Jazz Guitar Practice Guide.pdf

Jazz Guitar Practice Guide Complete Guide to Learning Jazz Guitar www.mattwarnockguitar.com

Written and Edited by: Matt Warnock Cover Design by: Twizzlebird Creative Matt Warnock Plays Koentopp Guitars © Copyright 2015 All Rights Reserved

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Table of Contents

Chapter 1 - Intro to Effective Practicing .................................... 5 Chapter 2 - Well Balanced Practicing ...................................... 12 Chapter 3 - Building Technique ................................................ 33 Chapter 4 - Importance of Learning Tunes ........................... 53 Chapter 5 - Jazz Guitar Fundamentals .................................. 101 Chapter 6 - Learning From the Masters ................................ 129 Chapter 7 - Beginner Practice Guide ..................................... 154 Chapter 8 - Intermediate Practice Guide ............................. 160 Chapter 9 - Advanced Practice Guide .................................... 165 Chapter 10 - Practice Journal ................................................... 170 About the Author ......................................................................... 177

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Welcome and Introduction

Welcome to The Jazz Guitar Practice Guide, great to see you here. No matter what your background, this guide will help get the most out of your time in the woodshed. There’s no quick and easy way to learn how to play jazz guitar. But, there are shortcuts you can take in order to build an effective an efficient practice routine. These shortcuts will produce visible results in your jazz guitar playing. Whether you are a beginner, intermediate, or advanced player, there’s something for you in this eBook. So, feel free to adapt any of the exercises and concepts in this book to fit your specific needs as a player. This’ll allow you to study these exercises, and have them take you to the next stage in your development at the same time. For beginner players, you’ll want to start at the first chapter and work your way through the book from start to finish. For more advanced players, you can skip through the book, find a topic you’re struggling with, and work through the book from there. Either way, this guide will help you become more organized in the woodshed and develop a well-balanced jazz guitar practice routine. Most importantly, it’ll teach you that learning jazz guitar, though not always easy, can always be fun. Cheers, Matt

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Chapter 1 - Intro to Effective Practicing One of the biggest problems jazz guitarists face is how to build a wellbalanced practice routine. A routine that works on each of the skills needed to confidently perform as a jazz guitarist. Too often, you find you’re spending most of your practice time running scales, or learning chord shapes, or running licks around the fretboard. This type of unbalanced practicing can cause your playing to be out of whack and not very practical, or enjoyable. You might find that you’re a better soloist, but your ears are lagging behind your fingers. Or, you know every scale in the book, but you struggle to comp behind a soloist when you jam with other musicians. Building and maintaining a well-balanced practice routine will prevent these problems from arising in your playing. This chapter will help you to analyze your current practice routine. From there, you’ll build a routine that covers each of the essential skills you’ll need in order to become the jazz guitarist you want to be.

Time is Your Best Friend

While having a balanced routine it very effective over time, you’ll need to exert some patience in order to see growth in your playing. The hardest lesson to learn when playing jazz guitar, is that there’s no magic formula that will get you sounding like Joe Pass overnight. Time is your biggest alley when it comes to learning how to play Jazz. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Having a balanced routine, coupled with consistent time in the practice room, is the best way to develop your skill set.

Setting Goals in the Practice Room

When first building a practice routine, set out a few long-term goals that you want to achieve as a jazz guitarist. Examples of long-term goals are: Ø Learn to play chord melody. Ø Transcribe solos at a quicker pace. Ø Expand chord vocabulary. Ø Develop your Bebop language. Ø Never get lost in the form of a tune. Once you’ve set a few long-term goals, you can plan your daily practice routine with short-term goals that’ll help you achieve longer-term goals. There are many short-terms goals that would get you to the above longterm goals in your daily routine. Here are examples of one short-term practice goal for each longer goal from the above example. Ø Arrange a chord melody for Summertime. Ø Transcribe 3 licks from Wes’ solo on Yesterdays. Ø Memorize Drop 2 maj7 chords on the top-4 strings. Ø Learn the head to Donna Lee. Ø Sing root notes over a jazz blues progression. By setting short-term practice goals, you’ll work towards your longer goals, while not feeling overwhelmed in your daily practicing. As well, you’ll be and be able to track your progress at the same time.

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Jazz Guitar Goals Exercise Write down five long-term goals you want to achieve in your playing as a jazz guitarist. Then, write five short-term goals for each of these longer goals that you can use in your practice routine today to achieve those goals.

How Much Should You Practice?

This is a question that comes up time and again with my students and other jazz guitarists I meet all over the world: “How much should I practice each day?” While it would be ideal to be able to set aside 5-6 hours a day for practicing, this isn’t practical for the vast majority of people. With a job, family, and other hobbies, it’s not possible, or realistic, to expect to spend this amount of time each day with your guitar. Because of this, the better question to ask is: “How much time can I realistically dedicate to practicing each week?” Asking yourself this question allows you to build an effective practice routine around the time you can dedicate to your instrument each week. If you know you have 30 minutes per day, 5 days per week, to practice, you can then set out a plan to use those minutes effectively each session. With a set amount of time each week, you’ll be able to make the most out of every minute you spend in the practice room.

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This sort of focused practice will produce results over time. It just takes consistency and some patience with your practice routine. As well, make sure that you’re flexible with your practice time as your life changes. Some weeks 30 minutes a day is fine, others you can get in 60, while in others 10 minutes a day would be tough. Setting realistic practice goals at the start of each week, and adapting over time, is the best way to effectively use your time in the woodshed.

Weekly Planning Exercise



Grab a piece of paper and set out the amount of time you’ll practice each day this week. Be realistic, and use your calendar to mark off those times each day. Review this plan at the end of the week and record your progress in your practice journal to review later on in your development.

Consistent Practice Beats Cramming

Another common problem many guitarists face is practicing 3 hours on Saturday, 3.5 hours on Sunday, then 30 minutes on Wednesday. Long practice sessions each week, but no consistency. While you’ll feel a sense of accomplishment after those long practice sessions, by Wednesday you’ve forgotten some of what you learned. Then, by the following weekend you’re spending more time reviewing last week’s material than you are learning new concepts.

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To avoid forgetting what you’ve learned between practice sessions, develop a practice approach that spreads out your learning each week. Rather than cramming your practicing into a few intense sessions that are spread out erratically throughout the week. Everyone’s schedule is different, so this might not be feasible depending on how your week unfolds. But, if you can, spread out that practice time, 7 hours in the above example, over 7 days rather than over 3 days. An hour a day of consistent practice will propel your playing forward much quicker than cramming for a few days each week. That’s not to say you can’t do extra time on the weekends if you want. But, plan out a little time each day, or as many days as you can, where you spend time practicing. Then, any extra time can be used to dive deeper into that material, or to work on weak areas that need attention in your playing. Though it seems counterintuitive, short, consistent sessions are more effective over the long term, compared to more inconsistent practicing.

Consistent Practice Exercise If you use the cramming approach, spend a little time practicing each day this week to see how the two approaches compare. Then you can adjust your practice routine if possible to reflect the best practice routine for you and your schedule.

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Seeing Results In Your Practicing Over Time Now that you know how to plan your time, and set long and short-term goals, you’ll learn the best way to measure your practice room progress. Recording yourself each week, or every day if you can is by far the best way to track your development as a jazz guitarist. All too often, you’ll practice consistently each week, which is great for development, but not great for hearing progress in your playing. But, if you record yourself playing an exercise, or jamming a tune, you can listen to those recordings over time to hear your musical growth. This is easier said than done; as you may be shy about recording or only hear negatives in your playing when listening back to recordings. But, recording is something that’s worth struggling through in the beginning, as it’s a very effective practice tool in the long run. The key component to working with recordings of yourself is to listen analytically to your playing. This means listening from both a positive and critical standpoint. Whenever you listen back to yourself, start by writing five things you liked about your playing on that recording. From there, write out three things you can work on to improve your playing between now and the next recording. This’ll help you develop a sense of your strengths, which you can then build upon in your playing. As well, it highlights your weaknesses, which you can focus on in upcoming practice sessions to rid your playing of those weak spots.

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Chapter 1 Checklist Before moving on to the next chapter, review the following items that you’ve learned about and applied to your practice schedule this week. Setting Long and Short-Term Goals Ø Write five long-term goals you wish to accomplish. Ø Write five short-term goals for each long-term goal. Ø Practice one short-term goal for each long-term goal this week. Ø Journal your results to see progress over time. Ø Adjust your short-term goals as necessary after reflection. Planning Next Week’s Practice Routine Ø Ask yourself, “How much time can I really practice this week?” Ø Write out a realistic practice schedule. Ø Adjust this time next week to reflect time available to practice. Ø Cover all five short-term goals over the course of a week. Avoiding Cramming in the Woodshed Ø Review your current practice routine to see if you’re cramming. Ø If you’re cramming, use shorter, more frequent practice sessions. Ø Journal your practice sessions to see improvements over time. Recording for Self Reflection Ø Record a practice session or jam this week. Ø Record a practice session or jam next week. Ø Compare the two to see the progress you’ve made in between.

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Chapter 2 - Well Balanced Practicing One of the best ways to maintain momentum and progress, especially when time is short, is to develop a well-balanced practice routine. By covering a number of important areas in your practicing, you’ll avoid the trap of being a great soloist who can’t comp over changes. Or being a player that can learn everything by ear, but can’t apply that knowledge to tunes, for example. In this chapter, you’ll learn about the seven elements of a balanced jazz guitar practice routine. This information will act as an introduction to these seven elements. Then, these elements will be explored further in later chapters as you learn how to build a practice routine to fit your experience level. Don’t feel overwhelmed if this material looks like an insurmountable obstacle in your journey to jazz guitar mastery. Work on understanding the different elements at this point in time, and identify which areas are strong and weak points in your playing. Then, move on to integrating these elements into your practice routine over time, not all at once, as you dig deeper into this eBook.

7 Elements of a Balanced Practice Routine The material presented in this chapter is a short overview of the seven elements that are needed for a balanced practice routine. Don’t feel that you have to work on these seven elements every day.

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Everyone is different in his or her approach to developing a balanced jazz practice routine. You might prefer to cover four to five elements each day. Or you might practice one per day and cover all seven in a week. You could even focus on one or two for months at a time, before moving on to a few more elements when you feel ready. There’s no right or wrong approach for how to integrate these elements into your practicing schedule. The best thing to do is experiment and find the right approach for you at this stage in your musical development. Here are the seven elements of a balanced jazz guitar practice regime. 1. Melody 2. Harmony 3. Rhythm 4. Vocabulary 5. Repertoire 6. Ear Training 7. Technique These seven elements aren’t written in any particular order. But, to build a balanced routine you’ll need to become equally comfortable with every one of these elements in your playing. Now that you know the seven elements, let’s examine sample exercises that you can use to bring these elements into your practice routine.

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Balanced Practice Routine To begin, reorder the seven elements, putting the weakest element in your playing at the top and the strongest at the bottom. This’ll give you an idea of what you need to work on the most in order to bring balance to your practice routine and see progress.



1. Melody

The first element you’ll look at is Melody, which is an umbrella term for any single-note concept on the guitar. These single-note concepts can include various sub-elements. But, the most common melodic elements to practice are: Ø Scales Ø Arpeggios Ø Patterns – For both Scales and Arpeggios Ø Licks These melodic sub-elements cover ways in which you would outline chords and chord progressions when soloing over jazz tunes. Melody tends to be the most commonly practiced element, taking up the most time in the average jazz guitarist’s unbalanced practice routine. This is because learning how to solo over changes is fun, so you want to work on these items more than other elements in your studies. When working on melody in your studies, you can multi-task a bit to help cover more than one area in this section of your routine.

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For example, you could practice scales with a scale pattern. Or, you could practice arpeggios by studying arpeggio-based licks, so that you cover two sub-elements at once in your routine. This’ll allow you to cover more ground in the woodshed, leaving you time to work on other important elements in your studies.

Melodic Exercises To learn how you can practice melodic concepts, here are four sample exercises, one for each sub-element, which you can add to your routine. Scales Over Tunes Ø Pick a tune you want to learn. Ø Learn one position for each scale needed to solo over the tune. Ø Practice one or two scale patterns for each scale from memory. Ø Solo over that tune using those scale shapes and patterns. Arpeggios Over Common Progressions Ø Pick a common jazz chord progression, such as I-VI-ii-V. Ø Learn one two octave and one, one-octave shape for each chord. Ø Solo over a I-VI-ii-V backing track with those arpeggio shapes. Ø Move on to a second arpeggio position and repeat. Ascending 3rds Ø Choose a scale to focus on in your studies. Ø Practice ascending 3rds over that scale with a metronome. Ø Start in one key, and then move to others from there. Ø Increase the tempo when you feel ready to move on. mattwarnockguitar.com

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ii V I Licks Ø Learn a ii V I lick by ear or from a book. Ø Practice that lick in 12 keys with a metronome. Ø Solo with the lick over a backing track. Ø Write out two to three similar licks. Ø Apply those similar licks to your soloing practice.

Melodic Assignment Using jazz books or jazz websites make a list of five exercises for each sub-element, Scales-Arpeggios-Patterns-Licks. This’ll allow you to quickly grab an exercise when you want to work on melodic concepts in your routine.

2. Harmony

The next element is Harmony, which is the study of chords and chord progressions on the guitar. Harmony can also include walking bass lines and other comping elements outside chord shapes in your studies. Here are the sub-elements for harmony that you can use to help build a well-rounded harmonic practice approach. Ø Chord Voicings – Drop 2, Drop 3, Drop 2 & 4, 4th Chords, etc. Ø Rootless Chords – 3-7 Triads and 3-9 Chords. Ø Common Chord Progressions. Ø Walking Bass lines. As you can see, harmony covers how you would comp over a tune in various settings. mattwarnockguitar.com

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These include combos (rootless chords), bassless trio (Drop 2 etc.), and duo settings, (walking bass lines). While melody is the biggest element in an unbalanced routine, harmony is the often the smallest element in an unbalanced practice routine. When it comes to jamming, the vast majority of your time as a guitarist is spent comping behind other instruments. This included comping behind both melody lines and improvisations. For example, if you’re playing in a quintet, that means you would comp behind the in and out heads and two to three other soloists. Then, you only have one chance to solo on each tune. Because you’ll spend most of your time comping when jamming, harmony is essential to maintaining a balanced practice routine.

Harmonic Exercises Here are ways that you can practice these four sub-elements of harmony in your well-balanced jazz guitar practice routine. Chords Over Tunes Ø Pick a tune. Ø Choose a chord type to focus on, Drop 2 for example. Ø Pick a string set, such as the top-4 strings. Ø Play those chords, Drop 2 top-4 strings, through the tune. Ø Challenge yourself further by using inversions. Ø Start with a metronome and move to a backing track when ready. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Rootless Chords Over Tunes Ø Choose a tune, it can be the same from the previous exercise. Ø Learn the 357 triads for each chord in the tune. Ø Comp those triads over the tune with a metronome. Ø Move on to a backing track when comfortable. Comping Over ii V I Minor Ø Choose a chord type to work with, Drop 3 for example. Ø Pick a string set to focus on, such as 6432. Ø Play the root shape for the iim7b5 chord. Ø Move to the closest V7alt and Im7 chords from that starting point. Ø From there, move to the first inversion iim7b5 chord. Ø Repeat the process from that new chord shape. Ø Use a metronome or backing track to keep time. Bass lines Over Tunes Ø Pick a tune. Ø Play the root note on the first beat of each new chord. Ø Play a chromatic approach note on the beat before each root. Ø Play two chromatic notes approaching each root note. Ø Add a diatonic note on the remaining beat. Ø In 4/4 time the formula is root-diatonic-chromatic-chromatic. Ø If comfortable, add chords on top of the bass notes.

Harmonic Assignment Spend a few minutes combing through your jazz books or favorite websites to find five exercises for each sub-element of harmony. This’ll allow you to have an easily accessible list of exercises to choose from when working on harmony in the woodshed.



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3. Rhythm

You’re now going to look at one of the most important aspects of any practice routine, and often one of the most overlooked aspects, rhythm. One of the biggest problems many players face is they can play fast, they can play slow, but they don’t know what exact rhythms they’re playing. Not knowing what rhythms you’re playing is the rhythmic equivalent of not knowing what notes or chords you’re playing over in a tune. Which would be quite the disaster in a jam or gigging situation. As well, not having control of what rhythms you’re using can cause issues with locking in with the rhythm section during a jam. It can also cause you to get lost in the form when playing over jazz tunes in any jam situation. This section of your practice routine will help fix any weaknesses in your rhythmic knowledge. It’ll also expand your rhythmic vocabulary in both a single-note and chordal approach. Sub-elements for rhythm can include: Ø Rhythmic Durations – Whole Notes, Half Notes, Triplets, etc. Ø Rhythmic Motives. Ø Accents – In both technical and improvisational practice. Ø Rhythmic Vocabulary. When you listen to great guitarists, they never sound as if they’re just playing fast or slow. They’re aware of the rhythms they’re playing and exactly where they’re placing their notes within the bar lines. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Adding rhythmic exercises to your routine will give you a balanced approach to your studies, increasing rhythmic control at the same time.

