In this video lesson, I explain this formula and show you how to apply it to any mode of the major scale in order to instantly create the modes of the melodic minor scale. By taking the mystery out of how to play the melodic minor modes on the guitar, you’ll not only learn them quicker, but will internalize them in a way that will allow you to keep them in your playing without having to spend hours in the practice room.

To explore this exercise further, check out my article “Jazz Guitar Scales Made Easy: Deriving 28 Modes from One Shape” to apply this idea to all of the modes of the Major, Melodic Minor, Harmonic Minor and Harmonic Major scales.

Click to view the Major Scales Made Easy Video Lesson.

Click to download the PDF for this lesson.

Video Lesson

Click here to view the embedded video.

Related posts:

1. Guitar Scales Made Easy: Learn All 7 Major Modes from One Shape Video Lesson
2. Jazz Guitar Scales Made Easy: How to Derive 28 Modes from One Fingering
3. Modes of the Melodic Minor Scale and Their Application

Guitar Scales Made Easy: Simple Formula to Learn All 7 Modes of Melodic Minor from Matt Warnock

In the following video lesson, and accompanying PDF, I lay out a fun and easy way to learn, memorize, organize and apply all of the 7 modes of the major scale on the guitar, With this simple exercise, you will not only learn how to play all of these modes on the guitar, but you will learn how they are related to each other and how you can organize them from the brightest to darkest sounding mode in order to learn them quickly and retain them as you move forward in your development.

To explore this exercise further, check out my article “Jazz Guitar Scales Made Easy: Deriving 28 Modes from One Shape” to apply this idea to all of the modes of the Major, Melodic Minor, Harmonic Minor and Harmonic Major scales.

Click to download the PDF for this lesson.

Video Lesson

Click here to view the embedded video.

Related posts:

1. Jazz Guitar Scales Made Easy: How to Derive 28 Modes from One Fingering
2. Introduction to Walking Bass for Jazz Guitar Video Lesson
3. Jazz Guitar Chords: Voice Leading Minor ii-V-I Video Lesson

Guitar Scales Made Easy: Learn All 7 Major Modes from One Shape Video Lesson from Matt Warnock

Learning to outline chord changes over the course of a tune can be a daunting task, mostly due to the large amount of information available on the subject. But, by focusing in on a few simple outlines, you can not only build your ability to outline chord changes, but give yourself plenty of harmonic material that you can then use to build your improvisations.

Two of the most common, and most important, melodic devices that you can use to begin to outline changes, or shore up this skill if it’s been a while since you’ve worked on it, are arpeggios and basic scales. Though these two approaches may sound simple, with a few variations, you can use them to effectively outline any chord change, as well as keep things creative and prevent them from sounding boring at the same time.

In this article, I used a ii-V-I-VI chord progression in the key of C major to demonstrate each of the harmonic outlines discussed in the lesson. But, feel free to take these outlines to any chord progression, or full tune, that you are working on, as well as to all of the other 11 keys for this, or any chord progression.

These outlines can be used over any progression, so feel free to take them to other progressions and tunes that you are working on. Not only will they sound good when played over these changes, but they are a great tool that you can use to help you learn to outline and memorize any new progression or tune that you are working on in the practice room.

A Note on Fingerings

In the following examples I stuck to a few basic fingerings for the arpeggios and scales used in each exercise. Feel free to use any/all fingerings that you know or are working on with these outlines, as they can be applied to any arpeggio/scale shape on the guitar.

If you are new to these arpeggios and scales, or just want to expand your knowledge of how scales and arpeggios sit on the guitar, please check out my jazz guitar scales and jazz guitar arpeggio resources pages for more information on these important melodic concepts.

• Arpeggios for Jazz Guitar
• Essential Jazz Guitar Scales

Rhythmic Variations

In each of these exercises, I used a steady eighth-note pulse to keep things simple rhythmically while you begin to explore each of these outlines in the practice room. But, it is highly recommended that once you are comfortable with any of these exercises that you change up the rhythm so as not to get too bored with that side of the exercise.

Here are some of my favorite rhythmic alterations that you can apply to these exercises. Feel free to try these out as well as come up with some of your own as you work through each harmonic outline in this article.

As well, if you want to read more about rhythmic variations and accents, you can check out the following articles for more information.

• Rhythms for Jazz Guitar Improvisation
• Rhythm Patterns for Jazz Guitar

Arpeggios Ascending

The first exercise that we will check out is ascending arpeggios. Here, you play the arpeggio for each chord in the progression starting on the root and moving up to the 7^th. For the examples in this section, I used quarter notes and one-octave arpeggios to outline the changes. But, if you want, you can run two-octave arpeggios through this, and other, exercises, you just have to play eighth notes in order for the full arpeggio to fit within the span of one bar.

As well, each of the arpeggios in these examples use the fundamental R-7 grouping. But, if you want to take these exercises further, you could also apply 3 to 9 arpeggios to any/all of these exercises.

