Jazz guitar is no easy journey. Finding out what makes Jazz guitar works is not only satisfying, but an appreciation for the virtuosos who we look up to.
I don't know, man. I don't think the jazz greats struggled. Sounds like it was easy for them. If we all had talent, none of our solos would ever suck. We're always looking at what others did with admiration. The greats spent their time creating awesomeness. We spend our time admiring what they did.
If I had a second lifetime, I would learn jazz guitar with this channel. I’m an acoustic blues player who appreciates jazz and it is clear this content is second to none. 👍
Developing a feel and ear for great jazz, listening to standards, and letting your own creativity take hold is just as important. For me that also includes developing your own jazz voice through experimenting and connecting your scales, arpeggios and chromatic notes in unique and interesting ways.
This is such an amazing channel… I have been playing the guitar for a long time but my life has not allowed for me to dive into jazz as deep as I would like. Over the last three years I have had just enough time to slowly gain knowledge about jazz guitar, and this channel has really helped as a great source. Many thanks!
I don't think I've ever REALLY known what to do after scales and arpeggios. In the past, I've gotten away with playing atrocities for solos (in local Rock / Cover Bands) - but everyone always likes them - even other guitar players. Punters shake my hand and if I'm lucky, their missus might chat me up ! Deep down, I've often felt that what I play is always lacking something. I've been trying to rectify that for the last few years via your JGRM, other publications and videos. Thanks for this video Jens, am looking forward to reviewing it and burning it into the subconscious. 🙄
Excellent, Jens. I've been watching for a while, not understanding everything completely at first, I admit, but you return to material in a fresh way, so that it starts to make sense after a while. Like Barry, you have become a master teacher. Kudos.
Great lesson as always, Jens! True story: I'm currently enrolled in and taking a course, Blues Guitar, through Berklee Online -- I love their courses, by the way, and highly recommend them to anyone regardless of instrument or genre -- and I always find myself including some of your teachings, including those I've picked up in your fabulous Jazz Guitar Roadmap course, into the assigments each week. Although I am one of the least experienced students in the class and have a long, long way to go to develop technical abilities in all aspects of guitar playing, one area in which I seem to be more comfortable than some others in the class is lead and solo playing. I don't mean to sound braggadocious and all the other students can play way faster than I can, among many other skills they possess that are superior to mine, but you've taught me so much about playing melodically and musically. I honestly hadn't realized how much I've learned from you until I started this class and began recording assigments. Thank you, Jens!
I would start by saying you are much more educated and advanced In Jazz guitar than I am. You also have helped me a lot. I also see the extreme value In this lesson. I agree . However to negate Scales I do not think Is a good Idea. We use Melodic Minor , Phrygian Don and modes all the time over chords. I think a person should know both things. Onl6y knowing ONE of these concepts can lead to a musical Impasse. Both are needed. Remember I said you are far beyond me In jazz. I may be wrong. Good stuff as always . TY Jens. You are a great guy and teacher.
Oh gosh! Sir, you just ended a very long lasting, nerve- and gut-twisting struggle for me!!!! Thank you so mutch! For years I wanted to get more into playing prober solos witch don't run up and down the blues scales. I knew I just had to replay solos by ear and stick to the chords and keychanges but you filled all those gaps for me, that were left in this explanation for sooo so long! It's such a reliefe!!! I suddenly feel understood and free. I now finally know what to add, what was missing!!! I'll study your video second by second. It's strange how one can become lost in these times of information that's been flooded to you over the internet over such a simple question. You can read all and nothing.
Jens, absolutely loving your Barry Harris content! Please keep it coming. It is changing the way I approach the instrument, improvisation, and music in general. Cheers, and thanks for providing the best music pedagogy on RUclips as far as I'm concerned!
I started taking lessons again at the age of 55. It was going well until I learned I MUST get the arpeggios maj, mi, dom, dim down..plus the struggle of picking them "in tempo" has been a major challenge. I've been doing nothing but that for months and still don't have it down. It's frustrating.. I'll continue and will not quit. I'm going over some jazz standards and 251s - don't know if I'm the only one that is taking forever but I know it will be a major improvement in my playing once I get them down.
This is a fantastic lesson Jens! I really learn a lot when you discuss what you are thinking about in a solo. For example, thinking of ways to hit the target note in your the next chord.
Scales are like the alphabet. It's the way you play and combined them that creates words than phrases, then sentences. It's essentially to add space and rhythm to create phrasing and flow. You want to get to the point where stuff just flows out from you, inventing things on the spot.