Rhythmic Exercises Here are four sample exercises that you can use to add a rhythmic focus to your jazz guitar practice routine. Rhythmic Scale Practice Ø Pick a rhythm you want to work on, such as 8th notes. Ø Pick a scale to study, melodic minor for example. Ø Play up and down the melodic minor scale with 8th notes. Ø Start slow with a metronome and increase the speed over time. Rhythmic Soloing Ø Build a short rhythmic motive, such as two 8ths and a quarter. Ø Solo over a backing track only using that rhythmic motive. Ø You choose the notes, but the rhythms remain the same each bar. Accented Arpeggios Ø Pick an arpeggio to study, maj7 for example. Ø Pick one or two beats to accent, such as 1 & 3. Ø Play up and down the arpeggio, accenting beats 1 & 3. Ø Start slow with a metronome and increase the tempo when ready. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Rhythmic Transcription Ø Choose a solo you enjoy listening to. Ø Write out the rhythms for the first chorus, no notes just rhythms. Ø Put on a backing track and solo with the same rhythm, new notes. Ø You choose the notes, but the rhythm is the same as the record.

Rhythmic Assignment Write out five exercises for each sub-element of rhythm that you can add to your practice routine. Read about jazz rhythms in books or online as you expand your knowledge and learn more about specific rhythmic exercises.



4. Vocabulary

You’ll now explore the best ways to learn the jazz language, vocabulary. Learning how to speak the jazz language means studying the great players that have come before you. Then, developing your own approach to building single-note and chordal lines and phrases based on that historical study. While learning jazz vocabulary is important, you want to make sure you don’t become a “line player.” A line player is someone who only plays memorized lines in their solos. To help you learn the Jazz language, and avoid becoming a line player, here are sub-elements of vocabulary to use in your practice routine. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Ø Ø Ø Ø

Single-Note Lines Chord Lines Analyzing Licks Mini-Lick Elements

Notice that you’ve looked at licks in previous sections, melody to be exact, in this chapter. One thing to keep in mind is that licks, both chordal and single-note, can be used to build both technique and jazz vocabulary. You can combine both approaches to multi-task a bit in your studies. This could mean running a lick with a metronome and then breaking it down to its building blocks from there for example. But, if you want to keep the technical and improvisational study of licks separate in your studies, that’s perfectly fine as well. A major roadblock that jazz guitarists face is how to sound like a jazz guitarist in your soloing, comping, and melody playing. Studying vocabulary is the most direct way to sound like a jazz guitarist.

Vocabulary Exercises Here are a few samples, one for each sub-element of vocabulary, which you can use in your studies and expand upon in the woodshed. Soloing With Licks Ø Pick a lick that you want to learn. Ø Play that lick as written over a backing track. Ø Personalize the lick by altering the rhythm and notes. Ø Apply that lick, and alterations, to a full tune in your solos. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Writing a Chord Solo Ø Choose a tune to work on. Ø Write out a chord solo over that tune. Ø Use lines from your favorite players in the chord solo. Ø Be musical with the solo, not just technically correct. Ø Memorize the solo and play it with a backing track. Ø Begin to alter the solo as you grow with it on the guitar. Transcription Analysis Ø Transcribe a line from your favorite Jazz guitarist. Ø Write it down. Ø Write the chords on top of the lick as a reference. Ø Analyze the lick and look for common jazz concepts. Ø Look for scales, arpeggios, chromatic notes, etc. Ø Use those elements to build exercises in your routine. Enclosures Over Pentatonic Scales Ø Practice enclosures over any pentatonic scale shape. Ø Play fret above-fret below-scale note for each note in the scale. Ø Use a metronome and go slow before increasing the speed. Ø When ready, put on a backing track and solo with enclosures.

Vocabulary Assignment Spend some time looking through your jazz books or favorite websites, to find five exercises for each sub-element of vocabulary. This’ll allow you to have an easily accessible list of exercises to choose from when working on vocabulary in the woodshed.



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5. Repertoire Another issue that faces many jazz guitarists is that they’ve studied a lot of technical items, but haven’t tried playing over a tune yet. This can lead to frustration in both the practice room and musical or social situations. Have you ever found yourself at a party and someone hands you a guitar to play something, and all you have under your fingers are scales? Then you might be in this camp. For most of us, the main goal of learning jazz guitar is to make music. Playing jazz tunes is the best way to do that. Whether you want to play in a combo, big band, duo setting, or solo guitar, learning tunes will allow you to express yourself musically. Here are the sub-elements of repertoire that you can study: Ø Playing the melody. Ø Playing a chord melody. Ø Comping studies. Ø Soloing studies. Ø Walking bass lines. As you can see, some of these sub-elements have appeared before, such as bass lines and comping. By placing sub-elements in a number of larger elements, you can multitask in a positive way. You also give yourself a better chance of covering these sub-elements over time in your studies. Learning tunes can seem daunting at first, so make sure to start with a tune that will challenge, you but not make you feel like giving up. mattwarnockguitar.com

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For more information on how to pick the right tune for you, check out the “The Importance of Learning Tunes” chapter in this eBook.

Repertoire Exercises Here are a few exercises, one per sub-element, which you can use to get started with learning repertoire in your practice routine. One-Position Melodies Ø Choose a jazz tune to study. Ø Pick one that challenges you, but is not impossible to play. Ø Learn the melody within the first four frets, don’t move your hand. Ø Adjust the octave of the melody notes if needed to stay in position. Ø Move to frets five to eight, then nine to twelve and repeat. Chord Melody Arranging Ø Learn the melody for any tune on the top-two strings. Ø Add chord shapes below the melody notes or between phrases. Ø Continue until you’ve built a full chord melody arrangement. Ø Memorize and play the arrangement from there. Drop 3 Chord Study Ø Choose a tune to work on, a chord type, and string set. Ø Use Drop 3 chords on the low string set for example. Ø Play the root position Drop 3 chord on the low string set. Ø Move to the next chord inversion without moving your hand. Ø Repeat for each chord in the tune, staying in that one position. Ø Move to the first inversion of the first chord and repeat. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Arpeggio Study Ø Pick a tune to work on. Ø Learn arpeggios over each chord within frets one to four. Ø Alternate between one and two-octave shapes as needed. Ø Solo over a backing track using these shapes in your lines. Ø Repeat within frets five to eight and nine to twelve. Half-Time Feel Bass Line Ø Choose a tune to focus on in this exercise. Ø Play the root note on the first beat of each new chord, or bar. Ø Add a chromatic note on the beat before each root note. Ø Jam this bass line along with a backing track from memory. Ø Begin to create variations of this bass line on the spot.

Repertoire Assignment Make a list of 10 tunes that you want to study in the coming months, ones that will challenge you but not be too advanced. Include Blues, Bebop, Standard, Ballad, and Latin/Bossa tunes in order to have a nice balance of tune types in your studies.



6. Ear Training

Probably the most important element, and the most avoided in the practice room by jazz guitar students, is ear training. One of the reasons that guitarists avoid ear training is they have a negative association with ET from a school course they took. Or they tried ET software in the past that may not of been very practical. mattwarnockguitar.com

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The key to finding motivation with ear training is to do exercises that provide immediate benefit in a musical situation. Here are the sub-elements of that you can use to build a balanced and practical approach to ear training. Ø Singing Melodies Ø Singing Scales Ø Singing Bass Lines Ø Singing Arpeggios Ø Singing Licks Ø Scat Improvising Ø Transcribing As you can see, the sub elements address practical, musical areas in your playing. These are areas where you can directly apply ear training to your playing and development on the guitar. Lastly, ear training is important because it can be practiced away from the guitar. This can be very beneficial when traveling, or when life is busy and you don’t have a lot of time on the instrument directly.

Ear Training Exercises To help get you started, ere are sample exercises that you can do in your ear training studies as part of a balanced guitar practice routine. Sing a Melody Ø Choose a tune to practice. Ø Sing and play the melody on guitar to correct your notes. Ø Sing the melody without the guitar on your own. Ø Comp the chords and sing the melody over those changes. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Sing Scales Over a Tune Ø Pick a jazz tune to study. Ø Sing one-octave scales over each chord. Ø Play the scales to match pitch if needed. Ø Play the chords on guitar and improvise over the tune. Ø Use the scales you just practiced to scat solo over the changes. Sing ii V I Bass lines Ø Pick a key for a ii V I progression. Ø Sing the root notes for each chord as you comp through them. Ø Begin to sing a half-time bass line over those changes. Ø Move on to a full walking bass line over the chords. Sing Arpeggios Over a Tune Ø Pick a tune to sing over. Ø Sing the one-octave arpeggios for each chord in the tune. Ø Play along on guitar to match pitch if needed. Ø Scat sing a solo over those chords using the same arpeggios. Sing a Transcribed Lick Ø Transcribe a lick by your favorite player. Ø Play the lick and sing along with your guitar. Ø Comp the chords and sing the lick in the given key. Ø Move to other keys in your studies from here. Transcribe a Solo Ø Choose a solo to learn by ear. Ø Sing along with the recording. Ø Play and sing with the recording. Ø Write out the solo and analyze it for further study. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Ear Training Assignment Take the list of sub-elements from this section and reorder them from the most difficult to easiest elements in your playing. This’ll help organize your ear training practice time to ensure that you work on your weakest elements first in the woodshed.



7. Technique

To finish with all the elements that make up a balanced practice routine, you can explore the most commonly practiced element, technique. Though these elements are presented in no particular order, I did leave technique until last on purpose. This is because, along with scales, it’s the element that jazz guitarists spend the most time on in the woodshed. While building technique is necessary, it’s often the element that you spend hours on in the woodshed at the expense other, weaker elements. This results in an unbalanced approach to your practice routine. To avoid long-term issues, make sure that you’re not overdoing technical exercises in your practice routine. Give technique no more or less time than any other element in order to balance your routine out as you move forward in your development. Here are a number of sub-elements within technique that you can explore in your jazz guitar studies:

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Ø Ø Ø Ø Ø

Picking Technique Left-Hand Control Slurs/Legato Technique Developing Speed Chordal Technique

It can be fun and rewarding to work on technical exercises in the woodshed. But, you need to be careful that technique doesn’t take up too much time in your woodshedding. This can result in an unbalanced approach to your overall practice routine, and large holes that you’ll need to address in future practice.

Technical Exercises Here are five sample exercises, one for each sub-element, which you can use in your studies. Alternate Picking Exercise Ø Choose a scale and key. Ø Start slow and play the scale with alternate picking. Ø Focus on your picking hand during the exercise. Ø Make sure your hands are relaxed and your tone is clear. Ø Increase the tempo when comfortable. 1234 Exercise Variation Ø Play the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th frets slowly on the 6th string. Ø Repeat this pattern up and down each string with a metronome. Ø Keep each finger down, only lifting to play the next note. Ø Keep your whole body relaxed. Ø Only have you fingertips and thumbprint touch the guitar. Ø Go slow and steady, no need to increase speed in this exercise. mattwarnockguitar.com

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3-Note Per String Scales With Slurs Ø Pick a scale and key to work on, learn a 3-note-per-string shape. Ø Start with the metronome as a very slow tempo. Ø Pluck the first note and hammer to the second note on each string. Ø Use pull offs between the first and second notes going down. Ø When comfortable, use slurs between the second and third notes. Ø You can also use two slurs and one pluck on each string. Speed Burst Exercise Ø Pick a scale and key to work on. Ø Play the scale at a slow tempo. Ø In each bar, play three quarter notes and 4 16th-notes. Ø Increase the tempo when ready. Ø Add more 16th notes on each beat until all beats are 16th notes. Slow Drop 3 Inversion Exercise Ø Pick a chord, key, and string set to work on. Ø Play between each inversion of that chord at a slow tempo. Ø Move between each shape slowly and smoothly. Ø Work two shapes back and forth if needed. Ø Raise the tempo once this is comfortable.

Technique Assignment Mark off time in each session this week to practice technical exercises, such as the examples above. Make sure that technique is no more than 20-25% of your practice routine, which will help you balance out your daily routine.



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Chapter 2 Checklist Before moving on to the next chapter in this book, review the following items laid out for study in your practice routine so far. Practice Routine Self Analysis Ø Take a few minutes to write down what you practice each day. Ø Notice how many elements you practice in a given day/week. Ø Write down how long you spend on each element in a day/week. Ø Analyze to see if you have a balanced or unbalanced routine. Ø Adjust if necessary for next week in order to cover more elements. Cataloguing Exercises for Elements Ø Write out the seven elements as titles on different pages. Ø Under each element, write out the sub elements from this chapter. Ø Add in any other sub elements you can think of to your list. Ø Write out five exercises for each of those sub-elements. Maintaining a Balanced Practice Routine Ø Plan out your practice time this week on paper. Ø Make sure to cover at least 4 elements in your routine. Ø Don’t spend more than 25% of your time on any single element. Ø See if you achieved a balanced routine at the end of the week.

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Chapter 3 - Building Technique As was discussed earlier, guitarists can become too focused on developing their technical chops, at the expense of a balanced routine. While you shouldn’t spend all your time working on technique, technical exercises are an important aspect of any well-balanced practice routine. One of the ways in which you can keep your chops in tip-top shape, without overdoing it, is to study a variety of technical areas. This’ll give you the technique needed to play jazz guitar with confidence, without becoming unbalanced in the woodshed. These technical areas include: Ø Hand Coordination Ø Speed Ø Dexterity Ø Endurance Ø Targeted Techniques In this chapter, you’ll learn more about these technical elements, how they can improve your jazz skills, and explore sample exercises. All of which combine to build your chops, while maintaining a balance in the practice room.

Building Coordination

The first technique element you’ll explore is coordination. Coordination on the guitar means building your ability to move smoothly between notes, with your hands moving together in unison. Two of the most common technical issues for guitarists are that they miss notes with their pick, or that there are gaps between notes, mattwarnockguitar.com

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Both of these items can cause your playing to sound sloppy, rough and jagged when applied to a jamming situation. Building your coordination will allow you to play without having spaces between notes or chords, unless you want them there. Working on coordination involves taking several different approaches in your practice routine. From pure technique exercises, to chord and scale specific exercises, you can approach coordination from a number of different angles. This allows you to find the right exercise for your stage of development and your musical tastes in the woodshed. By working on developing coordination, you’ll help bring your hands together when playing any note or chord on the fretboard. As well, you’ll develop control over whether you want to play legato (smooth) or staccato (choppy) in your lines and chords.

Using A Metronome

Firstly, let’s talk about using a metronome for any technical exercise that you work on in your jazz guitar studies. In order to build a strong sense of rhythm in your playing, it’s important to use a metronome when practicing any technical exercise. Using a metronome allows you to mark your progress with any exercise, as you can record daily tempos in your practice journal. This’ll help you build confidence as you can see your progress over time. Lastly, metronomes will often “pull” you through an exercise that you’re struggling with in the practice room.

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Often you’ll be struggling to play through an exercise with a sense of flow, so you avoid using a metronome until you feel ready. But, adding tempo often pulls you into a sense of time and tempo with the exercise. Using a metronome can help you work through any issues you’re having with adding tempo to any technical exercise. When it comes to using a metronome, be creative as to where you apply the tick of the metronome to different beats within the bar. This means that you can have the click on: Ø Each beat Ø On 1 and 3 Ø On 2 and 4 Ø Just on 2 Ø Just on 4 Ø Just on 1 Ø Just on 3 Having the click on different beats in the bars help you develop a strong sense of where you are in the measure at any given time. As well, it trains you to use the metronome as a guide in your studies, but not rely on it as a crutch in your playing

Coordination Exercises Now that you’ve reviewed the importance of using a metronome in you practice routine, here are some sample coordination exercises. You can use these exercises in your practice routine as you begin to bring your hands together in the practice room. mattwarnockguitar.com

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1234 Exercise This is a classic coordination exercise, and if you only do one exercise to build coordination, make it this one. It’s that powerful. Ø Begin on the 12th fret and play 1-2-3-4 on that string. Ø This means playing the 12-13-14-15 frets on the 6th string. Ø Hold down each finger after you’ve played it. Ø Only lift your fingers to play the next note with that same finger. Ø Once all four fingers are down, repeat the steps on the next string. Ø Repeat until you reach the first string, then reverse from there. Ø Go slow, 30 bpm is a good place to start. Ø When you can play this exercise on the 12th fret, move to 11. Ø Then continue down the fretboard until you hit the first fret. Ø Relax you hands, arms, and shoulders throughout the exercise. Here’s how that exercise looks on the 12th fret as an example. Audio Example 1

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Slow Scale Practice Think of this exercise as “scale mediation.” It’s designed to slow you way down and bring your focus to only the notes you’re playing in that moment. Ø Start with your metronome as slow as you can handle. Ø Pick a scale and key to practice. Ø Play the scale with the metronome, one note per click. Ø If you want an extra challenge, do one note per 2, 3, or 4, clicks. Ø Focus on keeping your hands relaxed. Ø Land your finger on the next note right when you pick that string. Here’s an example of this exercise using a C major scale at 40 bpm. Audio Example 2

Slow Chord Practice This is the chord variation of the previous exercise. Though it’s similar, it can be much more challenging as you focus on smoothly moving entire chords, not just one note at a time. Ø Pick a chord type, key, and string set to work on. Ø Set the metronome as slow as you can handle. Ø Play each inversion of that chord up and down the neck. Ø Focus on removing any space between inversions. Ø Lift all four fingers at once and place them down together. mattwarnockguitar.com



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Here’s an example of this exercise with Drop 2 Em7 chords on the top string set. Audio Example 3

Slow Melody Practice Again, a similar exercise to what you’ve done already, only this time with melodies. Working at very slow tempos is not only a theme in this book; it’s the best way to develop strong technique in the practice room. Ø Pick a tune to work on. Ø Put your metronome at a very slow speed. Ø Play the melody along with the metronome. Ø When this is comfortable, move the click to 1& 3 or 2&4. If you really want a challenge, put the metronome only on the first beat. This puts 75% of the time keeping on your end and only 25% on the side of the metronome. Slow Soloing Practice The final coordination exercise focuses on improvising at slow tempos. This not only works on coordination, but it builds your ability to hear and think ahead when soloing over jazz tunes. mattwarnockguitar.com



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Ø Ø Ø Ø

Pick a tune to work on and grab a backing track to use. Solo over the backing track at the slowest tempo you can stand. As a variation, use a fast tempo but slow rhythm. You could play at 250 bpm but only use whole notes in your lines.