Arpeggios Descending

You can also play the arpeggios down from the 7^th to the root. This is a great exercise, as far too often we find ourselves looking at the root when navigating changes. This can cause us to play a lot of ascending lines, ignoring descending lines, and playing the root a little too much in our phrases. By working on descending arpeggios, you will not only add variety to your solos, but you will advance your knowledge of the neck as you learn to see these shapes from the top down, as well as from the bottom up.

Arpeggios Alternating 1

As well as playing arpeggios in one direction for each chord in the progression, you can play them both ascending and descending in alteration. In this first exercise, you will play the arpeggio ascending in bar one, followed by a descending arpeggio in bar two. This will help you to mix up our melodic ideas when using arpeggios in your solos, as well as help you see how these shapes relate to one another from different perspectives on the neck of the guitar.

Arpeggios Alternating 2

The final arpeggio outline is the reverse version of the previous example. Here, you are going to alternate ascending and descending arpeggios throughout the progression, but you will now start with the descending arpeggio in bar one, followed by the ascending arpeggio in bar two. By covering all bases as far as variations for these exercises, you are not only challenging yourself technically in the practice room, but are building your vocabulary, which you can later use to improvise with in a performance situation.

Scales Ascending

You can also take these four outlines and apply them to scales over each chord in a progression. In this first approach, we will play each scale ascending over each chord in the progression as the focus of this exercise.

Here, I’ve used the Dorian mode for Dm7, the Mixolydian mode for G7, the Ionian mode for Cmaj7 and the 5^th mode of Harmonic Minor for the A7b9b13 chord. Feel free to mix in any scales that you are currently working on, such as Dorian Bebop, Dominant Bebop, Major Bebop, the Altered scale or Diminished scale etc.

Scales Descending

You can also play each scale descending throughout the progression. As was the case with the descending arpeggio exercise, this approach is not usually a regular part of our practice routine. So take it slowly at first as this exercise might be harder than you think, especially if you are working on building tempos with these scales.

Scales Alternating 1

With the ascending and descending scales under your fingers, you can combine them to form an alternating approach to this outline. Here, you play the first scale ascending, in bar one, then descend the scale in bar two, and so on throughout the progression. Again, this can be trickier than it looks, so start at a slow tempo and only increase the speed of the metronome when you are fully comfortable with this technique.

Scales Alternating 2

The final scale outline is the reverse version of the previous example. Here, you will play the descending scale in bar one, followed by the ascending scale in bar two. If you are starting to get the hang of these exercises and you want to push yourself further in the practice room, try coming up with as many combinations as you can with these four approaches. So, you might do two bars ascending followed by one bar descending, or two bars descending followed by two bars ascending. The sky’s the limit with how many combinations you can come up with to explore in the practice room.

Arp and Scale Combo 1

With a good grasp on the arpeggio and scale outlines on their own, you can now bring them together in different combinations in the practice room. For the purposes of these examples, I have started each combo with the arpeggio, followed by the scale in bar two. But, you can easily double these exercises by starting on the scale followed by the arpeggio in bar two.

In this first example, you will be playing each arpeggio and scale ascending from the lowest note to the highest. This is a great way to add melodic variety to your practice routine, as well as begin to see how these two important outlines relate to each other on the fret board.

Arp and Scale Combo 2

In this second combo outline you will play both the arpeggio and the scale descending for each chord. This is probably the toughest exercise of the bunch, since many of us aren’t used to seeing these melodic outlines from the top down, so take your time with this exercise. There is no hurry to learn this material, the goal is to build up your harmonic knowledge over time, so make sure to have a firm grasp on these ideas before you move on to faster speeds on the metronome.

Arp and Scale Combo 3

As was the case with the singular outlines, you can play the arpeggio ascending in bar one, followed by the scale descending in bar two as in the following example. Again, try to vary these exercises by playing the scale in bar one and the arpeggio in bar two. This will double the amount of material you can derive from these combination exercises.

Arp and Scale Combo 4

The final outline that we will explore is the reverse of the previous example. Here, you will play a descending arpeggio in bar one, followed by an ascending scale in bar two. Again, once you have these four combo outlines under your fingers and in your ears, feel free to come up with as many variations as you can think of, such as two bars of ascending arps and one bar of descending scales etc. The more variations you have on these outlines, the better.

These basic harmonic outlines will not only provide you fundamental material from which to build your improvisations, but they can also be used to quickly and easily get any new harmonic progression under your fingers and in your ears.

The next time you learn a new tune, try playing a few, or all, of these outlines through the changes. You’ll find that after one or two variations that you’ve already started, if not completed, memorizing the changes, as well as built an arsenal of melodic material for your solos.

******

What are some of your favorite harmonic outlines to practice? Share them in the comments section below.

Related posts:

1. How to Practice Major Scale Modes for Jazz Guitar
2. 9 Ways to Add the Melodic Minor Scale to Your Jazz Guitar Practice Routine
3. 9 Ways to Practice Harmonic Major Modes for Jazz Guitar

How to Practice Outlining Chord Changes for Jazz Guitar from Matt Warnock

“Summertime” is a classic Gershwin tune that uses a 16-bar form, divided into two, eight-bar sections that can be labeled as A and A’, and, at least in this case, is centered around the key of D minor. Depending on who is playing this tune, and the instrumentation, it is also commonly played in the keys of C and A minor.