While watching the video, I thought I should write my solos down a bit. I can't read the notes but I have Notion 5. So I manage, by copying the score in, to make the equivalence writing = sound (tedious work). And then, in the next minute, I hear you say that this is one of the important things to do. Not using Notion 5 (!) but writing your solo to find the target note. I am finally apparently on the right track. It's not much but for me it's very satisfying. Thanks a lot.
Jens, your absolutely right. Jazz is Swing, Implying the Chord Progression and other Language, Phrasing and the Repertoire. Its so much more than any Scale, Arpeggio or Chord. Thanks.
Great - Essential Jens material! Essential for playing bebop... Listening to tons of bebop of course. Also, it's been helpful for me to find more mid tempo bebop or stuff that's not strict bebop but uses bebop material so as not get bogged down in super fast and complicated lines. I listen a lot and steal lines I can hear.
One major reason the Bird motif (3:27 - 3:31) works so well is that he incorporates a "air pressure flourish" on the C concert (Eb on alto) at the end of the phrase. Being a sax player, I do this too. What's the guitar equivalent? Vibrato, I suppose.. Great video, as always...!
Another great one Jens! As usual, much easier listened and watched than done... However the idea of actively composing a few "reference" lines from one type of spot to another instead of copying the "masters" seems highly interesting. It could constitute a series of DIY "buoy licks" to avoid sinking to deep in the imporvisations.
My jazz instructor always told me that to sound like jazz you have to do two things: learn the actual phrases or licks from famous jazz musicians, and more importantly, listen to as much jazz music as you can. Knowing theory and scales and arpeggios helps but you’ll never sound like a true jazz musician relying solely on only those things. Learning jazz is like learning a language that has its own unique idiomatic expressions. Theory will only take you so far
It's like when you see guys playing fretless bass... but when they play, they play it just like one would a fretted bass. It defeats the purpose of playing fretless in the first place, and you're only making things more complicated that way, because now finger accuracy becomes an issue. Someone once told me that the key to fretless bass is to play a half to a quarter of a beat ahead of the rest of the ensemble, and if possible, slide into each note and change. I've only played a fretless a couple of times and always wondered what it took to produce that effect they're known for
this is not meant to negate anything Jens is saying, but I think it’s also very important to learn how to comp first. learn the chords, the changes the extensions to the cord. Listen to other people comp listen to solos of course, but once you get that feel i think your lines will follow better.
I think I can relate to what you’re saying. When I play outside of the key, I usually slur the note back into the key, and it sounds right. So, I think that all depends on what you play next. I think you're saying something like that. Like on Take 5 or when I play Sugar, it sounds right; when I briefly go outside the key, I have to go back in it to make the phrase right. I know Charlie Parker said any player should be able to play any note and make it harmonically sound.
Such great information Jens. I need to improve my vocabulary, and one thing about the Joe Pass dynamic is his right hand technique of half pick and fingers if not just fingers. He seems to know what he wants.
Thanks! Watch out that you don't mix up vocabulary and right hand technique too much and be aware that Joe Pass mostly plays with a pick when he solos like most other guitarists
that Barry Harris live in tokoyo album is the same gig that Jimmy Raney played on using the same back up musicians. Im pretty sure there are cuts of Jimmy and Barry playing together.
Feel. Phrasing. Timing. BB King and Albert King tended to play relatively few notes but always seemed to be saying something; like they were having a conversation. You can also tell they really meant it.
@ 7:48 the garter technique is mentioned. Unfamiliar so I tried to look it up. Maybe I’m not spelling it right, cause I’m not finding anything on it. Excellent lesson!
We can hear the beauty of these jazz innovations, and so can a small proportion of the public. But to target a wider mixed audience, as typical at a real-life gig, one that doesn't have the glamor and advantage of a great vocalist, another major step may be necessary. Consider how most major acts across all music genres incorporate popular melodies to get popular appeal and, depending on the style of music, embellish them. People like us call that jazzing the melody up. No jazz guitarist was more famous at doing this than Wes Montgomery, despite his critics. But generalizing what he did to incorporate such magic into a wider style of popular jazz has yet to be seen.
Check out the phrasing and improv of jazz's greatest vocal stylist, Anita O'Day, live at Newport 1958 in glorious colour. Ahmet Ertegun in the audience, head of Atlantic records.
I do wish the jazz/blues idiom was more popular. There's a turnaround section to work with n harmonic movement and a static section where a player can really fine tune soloing approaches over a particular chord.
@@JensLarsen Most of the lessons I come across are much more toward Autumn Leaves and All the things you are than Billie's Bounce or Straight no Chaser. Blues lessons tend to stay within the regular 12 bar form ala BB King. Just one person's observation.
@@ahoneyman If you compare the amount of Jazz Blues lessons with the amount of Autumn Leaves lessons then you will find 4 or 5x as many Jazz Blues lessons, certainly in my library but also in general on the internet. I don't agree with your observation there, sorry.I think you are not really looking and just going with what YT shows you.
