Guitar, Life, Whatever

Grab your guitar, because in today’s practice session you learn how to play fun & cool-sounding chords for the Bb jazz blues progression.

When learning how to play jazz blues, you often learn big, bulky, chords that are tough to play and honestly...don’t sound like jazz at all.

In this lesson, you learn how to play killer jazz blues chords that are easy to play, sound great, and bring an authentic jazz sound to your comping today.

First, you learn each four-bar section one at a time, memorizing the chord shapes as you play.

Next, you add rhythms to your comping as you play the full 12-bar jazz blues progression.

To finish, you comp with these jazz chords over my walking bassline as you jam a full jazz blues progression in less than 15 mins.

Have fun as you learn these chords, add them to your comping, and elevate your jazz chord vocabulary all in one fun practice session.

Get the TAB and practice tips for these chords here.

https://www.mwgcourses.com/p/jazz-blues-chord-progression

Lesson Content

0:00 – Intro

0:21 – What You Learn

0:50 – Bb13 Chord

2:05 – Eb9 Chord

4:38 – G7#9 Chord

6:32 – Cm7-F7#9 Chords

7:40 – Blues Turnaround Chords

9:12 – Bb Jazz Blues Progression

10:00 – Charleston Rhythm

12:08 – Jazz Blues Picking

13:35 – Bb Jazz Blues Jam

14:42 – Where to Go Next

Grab your guitar, because today you’re learning 1 easy arpeggio that makes soloing over minor ii-V-I progressions a piece of cake.

When learning jazz guitar, you often spend a ton of time on major ii-V-I soloing devices and concepts.

It’s an easy progression to get started on as you can use the major scale to outline each chord in the beginning. Plus…

There are tons of famous major ii-V-I phrases and licks to learn and add to your jazz guitar solos.

But.

What happens to many of us, myself included when I was first learning, is you nail major ii-V-I lines and then just kind of guess or fumble through minor ii-V-I’s.

Yes, minor ii-V-I’s are tougher to solo over than their major cousin. But…

That doesn’t mean there aren’t shortcuts you can take to solo over minor ii-V-I’s today, sound good, and build a foundation for further study down the road.

In this lesson you do just that.

First, you learn how to play a Cm7b5 arpeggio.

Next, you slide that arpeggio up the neck to solo over F7alt with the exact same shape.

To finish, you slide the shape up again to solo over Bbm7 with a m7b5 arpeggio.

One arpeggio, three chords, endless possibilities.

Oh, and you put a strong focus on developing melodies in your jazz solos as well with these interactive exercises.

Have fun soloing over minor ii-V-I’s in this practice session. And…

Grab the TAB and practice tips for these arpeggios here.

Lesson Contents

0:00 – Intro

1:05 – Cm7b5 Arpeggio

4:24 – F7alt Arpeggio

8:06 – Melodic Development

10:03 – Bbm7 Arpeggio

14:14 – Repetition Exercise

15:28 – Further Study

Grab your guitar, because in today’s practice session you’re playing one of my favorite minor ii-V-I chord patterns.

When learning jazz guitar chords, you spend a lot of time on major ii-V-I’s, jazz blues, and other progressions.

But.

What about minor key jazz progressions?

Yes, they can be more challenging than major key ii-V-I’s at first. And…

With some helpful voicings, a fun practice routine, and some reps on your fretboard, you’ll be nailing minor key ii-V-I chords in no time.

In this lesson, you begin by comping some of my favorite minor ii-V-I chord shapes.

Next, you learn how to apply an essential jazz rhythm to those chords, before separating the top note from the chord to sound like 2 guitars.

How cool is that?

Then, you finish by personalizing the chords in your comping as you and I jam together over the minor ii-V-I progression.

Have fun as you learn new chord shapes, build up your minor chord progression skill set, and expand your creative comping vocabulary in this lesson.

Go here to get the TAB and practice tips for this lesson.

https://www.mwgcourses.com/p/easy-jazz-progression-minor

Lesson Content

0:00 – Intro

0:48 – Am7b5 Chord Shape

2:10 – D7b9 Chord Shape

3:47 – Gm11 Chord Shape

5:45 – Gm9 Chord Shape

8:15 – Jazz Rhythm Pattern

11:56 – Jazz Picking Pattern

14:59 – ii-V-I Progression

Grab your guitar because today I’m sharing with you a fun & essential jazz pentatonic scale pattern.

In today’s lesson, you learn how to turn plain ole pentatonic scales into hip sounding jazz lines and solos, no complicated theory.

First, you warm up your ears, hands, & creativity by soloing with Am pentatonic over my jazz blues comping.

Next, you add in the jazz pentatonic scale pattern into a soloing workout before sequencing that pattern through the full-scale shape.