For those readers who have already been out playing gigs and sitting in on jam sessions, you will know that “Summertime” is one of the most commonly called tunes from the jazz repertoire. Because of this, it is an essential tune for any guitarist to have down, chords-melody-soloing, if they are planning on getting out on the bandstand in a jam or gigging situation.

While the tune is fairly straightforward, it has been reshaped over the years by the likes of John Coltrane, who’s famous version replaces the first four bars completely with an augmented chord and features the classic Dm7-Bb7 vamp at the end of the tune, where Coltrane and McCoy Tyner strut their stuff during the improvised sections of the recording.

So, let’s dig in to one of the most standard of all Standards, “Summertime.”

Basic Harmonic Analysis

The harmony for “Summertime” is fairly straight forward, at least in its basic form, and it centers itself around the key of D minor. You’ll notice that the Dm7 chord takes up exactly half (8) of the bars in the tune (bars 1-4, 9-11 and 15).

When not using a Dm7, im7, chord the tune veers into to other areas, Gm7 and Fmaj7, which are both closely related to the Dm7, being the ivm7 and bIIImaj7 chords respectively.

Because the harmony is fairly simple in nature, “Summertime” is easy to memorize and to get under your fingers as there are not a lot of chords to think about when first learning the basic changes.

So, below is the harmonic analysis of the tune. Begin by memorizing the chords and by learning the Roman numeral analysis to the changes. Doing so will allow you to quickly and easily understand and apply the chord subs that we will take a look at in the next section of the article.

Harmonic Substitutions

Since the basic chords are sparse and spread out, such as the Dm7 chord in bars 1-4, “Summertime” lends itself nicely to an array of chord substitutions. In this section we’ll look at a few of the more common subs that jazzers like to use over this tune, and if you are so inclined, feel free to take these subs further by exploring Coltrane changes, side-stepping ii-V’s and other more advanced substitution techniques.

In bars 1-4, one of the most common subs is to treat the first two bars as a turnaround to the Dm7 chord in bar three. To do so, we just start on Dm7 in bar one, then use a im7-bIIImaj7-iim7b5-V7alt progression to take us out of the normal Dm7 sound before returning to the original chord in bar three. This group of chords is a common sub when you have a long tonic chord, either major or minor, and you want to add more movement to your bass and harmony without going too far outside the key center.

After this initial group of subs, we can start to look ahead at the next chord change in the tune, the Gm7 chord in bar five. Again, we can use a common substitution to get us from the Dm7 chord in bar three to the Gm7 chord in bar 5, in this case Am7b5-D7alt, a iim7b5-V7alt, in bar four. These two chords act as a cadence that temporarily tonicizes the Gm7 chord, adding some extra weight to that chord in the progression. This type of sub can commonly be found in any tune that moves from a im7 chord to a ivm7 chord, such as “Solar” and “Mr. P.C.” or other minor blues tracks.

To finish off the first half of the tune, we can add a descending bassline in bar six that leads from the Gm7 in bar five to the Em7b5 chord in bar seven. The Gm7/F chord is also a common way to move from a ivm7 chord to a iim7b5 chord as it keeps the sound of the Gm7, the F being the b7 of the chord, but provides more movement in the bass as the low notes descend from G to F to E.

Here is how all of these subs look when added to the first eight bars of “Summertime.”

For the second half of the tune, we can us some of the subs from the first eight bars to spice things up as well. Since the first three bars of the second half are the same as the first half, Dm7, we can use the same im7-bIIImaj7-iim7b5-V7alt turnaround in bars 9 to 11. In this case, the next chords are Gm7-C7, which lead us to the Fmaj7 chord in bar 13. To help us get from Dm7 to Gm7, we can through in a little bass line movement, Dm7/A, that makes that transition smoother in bar 11.

Since the rest of the tune has a good number of chords in it already, we can pretty much leave them be, except for one added sub in bar 11. Here, we are just filling in the turnaround, which was already im7-iim7b5-V7alt, by adding in a bIIImaj7 chord right after the im7 chord. So the chord progression now becomes Dm7-Fmaj7-Em7b5-A7alt.

Here is how the subs for the second half of “Summertime” look on the page.

Try to apply some or all of these subs to your comping over “Summertime.” You might find that you like some more than others, so feel free to apply these new changes as much or as little as you want. Also, if you are playing this tune for the first time with a new group, or at a jam session, it is always better to play the basic changes for the first few choruses. Then, after you get a feel for how the other musicians are blowing, you can start to sneak in a few subs and see where they take you and the rest of the ensemble.

Basslines With Comping

One of the reasons that we add subs to basic changes is to create more movement in the bass, which can help to inspire the soloist that is blowing over top of our comping. With “Summertime,” these added chords actually make walking a bassline easier than it would be with the basic changes, as the more movement we have in the chords, the less we have to vamp and play long basslines over one change, which can become repetitive after a while.

