I've met many beginner jazz guitar students who think that playing chromatically is just "playing random notes". While that might be fun, it couldn't be farther from the truth! Chromaticism is the use of notes that are not naturally occurring in...
A powerful tool that doesn't get mentioned enough is chord synonyms - chords with enough similar notes that they can be used interchangeably. It can be overwhelming to learn all your inversions for every chord type in every key, etc. Using...
Recently it occurred to me that for beginners, it can be tough to tell what separates "jazz guitar" from something that simply borrows from the style. If Maroon Five puts a major 7 chord in their song, and I played it on guitar, would it be now...
If you've ever tried to arrange your own chord melody, you'll know that finding a good final chord can be quite tricky. This is because the vast majority of standards end on the root of the I chord. There simply aren't a lot of voicings that...
Turnarounds! No, this isn't your GPS speaking - it's real jazz lingo 😉 They're the chord progressions you can use to get from the end of the tune all the way back to the top. In this podcast, I'll be discussing the most common turnaround (...
If you're new to the world of jazz guitar, you might be thinking - do I need a fancy pack of strings to get the "jazz sound"? In short, it really depends on what style of jazz you're looking to play and what tone you prefer. In my opinion, your...