@@JensLarsen You're right. I'm a blues player with a passing interest in jazz so it's probably not asking the right questions and having a clearer view of what I'm looking for.
Only using scales as base theory for creating melodies doesn't result in authentic melodies because jazz melodies aren't only shaped in scales. Nor are they only shaped in scales and arps. If you combine intervals and chromatics with scales and arps, it's the total possibilities for how melody can be shaped. So if you use that as your raw theory knowledge base, it doesn't result in inauthentic melodies anymore.
@@JensLarsen hit me like ton of bricks, as they say. Please do continue your excellent videos. I don't always understand what you are doing but your manner and presentation are just relentlessly delightful. Blessings on you, Jens!
Think about first what and how do you want to say while you play a solo then check out your recording of your solo And be honest if match with your 💡 ideas
Hi, I found your videos always very helpful. I am a blues rock type of guitarist but I am interested in jazz as well, in the restaurants and clubs that I played since the 80s we always had to tackle a bit of jazz in the beginning so I have tried to be as close as possible to jazz in my improvisations. I noticed some things that I would like to share. A lot of today's guitarists are attracted by jazz rock (fusion), overdrive sound, bending strings, tapping and cool licks. They try to pick up from jazz certain phrases and use them in their solos. Some find a way to do a smooth transition but many sound weird, not in context. To become a good improviser in a specific style you have to listen every day to that style, you cannot listen to Joe Satriani and Jimmy Herring and wish to sound like Joe Pass. Another thing is that we concentrate a lot on the combination of notes we have to play (arpeggios, chromatic lines, etc...) forgetting that a solo is actually an extension of the main theme. The melodic line of the theme should be in our head all the time when improvising, it will make more sense and it will help us to develop our lines around the theme without thinking too much about the technicality of the phrases. For those who wish to become hundred percent jazz musicians I think that a proper musical school would be the best way. For others like me, a "jack of all trades" at the end we have to decide which way to go (specialize) , otherwise we'll get by at everything but excel in none.
Yeah stuck for years man. Its gotten to where I can’t stand to hear my own playing. Im like am i doing that again?? But im working on it trying to break out of it my own way with a suggested triad regime. Im already looking at and hearing the fretboard in a different way. I still suck tho ha
You don't always play the arpeggio on the root of the chord, so often that is not how it works out. If you play the arpeggio from the 3rd of the chord, which note is then the taget? 🙂
@@fulanodetal4148 Exactly, so in that context the target note is not the 6th. Now if you play the arpeggio of a m7 in a II V then the target note is not the 6th, it is the 3rd on V chord.
Jens, your videos have been extremely helpful as I’ve been making the shift (or at least widening my scope) from rock to jazz. May I ask what scales I can use for Autumn Leaves (Gm)? I’ve been trying all the arpeggios over each chord- an excellent way in to the harmony. And I know that Gm pentatonic (Bb major pent) will work over pretty much the whole tune. Obviously Gminor or Bbmajor scales work too. I also know that G harmonic minor works nicely over the Am7b5, D7, Gm. Anything else I should try over the minor II V I? Perhaps A Locrian #2, to D Altered, to G Dorian? What about over the major II V I at the very beginning of the piece? Lastly, can I use a D or F augmented arpeggio over a D7 or F7 harmony- to bring out those altered tensions? Sorry, there’s a lot there, but any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for all you do!
I would maybe suggest not focusing on scales, you already know the basic options, and it is going to be a lot more about what you can do with them than what scale it is. In that respect, sticking to basic scales and having better lines is much more valuable and makes you sound better on this and other songs.
True story: Trent Kynaston, Jazz sax professor at Western Michigan University, told a friend of mine and student of his that Jazz was "just scales." Prof K also taught "legit" sax.... This was nearly 50 years ago, btw...
Something happened with jazz when it came to university. Learning improvised music in an academic way, means that you learn it the same way classical musicians do it. They play exactly as it is written. To improvise exactly according to scales and how it was done by a famous musician in the 1950s destroys the whole idea with improvised music.
You either studied music at a university more than 20 years ago, or you have no idea what you are talking about. I am sure you mean well, there are quite a few things in your comment that simply don't hold up.
I have younger friends who studied jazz at universities just some few years ago, and they say the same. Maybe you have different experiences, but in Sweden that is how things are teached.
I saw this Joe Pass Ibanez 1980s guitar I want to buy but I'm not sure if it's real or fake and I don't feel like spending 5grand on a fake can you you help me
@@JensLarsen in my limited experience (somewhat of a beginner) that's what I've noticed when transcribing some solos. I may be completely wrong but they seem to revolve around pentatonic and diatonic scales alot
@@charlesmartiniii1405 I have studied and played with people who worked with Chet, he is not about scales. You probably just need to understand the music a bit better.