Below you’ll see an example bassline for “Summertime” using the chord subs that we explored above. When constructing this bassline, I kept the bass notes on the low two strings, E and A, and then put the chord voicings on top of these notes. As well, I used chromatic notes to connect some of the chords in the progression, so if you see a note that’s not from the scale/key, that is a chromatic note that’s being used to help connect one chord to another more firmly.

Click to view a video lesson on Walking Bass for Jazz Guitar

Check out this bassline and see how the new subs allow you to move around the harmony more without losing the fundamental sound of the tune. After you’ve worked this line out, create one of your own. Don’t be afraid to write out a number of basslines over this, or any, tune while you’re working on it. It’s cool to compose and memorize basslines as you first explore them in the woodshed, then over time they will become more natural and you will be able to just play them on the spot.

Melodic Minor Usage

As “Summertime” is based on a minor tonality, D minor in this case, we can use the melodic minor scale to improvise over different changes throughout the tune. One of the tricks that I’ve learned over the years, most notably from a conversation I had with guitarist Jake Langley a number of years back, is to apply melodic minor scales a half-step apart over the first four bars of the tune.

Sticking to the basic changes, Dm7, for bars 1-3, you can use a D melodic minor scale to improvise over this static m7 chord. Then, you can use the sub in bar 4, Am7b5-D7alt, by simply sliding the D melodic minor scale up a half-step, creating a D altered mode, which is the 7^th mode of Eb melodic minor.

Doing so not only allows you to outline these changes using melodic minor harmony, but you will be able to create a melody line/motive in the first three bars, and easily continue or develop it in bar four as you can repeat that idea a half-step higher, connecting it to the previous idea but now in a new key.

There are many ways to play melodic minor in this instance on the guitar, but here is one of my favorite positions to use over this tune.

If the melodic minor scale is new to you, check out my article “Melodic Minor Modes and Their Application” for more information on the subject.

Harmonic Minor Usage

As well as being a vehicle for melodic minor sounds, “Summertime” also has several instances where you can use the Harmonic Minor Bebop Scale. This scale is built from the 5^th mode of Harmonic Minor, D harmonic starting on A for example, and features one added note, the #7, which acts as the bebop passing note in this scale.

This scale was used a lot by Clifford Brown, check out his solo on “A Night in Tunisia” for some classic Clifford licks using this idea, and it can be used to improvise over both the iim7b5 and V7alt chords in a minor key ii-V.

Below is one of my favorite fingerings for this scale on the guitar, which is based around the m7b5 chord in the first bar. I’ve written it out over Em7b5-A7alt, since those are the chords you can apply it tune in “Summertime,” but feel free to practice this scale in all 12 keys and use it in other tunes you are working on that have a minor ii-V progression.

If the harmonic minor bebop scale, or the modes of the harmonic minor scale in general, are new to you, check out my articles, “Harmonic Minor Modes and Their Application” as well as “The Harmonic Minor Bebop Scale” for more information on these subjects.

“Summertime” is a classic tune for a reason. It has a memorable melody line, interesting chord progression, in both its basic and subbed-up forms, and is short enough that beginning jazzers can memorize the form quickly, allowing them to take this tune out onto the bandstand or jam room right away.

Check this tune out in your practice room. Not only will learning it give you one more tune in your repertoire to jam or perform, but the harmonic and melodic devices used in “Summertime” can be found in many other famous jazz standards, giving you more ammunition for other tunes at the same time.

Related posts:

1. Take the A Train: Anatomy of a Tune
2. All the Things You Are: Anatomy of a Tune
3. Play the Tune Not the Changes

Summertime: Anatomy of a Tune from Matt Warnock

In the following video lesson, I outline a simple voice-leading technique that you can use to quickly learn how to comp through minor key ii-V-I chord progressions, as well as have smooth transitions between each chord at the same time. If you missed the first video in this two-part series you can check it out in the link below, and don’t forget to download the PDF for today’s lesson just above the video below.

Click to check out the Jazz Guitar Chords: Voice Leading Major ii-V-I

Click to download the PDF for this lesson.

Video Lesson

Click here to view the embedded video.

Related posts:

1. Jazz Guitar Chords: Voice Leading Major ii-V’s Video Lesson
2. Introduction to Walking Bass for Jazz Guitar Video Lesson
3. The 1 Lick Every Jazz Guitarist Needs to Know Video Lesson

Jazz Guitar Chords: Voice Leading Minor ii-V-I Video Lesson from Matt Warnock

In this video lesson, we’ll look at how you can integrate horizontal scales on the 6th and 5th strings with chord inversions in order to begin your journey to learning how to walk a bassline for jazz guitar.

Click to download the PDF for this lesson.

Video Lesson

Click here to view the embedded video.

Related posts:

1. Jazz Guitar Chords: Voice Leading Major ii-V’s Video Lesson
2. The 1 Lick Every Jazz Guitarist Needs to Know Video Lesson
3. Matt Warnock and Guilherme Vincens Live Concert Video

Introduction to Walking Bass for Jazz Guitar Video Lesson from Matt Warnock

As guitarists, we all know how difficult it can be to get enough chords under our fingers to play through our favorite tunes and not sound repetitive. While sitting down and learning inversions for all the different chord types can be helpful, it is also often boring and not conducive to practical application.