Then, you learn how to displace the rhythm with this jazz pattern so you can use it in your solos and not sound like an exercise.

Lastly, you add in sidestepping to bring a hip, inside-outside sound to your jazz guitar solos.

Have fun as you expand your jazz soloing skill set with a fun & easy to play jazz pentatonic scale pattern.

Get the TAB and practice tips for this lesson here.

https://www.mwgcourses.com/p/jazz-pentatonic-scale-pattern

Lesson Contents

0:00 Intro

0:25 Jazz Blues Warmup

2:07 Jazz Pentatonic Pattern

5:02 Jazz Pentatonic Sequence

10:10 Jazz Pentatonic Rhythms

12:24 Pentatonic Sidestepping

15:56 Where to go Next

Grab your guitar, because today you’re playing one of my favorite, and one of the most important jazz rhythms, the Charleston.

When comping over jazz standards, you often focus on chords, subs, chromatic chords, etc.

But.

What about rhythms?

Practicing comping rhythms elevates every chord, sub, and chromatic idea you play by locking into the groove of the tune.

In this lesson, you explore the Charleston rhythm in 3 ways.

First, you play it over an Am7 chord vamp.

Next, you play the Charleston over an Am7-D7, ii-V, chord progression.

To finish, you split the Charleston rhythm, so the first attack is on Am7 and the second attack is on D7.

In each exercise, we play the rhythm together, so you get it into your hands & ears.

Then, I walk a bassline and you comp the rhythms to further integrate them into your comping.

Have fun playing the Charleston rhythm in this lesson and over jazz standards in your comping.

Get the TAB and practice tips for this lesson here.

https://www.mwgcourses.com/p/charleston-rhythm-guitar

Lesson Content

0:00 – Intro

0:23 – Charleston Am7 Chord

1:17 – Am7 Walking Bass

1:45 – Am7-D7 Chords

2:53 – Am7-D7 Walking Bass

3:35 – Splitting the Chords

4:22 – 2 Beats Per Chord

5:15 – Where to Go Next

Grab your guitar because today I’m sharing with you a killer exercise that is guaranteed to turbo charge your jazz soloing rhythms.

When learning how to solo over jazz standards and progressions, you learn scales, modes, arpeggios, licks, patterns, and more.

But.

What about rhythm?

Rhythm is the most important element in a successful jazz guitar solo.

It’s so important, that you can play a Coltrane solo note for note, and without solid rhythms, it falls flat. And…

You can play one note for an entire solo with strong, accurate, and swinging rhythms, and it’ll sound amazing.

Soloing rhythms are that powerful.

In this lesson, you explore a quarter-note soloing workout that’s guaranteed to take your jazz improvisations to the next level of creativity.

First, you solo with steady quarter notes, locking in with the bassline as you improvise.

Next, you add a single rest to each beat of the bar as you focus in on playing both quarter notes and quarter rests in your solos.

To finish, you freely improvise over a ii-V-I progression as these new rhythms begin to appear in your solos organically.

Have fun as you get a quarter-note workout in today’s jazz soloing lesson.

Get the TAB and notation for this lesson here.

https://www.mwgcourses.com/p/jazz-rhythms-quarter-notes

Lesson Contents

0:00 – Intro

1:00 – Soloing Exercise #1

1:45 – Soloing Exercise #2

2:55 – Soloing Exercise #3

4:03 – Soloing Exercise #4

5:03 – Soloing Exercise #5

6:10 – Soloing Exercise #6

7:27 – Further Practice

Grab your guitar, because today you’re going to improvise over the jazz standard Summertime, even if you’ve never played jazz or soloed before.

When I was first learning jazz guitar, I believed, and maybe you can relate, that I needed to learn dozens of scales, modes, arpeggios, and licks before I could even improvise 1 bar of music.

Boy was I wrong.

I spent hours sweating it out in the practice room with my books of modes and metronome…yet I was no closer to soloing over jazz standards than on day 1.

It wasn’t until I started treating improvisation like a skill, and practiced it that way, that I was able to solo over standards and have fun playing jazz guitar every day.

In this lesson, you have that same positive, jazz soloing experience as you solo over your first jazz standard…and you don’t need a thesaurus of modes or PhD in theory to start!

First, you learn a mini-scale shape and immediately solo with that shape over Summertime, no complicated modes, arpeggios, or theory involved.

Next, you discover how chromatic passing notes are used to transform every scale you play into a cool, hip-sounding jazz line.

From there, you dive deeper into jazz vocabulary as you add the chromatic enclosure to your solos over Summertime in a stress-free jazz jam session.

To finish this lesson, you close your eyes and improvise over Summertime, letting the scale, passing notes, and enclosures come out in your playing naturally.

From there, you can repeat these Summertime jam sessions as many times as you like and need to refresh and solidify these jazz concepts in your solos.

