How to Practice Outlining Chord Changes for Jazz Guitar

One of the toughest concepts that many jazz guitarists struggle with when they first begin to explore the idiom is outlining changes. When players come from a rock or blues background, they are used to playing one scale in one key over an entire solo section, but this is not usually the case with jazz.

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.

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

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