One of the best things to do when learning chords is to practice them in common chord progressions and with proper voice leading. Doing so will not only keep things more interesting and practical, but you will cut down the time you spend working on learning your fundamental chord shapes.

In the following video lesson we’ll look at one of my favorite voice leading tricks that can help you learn to comp, chord solo and build chord melody lines over iim7-V7 phrases both quickly and easily.

Click to download the PDF Examples from today’s lesson.

Voice leading

The term “voice leading” is used to describe the movement of the notes of one chord to the notes of the next chord in any progression. For guitarists, this basically means that good voice leading means you don’t move your hand more than a fret or two between chords, and bad voice leading means you jump all over the neck from chord to chord.

In a iim7-V7 progression, we can use voice leading to make things very easy, and hip sounding, by allowing us to move only one note between the two chords, yet still sound both of the chords individually.

Here is how each not moves from chord to chord between any iim7 chord and any V7 chord, with the 9^th added in, using proper voice leading.

• Root stays and becomes the 5^th
• Third stays and becomes the 7^th
• Fifth stays and becomes the 9^th
• Seventh moves down a half-step to become the 3^rd

Notice that only one note changes, the 7^th of the iim7 chord moves down a half-step (one fret) to become the 3^rd of the V7 chord. That’s it!

So, let’s see how this voice leading trick can be applied to actual chords on the fretboard.

Drop 2 chords

The second example in the PDF is a collection of Dm7-G7 (iim7-V7 in C) chords placed on the middle and top 4 strings.

Play through each of these chord pairs, noticing that you only move one finger to morph the iim7 chord (Dm7) into a V7 chord (G9). This will allow you to memorize these chords as pairs. So the next time you comp through a iim7-V7 progression, you don’t have to think of a iim7 voicing and then a V7 voicing, these two chords have now become a unit with the voice leading working as the connector between the two chords.

These chords can also be used in chord melody and chord soloing situations. Basically any time you have a iim7-V7, no matter what role in the ensemble you are playing at the moment, you can apply this voice leading and it’ll always sound good.

Drop 3 chords

The next example in the PDF is a collection of Drop 3 chords in the key of C major, iim7-V7 (Dm7-G7). Again, this voice leading idea can be applied to any chord voicing you like to play, Drop 2, Drop 2 and 4, Drop 3 etc. So try them out using different voicings in different situations and see what you think about how each chord type sounds with this voice leading technique.

Also, move these chords around to different keys, all 12 if possible, and try taking them to any tune you’re working on. These tunes work great for practicing this idea since they have a lot of iim7-V7 progressions, but you can apply this voice leading to any tune you are working on.

• Tune Up
• All the ThingsYou Are
• Take the A Train
• Invitation
• Cherokee
• Lady Bird

7-9-b9 Variation

The last thing I’ll show you is a cool way of moving one finger to morph any 9^th chord into a b9 chord. Sometime you want to have a b9 chord instead of a normal 9, or you want to move from a 9 to a b9 over the same chord in one bar.

To do this, you start with the iim7 chord, move the 7^th to become the 3^rd of the V7 chord, then just move the 9 to a b9 and you’ve got it. In the PDF you’ll see how this works with a couple of voicing examples. After you’ve checked this out you can apply this approach to any/all Drop 3 and Drop 2 voicings from the previous example. Very cool sound!

Learning to comp chords through iim7-V7’s can sometimes seem like a daunting task, but with this simple voice leading technique, you are not only cutting down you time spent in the practice room on this material, but you are working up great sounding voicings at the same time.

Video Lesson

Click here to view the embedded video.

Related posts:

1. The 1 Lick Every Jazz Guitarist Needs to Know Video Lesson
2. Jazz Guitar Chords: Diminished Extensions
3. Jazz Guitar Chords: So What Minor 7 Voicings

Jazz Guitar Chords: Voice Leading Major ii-V’s Video Lesson from Matt Warnock

Photo Credit: Adrian Whelan

What is a good jazz practice routine? One of the challenges that aspiring jazz musicians face when practicing is the sheer amount of potential material to choose from. There never is a shortage of things to learn and review.

Unfortunately, as a result of the overabundance of jazz practice resources, many students practice very inefficiently. They jump from topic to topic in a very unfocused way.

The goal of this article is to “trim the fat,” so to speak, and help you organize a good and consistent personal practice routine. We’ll discuss the six steps of a good jazz practice routine.

Warm Up (5% of Your Practice Time)

Before you begin to practice, it’s always a good idea to warm up your muscles and joints. Playing an instrument requires strength, flexibility, and endurance. Getting the blood flowing and your hands warmed up is essential for preventing injury and keeping your hands healthy.

This is also a great opportunity to warm up your mind and prepare for the increased focus you’ll need to improve your skills in the upcoming practice session. Sometimes I’ll put on a recording that inspires me and use that as a mental springboard for the upcoming practice session.