Please show how to play jazz Nothing works to play jazz listening to jazz doesn't work and transcribing never does trying jazz licks and language never work jazz can't be learned I already tried jazz tunes nothing all it does is makes me frustrated
It is difficult to give too specific advice because everybody is different and at different levels, but maybe check out this post: jenslarsen.nl/how-to-learn-jazz-guitar-suggestions-to-begin-studying/
hello jens ok but do you know " dirty loops " ? if not you should ! its the most exitin band since ...the harmony are jazz etc , the singer is awsome , the bass player and the drum are ...out this earth ! so man cool but the old jazz (that a work on) is good but go ahead !
No, and Pentatonics are not the Blues, and Powerchords are not Rock or Metal and Major Chords are not Country.......... But they are all handy building blocks. ....and lets face it, at least some of the more "experimental" Jazz forms get quite "chromatic" don't they?
What is essential for learning Bebop?
The Most Important Scale For Jazz
ruclips.net/video/Gbn8bt6cMHI/видео.html
Jazz guitar is no easy journey. Finding out what makes Jazz guitar works is not only satisfying, but an appreciation for the virtuosos who we look up to.
Exactly!
I don't know, man. I don't think the jazz greats struggled. Sounds like it was easy for them. If we all had talent, none of our solos would ever suck. We're always looking at what others did with admiration. The greats spent their time creating awesomeness. We spend our time admiring what they did.
If I had a second lifetime, I would learn jazz guitar with this channel. I’m an acoustic blues player who appreciates jazz and it is clear this content is second to none. 👍
You got me right when you said super easy barely an inconvenience 😅 love that series 😂
Thanks Az! :)
I don’t play jazz. But this is one of the best educational guitar channels on RUclips.
Thank you 🙂
Not only was this informative but the editing was spot on for my adhd brain. Thank you.
Glad it was useful! :)
Developing a feel and ear for great jazz, listening to standards, and letting your own creativity take hold is just as important. For me that also includes developing your own jazz voice through experimenting and connecting your scales, arpeggios and chromatic notes in unique and interesting ways.
I think everything you said is 100% correct and can be applied to ANY guitar style.
This is such an amazing channel… I have been playing the guitar for a long time but my life has not allowed for me to dive into jazz as deep as I would like. Over the last three years I have had just enough time to slowly gain knowledge about jazz guitar, and this channel has really helped as a great source. Many thanks!
I don't think I've ever REALLY known what to do after scales and arpeggios. In the past, I've gotten away with playing atrocities for solos (in local Rock / Cover Bands) - but everyone always likes them - even other guitar players. Punters shake my hand and if I'm lucky, their missus might chat me up ! Deep down, I've often felt that what I play is always lacking something. I've been trying to rectify that for the last few years via your JGRM, other publications and videos. Thanks for this video Jens, am looking forward to reviewing it and burning it into the subconscious. 🙄
Super to hear that you are getting somewhere with it! :)
@@JensLarsen Yep, I go a bit slow, but I need to. I've never given up a single thing in my life.
@@kevindonnelly761 i HEAR you, KD . . . and why is it always somebodies' missus ? 😉 be careful - lol
@@lazyrrr2411 The 'missus' thing doesn't happen any more. Don't worry, I'm careful. 😇
Don't drop the atrocities though if they're leading to everyone's missus chatting you up
Excellent, Jens. I've been watching for a while, not understanding everything completely at first, I admit, but you return to material in a fresh way, so that it starts to make sense after a while. Like Barry, you have become a master teacher. Kudos.
Glad it was helpful!
Great lesson as always, Jens! True story: I'm currently enrolled in and taking a course, Blues Guitar, through Berklee Online -- I love their courses, by the way, and highly recommend them to anyone regardless of instrument or genre -- and I always find myself including some of your teachings, including those I've picked up in your fabulous Jazz Guitar Roadmap course, into the assigments each week. Although I am one of the least experienced students in the class and have a long, long way to go to develop technical abilities in all aspects of guitar playing, one area in which I seem to be more comfortable than some others in the class is lead and solo playing. I don't mean to sound braggadocious and all the other students can play way faster than I can, among many other skills they possess that are superior to mine, but you've taught me so much about playing melodically and musically. I honestly hadn't realized how much I've learned from you until I started this class and began recording assigments.
Thank you, Jens!
Thank you! That is super great to hear, Boomer. Really makes my day 🙂
It's not a Jens Larsen video without the "great" Barry Harris. 🙂
No, lately I have been digging into a lot of Bebop 😁
I love Barry Harris. I love his play in the funky Morgan hit Sidewinder. I would listen to Barry Harris any day of the week.