Coordination Assignment Pick an exercise from this section or make one up of your own, and practice it as slow as you possibly can. Try the 1234 exercise with 4 beats of the metronome at 40 bpm per note, which is as much an exercise in patience as it is coordination. Write down your thoughts with this exercise after each session to see how your experience changes over the course of a week.



Building Speed

Another technical concept that guitarists can over focus on is building speed in their practicing. Speed is essential for any jazz guitarist, especially if you’re studying Bebop, as a lot of tunes are played at fast tempos. While speed is important to work on, it’s essential that you approach speed with the mentality that you’ll use it only when you choose to. This means not playing fast for the sake of playing fast, which is a pitfall that can get in the way of many jazz guitarists’ development. The other thing to consider, besides using speed only when you choose to, is that the definition of “playing fast” differs for each player.

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Some people might consider playing 8th notes at 160 bpm fast, while others consider 16th notes at 180 bpm fast. There’s no fixed definition for what fast playing can be. So, when working on speed in the practice room, use your own musical tastes to set speed goals. Then, use that as your guideline for how fast you want to practice, and later play in a jazz jam situation. Lastly, speed and coordination exercises go hand in hand. If you don’t have both hands coordinated, then you’ll struggle with any speed exercise. If you find you’re having trouble with speed exercises, go back and work on coordination exercises for before returning to your speed workout. This should clear up any speed issues in your practicing and playing.

Speed Exercises Here are some exercises that you can use in your woodshedding to help build speed in the technical side of your balanced routine. Metronome Practice Ø Pick a single-note concept, such as scales or arpeggios. Ø Play the scale at 40 bpm up and down three times. Ø Raise the metronome to 45 bpm and repeat. Ø Keep increasing the speed until it’s too fast to play. Ø Record your tempo, and aim to beat it tomorrow. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Increasing Durations Ø Pick a single-note concept to work on. Ø Start with the metronome at 40 bpm. Ø Play the first note as a whole note. Ø Play the second and third notes as half notes. Ø Keep increasing the speed of each note up the scale. Ø When you hit 16th notes, start again from whole notes. . If you can’t get all the way up to 16th notes right now that’s fine, just do what you can and aim to increase the durations you can reach over time. Here’s an example of this exercise over a C major scale. Audio Example 4

Speed Bursts Ø Pick a scale or arpeggio to work on. Ø Put the metronome on at 40 bpm. Ø Play three quarter notes and two 8th notes each bar. Ø Increase the metronome from there. Ø You can increase the faster notes to four 16th notes. Ø Add the faster notes to beats three and four of the bar. Here’s an example of this exercise over a C major scale. mattwarnockguitar.com



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Audio Example 5

Repeated Licks Ø Pick a short lick you want to study, one to two bars long. Ø Play the lick at 40 bpm ten times. Ø Increase the tempo and repeat. Ø When you reach your limit, record the tempo. Ø Try to beat that tempo tomorrow. Pedal Note Exercise This exercise can be done with any finger as the pedal note; you’ll use the index finger for this example. Ø Place your index finger on the first fret of the 6th string. Ø Play 1-2, 1-3, 1-4 frets as you move between each finger. Ø Move up the strings with this pattern and back down again. Ø You can use hammer-ons or pull-offs if you like. Ø The goal is to be as even as possible with each note. Ø Start slow and increase the metronome over time. Here’s an example of this exercise at 50 bpm. mattwarnockguitar.com



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Audio Example 6





Speed Assignment Pick one exercise from the examples in this section, or make up your own, and set a speed goal this week. Play the exercise starting at 40 bpm. Increase the tempo every three times through the exercise, until you’ve reached your speed limit and have to stop. From there, aim to increase your speed by 3-5 bpm each day, building an increase of 21-35 bpm over the course of 7 days.

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Building Dexterity Building dexterity as a guitarist covers a lot of ground in the woodshed. From stretching exercises to building nimble fingers, and everything in between, dexterity has a wide scope in regards to possible exercises. For me, building dexterity means working on exercises that enable my fingers to quickly and accurately navigate the fretboard. This can mean either shifting or stretching between notes and positions. Because building dexterity often means stretching or quick movements, you need to be especially careful that you don’t hurt your hands. If you feel any dull pain in your hands, arms, or fingers, stop and take a few seconds to shake your arms out before returning to the exercise. If you feel sharp pain in your hands, arms, or fingers, stop immediately. Take the rest of the day off from practicing, and you might want to put heat on the area where you felt the pain. Most importantly, go see a doctor right away if any pain persists for more than a few days. Sharp pain can often mean an injury, which you’ll make worse by continuing to practice. Visiting a doctor will diagnose any injury, and help you get on the mend and back to your guitar as quick as possible. Don’t be turned off these exercises by these warnings of injury. The vast majority of players can work on building dexterity and never have any kind of injury or pain in their lifetimes. This is just a warning to be careful, as some people do overdo it and end up hurting themselves with these sorts of exercises. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Dexterity Exercises Here are a number of sample exercises that you can use to build nimbleness, stretching, and finger independence in your studies. 1234 Stretching This is a variation of the 1234 exercise you learned about earlier. Ø Play the 1234 exercise you learned previously. Ø Add in spaces, one at a time between fingers. Ø Examples are the 1345, 1245, and 1235 frets. Ø Start on the 6th string and play up from there. Ø When you get to the first string, play back down the neck. Here’s an example of the 1235 variation at 40 bpm. Audio Example 7

Cross String 1234 You can also repeat any of the 1234 stretching patterns with a string skip between notes. mattwarnockguitar.com



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Ø Ø Ø Ø Ø

Pick a pattern to work on, such as 1234 to start. Play 1 and 3 on the 6th string, and 2 and 4 on the 5th string. Play up the strings from there. Reverse the pattern when you reach the top. Add in the other stretching variations to take it further.

Here’s an example of the 1234 pattern at 40 bpm. Audio Example 8

3-Finger Pull-Off to Hammer-On This exercise is designed to build speed, nimbleness, and strength in your fretting-hand fingers. Ø Pick a fret to start on, begin higher to make it easier. Ø Play that note with your 2nd finger. Ø Pull off to your first finger, then hammer-on to your third. Ø Use a triplet rhythm with the exercise. Ø Be as even as possible with each note. Ø Repeat the exercise on each string. Ø Experiment with other fingers such as 214 or 324. Here’s an example of this exercise using the 213 fingers. mattwarnockguitar.com



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Audio Example 9

Finger Independence This exercise is designed to build independence between your fingers, which is something that doesn’t come naturally to most players. Ø Place your 1st, 2nd, and 3rd fingers on the 4th string, same frets. Ø Play the 4th fret of the 5th string with your pinky finger. Ø Play the 4th fret of the 2nd string with your pinky. Ø Repeat on the 6th and 1st strings, 4th fret each time. Ø Hold your other three fingers down the entire time. Ø Repeat with other finger combinations. Here’s an example of this exercise that holds down the first three fingers and moves the pinky across the strings. Audio Example 10



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13#9 Arpeggio Exercise This exercise is based on a 13#9 chord shape and helps stretch out the fingers on your fretting hand. Ø Hold down an E13#9 shape. Ø Pluck up each string twice. Ø Lower the index finger one fret and repeat. Ø Lower the middle finger one fret and repeat. Ø Lower the ring finger one fret and repeat. Ø Lower the pinky finger one fret and repeat. Ø Accent the note that moves each time. Here’s an example of that exercise in action. Audio Example 11





Dexterity Assignment



Pick one of the example exercises from this section of the Chapter to explore this week in your studies. Play the exercise with a metronome; record the highest tempo you can achieve comfortably with the exercise each day. Increase your highest tempo by 3-5 bpm each day.

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Building Endurance Technique not only means being able to play fast, or playing complex patterns on the fingerboard. Technique also means being able to play at your top level of performance for long periods of time. If you’re jamming with people, or doing gigs, then you’ll need to play for one to three hours without running out of steam. There’s nothing more frustrating than starting out a jam playing great, and then running out of energy halfway through. Building endurance as a jazz guitarist means mixing in more bass line and comping exercises to you studies. This is because most of the time in a jam you’re accompanying other players rather than soloing. As with any technical exercise, watch for any dull pain caused by tiredness when practicing these exercises. Rather than push through any pain or overtired hands, take a break when needed and relax your hands between exercises. This way, you’ll build endurance and over time be able to play longer without feeling tired or sore during or after the session.

Endurance Exercises Here are sample exercises that you can do in order to build your endurance in the practice room. These exercises focus on five areas of your jazz guitar skill set, melodies-scales-patterns-bass lines-tunes.

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Never Ending Scales Ø Pick a scale and key to practice that day. Ø Put on the metronome to 80-100 bpm. Ø Play the scale in 8th notes without stopping. Ø Continue for 15 minutes. Ø Experiment with different rhythms and tempos. Repeated Patterns Ø Pick a short lick or pattern to practice. Ø Play the phrase tens time at 40 bpm. Ø Increase to 50 bpm and repeat. Ø When you hit your limit, slow the tempo by 10 bpm. Ø Repeat until you’ve reached 40 bpm. Comping Over Tunes Ø Pick a tune to practice in this exercise. Ø Use a backing track or metronome to comp over. Ø Comp over the tune for 15 minutes without stopping. Ø Use any chords you want to focus on that day in your studies. Ø Comp over a famous recording to avoid becoming bored. Bass Lines Over Tunes Ø Pick a tune to practice over. Ø Walk a bass line over that tune with a metronome. Ø Walk without stopping for 15 minutes. Ø Add in chords on top of the bass notes if desired. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Repeated Melodies Ø Pick a melody to practice. Ø Play the melody at a normal tempo for 15 minutes. Ø Change octaves, positions, and fingerings if desired. Ø Work on existing repertoire, or practice with new tunes.

Endurance Assignment During one practice session this week, put on a backing track or a metronome and solo over a tune for as long as you can. Record how long you were able to solo before your hands became too tired to continue, such as 25 minutes. Next week, repeat the exercise and beat your endurance record. You can also repeat this exercise with comping and bass lines.

Chapter 3 Checklist Review the following items before moving on to the next chapter. Define Your Personal Technique Ø Make a list of your five favorite jazz guitarists. Ø Spend time listening to each of these players this week. Ø Write down notes on their technique, what you admire about it. Ø Write down how you define good technique in your playing. Ø Build a personal definition of solid guitar technique. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Technical Assessment Ø Pick 1 exercise from each of the technical elements in this chapter. Ø Play these exercises and record your highest tempo for each. Ø Write a practice journal on your ability to play each exercise. Ø Use this information to figure out which technical items need work this week in the woodshed. Setting Metronome Goals Ø Pick one or two technical exercises to focus on this week. Ø Run these exercises and record the highest for each. Ø Set a tempo goal that is about 10-15 bpm higher than your record. Ø Record in your practice journal whether or not you achieve this goal, and then if not, continue these exercises next week.

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Chapter 4 - Importance of Learning Tunes One of the themes of the exercises so far in this book, is that you often use tunes to practice techniques, concepts, and other musical devices. You’re now going to dissect in-depth ways that you can use tunes in your practice routine to become a better jazz guitarist. Because tunes are the vehicle that you use to communicate with other jazz musicians, they’re the crux of an effective jazz practice routine. One of the biggest problems that players face, is that they can play scales, arpeggios, licks, and chords, but can’t play any tunes, This can lead to some awkward musical moments. The story I often hear from people, is that they were at a party and a friend handed them a guitar and asked them to play. After tuning up, they found they had nothing to play but scales and a few chords, which didn’t go over very well. The best way to avoid this type of situation is to put a heavy focus on tunes when developing your jazz guitar practice routine. If you think back to why you started playing jazz, or guitar in general, for many, if not all of us, the original goal was to make music. The exercises in this chapter are designed to help you work on tunes in the woodshed, helping you to achieve your goal of making real music. As there are many ways to use tunes in your practicing, here are a few suggestions to try out and see which approach fits your practice routine. After you choose the right path for you, you can adapt your approach over time in order to maximize your time when learning tunes. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Ø Pick one tune and work it for a month. Ø Pick two or three tunes and work them for three to six months. Ø Pick five or six tunes and work them for a year. Start with one tune for a month and see how it goes. From there, you can move on to the longer-term practice approaches in order to find the right fit for your style of learning. As well, you can divide your tune practice into three sections. These sections are the three requirements for any jazz guitarist in a jamming situation: Ø Melody Ø Comping Ø Soloing All three of which are outlined in more detail in this Chapter.

Picking Tunes to Practice When it comes to choosing tunes to work on, which tunes you pick can be a tough, but important, choice to make. If you have any gigs or jam sessions coming up, you can use the tunes from the upcoming gig to decide for you. If you don’t have any gigs, you can read the lists below in order to come up with a repertoire list that fits your level of development.



How to Practice Melodies

Melodies are at the top of the list of working on tunes in the practice room, because it’s often the one that’s ignored in the woodshed. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Your focus can often be spent more on soloing and comping than playing the melody line when learning tunes. While soloing is fun, and comping is where you spend most of your time, melody is the most important thing to learn when studying repertoire. Though you might not play the melody, having the melody in your ears gives you an understanding of the tune that goes beyond the changes. As well, having a secure understanding of any melody will allow you to use the melody in your improvisations. You can also fall back on melody in case you get lost, or are struggling for melodic ideas in your improvisations. For these reasons, learning the melody is an essential element in your tune practice schedule. And, because it’s what people think of when they think of any tune, it should be the first thing you learn and study when tackling a new tune.

Improvisational Goal One of the best lessons I ever had was with guitarist Roddy Ellias. He’d tell me to wait until he left the room, then play a random tune. He’d then walk back in, not having heard what I was playing, and want to identify the tune instantly by my solo. This is a great goal to have in your playing, that anyone walking in mid solo could identify the tune you’re playing just by your lines. Next time you’re jamming, give yourself this goal, to always use the melody as a thread in your solos. To take it to the next level, try the same exercise with a jazz blues tune. Where someone could walk in and say, “He’s jamming on Blue Monk,” and not just recognize it as a generic jazz blues progression. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Melody Exercises When learning melodies on guitar, you’ll often find one position to play the melody and quickly move on to soloing or chord exercises. But, in order to give the melody the attention it deserves, you need to take your melody practice a few steps further in your studies. The following exercises are designed to get any melody under your fingers, into your ears, and play it in any key and in any position. This in-depth knowledge of any melody will allow you to always have it ready in case you have to play the melody on a gig or in a jam session. As well, you’ll be able to easily and quickly reference the melody in your soloing at any time, and in any position on the neck. Each exercise is presented in order from easiest to hardest, so you can pick and choose any exercise to work on. But, if you’re unsure of where to start, begin with the first exercise and work your way down the list from there. Lastly, you don’t have to work all of these exercises on one tune, or for each tune you’re learning. You can do that. But, you can also pick one exercise for the current tune you’re working on, then move on to a new tune and try a new exercise. Either way, you’ll cover each exercise over time, either on one tune or over five different tunes, in your practicing. Four Positions This concept is based on learning the melody line in four positions of the fretboard, one for each inversion of the first chord in the tune. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Ø Ø Ø Ø Ø Ø

Play the root position chord for the first chord in the tune. Learn the melody in the same position as that chord. Stay in position and adjust the octave of the melody if needed. Move on to the 1st inversion of the first chord of the tune. Play the melody in that new position without moving your hand. Repeat this exercise with the 2nd and 3rd inversions.