Technical Exercises (10 to 15% of Your Practice Time)

Once your mind and body are warmed up it’s usually a good idea to start working on some technical exercises. This can be any combination of scale practice, arpeggios, interval studies, etudes, chords, or any musical exercise that is physically challenging. The goal of studying technique is to make the physical nature of playing easier.

Transcription (15 to 20% of Your Practice Time)

One of the best ways to learn jazz is to transcribe some of the playing of the jazz masters that have come before you. This is perhaps one of the most important elements of your jazz practice routine.

When you transcribe a player, it gives you an opportunity to really learn the ins and outs of their approach to playing. It’s almost as if you’re taking a private lesson with them and getting inside their heart and mind.

For example, if Wes Montgomery’s guitar playing really inspires you, the best way to learn to play like Wes is to transcribe him. When you listen to jazz, it’s very important that you pay attention to what brings you joy as a listener. That should be exactly the source material you try to learn from. This is the vocabulary that resonates most with you and is really a direct path to finding your personal voice on your instrument. This is also a wonderful way to train your ear.

Lick and Vocabulary Study (20% of Your Practice Time)

Once you’ve done some transcription, one of the next steps in your development is grabbing specific pieces of “vocabulary” or licks from the solos and integrating them into your own playing.

The first step is to take the lick and learn it in all 12 keys exactly like the recording. Make sure you match the articulation and rhythmic feel of the player it came from. This is just as important as the actual pitches in the lick. Jazz is a very rhythmic based music, and time feel and articulation have a huge significance in the style.

The next step is to break down and discover the “building blocks” or source material of what makes the lick work.

At this point you can practice doing variations on the overall concept of the lick using the “building blocks” or “source material.” Many players don’t take this last step but it’s a very important one. Personalizing a lick and turning it into your own concept is a vital part of the evolution of your jazz artistry.

Improvisation Practice (30% of Your Practice Time)

So, what’s a good way to actually practice improvisation? The very nature of the name “improvisation” means spontaneity or unplanned.

How do we get better at playing spontaneously?

Let’s turn to one of the greatest thinkers in history for our answer. Enter Aristotle.

It was Aristotle who once said, “Freedom comes through discipline.”

How can we apply Aristotle’s words to our jazz improvisation practice?

The answer is very simple. By giving ourselves focused limitations in our improvisation practice we can eventually gain more technical control in unplanned aspects of music. With increased technical control it becomes much easier to access our right brain and our creativity.

So, what kind of limitations can we put on ourselves to improve our improvisation? There are countless ways of doing this but here are a few suggestions to get you started.

1. Try incorporating a specific lick every time a particular measure comes up in a tune.

2. Practice controlling your phrasing by always ending your licks with a predetermined rhythmic figure.

3. Practice starting all of your phrases on a particular beat.

4. Only use a particular type of reharmonization or scale every time certain measures come up in a tune. Practice this until you can lead into the musical idea naturally.

Jazz Repertoire (20% of Your Practice Time)

Practicing licks, scales and chords is very important. They all can lose their significance though if we don’t actually have pieces of music or songs to apply them too. In addition, most audiences at a gig won’t want to hear you playing up and down your Eb altered dominant scales or whole tones scales all night. They want to hear tunes!

So, a percentage of your daily practice routine should include time spent playing jazz tunes. A certain percentage of this should be spent reviewing old tunes that you’ve learned before. I like to keep an organized list of tunes I know. Every day I’ll review a few tunes from the list to make sure I still remember them. This involves reviewing the head and also the changes to the tunes as well.

For learning new tunes, I personally have a separate list of tunes I work from. Most of the tunes on this list come from songs that I did not know that were called recently on gigs and/or jam sessions. After a gig I’ll make a note of some things I struggled with and write down any tunes I did not know or did not know well enough.

Final Thoughts

I do encourage you to fill in some of your own personal specific details but the overall framework of this plan will provide you a strong foundation to really improve your study of jazz. Don’t fall into the trap of changing what material you practice every day.

As a final reminder the deeper you explore any topic in jazz the better prepared and more knowledgeable you will be. That is why it’s very important to be organized and consistent with the scope of your jazz practice routine. To quote or friend Aristotle once again, “Freedom comes through discipline.”

I wish you nothing but success!

For more of Steve Nixon’s jazz lessons check out www.freejazzlessons.com

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Do you have a favorite jazz practice technique or routine? Share it in the comments section below.

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With the mountain of licks out there to choose from, many guitarists struggle to figure out which ones they need to have in their repertoire and which ones they can pass over, especially when time in the practice room is short. Though there are many great licks, take any Charlie Parker or Joe Pass solo and you have a lifetime’s worth of classic phrases, there are some that every jazz guitarist needs in their vocabulary to sound like they have studied the tradition.

The one lick that I recommend to all my students, as it is used by just about every famous jazz guitarist in one form or another is this little bluesy lick that you can find in the attached pdf.

Click to download the PDF for The 1 Lick Every Jazz Guitarist Must Know

As you can see, the lick is very short, but man it sounds great doesn’t it?

