Lots of students feel like they need to learn more music theory if they want to play better jazz guitar. In fact, it’s one of the most common things new students ask me. Especially if they’ve been playing for a while and they feel stuck. But most of the time, they don’t really need to … Read more
The harmonic minor scale is a great tool for improvising and playing melodies in minor keys. It’s a similar finger pattern to the natural minor scale you probably already know. But it’s just a little bit more colorful. One of the great things about the harmonic minor is that it’s the easiest way to play … Read more
5 Reasons You Should Be Learning More Jazz Guitar Chords Chords are an important part of playing jazz guitar – and if you only learn a handful of jazz guitar chords, you’re selling yourself short. When you only know a few chord shapes, it can help you get through tunes or even rehearsals and gigs. … Read more
Do You Really Need a Jazz Guitar? One of the fun parts of learning something new is exploring the gear that comes along with it. So it’s only natural that when you start learning jazz, you start looking into jazz guitars. But what is a jazz guitar really? And do you even need a special … Read more
Mastering Intervals for Jazz Guitar At some point as your guitar skills improve, you get interested in music theory. And one of the most basic pieces of information you can find is intervals on the guitar. It’s natural to want to dive into the nuts and bolts of how our musical tools are put together… … Read more
My Top 5 Jazz Guitar Practice Tips We all know we’re supposed to practice if we want to get better at playing jazz guitar. That part is obvious. On the surface it’s pretty simple: If you want to get good at jazz guitar, you need to spend time… practicing jazz guitar. But sometimes we run … Read more
Unlock Your Jazz Improvisation Skills 3 Easy Jazz Improvisation Exercises For Beginners Getting started jazz improvisation can seem scary at first. That’s why it’s important to find jazz improvisation exercises designed specifically for beginners to help you get started. Whether you’re new to playing guitar in general, or just new to jazz… learning to improvise … Read more
The internet can be super helpful for learning jazz guitar – it’s easy to find great lessons and advice for beginners if you know where to look. Some of my favorite teachers have courses available through Truefire or My Music Masterclass. (I don’t have any monetary interest in either of these sites… I just think … Read more
So you’re getting better at jazz guitar. You’ve mastered easy jazz guitar chords, and even gotten comfortable with drop 3 voicings. Drop 2 chords just might be the next step for you. After all, you need a better jazz guitar chord vocabulary – there are sounds you’re just not getting out of your guitar. Plus … Read more
Minor 7b5 arpeggios are an important pattern for jazz guitar. There’s just no way around it. And they’re also the pattern a lot of my students love to hate. These patterns are a little awkward at first, and don’t flow as easily as the minor 7 arpeggios did. And to rub some salt in the … Read more