As you can see, this exercise allows you to play any melody in any position on the guitar. As well, it provides you an easy reference point to these four positions as you relate the tune to the four inversions of the first chord. Top 2 Strings This is a great exercise for those who are learning chord melodies and working out chord melody arrangements on the guitar. When learning chord melodies, it’s best to keep the melody line on the top two strings of the guitar. This allows you four or five strings below that melody line to add chords over each melody note, or in between phrases in the melody. This exercise is rather simple; you take any melody that you’re working on and learn to play it on the top two strings of the guitar. Doing so finds you moving in a horizontal rather than vertical manner, as you did in the previous four-position exercise. When you have the melody down on two strings, you can begin building a chord melody arrangement by adding chords below that melody line. One String Melodies You can also take the previous exercise one step further by learning how to play any melody on one string at a time. mattwarnockguitar.com

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This means that you would take any melody you’re studying and play it on the 6th string only, adjusting the octave when and if necessary. Then move on to learning the same melody on the 5th-string only, the 4th string, 3rd, etc., until you can play it from memory on any one string. This is a great exercise for developing your ability to play any melody in any section of the fretboard. It also helps to develop your aural skills, as you have to rely on your ears more than eyes when learning melodies on one string at a time. 12 Keys Exercise The next exercise can be applied to any previous example in this section, as it involves playing melodies in 12 keys on the fretboard. You can try playing the four-position exercise, or the one or two-string exercises, in all 12 keys across the fretboard. Both of these approaches can be challenging and rewarding exercises in the woodshed. Working on melodies in 12 keys helps open up the fretboard, as well as allows you to learn how to quickly move a melody into a different key. This can come in handy if you’re at a jam and someone calls a tune you know, but in a new and unsecure key. You don’t have to play any one melody in all 12 keys if that’s taking up too much of your practice routine. Instead, play the current tune you’re working on in a few keys. Then, do the same with the next tune you learn, covering all 12 keys over three to four tunes in your studies. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Drop a Finger Anywhere This is a variation of the 12-key exercise; only in this case you won’t use any previous learning to play a melody in all 12 keys on the fretboard. The exercise involves randomly dropping your finger on the fretboard, then using that random note as the first note of your melody line. Using your ears, play the melody from that starting note, repeating the tune if necessary until you can play it perfectly from start to finish. When you can do that perfectly, randomly drop your finger on the fretboard again, and play the melody from that new starting note. This exercise will open up your fretboard, and at the same time helps develop your ability to hear melodies on the guitar.

How to Practice Comping

As you know by know, especially if you’ve done some gigs, most of what you’ll do as a jazz guitarist is comp behind other soloists. Because there’s only one of you, and any number of other soloists in a band, you’ll always comp more than you solo in any jam situation. Because of this, it’s very important to spend time working on comping in your jazz guitar practice routine. This’ll ensure that you’re never caught off guard in your comping when put into a jam situation. Comping can mean different things to different people. But, for our purposes it’ll mean playing chords behind melody lines and other soloists over jazz-based tunes.

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Comping can also mean walking bass lines and playing chords, especially those who play a lot of duo gigs. You’ll cover that in a later section as it’s a big enough topic to give it it’s own focus in your studies. As always, make sure to use a metronome or backing track with all of these exercises. Playing with good time is as important to building a solid comping skill set as learning chords and shapes on the fretboard. Lastly, don’t worry too much about learning a million different chord shapes before trying to comp behind other players. Get a few shapes under your fingers at first, and then be creative with those shapes before adding new voicings to your vocabulary. It’s better to master a few ideas than to have too many options under your fingers to know what to do with in a musical situation.

Comping Exercises

When planning comping exercises in your routine, it’s important to cover a number of elements in your studies, including: Ø Chord Voicings Ø Comping Rhythms Ø Chord and Comping Vocabulary Ø Tunes Work on the following exercises with a current tune you’re studying. Or, pick one exercise for this tune, then move on to the next exercise when you switch tunes in your studies.

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Either way, these exercises are designed to cover those various important elements in your playing. Working on them steadily over time will get these elements into your playing in a secure and musical fashion. Four Positions This exercise is designed to allow you to play through entire tunes and chord progressions without moving your hands. You can use any chord type or string set with this exercise, such as Drop 2, Drop 3, and others. Feel free to start with chords you know, then use this exercise to learn new chord shapes from that starting point in your playing. Here are the steps for working the four-positions comping exercise in your practice routine. Ø Pick a chord type, such as Drop 3, and a string set, such as 6432. Ø Play the root position chord for the first change in the tune. Ø Move on to the closest next shape, using inversions if needed. Ø Continue to the closest next chord as you work through the tune. Ø Write down the shapes to help memorize them as you practice. Ø Put on a backing track and comp along with these shapes. Ø Repeat the process with the other inversions of the first chord. By working on this exercise, you’ll always be able to move to the next closest chord in your comping. This creates solid voice leading in your playing, as well as helps you see any chord in the tune in any position of the fretboard. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Specific Rhythm In this exercise, you’ll be combining rhythmic vocabulary with your comping practicing. This’ll help you to not only develop strong chord skills, but strong rhythmic control at the same time. To begin, pick a specific rhythm that you’ll run through the changes to any tune you’re working on in your practice routine. This rhythm can be something you make up, or you can transcribe a rhythm from your favorite player. Either way, the rhythm should be one to two bars long at most, and in the beginning can be less than a bar long. Once you have a specific rhythm, comp through the tune, with a metronome or jam track, using only that specific rhythm in each bar. Here’s an example of this exercise over the first eight bars of the tune All the Things You Are. The rhythm in this example is a dotted quarter note followed by an 8th notes, also referred to as the Charleston rhythm. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Audio Example 12

Working with a specific rhythm may seem a bit bland at first, but it’ll help you develop your ability to hear rhythms when comping. Once you can comp over that tune with one specific rhythm, move on to another rhythm and repeat the exercise. From there, you can mix two rhythms together as you expand on this exercise in your studies. As you work through this exercise, keep a record of the rhythms that you use in your playing. This’ll help you build a rhythmic dictionary that you can refer back to for this, and other, exercises as you move forward in your development. Applied Vocabulary Just as you would learn, apply, and study single-note vocabulary, you can learn and study comping vocabulary in your woodshedding. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Here are the steps to working chord vocabulary in your routine. Ø Pick a tune to work on. Ø Highlight a part of the progression you want to study. Ø Learn a chord lick that fits the changes in that progression. Ø Work the lick up to speed, and then play that lick in your comping. Ø Begin to alter the lick by changing the rhythm and chords slightly. There are many great books that you can use to find comping vocabulary. Or, if you’re up for a challenge, transcribe comping ideas from your favorite players such as Joe Pass, Wes Montgomery, Jim Hall, and others. By studying chord vocabulary, you’ll expand your ability to outline tunes using common and important phrases from the jazz tradition. Comping Behind Jazz Legends One of the most important ways to develop strong comping skills is to comp behind more advanced players. Though this is an important step in your development, it can be hard to find more experienced players to jam with in your local area. Because of this, one of the best ways to practice comping is to comp behind your favorite records. By comping over a classic tune, you’ll be able to: Ø Absorb the groove from the rhythm section. Ø Learn how to comp behind and in between phrases. Ø Spend time playing behind the greatest soloists in jazz history. Next time you want to practice comping, find a classic recording of that tune and comp along behind the melody and soloists on that recording. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Not only will it build your comping skills, it can be hours of fun to jam along and comp behind these legends of jazz in your studies. Working on Non-Jazz Rhythms As well as spending time on traditional jazz rhythms, it’s important to study rhythms and phrases from other related musical styles as well. Make sure to check out the following rhythmic styles in your studies: Ø Bossa Nova Ø Samba Ø Salsa Ø Afro-Cuban Ø Funk Ø Fusion These styles are often used in jazz, and will come up in jam and gigging situations as you get out and play more with other people. As well, you can spend time on 3/4, 5/4, 7/4, and other rhythms that move beyond the 4/4 time signature in your studies. While you might not play many tunes beyond 4/4 and 3/4 time, it’s important to have a handle on various time signatures. That way you aren’t caught off guard when it comes time to jam on one of these tunes in a group setting. You don’t have to master all of these items before attempting them in your playing. Pick one that you like, such as Samba or 5/4 time, and focus on that item until you’re comfortable enough to try it on a jam or gig situation. Then move on to other rhythms and time signatures from that starting point in your practice routine. mattwarnockguitar.com

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How to Practice Chord Melody One of the most common techniques that jazz guitarists want to study and master in their playing is Chord Melody. There’s something about the sound of a CM arrangement that appeals to jazz guitarists of all levels of experience and different musical tastes. While many of us want to play CM’s, it can be intimidating to arrange or learn a CM and apply it to your playing. These exercises are examples of ways that you can apply CM techniques to your studies. Feel free to try out a few of these exercises and see which one or ones suit your playing style better. As well, you can come back to these exercises over time to see how your tastes have changed during your development as a player. Lastly, not every tune can hold a CM arrangement. There’s nothing wrong with trying to work out a CM, realizing it won’t work, and then treating that melody as a single-note line.

Chord Melody Exercises

These exercises are designed to help you build and perform your own chord melody arrangements. If this is the first time you’ve attempted working on CM’s, you can also begin learn arrangements that have been written by other players. This’ll provide inspiration and insight into what other players use to create their own CM arrangements.

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Making it easier for you to tackle your own CM’s once you’re ready to move on to your own arrangements. Lastly, write out or record any CM arrangements that you work on in order to prevent yourself from forgetting these CM’s over time. Bass Notes Below Melody The first CM exercise seems straightforward on paper, but it can be a tough and beneficial exercise when applied to your practice routine. The first step, as was mentioned earlier, is to learn the melody line on the top two strings. This’ll provide enough space below that melody line to add your bass notes in the next step. From there, add the root note of each chord below the melody line, on the 5th and 6th strings only, by playing one root note per chord change. When you can do this while looking at a lead sheet, apply bass notes to your melody without looking at the chart This’ll develop your ability to memorize chord changes at the same time. Here’s an example of this approach with the first four bars of the jazz standard After You’ve Gone. Audio Example 13

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When adding one root note per chord is easy, add in a few other bass notes, diatonic or chromatic, to expand this exercise in your studies. Here’s an example of this approach with the same four bars of After You’re Gone. Audio Example 14

While this may not be an arrangement you perform, it’s a great exercise to help you work on two items at the same time, melody and bass. As well, it’ll train you to think of chords while playing a melody, which will help in later CM exercises in this chapter. Piano Approach This exercises is designed to imitate the two-hands of a piano in your chord melody arrangements. This exercise works best with melodies that have spaces between phrases, where you’ll insert chord voicings in a two-hand style. An example of this would be “Summertime,” where there is a short melody line followed by space between each phrase. That space is where you can add chords into the tune to build your CM arrangement.

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When adding chords in, you can use 2, 3, or 4-note chords between the melody lines. But, be aware that the faster the tune, the smaller the shapes you should use in your arrangement. Smaller shapes will maintain the harmony, while making it easy on your hands at the same time. Also, when applying chords, you can use your chord vocabulary and phrases to create movement in your chord lines. You don’t have to use phrases, but sometimes a well thought out chord line between a melodic phrase can really lift your CM to the next level. Here’s an example of this approach over the first four bars of the jazz standard “Baby Won’t You Please Come Home.” Audio Example 15

To keep things from fading over time, write out or record an your CM so that your hard work doesn’t disappear from your memory. Harmonize Every Note The final, and most difficult, CM technique involves putting a chord below every note in the melody line. This approach works well for slower melody lines, such as “All the Things You Are” and “Stella by Starlight.” mattwarnockguitar.com



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Though it doesn’t function well with Bebop tunes such as “Donna Lee,” where the melody line moves too fast to harmonize each note. With your melody learned on the top two strings, you can add chords below those notes, one per note, to build your arrangement. Begin with two or three-note chords, before moving on to bigger chords, though that may not always be possible depending on the melody range. Here’s an example of this approach over the first four bars to After You’ve Gone. Audio Example 16

If three notes are too difficult to manage, play the 3rd and 7th of each chord below the melody notes. This’ll bring harmony to your line without overdoing it at the same time. Here’s an example of 3rds and 7ths added below the melody line of After You’ve Gone.

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Audio Example 17

Because this approach is more difficult, write out any fully harmonized CM’s you work out so you don’t forget it. As well, you can work these arrangements in groups of four to eight bars at a time to keep things manageable in your studies. Melody Variations Once you have your CM worked out, don’t think of that as the end, but the beginning of where you’ll take that arrangement in your playing. To begin taking your CM further, you can alter the melody line each time you play it through. This doesn’t mean completely changing the melody line; think more about adding slight variations each time you play the melody. This could mean using any or all of the following techniques to build variations into your melody line. Ø Change the rhythms. Ø Add approach notes, either below or above, to the melody. Ø Add enclosures to the melody notes. Ø Add licks between melody lines where applicable. Ø Play any melody lines as octaves instead of single-notes.

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Though these variations seem easy on paper, they can really add up when you bring them together in your CM playing. They’ll allow you to perform the melody differently each time you play a CM arrangement in a jam or gigging situation. Chord Variations Another set of variations that you can work on is with the chords that you’ve used to build your chord melody. This means adding new voicings to your CM arrangement, but it doesn’t have to mean learning new material or altering your CM in any big way. The first way that you can alter your chords is to change the plucking pattern you use in your picking hand. This could mean fingerpicking instead of strumming, or vice-versa. It could mean using various picking hand patterns through the chord voicings in your arrangement. Some examples of these picking hand variations, with three-note chords for example, could be: Ø Play the lowest note and then the top 2 notes together. Ø Play the top 2 notes followed by the lowest note. Ø Play the top note followed by the lowest two notes. Ø Play the bottom two notes followed by the top note. Ø Play the middle note followed by the outside two notes. Ø Play the outer two notes followed by the middle note. Here are examples of each of these variations over a Cmaj7 chord. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Audio Example 18

With just these six variations you can create countless combinations of picking exercises when applied to any CM arrangement in your studies.



How to Practice Improvisation

One of the biggest misconceptions about learning jazz is that if you learn all your scales and arpeggios, you’ll eventually sound like Joe Pass. With this approach, you’ll study scales and arpeggios, and then when you’re soloing, you solos sound like pure scales and arpeggios. A big lesson to learn when studying jazz is that improvisation is a learned skill, just like learning scales or arpeggios. Improvisation needs to be practiced in order to develop that skill and build confidence when soloing in a jazz guitar situation. Because of this, it’s important to make time in each practice session for creative practicing, not just the technical side of playing jazz. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Allowing time each day to help prepare to solo over tunes will go a long way in preparing you to succeed in a jam or gig situation.

Improvisation Exercises

The following exercises are designed to cover various elements of improvisation in your studies. These elements range from ear training, to following chord changes, to breaking out of soloing habits, and more. Any of these exercises can be applied to backing tracks, and should be in order to get your ears involved with these practice items. If you’re new to soloing, or want to start simple, solo over a one-chord vamp with any exercise to get your feet wet with improvisation. From there, move on to common chord progressions and full jazz tunes as you take these exercises to the next level in your studies. Root Note Soloing The first exercise is simple, but it provides big results in the woodshed, especially with regards to hearing and visualizing chord changes. Pick a backing track to work on, either a chord progression or full jazz tune, and begin by playing the root note of each chord over the track. You can play the root notes on the lower strings, like a bass player would, or you can play these notes in the upper register of the guitar. Once you can play the root notes over each chord change in a few positions, improvise with those root notes in your playing. You can do this by: mattwarnockguitar.com

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Ø Ø Ø Ø

Changing the rhythm. Sliding into or out of each root note. Changing the length of each note, staccato vs. legato, etc. Repeating notes in each bar.

This is a good warm up exercise to use in your daily practice routine. It gets your creativity flowing, and it’s a great exercise if you’re having trouble following chord changes when playing over jazz standards. 4 Fret Soloing In this exercise, you will pick four frets to work on over a backing track. You can start with frets one to four, or any area of the guitar you want to focus on, just make sure you stick to those four frets in your solo. Once you have your frets picked out, put on the track and solo over those changes without moving your hand from that four-fret span. This exercise will expand your creativity, by forcing you to work within a small area of the neck. As well, it’ll show you which parts of the neck need work as far as your ability to visualize melodic material around the fretboard. Singing What You Play One of the most important things that you can do in the practice room is to sing along with your playing. Singing along with your soloing helps you to connect your ears to your fingers. It also helps you develop phrasing, as you’ll have to breath between phrases when singing. mattwarnockguitar.com

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This causes you to phrase more like a horn player in your soloing, avoiding the run-on lines that can hinder many guitarists solos. To practice singing with your solos, put on a backing track, then solo over that track while singing along with your lines on the guitar. Make sure you’re singing the correct notes in your soloing, and if you’re having trouble singing along, slow down your lines. Taking more time between phrases works as well, as it helps you to sing along, and builds your phrasing vocabulary at the same time. 1 String Soloing This exercise is simple on paper, but it can provide a big challenge in the practice room when applied to your improvisational practice routine. To work this exercise, put on a backing track, and then solo over that track using only one string at a time. Once you’ve worked through all six strings, one at a time, you can combine two strings, and later three strings, in your soloing studies. This exercise will break you out of your soloing habits and get your ears more involved in your soloing lines and phrases. As well, it helps build your knowledge of the fretboard, as you can’t rely on box patterns in your soloing. 1 Finger Soloing The final exercise is designed to break down any pet tricks or licks you’ve worked out in your playing. It’ll also really open your ears when soloing over a chord progression or jazz tune. mattwarnockguitar.com

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It’s good to start with a one-chord vamp if you’re new to this type of soloing. From there, you can move on to a ii V I progression or full jazz tune when you feel ready. The goal of the exercise is to solo over the static chord, or progression or tune, and only use one fretting-hand finger at a time. So, you solo using only your: Ø Index finger Ø Middle finger Ø Ring finger Ø Pinky finger. Not only is this a great exercise to break you out of old habits, it’ll build individual finger technique in your practice and playing. Once you’re comfortable with each finger, you can then combine two fingers as you expand on this soloing exercise in your practice routine.