The lick is built from the major triad, in this case F A C, and then it is mixed in with three notes from the tonic blues scale, Ab Bb and B, or the b3, 4 and b5. Because there is a major triad present in this lick, it works well over Maj7 chords, but also 7^th chords, since there is no 7^th in the lick it isn’t stuck in one or the other, but floats between both.

I have included different fingerings for this lick across the neck, with the root on the 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th and 6^thstrings, to allow you to move around the guitar and be able to play this lick no matter what area of the neck you are in. As well, I have included three famous variations of this lick by Johnny Smith, Pat Martino and Charlie Parker.

The Charlie Parker version comes from his solo on Billie’s Bounce and is one of the most famous openings to a jazz solo in recorded history, so if you only learn one variation of this lick, then the Parker one is the best place to start. I hope you enjoy checking out this lick. It is easy to learn, sits well on the guitar, and is one of the most famous in jazz history, definitely a line that is worth getting under your fingers and in your ears so you can break it out in your next jam or on your next gig.

Video Lesson

Click here to view the embedded video.

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The 1 Lick Every Jazz Guitarist Needs to Know Video Lesson from Matt Warnock

“All the Things You Are” is one of the most popular standards in jazz, and a must learn for any jazz guitarist. Since most of our responsibility in any ensemble is to provide harmonic material for intros, chord melodies and comping, this is a great tune to dig into when exploring different aspects of these concepts.

In the following article we will analyze both the harmonic progression and intervallic structure of the melody, as well as use this information to build a simple counterpoint line, chord melody and comping approach to the tune.

So, what are we waiting for? Let’s dig in to ATTYA!

Harmonic Analysis With Key Centers

Before we dive in to building a chord melody and working with some comping on ATTYA, let’s check out the harmonic progression itself. Because this tune moves into a number of different keys, I’ve labeled the keys on top of the staff, over the chord symbols, and then the Roman numeral analysis is below the staff, underneath the melody.

You will notice that the progression for the first 8 bars, in the keys of Ab major and C major, is the exact same progression as the second 8 bars, though this time, the chords are in the keys of Eb and G major.

You can use this information to help you memorize the chord progression, but also during your improvisation as you can create a line over the first 8 bars, and then transpose it to the new keys for the next 8 bars. This will allow you to approach the first half of the tune in a melodic fashion, developing a motivic based phrase that you can later build into lines and more intricate soloing.

The tune is divided into 4 section, the first three have 8 bars each while the last section has 12 bars. Here are the sections:

A – Bars 1-8
A2 – Bars 9-16
B – Bars 17-24
A3 – Bars 25 to End

Some key moments to check out, as you will encounter these progressions in many other songs, are the first five bars, vi-ii-V-I-IV. This progression, or parts of it, can be found in many other tunes in the Standard jazz repertoire, so you might want to spend some time and practice comping and improvising over this progression in 12 keys and at different tempos.

Besides the iim7-V7-Imaj7 progression that make up the entire B section, as well as the last three bars of each A section, there is a very interesting group of chords in bars 29-32. Here, you have IVmaj7-ivm7-iiim7-biiidim7, which leads to the last iim7-V7-Imaj7 turnaround of the tune. These chords, especially the first three, are very common in the jazz repertoire, so again, they would be worth practicing in 12 keys and in multiple tempos from both a comping and improvising standpoint.

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Intervallic Analysis of Melody

With an understanding of how the chords and key centers work for ATTYA, we’ll now dive into the melody line of the tune. Here is where you are going to be able to identify patterns in the interval structure of the melody, as well as use this for the basis of any chord melody that you want to work out over ATTYA.

Notice how many times the melody line uses chord tones. Besides a few instances, mostly 2nds and 4ths, the melody is largely made up of 3rds and 7ths. These two notes are often referred to as “guide tones” as they are used by compers and improvisers to outline the harmony of a given piece using voice leading.

Notice that, in many progressions, the 3rd from one chord will stay in place to become the 7th of the next chord, or the 7th of one chord will move down by a half-step to become the 3rd of the next chord.

You can see this in the melody line between bars 2 and 3, where the 7th of Bbm7, Ab, moves down by half-step to become the 3rd of Eb7, G. As well, that same G, the 3rd of Eb7, stays in place to become the 7th of the next chord, Abmaj7.

This type of voice leading, using 3rd and 7ths to create melody lines and melodic phrases, is an important tool for any improviser. So, when learning this, or any tune, it is always good practice to play the 3rds and 7ths of each chord, from memory, and when you can do that improvise lines using only those notes for each chord. You will be surprised how clearly you can outline the harmonic progression while only using two notes in your lines.

Since the melody is largely made up of 3rds and 7ths, this also makes it easy to build a chord melody arrangement, as both of these intervals will be at the top of many common Drop 2 and Drop 3 chord shapes. More on this later, but if you are ready to dig into developing your own chord melody for ATTYA, try starting with Drop2 and then Drop 3 chords, you’ll notice how naturally these shapes fit with the melody line, making it the perfect vehicle for a chord melody on the guitar.