Have fun as you take the first steps in your jazz guitar journey, solo over a classic jazz standard, and sound like a real jazz guitarist on day 1.

Go here to get the TAB and practice tips for this lesson:

https://www.mwgcourses.com/p/your-first-jazz-guitar-solo

Lesson Content

0:00 – Intro

0:23 – Mini Scale Shape

1:16 – Your First Jazz Solo!

2:17 – Passing Notes

3:45 – Summertime Soloing 2

4:35 – Enclosures

6:21 – Summertime Soloing 3

7:13 – No Thinking Jazz Soloing

8:38 – Where to Go Next

Grab your guitar, today I’m sharing with you one of my favorite jazz scale patterns, the 4123 lick.

This Charlie Parker pattern literally transformed my solos overnight from sounding like scales to sounding like jazz.

It’ll do the same for you.

In this lesson, you learn the 4123 jazz scale pattern & immediately solo with it over the most popular jazz chord progression.

No complicated theory!

First, you learn a C major scale shape and solo with that scale over a ii-V-I progression.

Next, you discover how the 4123 fits into this, and any, jazz scale and then immediately add it to your solos over a famous jazz progression.

To finish, you and I jam together as you experiment with accents, dynamics, and rhythms with this easy jazz scale pattern for guitar.

Have fun as you transform ordinary scales to extraordinary jazz guitar solos with one, easy to play pattern.

Get the TAB for this lick and scale + practice tips here.

https://www.mwgcourses.com/p/easy-jazz-scale-pattern-4123

Lesson Content

0:00 - Intro

0:44 - C Major Scale

2:24 - Soloing Exercise 1

3:39 - Jazz Scale Pattern

5:48 - Soloing Exercise 2

6:43 - Jazz Accents

8:02 - Soloing Exercise 3

8:45 - Jazz Rhythms

10:20 - Soloing Exercise 4

11:05 - Open Soloing Exercise

12:45 - Where to Go Next

Grab you guitar, today I'm sharing with you one of my favorite jazz arpeggio shapes with some color, upper color tones to explore in your solos.

In today's lesson, you learn how to play an arpeggio that adds both 9th and 11th color tones into your jazz guitar solos.

I first learned this colorful arpeggio from a Joe Pass solo I transcribed, and later found it again in Pat Martino's solos, among other great players.

First, you learn the first half of the m7 arpeggio and improvise with that shape. (I comp the chords for you just like a one-one-one lesson.)

Next, you learn the full arpeggio and solo with that shape as you and I jam together over an Am7 vamp.

To finish, you focus on phrasing, rhythms, andplaying by ear& instinct in your arpeggio lines and solos.

Have fun as you learn this arpeggio, jam over a bossa nova groove with me, and build your jazz vocabulary in a fun and interactive lesson.

Get the TAB and practice tips for this arpeggio here.

https://www.mwgcourses.com/p/joe-pass-arpeggios

Lesson Contents

0:00 - Am11 Arpeggio Shape

0:38 - Lesson Material

1:14 - Memorization Exercise 1

3:02 - Soloing Exercise 1

4:17 - Memorization Exercise 2

6:40 - Soloing Exercise 2

8:10 - Leaving Space Exercise

11:15 - Jazz Rhythms Exercise

14:15 - Soloing Exercise 3

16:44 - Further Practice

When I was first learning jazz chords, I remember one day I made a connection on the fretboard that changed my playing forever.

I was soloing over a jazz blues tune using Mixolydian over each 7th chord, as you do.

When I switched to comping over the 12-bar jazz blues progression, it suddenly dawned on me:

“If I can solo with notes from Mixolydian, then surely I can comp with notes from Mixolydian over 7th chords.”

That one thought lead me down a path of modal chord exploration that blew my fretboard wide open and supercharged my comping creativity.

Because I had such a powerful experience with these chords, I want you to have that same transformation on your guitar.

So, grab your guitar, because in today’s lesson I’m sharing with you those exact same easy to play and essential modal jazz chords.

The best part…

You can cover most of the fretboard with just two easy to play modal chord shapes.

How cool is that?!

First you learn the “home base” chord, which will be your reference point for using these modal jazz chords in your comping and chord soloing.

Next, you extend out from the home base chord using just one shape in 4 positions as you cover from the 3rd to 11th frets over Bb7.

To finish, you experiment with Lenny Breau style passing chords and McCoy Tyner tension and release chromatic chords with these modal jazz voicings.

And…

You do so in a private lesson setting where you and I play together in the lesson.

Have fun as you learn and immediately apply modal chord shapes to your comping and chord soloing in this creative & interactive lesson.

Grab the TAB and more for this lesson here.

https://www.mwgcourses.com/p/modal-jazz-chords-7th