Barry in the thumbnail = more views
@@mjx2191 Actually that is not really what I am seeing with my videos, but maybe it is different for other channels?
I would start by saying you are much more educated and advanced In Jazz guitar than I am. You also have helped me a lot. I also see the extreme value In this lesson. I agree . However to negate Scales I do not think Is a good Idea. We use Melodic Minor , Phrygian Don and modes all the time over chords. I think a person should know both things. Onl6y knowing ONE of these concepts can lead to a musical Impasse. Both are needed. Remember I said you are far beyond me In jazz. I may be wrong. Good stuff as always . TY Jens. You are a great guy and teacher.
I don't think anyone is saying to negate scales?
Oh gosh! Sir, you just ended a very long lasting, nerve- and gut-twisting struggle for me!!!! Thank you so mutch! For years I wanted to get more into playing prober solos witch don't run up and down the blues scales. I knew I just had to replay solos by ear and stick to the chords and keychanges but you filled all those gaps for me, that were left in this explanation for sooo so long! It's such a reliefe!!! I suddenly feel understood and free. I now finally know what to add, what was missing!!! I'll study your video second by second.
It's strange how one can become lost in these times of information that's been flooded to you over the internet over such a simple question. You can read all and nothing.
Super Easy barely an inconvenience :D
You or your son were watching the Pitch meetings!
Nice.
Jens, absolutely loving your Barry Harris content! Please keep it coming. It is changing the way I approach the instrument, improvisation, and music in general. Cheers, and thanks for providing the best music pedagogy on RUclips as far as I'm concerned!
Best RUclips Chanel on jazz guitar
Jens,You are an virtuoso musician. great stuff ever !!!
Wow! A great lesson Jens, with so much good stuff in it! Thank you!
Glad you liked it!
Yay, finally.! Here this in blues and jazz all the time. But even not sticking to scales ..still has to swing.
I started taking lessons again at the age of 55. It was going well until I learned I MUST get the arpeggios maj, mi, dom, dim down..plus the struggle of picking them "in tempo" has been a major challenge. I've been doing nothing but that for months and still don't have it down. It's frustrating.. I'll continue and will not quit. I'm going over some jazz standards and 251s - don't know if I'm the only one that is taking forever but I know it will be a major improvement in my playing once I get them down.
Composing lines is the thing that definitelly is helping me the most, i still sound bad but i can feel the improvement haha
Great to hear! 🙂
This is a fantastic lesson Jens! I really learn a lot when you discuss what you are thinking about in a solo. For example, thinking of ways to hit the target note in your the next chord.
Glad it was helpful, Jim! A lot of that thinking is for practicing, once you start soloing then that should be already internalized 🙂
@@JensLarsen Definitely! I like to say "when you think, you stink"!
Scales are like the alphabet. It's the way you play and combined them that creates words than phrases, then sentences. It's essentially to add space and rhythm to create phrasing and flow. You want to get to the point where stuff just flows out from you, inventing things on the spot.
This is true for all music. What a great lesson.
Glad you like it 🙂
While watching the video, I thought I should write my solos down a bit. I can't read the notes but I have Notion 5. So I manage, by copying the score in, to make the equivalence writing = sound (tedious work). And then, in the next minute, I hear you say that this is one of the important things to do. Not using Notion 5 (!) but writing your solo to find the target note. I am finally apparently on the right track. It's not much but for me it's very satisfying. Thanks a lot.
Jens, your absolutely right. Jazz is Swing, Implying the Chord Progression and other Language, Phrasing and the Repertoire. Its so much more than any Scale, Arpeggio or Chord. Thanks.
"Super easy, barely an inconvenience" haha a nod to a fellow RUclipsr.
Great - Essential Jens material!
Essential for playing bebop... Listening to tons of bebop of course. Also, it's been helpful for me to find more mid tempo bebop or stuff that's not strict bebop but uses bebop material so as not get bogged down in super fast and complicated lines. I listen a lot and steal lines I can hear.
That's a good one, looking for the medium tempos! That's very true 🙂
I look forward to the new video.
I personally have a problem with articulation in bebop.
One major reason the Bird motif (3:27 - 3:31) works so well is that he incorporates a "air pressure flourish" on the C concert (Eb on alto) at the end of the phrase. Being a sax player, I do this too. What's the guitar equivalent? Vibrato, I suppose.. Great video, as always...!
As a bass player I love your channel. 😊
I appreciate that!