How to Practice Bass Lines

One of the great things about playing guitar is that you can play singlenotes, chords, and bass lines, often two or more at a time. Because of this, learning how to walk and comp on the guitar can open up new doors in your playing. It’ll allow you to play in new musical situations that were previously unavailable before learning how to walk bass lines on the guitar. Though walking bass lines is a concept many strive to master, it can seem difficult to walk like your favorite bass players on our guitars.

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If walking and comping is something you want to improve on, making time each day in your routine can produce big results over time.

Bass Line Exercises

While you might be interested in playing bass lines, you might not know where to start. The following exercises are designed to expose you to various approaches for learning and applying bass lines to your studies. They’ll also guide your from day one to advanced walking bass lines with comping in your practicing and performing. You can start with the first exercise and move down the list from there. Or, if you’ve checked out bass lines before, you can skip around a bit to find the right exercise for you at this point in your development. Whole Note Bass Lines To begin your study of bass lines, play the root notes through any tune you’re working on, doing so from memory if possible. Outlining the root notes of any tune will allow you to hear the chord changes, as well as visualize the root movement on the guitar. This prepares you to move on to half-time and full walking bass lines from there with confidence. Play the root notes on the lower two strings only, which leaves space on the upper four strings to add chords on top of those bass notes. Here’s an example of this exercise over a Bb jazz blues progression. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Audio Example 19

Once you have the root notes down, begin to add a few chords on top of those notes as you play through the changes in your practice routine. Here’s an example of chords above the previous bass line example. Audio Example 20

Though this is an intro exercise for bass lines, you might be surprised at how effective root notes can be when sight reading a tune. Or, you can use this slow bass line approach in the first chorus of a tune to set up the time, before moving to busier bass lines from there. Half Time Bass Lines Once you have the whole-note bass line under your fingers, you can move on to a half-time feel bass line in your studies. The term half-time means that you aren’t walking a full quarter-note bass line, but you aren’t only playing roots either. mattwarnockguitar.com





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You’re somewhere in between. Here’s an exercise that you can do in order to begin adding this style of bass line to your playing. Ø Pick a tune or chord progression to work on. Ø Play the root note on beat one of new chord or bar. Ø Play a chromatic approach note one beat before each root. Ø If there’s room, play two chromatic notes before each root note. Here’s an example of one chromatic note before each root in the first four bars of a Bb blues progression. Audio Example 21



Here’s that same bass line, now with two chromatic notes before each new root note in the progression. Audio Example 22

Though you’re only playing two, or maybe three notes per bar, getting the half-time feel down in your bass lines can take some time.

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If you’re struggling with this exercise, skip down to the transcribing bass lines exercise later in this section. That’ll help you get a half-time feel into your playing, by transcribing bass lines in your studies rather than making them up on your own. Walking Bass Lines Now that you’ve worked on nailing the root notes and developing your half-time feel, you can move into a full walking bass line. Here’s a formula that you can use to begin playing walking bass lines over jazz tunes in your studies. First, for bars that have 2 chords, play the root note on the first beat of each chord, followed by a chromatic note leading to the next root note. When you have one chord per bar, or one chord for more than one bar, the following formula is a good place to start. Ø Play the root note on beat 1. Ø Play a diatonic note on beat 2, chord or scale tone. Ø Play a chromatic approach note on beat 3. Ø Play a chromatic approach note on beat 4. By working this formula, you’ll be able to outline the chord that you’re on, and lead the listener to the next chord in the progression. Here’s an example of a walking bass line over the first four bars of a Bb jazz blues chord progression. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Audio example 23

Once you have this approach down, feel free to break some of these rules to expand upon bass lines in your studies. If you’re unsure of how to break the rules in a musical way, skip down to the transcribing bass lines exercise. Transcribing is the best way to hear, understand, and apply real-life concepts to your bass lines. Singing Bass lines Along with playing bass lines in your practice routine, you can bring your ears to the equation by singing bass lines over changes. When doing so, you have a few options as far as how to approach singing bass lines in your studies. The first is to comp the chords while singing a bass line over those chords, playing the role of comper and walker at the same time. For more of a challenge, you can sing the bass lines with no chords. This forces your ears to keep track of the keys and chord changes on their own as you sing through the bass line over any tune. Finally, you can sing a bass line and improvise single notes on the guitar over that bass line.

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This is the hardest of the three approaches. But, if you’re interested in developing your ability to hear and play bass lines, this is a good medium to long-term goal to have in your studies. Transcribing Bass lines Transcribing bass lines is the fastest and most direct way to get into the minds of some of jazz’s greatest bass players. As a guitarist, you can transcribe any bass line you’re drawn to. Learn how to play along with the recording at first to work on feel and phrasing, then add chords to make it fit more into a solo or duo setting. Writing out a transcribed bass line is also beneficial. This allows you to analyze the bass line to see where chord tones, chromatic notes, chord subs, and other devices fall within the lines. If you aren’t sure which bass line to start with from a transcription point of view, check out the Sonny Rollins recording “Blue Seven.” This is a great bass line for to transcribe, as the first chorus is bass only, then the second chorus is just bass and drums. This allows for each note to be heard clearly on the recording. After you’ve transcribed a chorus of transcribed bass lines, write out a chorus of your own bass line in the style of that player. Use lines and concepts drawn from the transcribed bass line as the basis for your own line, melding these lines into your musical personality.

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Essential Jazz Guitar Tunes Now that you know how to practice jazz tunes, you’ll need to figure out which tunes are right for you to study at this point in your development. You’ll want to pick tunes that challenge you in the woodshed, but aren’t too difficult that you can’t perform them with reasonable practice time. This section lays out 15 jazz tunes that you can explore in your studies, for beginner, intermediate and advanced level players. Even if you’re an intermediate or advanced jazz guitarist, you can benefit from a review of the beginner tunes. Regardless of your playing ability, starting from the beginning of this list can provide benefit in your jazz guitar practice routine.

Beginner Jazz Guitar Tunes

The following five tunes are chosen to introduce beginning jazz guitarists to playing melodies, chords, and soloing in a jazz situation. One of the main barriers many beginning guitarists face is that they’ve never actually played a jazz tune in their studies. By starting with an easy jazz tune to work on, you can bring a tune focus into your playing right from day one in your jazz guitar journey. This’ll keep things fun in the practice room, as well as build motivation and encouragement as you make actual music in your studies. If you’re a more advanced player, don’t skip this section, you can use these tunes as vehicles to study more advanced concepts. As well, reviewing these tunes can help fill holes in your playing that may have developed in the early days of your jazz guitar studies. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Summertime If you’re looking for a first tune to learn when first beginning your study of jazz guitar, then “Summertime” is a great place to start. The melody uses notes only from the minor pentatonic scale, except one note, which comes from outside that scale. The melody is also one many players have heard before, and so already have it in your ears before learning to play it on the guitar. Because the minor pentatonic scale is used to build the melody, you can use the same scale to solo over the whole tune in your studies. This acts as a great introduction to jazz guitar soloing. You don’t have to learn a million scales to start soloing over Summertime, you need a minor pentatonic scale and you’re ready to go. To bring a focus on building jazz vocabulary in your studies of this tune, you can add enclosures to your minor pentatonic scale. Playing one fret above, one fret below, then each scale note as you create a sense of tension and release in your “Summertime” solos. Here’s an example of enclosures over a Dm pentatonic scale, which you can use to solo over Summertime in the key of D minor. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Audio Example 24





Milestones Once you’ve worked on a one-key tune, such as “Summertime,” you’re ready to challenge yourself by switching keys in your practice routine. “Milestones” by Miles Davis is a great two-key tune to start with. It contains an A section in one key, Gm7-Fmaj7, and a B section in another key, A Aeolian. You can use the G Dorian scale to solo over the A section and the A Aeolian scale to solo over the B section. This introduces you to switching modes, Dorian to Aeolian, as well as switch keys, G to A, in your improvisations. The melody is fairly straightforward for Milestones, though the rhythm in the B section can be a bit tricky to get under your fingers. Because of this, learn the melody by ear, as often hearing rhythms is easier than reading them on a tune such a “Milestones.” mattwarnockguitar.com

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Maiden Voyage “Maiden Voyage” has four different keys of m7 chords, which forces you to move around the fretboard in your comping and soloing. These four keys, Am7-Cm7-Bbm7-C#m7, will take the work you did on “Milestones” to the next level. You’ll now have to take your chord shapes and soloing techniques, to four keys in your practicing and jamming. These minor soloing techniques include: Ø Minor Pentatonic Scales Ø Dorian Modes Ø Enclosures Ø m7 Chords Lastly, the melody is easy enough that you can try to learn it by ear, which brings an ear-training element to your study of this tune. The rhythm in the piano can also be learned by ear, building your ability to hear rhythms in your playing and in the band around you.

Watermelon Man Featuring a memorable piano riff, which you can play on the guitar, “Watermelon Man” is a good choice when first working on 7th chords. The tune is somewhat like a 12-bar blues progression, with 4 extra bars added at the end during the turnaround section. This means that you’ll have to play three different 7th chords, F7-Bb7C7, in three different keys, in your soloing and comping. Because there are only three chords in this tune, you can use it as a vehicle to practice various chord types in your comping studies. mattwarnockguitar.com

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As well, Watermelon Man works well for practicing 7th and 9th arpeggios, as well as Mixolydian and Bebop Scale soloing techniques. If Maiden Voyage was a great vehicle for minor chord study, Watermelon Man is the Dominant chord equivalent.

Cantaloupe Island Another Herbie tune, “Cantaloupe Island” also has a funky piano riff that you can learn to play on guitar. Cantaloupe Island mixes m7 and 7th chords in your playing, so you now have to chord types in your comping and soloing. There are also three chords Fm7-Db7-Dm7 and each is in a different key, causing you to change keys and chord qualities in your playing. When playing Db7 chord in Cantaloupe, you can treat it as a 7#11 chord. This allows you to explore Lydian Dominant shapes in your soloing and comping over this 16-bar tune. Lastly, the melody is easy enough that you can learn it by ear, referring to a lead sheet just to check your work. Bringing in an element of ear training is a great way to keep things balanced in the woodshed, as well as increase your aural skills.

Recording Exercise Record yourself playing a tune, melody-chords-soloing. Then, listen back while taking notes on five positive elements and five areas of improvement in your playing. Then use that analysis to influence future practicing on this tune. . mattwarnockguitar.com

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Beginner Jazz Guitar Tune Checklist The following is a list of 10 items that you can use to the Beginner jazz guitar tunes in this section. You don’t have to master all 10 before moving on to more advanced tunes, or before moving onto the next tune in your studies, But, you’ll want to work on all 10 over time in order to provide a balanced approach to your tune study at this point in your development. Ø Learn the melody in one position. Ø Learn the melody in 4 positions. Ø Play the root note for each chord with a backing track. Ø Play a half-time bass line. Ø Comp root-position shapes over the tune. Ø Solo on the tune using as few scales as possible. Ø Bring one element of vocabulary into your soloing lines. Ø Play the chords on guitar and sing the root notes for each chord. Ø Play the chords on guitar and scat sing a solo. Ø Analyze a recording of your playing for areas of improvement.

Intermediate Jazz Guitar Tunes

Intermediate level tunes will take your playing into challenging, and fun, new areas of concentration. These areas include: Ø Major and minor ii V I’s. Ø Melodic minor soloing. Ø Altered chords. Ø Faster chord rhythms such as two chords per bar. As these concepts will pose a challenge, even for experienced players, don’t be in a hurry to move on from these tunes in your studies. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Time is your best friend when working on more difficult tunes in the woodshed. Spending two, three, or more months on any one of these tunes is totally normal, and even advised to really dig into these pieces in your studies. As was the case with the Beginner tunes, each of these five tunes has a specific reason, challenge, and benefit for you in your studies. They’re listed in order from easiest to hardest to study. This means you could study them in order of presentation, or jump around if you’re looking to tackle a specific technique in your studies.

Satin Doll The first tune in this list of Intermediate jazz guitar tunes is “Satin Doll.” This is a challenging tune because of the amount of short ii-V chord progressions in its construction. There are also interesting movements of some of these changes in their progressions and resolutions. With short ii-V’s in almost every bar of the A section, these changes will challenge you to properly and outline these chords in your playing. This can be especially challenging if this tune is called at a medium or fast tempo in a jam. As well, the movement of the changes in the second half of the A section, Am7-D7-Abm7-Db7-Cmaj7, can be challenging to resolve. You’re moving from an Am7 chord down through to the Cmaj7 chord at the end of the phrase, but not in a traditional ii-V manner. Lastly, the melody is written in a way that sits nicely within a chord melody arrangement. mattwarnockguitar.com

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So using this tune as a chord melody vehicle will also pose a fun for you as you tackle “Satin Doll” in the woodshed.

Autumn Leaves While this is often thought of as a beginner tune, “Autumn Leaves” can be a deceivingly tough tune to navigate. In order to properly play “Autumn Leaves,” you’ll need to have a number of intermediate level concepts under your fingers. The first concept that’ll challenge you on this tune is switching between and properly outlining both major and minor ii V I chord changes. Since minor ii V I’s require three scales to outline those chords, it’ll take some time to be comfortable with these chords in your studies. As well, there are four chords in two bars during the last section of the tune, with tritone subs; depending on which version you play. This’ll challenge you to outline these changes in a proper and musical fashion, often at a fast-moving tempo. Finally, because of the construction of the melody line, “Autumn Leaves” is a great tune to use as a chord melody vehicle It works well with either a “two hands of the piano,” approach or the fully harmonized approach to building a chord melody arrangement. mattwarnockguitar.com

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All The Things You Are Moving on to another classic jam session tune, ATTYA will challenge you to navigate: Ø Multiple key changes. Ø Major and mixed ii V I’s. Ø Common jazz chord changes, IV-iv-iii-biii for example. Ø A melody that sits well for a chord melody arrangement. The first challenge with ATTYA is the amount of key changes that are contained in this tune. The tune also has 36 bars in its construction, four more than are normally expected in a jazz standard. There are also major ii V I’s, both long and short, as well as mixed ii V I’s chord progression. Mixed ii V I’s are where you play m7b5-V7alt-Imaj7, a mixture of both major and minor ii V I’s. The last section of the tune also contains a IVmaj7-IVm7-iiim7-biiidim7 progression. This is a common progression in the jazz repertoire, and one that’ll take some time in the woodshed to be able to confidently play over. Lastly, because the melody contains longer rhythms, as well as a focus on the 3rd of each chord, ATTYA makes for a great chord melody tune. It’s fairly easy to add chords below the melody line, opening up various avenues of exploration for CM in your studies of this tune. Though it can pose a number of different challenges in the woodshed, ATTYA is a fun tune that is often called on gig and jam situations. So, any time spent on this tune is time well spent in the practice room. mattwarnockguitar.com

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What Is This Thing Called Love When focusing on minor ii V I’s, “What Is This Thing Called Love” is a great tune to tackle in the practice room. While there are other tunes that contain a focus on ii V I’s in their construction, this tune brings to the front three different types of ii V I’s. The first type is a minor ii V I, where you’ll practice soloing and comping over a iim7b5-V7alt-Im7 progression in your studies. Minor ii V I’s can pose a bigger challenge than their major counterparts. This is because you need to play three scales over these three chords, as compared to one scale in a major key. The next type is a mixed ii V I, where you play a iim7b5-V7alt-Imaj7 progression. Because the first half of the progression is minor and the last chord major, you’ll have to use three scales to outline these changes. The last type is a major ii V I, which is the easiest of the three to study. But, it’s still an important progression to work on in your tune study nonetheless. Because of the various ii V I progressions, “What is This Thing Called Love” is a challenging and beneficial piece to tackle in your routine.

Jazz Blues Tunes The most commonly used form in jazz, the blues progression is deceptively difficult to comp and solo over in a jazz guitar setting. While many beginner players want to learn a jazz blues, the key changes and rapid chord movement are better suited for intermediate players. mattwarnockguitar.com

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With a jazz blues, you’ll have to change keys five times in 12 bars. You’ll also address both diminished chords and 7b9 chords, using the Whole-Half and Phrygian Dominant scales in the process. As well, there are four chords and three key changes in the last two bars of the tune, which is the area that handcuffs many players. Extracting these two bars, working them slowly, and bringing them back into the tune will be a helpful exercise when studying jazz blues. Though it can be more challenging than expected, jazz blues tunes are the most commonly called on gigs and jam sessions. So spending time on these tunes in your studies will produce big results on the bandstand.