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Melody With Bassline

One of the exercises that I love to do, and to teach to my students, to get ready for a chord melody is to add a simple bassline made up of tonic notes below the melody line. By doing so, you can start to physically see how the melody notes relate to the root note of each chord, as well as begin to hear how the root and melody line sound against each other.

This exercise will also give you a framework for “filling in the blanks” in between the melody and bassline to form a nice-sounding chord melody arrangement that didn’t take a lot of struggle to work out.

I’ve written out the first part of the tune in this manner below, so once you have worked through this section and gotten the gist of the exercise, work through the rest of the tune on your own in this manner. If you want to write out the melody with the bass notes below first, and then memorize it, that’s perfectly fine. Or, if you want to challenge yourself further, you might want to try working out the bass-melody arrangement for the rest of the tune without looking at the lead sheet. Both methods are perfectly acceptable, so go with whatever one feels more comfortable to you at this point in your development.

You will notice that there are times when two bass notes seem like legitimate fingerings, such as the Bb in bar 2 which is played on the 6th string in my example, but could also be played on the 4th string in that position. When you come to moments like these, it’s best to at least explore both options, as one might work with just the bass and melody alone, but when you go to add in some extra notes to form a chord melody the stretch is too big, as is the case in this example, which you’ll see in the next section.

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Basic Chord Melody

Now that you have learned the melody line, as well as the bass notes that fit below each chord in the tune, you can add in a few notes between these outer voices to form a simple, yet cool sounding chord melody arrangement.

You can do this in two different ways, both of which are valid depending on which one you chose. As an example, I have written out the first part of the tune as a chord melody arrangement, check it out, and after you’ve explore the two options, use these concepts to create a chord melody of your own for the rest of the piece, or the whole tune if you are feeling ambitious.

The first approach is to look at the melody line and bass together, then simply insert a Drop 2, Drop 3 or Drop 2 and 4 chord that fits that position. As we discussed earlier, Drop 2 chords work great with this melody, so when you look at my example you’ll notice that I pretty much just stuck to those for my arrangement.

The second way to work out the chord melody once you have the melody line and bass notes in place is to do it theoretically. Look at what note is in the melody, say the Ab (3rd) in the first bar, and then add that to the bass note, the Root (F). Then, figure out what notes are missing to build a chord, in this case it is C and Eb, the 5th and 7th. Just find those two notes in that position, add them to the bass note and melody, and voila, you’ve got a chord shape that you can use in your arrangement.

This second way is a bit more in-depth as far as theory goes, so it’s not for everyone. Eventually it would be good to be able to use both approaches, as they can be useful in different situations outside of AATYA, so having both under your fingers is a plus in the long run.

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Bassline with Half-Step Approaches

One of the ways I like to spice up the changes to ATTYA is to add half-step approaches before each chord in the progression. Now, this is for the purpose of learning the concept, so when you get to actually performing the tune you don’t have to include all of these subs in your playing, just the ones you think fit the moment and that can be used to add interest to your chord melody, comping or even improvising.

The concept is fairly simple, just approach each new chord with a chord of the same quality a half-step above the root of that chord. So, the chords Fm7-Bbm7 will now become Fm7 Bm7-Bbm7. You’ll find that when you do this for a few bars in a row, you start to get a cool Joe Pass vibe in your playing. Joe liked this approach a lot, adding a half-step approach above the next chord, and it was a technique he used in his comping and soloing.

I’ve written out the melody line along with the bass notes, as we looked at earlier, only this time I’ve included the approach chords in there as well. This is a good place to start, as for some people these notes can sound a bit outside the normal harmony, causing clashes with the melody that take time to get used to.

Try this approach out over the bassline in my example. Then, try working out the rest of the tune using the same approach on your own. When you can do that, and the notes start to settle in your ears a bit, then move on to the next exercise in the article.

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Comping with Half-Step Approaches

As well as using the half-step approach with basslines, you can also do this with comping. Here is how the first half of the tune would look from a comping perspective using this concept.

Again, this is just an exercise. Work through the rest of the tune in this way, using half-step approaches before each chord, then when it comes time to take it to a jam session or gig, let you ears guide you as to when it is appropriate to insert these chords, and when it’s better to just stick to the original harmony.

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A Section Turnaround

The last thing we’ll look at with ATTYA is a very cool little turnaround progression that was shown to me by my first jazz guitar teacher Nick Di Tomasso. The concept is fairly simple. Whenever you have a tonic chord, in this case Cmaj7, that moves to a tonic minor chord a few bars later, Cm7, you can insert a walk up and walk down between those two chords.

Here is how this progression fits into bars 7 and 8 of ATTYA. After you have learned it here, try and find other tunes you know or are working on that you can insert these chords into. It’s a great sounding way to add more movement to static tonic chords, and allows you to lead into the next chord rather than just jump there from the previous tonic major.

Check out the exercises above over this tune, then take them to other tunes you are working on. Being able to analyze a harmonic progression, the interval structure of a melody, as well as create a simple bass-melody counterpoint and chord melody arrangement are all great skills to have for any jazz guitarist.

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Return to the Anatomy of a Tune Homepage

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All the Things You Are: Anatomy of a Tune from Matt Warnock