I Help People Learn to Play Jazz Guitar

A picture of Kyle Smith, ready to teach some jazz guitar lessons.

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Hi, I’m Kyle Smith. I’m a jazz guitar player and music educator based in Portland, Oregon, and I want you to help you learn to play jazz guitar.

With a masters degree in jazz and over 15 years helping people get better at jazz guitar, I’m confident you’ll find something here that will help you.

I create practical, hands-on jazz guitar lessons that get you playing jazz guitar quick.

Check out my growing library of free jazz guitar lessons to help you get started or take your skills to the next level.

Free Jazz Guitar Lessons

I built this site as a free resource for anyone who wants to learn jazz guitar. When I was starting to get serious about playing jazz guitar, there wasn’t a whole lot of information out there.

I had a good teacher, and that was lucky. But if I wanted more, I had to rely on the local bookstore and what they happened to have in stock.

And when there started to be more jazz guitar sites available, I ran into a different issue.

They spent a lot of time and space telling me all about the music theory behind a topic (which I usually already knew at this point)…

… and 0 time actually showing me how to do it.

This is the site I wish I’d had when I was learning jazz guitar. Quick, easy to understand lessons on jazz guitar that take you straight to the good part – how to play jazz guitar.

You’re getting the same instruction as my own private students. If you follow the lessons here and spend some time practicing, you’re going to get good.

If you don’t see a lesson on what you want to know about, just ask! I’m always putting new lessons together.

Beginners Start Here

If you’re just getting started with jazz guitar, check out my lesson on easy jazz guitar chords. That will get your fingers moving so you can start playing chords through jazz standards.

To work on your soloing, check out lessons on the major pentatonic scale or the major scale. These lessons give you the important 5 shape system that many pros use… so you may as well start learning it today.

Arpeggios are a great way to build up your technique. And eventually a great way to start “playing the changes” in jazz guitar.

But the first step is just to learn a couple of arpeggio shapes and get them under your fingers. Start with the major 7th arpeggios and work your way down the list from there.

Take your time, and have fun learning jazz guitar!

Learning Jazz Guitar Doesn’t Have to be Complicated

For a lot of people, learning jazz guitar seems overwhelming. It can feel like there is just so much that you need to learn, just to get started.

Just looking at the chords for a single jazz standard can be enough to make your head spin at first – forget even trying to play solos…

And sometimes, well meaning teachers and fellow players make things even worse…

… burying you in music theory and concepts…

… giving you a never-ending laundry list of things to practice every day…

… insisting you need to learn certain things “first” – before you get to learn jazz guitar.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

What If Jazz Guitar Lessons Were Fun?

I built Jazz Guitar Guide to make it easy, fast, and fun for you to learn jazz guitar.

You’ll find easy and fun lessons that take you straight to the skills you need to learn, so you can play jazz guitar now.

We always try to get straight to the point – showing you exactly where to put your fingers, and what to do – without burying you in extra details.

Use these lessons to learn the skills you really need to know, so you can get right to the good stuff – playing jazz guitar.

Lessons on Jazz Guitar Fundamentals:

One of the problems people have with learning jazz guitar is that too many teachers and resources want to focus on the theories and concepts… 

…without developing the basic skills first. Basic skills that make it easy to apply those concepts and theories. 

It’s a recipe for frustration!

That’s what was so great about my first jazz guitar teacher. We developed my skills, and the theory part of jazz guitar just kind of fell into place.

And that’s what I want to do for you here.

With our free jazz guitar fundamentals lessons, you’ll get a solid foundation in the basic skills you need to be a better guitar player in general. 

It turns out that when you focus on building your guitar playing skills, the theory and concepts become easier to understand… and sometimes even obvious.

With lessons on jazz guitar chords, scales, arpeggios, and music theory, you’ll find that Jazz Guitar Guide is a complete resource for improving your jazz guitar skills and knowledge.

Jazz Guitar Question and Answer

One of the most valuable things I got out of taking lessons with so many jazz guitar players over the years was the ability to ask questions.

I gained a lot of insight into different approaches to playing and thinking about jazz guitar, just by being able to ask different high-level players questions.

And that’s something I want to provide for you, too.

If you’ve got questions about jazz guitar playing (or guitar playing in general), just ask me.

I’ll always get back to you as soon as I can, and I might even make your question into a lesson on the site to help out other jazz guitar players.

Click the button below to ask a question:

Ask Me Anything

Jazz Guitar Guide Blog

Some things about jazz guitar don’t fit into neat categories for lessons. I write frequently about my thoughts on jazz guitar, different albums, equipment, or things that come up during lessons.

Latest Blog Posts:

The Jazz Guitar Guide Shop

I’ll always give away my best stuff for free, right here on Jazz Guitar Guide.

But if you want even more step-by-step detail, or even just something you can download or print out, I have some Ebooks and “Quick and Dirty” Jazz guitar lessons for sale.

You’ll get high quality PDF ebooks or handouts with step-by-step instructions to help you learn

Jazz Guitar Survival Guide is my first ebook.

It was designed to give you quick answers to “how do I play this” type questions, so you can focus on playing – not reading music theory.

I developed it over years of teaching students who needed to learn jazz guitar fast. 

Buy the ebook here.

5 Essential Major Scale Patterns for Jazz Guitar is the first in a series of “Quick and Dirty” Jazz Guitar Lessons.

If you’ve ever felt “stuck” with your soloing abilities… you’re probably missing something in the scale department.

Inside, you’ll find simple but effective exercises to develop your technique, ear training, and your ability to play melodies and solos on guitar.

Learn these essential scale patterns today.