How to Play Jazz Guitar
Survival Guide

Start Here!

This website hosts a wealth of information on how to play jazz guitar. Even though every page is meant to be focused and "hands-on", the amount of stuff can become overwhelming...

When confused, a lot of people email me this kind of question :

"You website is nice and full of useful info... but where should I start exactly?!"

My first answer is always (of course) : please bookmark this website. Let it become a reference; come back to it often and you'll discover more and more things you can adapt to your practice.

... and I also decided to create these pages : my Survival Guide, which is like a "jazz guitar walkthrough" sorted by levels. That'll surely clear things up and give you a sense of direction.

I will explain some common steps taken by people who successfully learn how to play jazz guitar. I will also try to point out resources that a relevant to your level. Please keep in mind that they're merely general guidelines ... there's no right or wrong way to learn music.

The suggested "steps" to learn how to play jazz guitar come from my personal experience : mostly from studying, listening, practicing, learning, teaching, composing, jamming and, of course, playing a lot.

So, are you a ...

"In Between" Jazz Guitaristists (not beginners yet not intermediates)

Is this you?

I say this is the most common category amongst all jazz guitarists out there.  As an "in between" player you should (more or less) :

• Have been playing jazz and have some good jazz listening habits
• Have some kind of a practice discipline (perhaps not as much or as productive as you'd like)
• Know a few to a dozen jazz standards
• Sometimes "get lost" while improvising
• Know chord shapes and progressions without being a complete master accompanist
• Know scales without mastering the art of improvisation
• Have at least some experience playing with other musicians

A small push, and most "in between" jazz guys become very decent players ... Here's what I recommend :

Relevant pages (links) on JazzGuitarLessons.net

Jazz Scales for Improv : three most common
Jazz Improvisation Series
Jazz Guitar Practicing
Jazz Guitar Chord Chart : Basics
The No Nonsense Guide To Jazz Harmony
The Advancing Guitarist (book review)
Position Playing (introduction)
Jazz Guitar Video Lessons

1. Keep listening but refine your taste

Be precise and learn to discriminate when making listening choices. Choose your music like you choose your friends ... see jazz guitar greats.

If you like the sound of one album, listen to many recordings of the same group (or soloist) over and over. Let you ears soak in the jazz you prefer. Your tastes will surely evolve if you have intense listening phases. Your ears will gravitate towards recordings that are more universal in nature.

Try to memorize solos in your ears. (not singing or writing anything). Become a good listener. Become even better at listening than you are at playing, it will serve you in the long run.

2. Maintain good posture and hand position

...or start developing it if you didn't do that from the start, don't worry, you're not alone!

Relax when you play. Spend the first five minutes of your daily practice focusing on the effortlessness of playing the guitar.

3. Start organizing your practicing / playing

This is crucial. Get organized and practice everyday! See Five Ways to Create Practice Time.

See also this video on practice routines...

Something I should have mentionned in the video : challenges and deadlines are great ways to push yourself. For instance, attending a local jam session...

Go out and observe / listen to the jam. After a while, go up and play! Give yourself a deadline, for instance : "Next week, I'll play 1 tune with the house band." Playing with more advanced players will teach you many lessons... even if it scares you!

4. Have a "Repertoire Goal"

A good place to start : have TEN tunes memorized and committed to memory for life. You have to know the melody, the chords (and standard intro/outro if any). Get rid of the chart ASAP!

A good practice routine for song memorization is the "three choruses exercise"

1st Chorus : Play the melody
2nd Chorus : Play the chords ("comp")
3rd Chorus : Improvise (but stay close to the melody)

Do that to keep your the tune "fresh" in your mind, or the internalize it even further. Repetition is the mother of memory.

When the tune and tempo permits, create your own chord melody (that is, playing the melody and accompanying yourself). Remember : work on good jazz repertoire as soon as ... right now!

5. Know and use drop 2 and drop 3 voicings

Root position drop 2 and drop 3 voicings should become the "meat and potatoes" of your comping. Later, learn inversions and good voice leading...

• Learn the voicings found on this page (start with just C major and G major for now.) See the TABS for fingerings.
• I highly recommend the book Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary for that matter. Everything you need is in there...

... in short : learn to find the chords on your instrument!

6. Get serious with scales

Know scales on your instrument and how to apply them to chord progressions. This is also crucial. There's much to learn, so start now!

Some free resources :

Major Scale, Melodic Minor Scale, Harmonic Minor Scale
Jazz Scales : Three Most Common
How *NOT* to sound like scales when improvising
The Chromatic Scale : Two Exercises
Position Playing Introduction
Scales in One Position Through Cycle of Fourths
Jazz Guitar Scales : The Diagonal Way
Videos about Scales...

7. Start your first *simple* transcriptions

It's not unusual to stumble upon fairly advanced beginners (if you'll excuse the expression) that have never even tried one transcription.

Start you first basic transcriptions now. It can be 4 bars or 8 bars of solo you really like or even just the head of a tune! Here's an "how to" article for transcribing...

Remember, at first you can simply try to memorize solos in your ears. (not singing or writing anything) Also, here's some inspiration on what you can learn from jazz recordings. Here's a video on this topic.

8. Read this

Claim Your Free Copy Of
Five Jazz Guitar Mastery Secrets
(eBook)

Email Name Then Don't worry -- your e-mail address is totally secure. I promise to use it only to send you JazzGuitarLessons.net E-Zine.

Subscribe to the Newsletter and receive your FREE copy of "Five Jazz Guitar Mastery Secrets"...

Fill out this form and you will immediately receive five tips to take your jazz guitar playing to new heights.

The ebook contains five subscribers-exclusive articles (not found anywhere else), including:

• Hear Better--Learn jazz aurally. Play music with a different perspective from the ears.
• Learn from the masters--Discover the lessons past and present jazz guitar legends are teaching us.
• Tune Learning--Playing jazz is... playing jazz tunes!
• ...and much more!

PLUS :

• JazzGuitarLessons.Net Ezine--A free subscription to the newsletter which is filled with all practice ideas and new jazz guitar lessons, periodically delivered directly to your email in box.

Email Name Then Don't worry -- your e-mail address is totally secure. I promise to use it only to send you JazzGuitarLessons.net E-Zine.