Great lesson Jens I am getting better but still have a long way to go
Keep at it 🙂
Another great one Jens! As usual, much easier listened and watched than done... However the idea of actively composing a few "reference" lines from one type of spot to another instead of copying the "masters" seems highly interesting. It could constitute a series of DIY "buoy licks" to avoid sinking to deep in the imporvisations.
Thank you! I have quite a few videos in the Patreon Extras series that are focused on composing licks and demonstrating that.
My jazz instructor always told me that to sound like jazz you have to do two things: learn the actual phrases or licks from famous jazz musicians, and more importantly, listen to as much jazz music as you can. Knowing theory and scales and arpeggios helps but you’ll never sound like a true jazz musician relying solely on only those things. Learning jazz is like learning a language that has its own unique idiomatic expressions. Theory will only take you so far
That is very true! 🙂
Este es mi primer video de Jens y aprendí tanto, que necesito dejarlo por escrito. Muchas gracias 🎊
Glad it was helpful 🙂
It's like when you see guys playing fretless bass... but when they play, they play it just like one would a fretted bass. It defeats the purpose of playing fretless in the first place, and you're only making things more complicated that way, because now finger accuracy becomes an issue. Someone once told me that the key to fretless bass is to play a half to a quarter of a beat ahead of the rest of the ensemble, and if possible, slide into each note and change.
I've only played a fretless a couple of times and always wondered what it took to produce that effect they're known for
At the end you finally give some practical advise. Learn to play the solos by ear. i would add Learn to sing them.
this is not meant to negate anything Jens is saying, but I think it’s also very important to learn how to comp first. learn the chords, the changes the extensions to the cord. Listen to other people comp listen to solos of course, but once you get that feel i think your lines will follow better.
Hence what Carol Kaye says says in her videos about how scales are not jazz…music.
If she says that then she is right 🙂
I think I can relate to what you’re saying. When I play outside of the key, I usually slur the note back into the key, and it sounds right. So, I think that all depends on what you play next. I think you're saying something like that. Like on Take 5 or when I play Sugar, it sounds right; when I briefly go outside the key, I have to go back in it to make the phrase right. I know Charlie Parker said any player should be able to play any note and make it harmonically sound.
Great! Yes, it is about knowing where to go!
Super easy, barely an inconvenience. 😂😂😂 I know that line bruh
😁👍
2:28 Nice Pitch Meeting reference.
THANKS, JENS!
Glad you like it 🙂
Such great information Jens. I need to improve my vocabulary, and one thing about the Joe Pass dynamic is his right hand technique of half pick and fingers if not just fingers. He seems to know what he wants.
Thanks! Watch out that you don't mix up vocabulary and right hand technique too much and be aware that Joe Pass mostly plays with a pick when he solos like most other guitarists
Very helpful videos, thank you! From Korea :)
Glad it was helpful!
that Barry Harris live in tokoyo album is the same gig that Jimmy Raney played on using the same back up musicians. Im pretty sure there are cuts of Jimmy and Barry playing together.
Yes, there are two tracks on one version of the album
Feel. Phrasing. Timing.
BB King and Albert King tended to play relatively few notes but always seemed to be saying something; like they were having a conversation. You can also tell they really meant it.
@ 7:48 the garter technique is mentioned. Unfamiliar so I tried to look it up. Maybe I’m not spelling it right, cause I’m not finding anything on it.
Excellent lesson!
Groovin on selected chord notes should be the first step imo.
We can hear the beauty of these jazz innovations, and so can a small proportion of the public. But to target a wider mixed audience, as typical at a real-life gig, one that doesn't have the glamor and advantage of a great vocalist, another major step may be necessary. Consider how most major acts across all music genres incorporate popular melodies to get popular appeal and, depending on the style of music, embellish them. People like us call that jazzing the melody up. No jazz guitarist was more famous at doing this than Wes Montgomery, despite his critics. But generalizing what he did to incorporate such magic into a wider style of popular jazz has yet to be seen.
Nobody plays Jazz to become the next Coldplay or the next Madonna. The real question is if anyone should play pop with that as an ultimate goal?
Thanks for another great lesson, Jens.
Glad you enjoyed it!
excellent. I remember years ago asking my perfect pitch teacher to show me a jazz scale, she said to me then - there is no jazz scale boy;)
😁
Check out the phrasing and improv of jazz's greatest vocal stylist, Anita O'Day, live at Newport 1958 in glorious colour. Ahmet Ertegun in the audience, head of Atlantic records.
I do wish the jazz/blues idiom was more popular. There's a turnaround section to work with n harmonic movement and a static section where a player can really fine tune soloing approaches over a particular chord.
The 12-bar blues is the most common progression in Jazz. I don't see why you think it should be more popular 🙂
@@JensLarsen Most of the lessons I come across are much more toward Autumn Leaves and All the things you are than Billie's Bounce or Straight no Chaser. Blues lessons tend to stay within the regular 12 bar form ala BB King. Just one person's observation.