Intermediate Jazz Guitar Tune Checklist

Here is a list of 10 items that you can work on in order to master these pieces in your studies. As was the case with the beginner checklist, you don’t have to run all 10 items over one tune. You can practice a few over one tune, then move on to the next tune and run a few more, until you have covered all 10 items in your studies. Lastly, as these 10 items are more advanced in nature, you can also use all 10 items from the Beginner checklist as a starting point. Then move on to the intermediate exercises when you’re ready. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Ø Ø Ø Ø Ø Ø Ø Ø Ø Ø

Learn the melody on one string at a time. Play the bass notes below the melody line with a metronome. Sing the bass notes and play the melody line on guitar. Learn to comp the chords in four positions on the guitar. Play the 3rds and 7ths for each chord. Play a half-time bass line. Add a second chromatic note to your half-time bass lines. Solo with one-octave arpeggios. Solo with one-octave scale shapes. Write out the “perfect” solo and play it from memory.

After you’ve worked these 10 items, either on one tune or across all five, you’re ready to move on to more advanced tunes in your studies.

Advanced Jazz Guitar Tunes

Moving on to the advanced level, these five tunes will provide challenges even for more experienced players. These tunes pose unique challenges that will be rewarding and difficult to tackle in your studies, including: Ø Odd forms. Ø Fast tempos. Ø Fast-moving chord changes. Ø Odd moving key centers. Because of the higher level of difficulty, taking more time than usual to work through these tunes is perfectly fine. It’s even suggested for this level of repertoire. If you’ve made it to this level of playing, then you’re doing it right so far. Continue to maintain a well-balanced approach to your studies, work on ear and technique, and you’ll be through these tough tunes over time. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Stella by Starlight One of the most commonly learned tunes, “Stella by Starlight” can pose a significant challenge even for advanced players in the woodshed. Because this tune is so popular, expectations are high when playing Stella on the bandstand. Understanding the harmony, soloing in a musical fashion, and bringing personality to Stella can pose challenges in the practice room. Apart from studying the tune itself, there are a number of classic transcriptions that you can do in your study of this tune. John Abercrombie’s version is a must-know for any advanced student, as it’s extremely melodic, energetic, and original in its construction. Though it seems like an intermediate tune, to confidently play Stella you’ll need to work it into the advanced stages of your development.

Donna Lee While the chord changes to “Donna Lee” aren’t overly difficult, the melody is tough to get flowing on the guitar, even for advanced players. Working on the fingering, nailing the tempo, memorizing, and playing it with the energy in Parker’s recordings, can all be difficult to attain. If you’re looking for a challenge, play “Donna Lee” in all 12 keys, by taking the melody, comping, and soloing to all areas of the fretboard. Playing in 12 keys is for very advanced students, but it’s an exercise every jazz guitarist should tackle at least once in their development. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Blues for Alice One of the most challenging tunes from the Parker songbook, “Blues for Alice” is a set of advanced substitutions over F jazz blues changes. The hardest aspects of this tune are the descending runs of ii-V’s. These can handcuff players into simply running patterns down these chords, or relying on licks to get through these parts of the tune. In order to get your playing to an advanced level over this “Bird Blues,” you’ll have to be able to solo and comp in a melodic way. This often means moving in opposite direction to the movement of the chords, creating counterpoint in your playing. Not the fastest tune, “Blues for Alice” will challenge you in other ways. And, when you can get it under your fingers, it’ll make an engaging addition to your jazz blues repertoire.

Giant Steps The most famous of all advanced jazz tunes; “Giant Steps” will continue to challenge you well into your advanced stage of development. While outlining the changes can be done at the intermediate stage, sounding musical and melodic is another challenge all together. Because of the fast moving chords, multiple keys, and fast tempo, you’ll often start to work on it from a technical level only. This means learning how to outline the changes with common melodic devices such as triads, arpeggios, and Trane’s favorite, 1235. Then, you can come back to it time and again in your studies in order to build the melodic quality of your solos to the advanced level. mattwarnockguitar.com

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If you dig this tune, then don’t wait to work on it in your studies, start today and then come back to it over time. Giant Steps is one tune that you could keep in your studies for years, if not decades, to come.

Alone Together With an odd form, “Alone Together” will challenge your ability to keep track of the tune while creatively soloing and comping over the changes. Alone Together features ii-V’s that move in odd directions, pushing you to create melodies that flow through and outline these tough changes. Because it’s a favorite of guitarists, there are a number of classic solos that you can transcribe when learning this tune. These include memorable recordings by both Jim Hall and Ed Bickert that are appropriate transcriptions for advanced level students. While this tune tends to get called a lot at jam sessions, it takes a seasoned player to accurately and musically perform this tune. Adding it to your practice routine will ensure you’re prepared to tackle Alone Together the next time it’s called on the bandstand.

Advanced Jazz Guitar Tune Checklist

Here’s a checklist of 10 practice items that you can use to challenge yourself in the woodshed. You can practice all of these items over each tune, or do a few on one tune and a few on another. Just make sure to cover all of these items over time in your studies. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Ø Ø Ø Ø Ø Ø Ø Ø Ø Ø

Learn the melody on one string at a time. Comp the chords and sing the melody over those changes. Work out a chord melody for the tune. Walk a bass line over the whole tune from memory. Comp the chords and sing a walking bass line over the tune. Sing a walking bass line and solo over the tune on guitar. Transcribe a famous solo over the tune. Solo over the tune, one string at a time. Solo over the tune, in four-fret positions only. Chord solo over the tune.



Maintaining Repertoire To avoid forgetting past tunes, make time once a practice session to run the melody, chords, and a short solo over 3-5 tunes. Then, once per week set aside an hour to review tunes that you know by playing a “concert” at home along with backing tracks. This’ll ensure that you don’t lose tunes in your memory as you move forward in your development. .

Chapter 4 Checklist

Before moving on to the next chapter in this book, review the following items related to working tunes in the practice room. You don’t have to master all of these to move on, but use them as a guide to test yourself over time with tunes in the woodshed.

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Melodic Goals Ø Play a melody in one position on the neck from memory. Ø Play a melody in four positions on the fretboard. Ø Play a melody on 1 string at a time. Ø Drop your finger randomly on the guitar and play a melody. Ø Play any of these exercises in 12 keys. Ø Play a bass line line, one note per chord, half-time feel, or walking. Ø Play the chords to a tune on guitar and sing the melody. Ø Arrange a chord melody for a tune you’re working on. Harmonic Goals Ø Comp the 3rds and 7ths in 2 to 4 positions on the fretboard. Ø Comp Drop 2 chords in 4 positions on any tune. Ø Comp Drop 3 chords in 4 positions on any tune. Ø Sing the melody to a tune and comp the chords on guitar. Ø Comp the chords to a tune and scat solo over those changes. Ø Play a whole note, half time, and walking bass line over the tune. Ø Play a bass line on guitar and sing the melody. Ø Play a bass line on guitar and scat sing a solo. Improvisational Goals Ø Solo over a tune using only the melody line as your inspiration. Ø Solo using only arpeggios over any tune. Ø Solo using only scale shapes over any tune. Ø Bring one or more licks into your solos. Ø Solo in one position on the guitar. Repeat in 3 other positions. Ø Solo on one string at a time over any tune. Ø Transcribe a chorus or more of a solo. Ø Alternate a transcribed chorus with an improvised chorus. Ø Write out the “perfect” solo over any tune you’re working on.

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Chapter 5 - Jazz Guitar Fundamentals Some of the most important items that you’ll need to address at various stages of your development are jazz fundamentals. Fundamental Jazz skills include: Ø Scales Ø Arpeggios Ø Chords Ø Guide tones Ø Vocabulary These five elements make up the basic foundation needed to tackle any tune in the woodshed, or in a jam or gig situation. If you’re having trouble playing tunes, soloing or comping, it’ll often be because of a weakness in your fundamental skill set. This Chapter explains these fundamentals, as well as provides practical exercises to ensure that there are no holes in your jazz foundation.

Practicing Jazz Guitar Scales

Scales are the most commonly studied jazz guitar fundamental. While scales are important, they can also cause a lot of problems in your playing if they’re treated as an end, rather than a means to an end. If you take a well-balanced approach in the practice room, you can get the most out of your scale practice. This approach includes: mattwarnockguitar.com

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Ø Ø Ø Ø

Practicing box patterns. Working to break out of box patterns. Applying scales to tunes. Using scales to translate jazz vocabulary.

This type of approach will help you avoid sounding like you’re running up and down scales when you apply these melodic devices to your solos.

Scale Exercises While you know that scales are important, the study of these melodic devices rarely goes beyond playing up and down scales in multiple keys. Here are five exercises that you can add to your practice routine in order to keep a well-balanced approach to scales in the woodshed. These exercises will expand your scale knowledge, expose new approaches to scales, and add variety into your scale practice. One String Scales Here is a layout of the exercise from a technical standpoint. Ø Pick a scale and key. Ø Play the lowest possible note from that scale on the 6th string. Ø Play scale up the string and back down again. Ø Say the notes as you play them. Ø Repeat this exercise on all six strings. As well, you can work this exercise from an improvisational standpoint by following these steps. Ø Pick a tune or chord progression to practice. Ø Solo over a backing track, using only the 6th string of the guitar. Ø Repeat that exercise with all six strings, one at a time. Ø Expand the exercise by soloing on any two strings at one time. mattwarnockguitar.com

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These exercises are great for expanding your scale knowledge, as well as opening up the fretboard at the same time. 12 Keys in One Position This is a good, though tough, exercise that you can use to build fretboard knowledge, as well as learn to use minimal movement on the neck. Ø Pick a four-fret span, five to eight for example. Ø Play the C major scale in that position. Ø Play the other major scales in that position. Ø Use the cycle of 5ths as a guide. Ø Cycle of 5ths = C, F, Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, B, E, A, D, G. Ø Repeat in other four-fret spans on the guitar. This exercise will teach you scale fingerings in that position, and you’ll challenge yourself to switch keys without shifting positions. This’ll come in handy when soloing over jazz tunes, as keys often change quickly, and staying in position will make those transitions easier. Scale Pattern Practice Moving on to a more traditional scale exercise, you can also apply scale patterns to your practice routine. Scale patterns are great for visualizing and memorizing scale shapes. As well, they provide material to solo with when you take these patterns to the improvisational side of your practice routine. Some patterns that you can use to run through scales, and that are essential practicing for any jazz guitarist, are: Ø Intervals Ø Triads Ø Arpeggios mattwarnockguitar.com

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As well, when practicing these scale patterns, make sure to run them in every direction: Ø Ascending Ø Descending Ø Alternating One Up One Down Ø Alternating One Down One Up As well, you can practice soloing with any scale pattern you’re studying. You can do this by picking a specific pattern, such as ascending triads, and then use that pattern in your soloing lines over a backing track. By working scale patterns from both technical and improvisational standpoints, you’ll maintain a balance in your practice routine. Scale Vocabulary Practice Building vocabulary is an important part of your practice routine. As well, integrating jazz vocabulary into scales is a quick and effective way to translate important vocabulary onto the fretboard. In order to do this effectively, focus on one piece of vocabulary for a long while, applying that item to as many scales and keys as you can. Here’s a series of steps that you can follow to bring vocabulary to your scale practice routine. Ø Pick a scale and key. Ø Pick a piece of vocabulary to work on, such as enclosures. Ø Play the scale and apply the vocabulary where applicable. Ø Solo over a jam track using the scale and vocabulary in your lines. Ø Repeat with other scale, vocabulary, and keys. Working vocabulary through scales will give you new material, expanded technique, and bring new awareness to scales’ role in soloing. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Scales Over Tunes Applying any concept you learn to tunes is an important part of your practice routine, and scales are no exception. By working scales through tunes, you’ll prepare yourself to confidently solo over as well as learn new scales and fingerings at the same time. Here’s an exercise you can do in order to apply scales to tunes in your practice routine. Ø Pick a tune to study. Ø Play one-octave scales over each chord. Ø Play two-octave scales over each chord. Ø Apply a scale pattern to those scale shapes. Ø Apply vocabulary to those scale shapes. Ø Solo over a jam track using these scales, patterns, and vocabulary.

What Scales Should You Practice Players are often overwhelmed by the amount of scales out there, feeling that they have to learn all of them before making any music. To avoid this level of overload in the practice room, you can use tunes to build scale focus in your studies. Take the tunes you’re practicing, write out which scales are needed to solo over those tunes, and then only practice those scales. This’ll make a connection between your scale and tune practice, multitasking a bit to prevent overload in your studies. Over time, as you learn more tunes, you’ll cover all of the essential jazz guitar scales in your studies.

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Practicing Jazz Guitar Arpeggios The most important devices you can learn to outline chords in your solos are arpeggios. Because they contain only notes from the chords you’re soloing over, they’re the most direct way to hit the chord tones in your soloing lines. You can also use arpeggios to inject the jazz language into your solos when applied to the improvisational side of your routine. Arpeggios will also build dexterity and your overall technique when applied to the technical side of your studies. Arpeggios are an important part of any balanced practice routine. So making time for arpeggios will help you learn more about the fretboard, and expand your soloing chops at the same time.

Arpeggio Exercises

The following exercises are designed to bring a focus to your arpeggio studies when applying them to your jazz guitar practice routine. Though you know they’re essential, sometimes it’s hard to know how to practice arpeggios besides memorizing shapes on the fretboard. To ensure that you internalize these shapes and that you’re fully prepared to apply them to any jam or gig situation, you can: Ø Apply vocabulary to arpeggios. Ø Run arpeggios through progressions and full tunes Ø Compos arpeggio-based solos. Ø Sing arpeggios mattwarnockguitar.com

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Approach Notes Through Arpeggios The first exercise involves adding vocabulary to your arpeggio practice routine. The example that you’ll use is approach notes, which are applied to any arpeggio shape once you’ve memorized that shape in your studies. Once you’ve picked a shape to work on, you apply the approach notes to that one or two-octave arpeggio starting with the root note. From there, repeat the approach notes over the other arpeggio notes for the shape that you’re working on. Here’s an example of approach notes through a C7 arpeggio. Audio Example 25

You can use approach notes over any arpeggio that you’re studying with both a metronome and backing tracks. Once you’re comfortable with approach notes over a few arpeggios, jam with those shapes over a chord progression or full tune in your studies. This’ll ensure that you work arpeggio vocabulary from both a technical and improvisational standpoint in your practice routine. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Arpeggios Through ii V I’s Working arpeggios through ii V I’s is an important exercise that’ll prepare you to solo over full tunes in a jam situation. When working arpeggios over ii V I’s, makes sure that you work both one and two-octave arpeggio shapes. As well, work on both major and minor ii V I’s in all keys, to ensure that you cover all the bases with this exercise in your routine. Here are examples of ways to apply arpeggios to your ii V I routine. Ø Practice ascending arpeggios. Ø Practice descending arpeggios. Ø Alternate one up and one down. Ø Alternate one down and one up. Ø Work in one position; repeat in other positions on the guitar. Ø Apply vocabulary such as enclosures to your shapes. Ø Solo over a backing track with these arpeggios in your lines. Make time to solo with these arpeggios over ii V I’s to ensure that sure you work them from both a technical and improvisational standpoint. Arpeggios Through Tunes As well as practicing arpeggio over individual chords and chord progressions, you can work arpeggios through tunes. Here are a number of ways that you can work on arpeggios over tunes in your studies. Ø All ascending over the changes. Ø All descending over the changes. Ø First arpeggio up and second arpeggio down. Ø First arpeggio down and second arpeggio up. Ø Play the arpeggios with various rhythms. Ø Solo over the changes using these arpeggio shapes. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Make sure that you improvise with these arpeggios as well to take them into the improvisational side of your practice routine over tunes. The Perfect Arpeggio Chorus Writing out solos and memorizing them will help organize your thoughts when it comes to improvising. In this exercise, pick a tune, and then write out one chorus of what you consider to be a “perfect” improvisation using arpeggios over that tune. Take your time and don’t be shy to edit it or changes things once you play it and have heard the solo with a backing track. Aim for perfection if you can with this exercise. Once you’ve written the solo, memorize it so that you internalize the chorus, as well as learning how to play it on the guitar. Jazz has been referred to as “spontaneous composition,” which is a good description of what advanced players are doing in their solos. Working on composing your solos can be a helpful way to get to a point where you can compose advanced solos in the moment. Writing out solos, memorizing them, and playing them with backing tracks is an effective way to work on this skill in the woodshed. Singing With Arpeggios As you’ve seen before in this eBook, singing is a big part of any wellbalanced practice routine, and working on arpeggios is no exception. In this exercise, you’ll sing along with any arpeggio exercise that you’re working on in your practice routine.

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To push yourself, sing the arpeggio first, and then check the notes on the guitar after to ensure that you’re singing them correctly. Work this exercise until you can sing the arpeggios correctly before you play them. This’ll mean that you can hear any arpeggio in your inner ear, as well as play them on the fretboard.

