and function) and the technical facility to navigate the fretboard quickly, efficiently and in time. It's still a very big leap to go from having some of this knowledge to creating interesting phrases. Transcribing some phrases from recordings and playing the phrases and in multiple ways on the fretboard (guitar/bass specific) in all keys is helpful and I would guess that just listening to a lot of great jazz recordings will help. I suppose if you continuously work on this that over time some pieces will fall into your playing. There are a bunch of other things like coming up with short melodic cells (2 to 4 beats) and playing them in all keys, finding ways to use chromatic approach notes to chord tones, targeting notes in each chords, targeting guide tones and following guide tones through chord sequences, creating melodic and/or rhythmic motifs and playing them throughout a song, etc...Then there are larger time frame options like using forms of repetition through choruses, developing motifs and ideas and sticking with them for multiple choruses rather than floating from short idea to short idea that are not related, etc...Wow, this is a boatload of work and after doing all this its not at all clear to me that your lines will be anything other than purely functional, meaning they fit over the chords but compared to the original melody they really aren't all that interesting. I guess my last point says that there is a less tangible component to improvising and that is developing a knack for making the improvisation sound really coherent with a clear direction that builds up over each chorus.
Greetings from Norway 😊
Hi Kjetil
thanks for all the work on these vids!
Glad you like them!
feed the algorithm by telling it I like Bill Evans licks
For myself, I've never had any success learning licks and then applying them. If I do learn any licks it's usually something that I'm having technical issues with... and then what I'll do is take the lick, say it's a lick that you would usually apply over a dominant 7th chord, and then play that lick over a standard I-IV-V progression; just shifting the position. You can do something like that with almost any lick. I do "transcribe" solos, but often it's because it's a solo that I like.... usually I view the solos I learn as musical technical exercises, but even so I try to play them as musically as possible. When it comes to learning improvisation, I always go back to something Joe Pass once said in an interview. He said, "you can't play what you can't hear". So for me it's all about listening, listening, and listening again. Eventually the things that you hear will start to creep into your improvisational vocabulary. Oh, and one more thing..... don't be afraid to make mistakes. The way I see it, if you're not making mistakes, you're not taking chances..... and learning how to navigate out the hole that you dig is also part of the process.
You can’t play what you can’t hear which is precisely why transcribing solos is so important. You’re learning a language and if you can’t speak the language then what you play will sound like nonsense. Transcribing and then deeply analysing solos from the best players, which is how the greats learned to play, is such a good way to improve your vocabulary. Your own sound develops from the transcriptions and your own exploration.
You have to get out and play with others. The song is fluid and everyone is improvising. You have to listen and react. Charlie Parker said “Learn your instrument, learn the tunes, and then forget it all and play.”
An Italian roommate wanted to learn piano. He had some timing issues. He told me a phrase his dad would tell him:
"Impara larta e metilla departe"
"Learn the art, and set it aside."
I am an oboist/reedmaker still. Oboe English Horn and alto sax in the USAF Academy Band in the 70's. guitar since 1975. Dad taught harmony and counterpoint at Yale as a piano student. He graduated in 3 years. Paul Hindemith was his professor! Dad never taught me shit but I turned pages for him since 8:years old. Id ask him about harmony and melody. He'd tell me... " ... just play anything..." So I say, learn Keith Richards... sound like Keith Richards... Learn George Benson... sound like George Benson or Wes Montgomery or Les Paul. Keep listening to everything good, and then play anything...EVERY DAY... then, you'll sound like you!
BTW Jerry Coker Jazz Improvisation is my musical bible. And now, I have to practice Stars And Stripes on oboe for a July 4th concert LoL 1812 Overture too. Very "scale-ish" lol over and over, with a decelerando... That's Tchaikovsky. You want to learn more interesting melodies? Listen to Prokofiev or Poulenc ...now change your strings or clean them with a holy sock and denatured alcohol 🤪
Listened to others or straighly with the artist.
Lol. I don’t wanne learn bebop ;)
I wanne learn to play fluently what I hear/feel. And I don’t think that’s bebop that I hear.
That cool too 🙂
I'm hungry.
😁
What is it between you and Dutch Bread? There are so many different types of bread sold in the Netherlands. If you don’t succeed in finding something to your liking you must be doing something wrong.
I am surprised you've never been to other countries, you should go to Germany and Belgium. They are really nice places
@@JensLarsen Been there. Done that. Many times. I got all the t-shirts and the books. The quality in bread was absolutely no different from that in the Netherlands. I haven’t got the foggiest what you’re on about.
@@wijk89 Just ask some other expats, it is certainly a thing, to the point of it being a common topic when meeting 😂
@@JensLarsen I know quite a few people for everywhere on this globe. Because they work at the university where I also work. Spanjards, Portugese, Brazilians, Chinese, Koreans. Never ever have I heard them complain about the quality of Dutch bread. You’re overreacting and hanging with the wrong people.
@@wijk89 Ask them.....
brilliant thank you
Thank you 🙂
What's wrong with Dutch bread?
Come and try it! 🙂
Gmornin!
Good morning!
Bro our bread is the best check yoself
Come to Portugal and I will teach you to make a great bread
Next time!
do not imitate.enough said
your videos have progressively gotten funnier and funnier and your joke about everyone in the netherlands knowing the ingredients for bread but…….. was hilarious
Thank you! :)
No, I really don't want to learn Bebop. 😉
One other way is to immerse oneself in the culture. Especially if one’s knows nothing about music theory. It’s like a language, the more immersed one is in the culture, the easiier and more authentic the expression. Later on , learning about the language helps to understand and expend creative usage.
Talk too much!!