@@ahoneyman If you compare the amount of Jazz Blues lessons with the amount of Autumn Leaves lessons then you will find 4 or 5x as many Jazz Blues lessons, certainly in my library but also in general on the internet.
I don't agree with your observation there, sorry.I think you are not really looking and just going with what YT shows you.
@@JensLarsen You're right. I'm a blues player with a passing interest in jazz so it's probably not asking the right questions and having a clearer view of what I'm looking for.
@@ahoneyman no worries! 🙂
Here are some (certainly not all) of my lessons on Jazz Blues ruclips.net/p/PLWYuNvZPqqcGqjnXU_qUjUO3G2PMpf47l
I love your channel, I think you’re a great teacher and a great player, what do you think of Jerry Garcia?
Golden tips right here.
Glad you think so!
Thanks so much for share this video, blessings
You are so welcome
Barry is the final boss of jazz RUclips
Great advice thank you so much.
Glad it was helpful 🙂!
I love your videos, but idk why I watch them. All it does it remind me how bad I am at jazz playing and show me what I wish I could do...🤣
Fucking stellar lesson, thank you Jens!
Glad you like it!
Yeah, great one, jens
Glad you like it 🙂
Only using scales as base theory for creating melodies doesn't result in authentic melodies because jazz melodies aren't only shaped in scales. Nor are they only shaped in scales and arps. If you combine intervals and chromatics with scales and arps, it's the total possibilities for how melody can be shaped. So if you use that as your raw theory knowledge base, it doesn't result in inauthentic melodies anymore.
very very good!!!!! thank you so much!!!!!
Glad you liked it!
@@JensLarsen hit me like ton of bricks, as they say. Please do continue your excellent videos. I don't always understand what you are doing but your manner and presentation are just relentlessly delightful. Blessings on you, Jens!
I asked early on about jazz books at a music store. The clerk sneered and smirked and. Said "well... Jazz is just scales" with a snicker.
😁 Clearly an "expert"
Think about first what and how do you want to say while you play a solo then check out your recording of your solo
And be honest if match with your 💡 ideas
Hi, I found your videos always very helpful. I am a blues rock type of guitarist but I am interested in jazz as well, in the restaurants and clubs that I played since the 80s we always had to tackle a bit of jazz in the beginning so I have tried to be as close as possible to jazz in my improvisations. I noticed some things that I would like to share.
A lot of today's guitarists are attracted by jazz rock (fusion), overdrive sound, bending strings, tapping and cool licks. They try to pick up from jazz certain phrases and use them in their solos. Some find a way to do a smooth transition but many sound weird, not in context.
To become a good improviser in a specific style you have to listen every day to that style, you cannot listen to Joe Satriani and Jimmy Herring and wish to sound like Joe Pass.
Another thing is that we concentrate a lot on the combination of notes we have to play (arpeggios, chromatic lines, etc...) forgetting that a solo is actually an extension of the main theme. The melodic line of the theme should be in our head all the time when improvising, it will make more sense and it will help us to develop our lines around the theme without thinking too much about the technicality of the phrases.
For those who wish to become hundred percent jazz musicians I think that a proper musical school would be the best way. For others like me, a "jack of all trades" at the end we have to decide which way to go (specialize) , otherwise we'll get by at everything but excel in none.
I loved watching this, but it may as well have been in Russian for what I understood. 🤯
Thanks
good explanations step by step l want toi come again playing guitare for m'y pleasure God bless you
Go for it 🙂
Yeah stuck for years man. Its gotten to where I can’t stand to hear my own playing. Im like am i doing that again?? But im working on it trying to break out of it my own way with a suggested triad regime. Im already looking at and hearing the fretboard in a different way. I still suck tho ha
Did you just quote Pitch meeting?
😆 "we're on a mission from God"
So true.
Love that line!
When you play the triplet arpeggios with the target note, what is the target note? the 6th of the chord?
You don't always play the arpeggio on the root of the chord, so often that is not how it works out. If you play the arpeggio from the 3rd of the chord, which note is then the taget? 🙂
@@JensLarsen If its a triplet it will be the root, because you will land in the down beat of the following beat. right?
@@fulanodetal4148 Exactly, so in that context the target note is not the 6th. Now if you play the arpeggio of a m7 in a II V then the target note is not the 6th, it is the 3rd on V chord.
@@JensLarsen Thank you so much!! I like the concepts that you explain here, it changes completely the way approached improvisation
Bebop pitch meeting please make it happen
So you watch Ryan George too? Wow. Wow. Wow…wow.
It is about the rhythm more than the pitch.