Arpeggios Up and Scales Down If you’re looking to combine your scales and arpeggios, one of the best exercises is to play the arpeggio up and its related scale down. You can do this over the modes in a key, as well as with the scales/arps to any progression or tune you’re working on. Rhythmically, play this exercise with quarter notes in the arpeggios and 8th notes in the scales to mix rhythms in your studies.



Practicing Guide Tones

Guide tones are used to move from one chord to the next in a progression, with the least amount of movement between changes. While there are a number of ways to use guide tones in your soloing and comping, one of the most important to practice are 3rds and 7ths. 3rds and 7ths are important for several reasons. The first is that they’re the two most important notes when sounding any chord on guitar.

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This is because the 3rd will tell you if the chord is minor or major, and the 7th will tell you if the chord is a m7, maj7, 7, etc. The only chord that isn’t outlined by 3rds and 7ths is the m7b5. You’ll need the b5 to fully hear the difference between the m7 and m7b5 sounds, but you can still use 3rds and 7ths to outline m7b5 chords. The other side of guide tones is that they outline movement between chords in a progression, such as ii V Is. If you play the b7 of a ii chord, that note will move by a half step down to the 3rd of the V chord. In the key of C these notes would be C (b7 of Dm7 and Dm7b5) and B (3rd of G7 and G7alt). Here’s how that looks on paper. Audio Example 26

As well, the b7 of the V7 moves down by half step to the 3rd of the Imaj7 chord in that key. Here’s an example of that movement in C major.

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Audio Example 27



Because there’s a b3 in the Im7 chord in a minor ii V I, you can move from the 3rd V7alt down by half step to the b7 of the Im7 chord. Here’s how that looks in C minor. Audio Example 28



Don’t worry if this is confusing at this stage in your development. The exercises in this section are designed to get the sound of guide tones into your ears and the concept of guide tones into your head.

Guide Tone Exercises

As was mentioned in the introduction to this section, you can use guide tones to both comp and solo in your playing. Because you’ve studied 3rds and 7ths from a comping perspective in other chapters, you’ll focus on the soloing side of guide tones here. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Lastly, because guide tones are used to outline chord changes with minimal movement, they’re best applied to jazz tunes in your studies. If you’re unsure about which tune to start with when working on these exercises, try “Tune Up” by Miles Davis. Tune Up contains three different descending ii V I progressions, and so is the perfect vehicle for woodshedding major key guide tones. Playing the 3rd of Every Chord The first exercise focuses on singing and playing the 3rd of each chord in a progression or tune that you’re working on in your studies. Ø Sing the 3rd of each chord and comp the chords on guitar. Ø Pluck the 3rd of the chord shape to match pitch if needed. Ø Play the 3rd of each chord over a backing track. Though it’s a simple idea, playing and singing the 3rd will get your ears and fingers around guide tones and chord changes in a meaningful way. Playing the 7th of Every Chord As well as focusing on the 3rd in your practice routine, you can also work on the 7th of each chord in your studies. Ø Sing the 7th of each chord and comp the chords on guitar. Ø Pluck the 7th of the chord shape to match pitch if needed. Ø Play the 7th of each chord over a backing track. You can play the 7th of each chord on any string you wish, and in any range of the guitar. The more you experiment with the placement of these notes, the better you’ll be able to visualize 7ths in your playing down the road. mattwarnockguitar.com

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7 to 3 Guide Tones Now that you’ve worked each guide tone on their own, you can begin to combine 3rds and 7ths in your practice routine. Ø Play the b7 of a iim7 chord. Ø Play the 3rd of its related V7 chord. Ø Play the b7 of the V7 chord. Ø Play the 3rd of the related Imaj7 chord. Here’s how this exercise looks in C major. Audio Example 29

You can also work this exercise in minor keys. Ø Play the b7 of a iim7b5 chord. Ø Play the 3rd of its related V7alt chord. Ø Play the 3rd of the V7alt chord. Ø Play the b7 of the related Im7 chord. Here’s how this exercise looks in C major. Audio Example 30



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When this is comfortable, put on a backing track and solo over those changes using only the guide tones. You can use slides, octave jumps, and various rhythms to create interest with only the 3rd or 7th of any chord in that progression. Adding Approach Notes and Enclosures Once you can play guide tones over any progression, begin to ornament these notes by adding in approach notes and enclosures to your playing. For this exercise, improvise over a tune or progression, using only the guide tones in your lines. Then, begin to add approach notes to these 3rds and 7ths by playing one fret below or one fret above each guide tone. Here’s an example over a ii V I in C major. Audio Example 31

You can also add in enclosures to the guide tones as you introduce and then resolve those chromatic notes in your lines. Here’s an example of enclosures over a ii V I in C minor. mattwarnockguitar.com



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Audio Example 32



If this seems difficult, play through these exercises without improvising, playing the guide tones and ornaments over each change. Then, when you feel more confident, bring them into a soloing situation after that initial exploration. Singing Guide Tones The final exercise in this section involves singing guide tones over chord progressions and jazz tunes. Ø Comp a ii V I and sing the guide tone movement between chords. Ø Play the guide tones on guitar to match pitch if needed. Ø Repeat in as many keys as possible. Ø Repeat with minor ii V I chords and guide tones. Ø Scat sing a solo using only guide tones over the changes. Singing guide tones can be the best way to directly get the sound of these notes into your ears. This’ll build confidence when applying them to your solos, as well as the confidence to hear guide tones when studying solos by famous players.

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All The Things You Are Take a few minutes this week and analyze the melody line to “All The Things You Are.” Write down which intervals are being used in each bar, and note how many are the 3rd or 7th of the underlying chord. While they won’t always move in half step, you can hear how the melody sounds the changes in its movement between guide tones.



Practicing Jazz Guitar Chords

Learning how to confidently and musically comp over tunes is probably the most important skill you can develop in your studies. While many of us would rather be soloing, the reality is that you’ll spend the majority of your time on gigs comping behind other soloists. Because of this, learning chords and inversions, comping over tunes, and learning chord vocabulary, are essential in a balanced routine. Though it can be more fun at first to solo, once you get the hang of comping, it can be as addictive as soloing in a jazz context. Lastly, learning how to musically comp over tunes will open more doors in your playing, and new opportunities for gigs and jam sessions.

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Chord Exercises The following exercises are designed to expand your chord vocabulary, open your fretboard, and build harmonic knowledge in the woodshed. Each exercise focuses on one element of harmony. So, you can skip around these exercises to find the right exercise for what you’re studying currently. There’s no need to work these in order in your studies. By studying these elements, you’ll expand your harmonic knowledge with a well-balanced approach to chords in your practicing. Chord Quality Exercise in Inversions In this exercise, you’ll learn how to play each chord quality in one position. Ø Pick a chord type, such as Drop 2. Ø Pick a string set, 4321 for example. Ø Play the Cmaj7 chord in root position. Ø Lower one note at a time to create 7, m7, m7b5, and dim7 chords. Ø Move to the first inversion of Cmaj7 and repeat. Ø Repeat in other keys, with other chord types, and on other strings.. Here’s a chart to help you with those chord types in your studies. Ø Maj7 – lower 7th = 7th Ø 7th – lower 3rd = m7 Ø m7 – lower 5th = m7b5 Ø m7b5 – lower 7th = dim7 And here’s how the example exercise looks on paper. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Audio Example 33

Chord Scales Another effective way to learn and practice chords, besides working through inversions, is to practice chord scales. Ø Pick a chord type, key, and string set to study. Ø Play the lowest root position chord in that key. Ø Move up the chords in that key on that string set. Ø Repeat with other inversions in that key. Ø Repeat with other chord types, other keys, and other strings. Here’s an example of a C major chord scale using Drop 2 chords on the top-four strings. Audio Example 34

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Four Position Exercise In this exercise, you’ll pick a tune or progression to work on and practice playing all of the chords without moving your hand. You’ll then repeat this approach in four positions on the fretboard. Ø Pick a chord type. Ø Pick a key and string set. Ø Play the root position shape for the first chord. Ø Move to the closest inversion of the next chord. Ø Continue through the progression. Ø Move on to the first inversion of the first chord and repeat. Ø Repeat with other chord types, keys, and string sets. Here’s an example of this exercise on the top four strings, using Drop 2 chords, over a ii V I IV in C major. Audio Example 35

Sometimes working on inversions in the woodshed can be a bit boring on their own. Working inversions like this will keep things engaging in your studies, and teach you about inversions and voice leading at the same time. 3 to 9 Chords Over Tunes One of the most important chordal concepts that any jazz guitarist can study are 3 to 9 chords, other wise known as rootless 9th chords. mattwarnockguitar.com



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Built by playing the 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th, of any chord, 3 to 9 rootless chords may seem tough, but they’re not as hard as they first seem. When you play 3 to 9 chords, you don’t have to learn anything new, you just have to apply previous knowledge to new situations. As an exercise, take a tune you are working on, and then work out the 3 to 9 chords for each change in that tune. Then play these 3 to 9 chords over a backing track once you’ve worked them out slowly on the guitar. While you are doing this exercise, write down a chart of each 3 to 9 chord in relationship to the chord in the tune, such as this example. Cmaj9 = Em7 (3 to 9) This means that in order to play the 3 to 9 of Cmaj7, you simply play an Em7 chord from the 3rd of Cmaj7. This is why 3 to 9s are easy to play on the guitar. They use chords that you know, such as m7, maj7, m7b5, etc., but are applied to the 3rd, not the root, of any chord you’re playing. Here’s a guide that will help you quickly apply 3 to 9 chords to common jazz guitar chords. Ø Maj7 = m7 from the 3rd Ø 7 = m7b5 from the 3rd Ø m7 = maj7 from the 3rd Ø 7b9 = dim7 from the 3rd Ø mMaj7 = maj7#5 from the 3rd As well, here’s an example of playing 3 to 9 chords over the first 8 bars to All The Things You Are. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Audio Example 36

Chord Vocabulary Exercise As well as learning vocabulary with single-note lines, you can also transcribe and apply vocabulary to your chord practice routine. Transcribing chord lines and comping phrases will expand your chordal knowledge in a practical, musical fashion. As an exercise, you can transcribe a short chordal phrase, perhaps a ii V I phrase to begin. Then, put on a backing track and comp or chord solo over that track. Use the transcribed chord phrase as much as you can in order to work on applying that bit of language to your playing. If you find that transcribing chord lines is beyond your ability at this stage, you can learn chordal lines from books of transcriptions.

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This’ll get you started with this exercise, with the ultimate goal being having the ability to transcribe these chord lines on your own later on.

3rds and 7ths Make sure to work on 3rds and 7ths on the 3rd and 4th strings, as well as the 4th and 5th strings, over tunes in your practice routine. Because they’re only two notes, work on visualizing these notes on the fretboard in the moment rather than memorizing. Seeing 3rds and 7ths in the moment on the fretboard is a better skill to have than memorizing shapes in your studies.



Practicing Jazz Guitar Vocabulary

When learning how to play jazz guitar, many players learn how to play scales, arpeggios, and chords in the practice room, But, then you hit a wall when you sound “correct” in your solos, but not musical, or not like the jazz solos you hear on recordings. In order to get over the hump from sounding technical to sounding musical in your solos, the missing ingredient is vocabulary. Learning vocabulary means studying lines and phrases from your favorite solos and integrating them into your playing. It also means breaking down these lines so that you learn the underlying concepts behind these phrases at the same time. By studying jazz vocabulary, you’ll be able to get into the heads of many great improvisers in order to understand their thought processes.

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You’ll also expand your ability to sound more musical and less technical in your own playing. The exercises in this section are designed to do just that.

Vocabulary Exercises In the following exercises, you’ll learn how to memorize jazz vocabulary on the guitar and how to integrate this vocabulary into your playing. The most important aspect of learning to speak the jazz language is that you don’t simply recite lines in your playing. You need to integrate these lines and their concepts into your playing in order to play the vocabulary in a natural way when soloing. Because of this, make sure to work vocabulary from both a technical and improvisational standpoint. This’ll ensure that you don’t get caught memorizing lines and never learning how to personalize them in your playing. Licks in 12 Keys One of the most important exercises that you can do when learning any vocabulary on guitar is to take those lines and phrases into all 12 keys. By doing so, you’ll learn how to see and play those phrases across the entire fretboard. This helps you learn the neck as you learn the language, and prepare yourself to comfortably use these phrases over tunes. Practice any phrase you learn in all 12 keys along with a metronome, starting slow and increasing the speed each time you play all 12 keys. mattwarnockguitar.com

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As well, you can put on backing tracks that run all 12 keys and solo over those changes using the vocabulary that you’re currently studying. You can alternate one key of a memorized line and one line of your own. Or, you can mix two or more lines together and alternating them over the backing track in your studies. Regardless of how you work them, practicing vocabulary in 12 keys is an essential part of any jazz guitar practice routine. Enclosures Through Arpeggios I ‘ve included a specific bit of vocabulary in this section, as it’s one that every guitarist should explore in their playing over time, the enclosure. Enclosures are built by playing one fret above, then one fret below, and finally the arpeggio note you’re enclosing. Here’s how to apply arpeggio enclosures to your practice routine. Ø Pick an arpeggio and key to work on. Ø Enclose the root note. Ø Enclose the 3rd, then 5th, then 7th. Ø Enclose all notes at once in the arpeggio. Ø Solo over a backing track with the arpeggio and enclosures. Here’s an example of a Dm7 chord with enclosures applied to each note. Audio Example 37

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It’d be hard to find an accomplished jazz guitarist that doesn’t use enclosures in one form or another. So, spending time during your development to add this important bit of vocabulary to your playing is essential for any serious jazz guitarist. Soloing With Vocabulary Once you’ve worked out a new lick, you can use backing tracks to help memorize and solo with that lick in your studies. Ø Pick a tune to work on. Ø Mentally mark the spots where you can apply your lick. Ø Solo over a backing track and apply the lick over those chords. Ø Work on getting into and out of the lick in a natural way. Learning lines and phrases is important, but if you don’t practice using these lines in our solos, the language won’t come out in your playing. By focusing on using lines over tunes, you’ll prepare yourself for making those lines more personal, using exercises from the following section. Making Vocabulary Personal One issue with working on vocabulary is that you recite lines in your solos note for note, which can lead to a problem called “line playing.” Rather than playing lines note for note, your goal should always be to integrate the lines into your playing in a personal way. This means maintaining the vibe of the language without reciting the lines note for note. Here’s an exercise to help with this problem. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Ø Ø Ø Ø Ø

Pick a lick to work on, play it note for note over a jam track. Start to alter the rhythm, change notes, and leave notes out. Keep the original sound of the lick, but personalize it. Write three to five lines based on the original lick. Work those new licks into your solos.

Learning vocabulary is essential, but reciting lines can lead to repetition and predictability in your solos. This exercise will teach you to speak the jazz language by using essential jazz phrases, but note simply quoting your favorite players. Singing Vocabulary Singing is an essential part of any balanced practice routine, and it can be used to learn and integrate vocabulary into your playing. Ø Choose a lick to study. Ø Comp the chords and sing the lick over those changes. Ø Repeat in as many keys as possible. Ø Play the lick here and there to check your tuning. Ø Scat solo over the chords using the lick as the basis for your lines. Singing is one of those things that guitarists often avoid. But, it can be the strongest tool in your practicing tool belt, especially when working on integrating vocabulary into your playing.

Composing Solos Next time you’re working on a new tune in the practice room, write out one chorus of what you consider to be the “perfect” solo. Then, memorize and play that chorus along with a backing track. Finally, play the memorized chorus followed by a chorus of improvised solo to integrate the lines into your playing.

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Chapter 5 Checklist Before moving on to the next Chapter in this book, review the following items from this chapter in your practice routine. Assessing Fundamental Weak Points Ø Record yourself practicing one exercise from each section. Ø Take notes on which were stronger and which were weaker. Ø Rank those exercises from weakest to strongest. Ø Work on the weakest section in your daily practice routine. Ø Move on to the second weakest, and so forth down your list. Ø Practice both technique and soloing to maintain balance. Developing a Plan of Attack Ø Come up with a plan to attack your weakest points with each item. Ø Ask yourself, why am I having trouble with this item or exercise? Ø You can then zoom in and be ultra specific in your exercises. Ø Plan your daily routine to attack these weak points. Ø Keep a journal to mark your progress over time. Recording Progress Ø Always record yourself when working in the woodshed. Ø Record the same exercise at the start and end of the week. Ø Listen back to see if you’ve developed any bad habits. Ø Address these weak points in next week’s routine. Ø Analyze you playing as if it were your favorite player. Ø Ask yourself, “What would x work on if they were me?” Ø Plan your practice routine according to your answer.