Actually, I think it is about how those two work together in Bebop.
@@JensLarsen of course but which matters more ? Are they equal?
playing jazz guitar is like solving math puzzles for fun . sheesh
Jens, your videos have been extremely helpful as I’ve been making the shift (or at least widening my scope) from rock to jazz.
May I ask what scales I can use for Autumn Leaves (Gm)? I’ve been trying all the arpeggios over each chord- an excellent way in to the harmony. And I know that Gm pentatonic (Bb major pent) will work over pretty much the whole tune. Obviously Gminor or Bbmajor scales work too. I also know that G harmonic minor works nicely over the Am7b5, D7, Gm.
Anything else I should try over the minor II V I? Perhaps A Locrian #2, to D Altered, to G Dorian? What about over the major II V I at the very beginning of the piece?
Lastly, can I use a D or F augmented arpeggio over a D7 or F7 harmony- to bring out those altered tensions?
Sorry, there’s a lot there, but any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for all you do!
I would maybe suggest not focusing on scales, you already know the basic options, and it is going to be a lot more about what you can do with them than what scale it is. In that respect, sticking to basic scales and having better lines is much more valuable and makes you sound better on this and other songs.
Thanks very much, that makes sense. Also, you talk a lot about “voice leading.” As a newbie, what exactly IS voice leading?
@@lukebrooksguitar voice-leading is how the notes move when you go from one chord to the next.
Got it, thanks 👍
Very helpful, thank u
Glad to hear that!
Have you talked about Sonny Rollins solo style?
@@djmileski Yes, I did a video on him a few years ago. Nobody watched it 😁 ruclips.net/video/rHuErroC5lw/видео.html
@@JensLarsen watching it now 😊
HI JENS HOW CAN I BUY THIS WHOLE VICEO ? Thanks
play it at a party.. if everyone stops dancing, and people begin to leave,, it’s jazz.
You stop paying attention to theory and you go by intuition works every time
True story: Trent Kynaston, Jazz sax professor at Western Michigan University, told a friend of mine and student of his that Jazz was "just scales." Prof K also taught "legit" sax.... This was nearly 50 years ago, btw...
sweet!
Jazz is 6 guys all doing whatever they want at the same time.
Can I ask? what Joe Pass song is this
It's Chloe off Intercontinental 🙂
Something happened with jazz when it came to university. Learning improvised music in an academic way, means that you learn it the same way classical musicians do it. They play exactly as it is written. To improvise exactly according to scales and how it was done by a famous musician in the 1950s destroys the whole idea with improvised music.
You either studied music at a university more than 20 years ago, or you have no idea what you are talking about. I am sure you mean well, there are quite a few things in your comment that simply don't hold up.
I have younger friends who studied jazz at universities just some few years ago, and they say the same. Maybe you have different experiences, but in Sweden that is how things are teached.
Of course. Letters are not words. Words are not sentences. Sentences are not books. Books aren't necessarily worthwhile.
I saw this Joe Pass Ibanez 1980s guitar I want to buy but I'm not sure if it's real or fake and I don't feel like spending 5grand on a fake can you you help me
Joe Pass model or actual guitar he used?
@@rickjason215 his guitar Ibanez jp20
Chet Baker would like a word
Because he was all about scales? 😁
@@JensLarsen in my limited experience (somewhat of a beginner) that's what I've noticed when transcribing some solos. I may be completely wrong but they seem to revolve around pentatonic and diatonic scales alot
@@charlesmartiniii1405 I have studied and played with people who worked with Chet, he is not about scales. You probably just need to understand the music a bit better.
Well, there’s goes all my bebop lines …
Please show how to play jazz Nothing works to play jazz listening to jazz doesn't work and transcribing never does trying jazz licks and language never work jazz can't be learned I already tried jazz tunes nothing all it does is makes me frustrated
It is difficult to give too specific advice because everybody is different and at different levels, but maybe check out this post: jenslarsen.nl/how-to-learn-jazz-guitar-suggestions-to-begin-studying/
"something is missing" ...yes...talent...there is such thing as "talent"
hello jens ok but do you know " dirty loops " ? if not you should ! its the most exitin band since ...the harmony are jazz etc , the singer is awsome , the bass player and the drum are ...out this earth ! so man cool but the old jazz (that a work on) is good but go ahead !
and they are lol as you swedish !
👍🏼
Lines, learn lines
Jazz is a faster version of the blues.
No, and Pentatonics are not the Blues, and Powerchords are not Rock or Metal and Major Chords are not Country..........
But they are all handy building blocks. ....and lets face it, at least some of the more "experimental" Jazz forms get quite "chromatic" don't they?
They learn scales and arpeggios, but never learn the melody 🤔