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Chapter 6 - Learning From the Masters If you look back at the history of jazz, one thread that you’ll find is that great players learned directly from those that came before them. From Miles writing down Parker lines in New York clubs, to Wes learning Charlie Christian solos, great players learn by imitating. Transcribing, analyzing, learning to play, and applying material and concepts from solos is a right of passage for any serious guitarist. It’d be hard to find any player who has reached the advanced stages of jazz who hasn’t transcribed at least a few classic solos in their studies. Because of this, it’s important to make time for transcribing in your studies at various stages in your development as a jazz guitarist. Whether it’s trying to learn a few notes or transcribing full Wes solos learning vocabulary by ear is an essential part of your development. While you know that transcribing is essential, you might find it too difficult and give up on transcribing after a few tries. Even if you’ve finished a transcription, you might learn the notes without digging into the concepts, or integrating them into your playing. This chapter will help you transcribe, analyze and break down the concepts in transcriptions. As well, you’ll learn to adapt and integrate those concepts and vocabulary into your playing in a fun and engaging fashion. You’ll also learn about transcriptions for each level of development, beginner, intermediate, and advanced. This’ll help you choose the right solo to transcribe at your stage of growth as a jazz guitarist. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Transcribing can be intimidating, but with the right approach and mindset, it doesn’t have to be. It can be a challenging, beneficial, and enjoyable experience, which can take your playing to new heights of confidence and creativity.

How to Transcribe from Recordings

Sometimes knowing where to start, or how to actually transcribe from recordings is the first roadblock you face in the woodshed. This section will help you take your first steps to transcribing licks, phrases, and full solos in your studies. To Write or Not to Write The first thing to consider when transcribing, is do you want to write it down or not, and if so, how do you want to write it down. I fall into the writing it down camp, for several reasons. The first is that it gives you practice writing down notes and rhythms, which can be tricky to work out when first transcribing. Second, you’ll want to return to these transcriptions down the road, and having a record of them is the fastest way to access those lines in future. As far as how you write down the transcribed material, you can either write TAB, notes, or both, it’s up to you. As you’ll mostly use written transcriptions for your own reference, using the most easily read approach will work best for you. If you’re looking to improve your reading, then use this as an opportunity to write out the notes to improve your reading skills. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Working On or Off the Guitar Another question you’ll ask yourself is, do you want to transcribe with your guitar in hand, on a keyboard, or with nothing in front of you at all. I prefer to use my guitar; as for me the goal of transcribing is to better connect my ears to my hands to my fretboard. But, you can work on a piano or with nothing at all if that’s what you prefer and what works best for your ears. Having said that, I do find it easier to transcribe guitarists on my guitar, but find it better to transcribe other instruments on piano. If you’re good at one way of transcribing, say on piano; try another way to expand your horizons when transcribing lines and solos. From there, you can pick the best approach for any particular transcription you tackle down the road. Singing as You Transcribe Another option you have is to sing as you transcribe. You can sing a line first and then write it down or learn it on guitar, or sing along with your guitar as you find the notes on the fretboard. Singing can be an effective way to improve your ear-hand connection. It can also help aid find notes on the fretboard if you don’t want to relisten to lines over and over, as you can hold the lines in your ears. There’s no right or wrong way to transcribe. If you find singing lines to be challenging, you should sing when transcribing to improve that part of your skill set at the same time. mattwarnockguitar.com

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How to Transcribe Step-by-Step Exercise There’s no right or wrong way to transcribe from a recording, so experiment with a few approaches to see what’s easiest for you. Here’s how I go about learning any transcription. Give it a try, but if you find it too difficult or uncomfortable, feel free to take out a few steps, altering the process to suit your personal needs. Ø Pick a solo you want to learn. Ø Sing along with the recording, or the first section if that’s easier. Ø Sing the first line as you comp the chords on guitar. Ø Begin to play those notes on the guitar. Ø Play the notes along with the recording to check your work. Ø Write down the line and move on to the next line in the solo. How you transcribe is less important than that you transcribe, so make some time this week to add transcription to your practice routine. Spending time transcribing will push your ears to new levels and build your understanding of how jazz works on the fretboard.

You’ve Transcribed a Solo - Now What? Once you’ve transcribed a line or solo, then the real work begins. In order to get the most from any transcription, you’ll need to dig into the concepts behind the solo, then work those concepts from there. Here are three ways that you can begin to understand the theory behind any transcription, getting into the mind of the soloist at the same time. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Analyzing Intervals After writing it out, make a copy of the transcription so that you can write on the solo and not disturb the original. Write the interval for each note in the solo below the notes on the page. So, if you have a C note on a D7 chord, write b7 below. For Eb over D7, you’d write b9, etc. You can also circle any chromatic notes as you go to mark those “tension” notes in the solo. By doing so, you will begin to understand how many inside vs. outside notes are used in the solo. You’ll also notice if there are favorite intervals to begin lines or end lines by that player in their soloing, This can be helpful when analyzing their approach to soloing in your studies on this, or a future, transcription. Here’s an example of an analyzed line over a ii V I progression in C. Audio Example 38



After analyzing the intervals, you can begin to integrate any chromatic notes (CH), or common intervals into your soloing practice. This could mean adding passing tones to your lines, or ending your lines on the 9th if those were items you discovered in your analysis. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Labeling Note Groupings Besides labeling intervals, you can label scales and arpeggios used in the solo, where it’s evident that the player was thinking about those shapes. Look for lines or sections of lines that are made of mostly or entirely one scale or arpeggio, and then label that device on the transcription. If there are any chromatic notes added to those scales or arpeggios, make sure to circle them and label their intervals. Here’s an example of an analysis over the first four bars of a F jazz blues transcription. Audio Example 39

From there, apply this exercise to the fretboard by taking a specific scale or arpeggio and using it to build your improvised lines over a jam track. Using the above example, you would solo over 7th chords with the Bebop Scale, Lydian Dominant, and 3 to 9 arpeggios, all from the line. Creating a Licktionary Another beneficial exercise, whether you’re transcribing single licks or whole solos, is to create a licktionary. A licktionary is a dictionary of licks that you can arrange by chord type, progression, scale, arpeggio, player, etc. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Then you can easily come back to these lines down the road when you want to study vocabulary in the woodshed. Keeping a licktionary organizes licks in terms of chords and progressions, allowing you to see practical applications of these lines. However you organize it, your licktionary is something you can develop and work from throughout your entire lifetime.

Transcription Exercises

You’ll now explore ways to practice transcribed ideas once you have them on paper and under your fingers. These exercises can also be used to memorize transcribed lines and solos if you’re struggling to play them from memory in your studies. These five exercises will help you to apply and absorb the improvisational concepts that you’ve studied in any transcription. Allowing you to move beyond reciting the transcription into the realm of making these ideas personal and a part of your own playing. Alternating Transcribed vs. Improvised Lines This is a great exercise for absorbing lines and concepts from transcriptions into your playing once you’ve learned them from solos. Here are the steps to take in order to apply this exercise to your routine. Ø Pick a tune to work on. Ø Pick one line from the solo you wish to learn. Ø Put on a backing track and play the lick where applicable. Ø The rest of the tune, improvise your own lines. Ø Repeat with each lick in the transcribed solo. Ø Alternate tunes if desired. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Working on transcriptions like this will help you absorb the line, and work into and out of the lick in a musical, organic fashion. One Chorus On, One Chorus Off Once you’ve transcribed one chorus, you can add that chorus to your own soloing in order to study its phrasing, vocabulary, feel, and timing. Ø Play the memorized transcribed chorus. Ø Next chorus, solo with your own lines. Ø Alternate through the backing track in this manner. Over time, the transcribed lines, phrasing, feel, and construction will seep into the improvised chorus. This’ll help you to integrate these concepts into your own playing in an organic and flowing fashion. Identical Rhythmic Soloing In this exercise, you’ll shift the focus to studying the rhythms used in any line or solo you have transcribed. Because of this, writing out at least the rhythms used in that transcription is essential to exploring this exercise in your studies. Ø Pick a tune to work on. Ø Transcribe a chorus of a solo over that tune. Ø Write out the rhythms for that chorus, no notes, on paper. Ø Solo over a jam track and use the same rhythm in your solos. Ø Improvise the notes, but keep the transcribed rhythm. This’ll expand your rhythmic vocabulary, help you understand the soloist’s rhythmic feel, and bring a focus to rhythms in your soloing. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Writing a Similar Line or Solo When you’ve analyzed the transcriptions, you can apply that material to your playing by writing lines and full solos using the same concepts. To do this, you can focus on one or more of the following concepts taken from the transcription in order to write out your own soloing studies. Ø Phrase length. Ø Rhythms used or rhythmic groupings. Ø Specific scales or arpeggios. Ø Chromatic notes or chromatic note groups. Ø Upper structure triads or other extensions. Ø Substitute chords. From there, you can take one or more of these concepts and use them to write out a line or solo over a tune you’re studying. You can then learn to play that written etude as you integrate these concepts further into your studies. Harmonizing a Solo or Line on Guitar The final exercise in this section is the most difficult, but it’s worth a try for guitarists of any level of ability. Once you have a transcribed line or solo under your fingers, begin to add some chords to that line or solo where applicable. This could mean simply adding chords between phrases, or bringing chords into your phrase or solo as you harmonize each note. You don’t have to harmonize every note in the line or solo, and in fact doing so might not sound that great or be technically impossible. Just do what you feel sounds good as well as challenges you enough, but not too much, in your studies. mattwarnockguitar.com

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If you’re looking to explore chord melody and chord soloing, this exercise will help you reach those goals in your practice routine.

Living With a Transcription As you can see from these exercises, you could easily spend months with one transcription in your routine. Spending more time with any transcription will produce more understanding of its concepts and their application. Make sure you pick a solo you like to transcribe, as living with that solo for months is needed to properly absorb all of the material.



Adapting Transcribed Vocabulary

As well as learning how to play and analyze transcriptions, you can use transcriptions to expand your jazz guitar vocabulary. Studying vocabulary from transcriptions will ensure that you aren’t simply reciting the lines from the solos in your own playing. You’ll be injecting the vocabulary into your lines in a personalized and meaningful way. Make sure that you take the time to dig into any piece of vocabulary that you transcribe, first analyzing it to understand how it is constructed. Then, when ready, work on absorbing that vocabulary into your own playing in order to take these phrases further in the woodshed. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Transcribed Vocabulary Exercises Here are five exercises that will help you bring vocabulary from the page and onto the fretboard in a meaningful way. Each of these exercises covers a different aspect of studying transcribed vocabulary. These include: Ø Singing. Ø Playing in 12 keys. Ø Zooming in on one concept at a time. Ø Comparing single players over multiple tunes. Ø Comparing multiple players over the same tune. Studying transcribed vocabulary will expand your ears, ability to solo, and understanding of the soloing concepts of your favorite players. Singing Transcribed Lines The first exercise is to sing vocabulary in a variety of situations in order to digest these lines and solos from an aural perspective in your studies. This could mean singing lines with a recording, with your guitar, or on your own over a backing track. You could also comp the chords on the guitar underneath those lines. You can also scat solo over tunes and using the transcribed vocabulary as you begin to integrate transcriptions into your vocal soloing ideas. Singing along, singing extracted vocabulary, and scat singing with that vocabulary, are great ways to build your ears and jazz vocabulary. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Playing Transcriptions in 12 Keys This is a highly effective exercise, as it involves taking any transcribed lick, or entire solo, and working it in all 12 keys on the fretboard. It’s an easy exercise to understand, but much harder to apply to your studies. If you’re new to transposing vocabulary, take it slow at first. Start with one phrase, maybe even part of a phrase, and begin to move it around the fretboard, expanding to larger phrases when comfortable. As well, if you’re new to transposing, moving chromatically up or down the keys can be an easier way to start compared to jumping around. No matter how you approach it, working transcribed lines and solos in all 12 keys will further your understanding of that vocabulary. Adapting a Specific Bit of Vocabulary Zooming in on a specific element of vocabulary can be a very effective way of integrating that element into your own soloing lines and phrases. This means breaking down a transcribed line into its smallest parts, and then working those parts one at a time in your improvisational studies. These specific elements of vocabulary could be: Ø Enclosures over specific intervals. Ø Passing notes between specific intervals. Ø Approach notes into specific intervals. Ø Triads over chords. Ø Extended arpeggios. Ø Scale or arpeggio patterns. Ø Chord substitutions over specific changes.

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Once you’ve chosen a specific element of vocabulary to study, put on a backing track and apply that element to your own lines and phrases. You could do this from a concept perspective, where you apply an enclosure over the root of each chord, for example. Or, from a vocabulary perspective, where you play the specific line that contained the enclosure in your transcription over a backing track. Either way, the goal is to break down, analyze and apply transcribed lines into their smallest component parts. Comparing Different Players Over Same Progression One useful exercise in learning about how different players think is to compare transcriptions of different players over the same progression. This could mean comparing transcriptions over ii V I’s in major or minor keys, or over whole tunes such as “All the Things You Are.” Either way, the goal of the exercise is to analyze the vocabulary to see how it is similar and how it differs between players. Here are some items to look out for when comparing transcriptions. Ø Are they using enclosures? Ø Are they using passing notes? Ø Are they using approach notes? Ø Are they using similar rhythms? Ø Are there lines that sound similar or are similarly constructed? Comparing the vocabulary of different players over the same progressions allows you to find items that all players use in their solos. This makes it easier for you to focus on those items in your own playing. You’ll also discover the unique vocabulary that makes each player sound different from their peers in regards to their soloing. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Comparing the Same Player Over Different Progressions As well as comparing the different players over the same progression, you can compare the same player over different chord progressions. To start, take contrasting progressions, such as a minor and major ii V I, and see if the soloing vocabulary remains the same or differs over each. Write down items such as: Ø Are the same scales used over the same chords? Ø Are the same arpeggio shapes used over the same chords? Ø Are the same subs used in the same place on each progression? Ø Do you see similar licks over these two different progressions? You might discover that their overall soloing vocabulary and approach remains the same no matter what tune they are playing. Or, that they have specific vocabulary for certain tunes in their solos and that each lick over any progression is completely different. This’ll allow you to further understand the thought process and soloing approach taken by your favorite players. This in turn allows you to take a similar approach in your own playing, or taking a different course of action based on your own creative vision.

The Importance of Singing Singing is the best way to bring your ears and hands together. It allows you to develop your personality on the guitar, and get the sounds inside your head and onto the fretboard. Though it can be tough, any time-spent singing will prove fruitful in the short and long term results of your time spent in the woodshed.

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Beginner Jazz Guitar Transcriptions Here are a few classic solos that would be a fun, yet challenging, project for any beginning level jazz guitarist. Each transcription was chosen because it’s full of vocabulary that will lift your playing to the next level. If you’re new to transcribing, go slow, and don’t feel like you have to get the entire solo worked out to benefit from this exercise. Even transcribing a lick or two, or one full chorus, from any of these solos would be beneficial for any player to practice. The solos are presented in order from easiest to hardest to transcribe, so work on them in order if you’re new to transcribing. Chitlins Con Carne – Kenny Burrell This first solo is from Kenny Burrell, and is known by many non-jazzers because it was recorded by blues legend Stevie Ray Vaughan. The solo is largely constructed from the minor blues scale, so it’s a good choice for those making the transition from rock and blues to jazz. As well, the notes are clear and easy to hear, not too fast rhythmically, and contain both plucked and slurred notes. This makes it relatively easy to work on as a beginning jazz guitarist. Lastly, it’s a great lesson in using a minimum amount of material to get the most out of an improvised jazz guitar solo. This is something that many jazz guitarists struggle with when first beginning their jazz studies, and this transcription can help with that. mattwarnockguitar.com

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So What – Grant Green Grant Green’s solo on “So What” is the perfect transcription for those players looking to expand their modal jazz chops in the woodshed. The solo is played in a different key compared to the original Miles Davis recording; here it’s in Cm compared to Dm in the original. As well, Grant uses more scales than Miles did in his classic recording a number of years earlier. Because Grant uses a lot of Melodic Minor in this solo, it’s also an effective lesson on how to expand your m7 soloing vocabulary. The notes are clear and easy to hear in this solo, but the solo itself is quite long. So, don’t feel like you have to transcribe the entire solo to gain the benefit of working on this solo in the woodshed. Start at the beginning, do what you can, when you get eight bars transcribed, work those eight bars through various exercises. Then move on to the next eight bars and repeat that process. Most importantly, work whatever you’ve transcribed through the exercises in this chapter to get the most from this solo in your studies. Movin’ Along – Wes Montgomery You might be surprised to see a Wes solo on this list of beginning transcriptions. But, “Movin’ Along” is the perfect solo for a beginning guitarist who’s looking to explore the playing and soloing of Wes in their studies. It’s slow tempo and clear notes allow even beginner players to challenge themselves with this transcription in the woodshed. mattwarnockguitar.com

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There are two choruses of single-notes and two choruses of octaves in this solo. You can start with just the single-notes if you want, or you could do all four choruses if you really wanted to dig into Wes’ soloing concept. Regardless of how much you do, the chords at the end of the solo will probably be too tough for most beginner jazzers to hear. So don’t feel let down if you can’t get those chords at this stage. Do what you can and come back to that section down the road. You can always finish the solo when your ears have grown to the point where you can more easily transcribe chords in your practice routine. Cool Blues – Grant Green The last beginner jazz guitar transcription is a classic jazz blues solo by Grant Green; over the Charlie Parker tune “Cool Blues.” Featuring more Bebop vocabulary than the previous solos in this section, this transcription will help you dig into: Ø Chromatic Notes Ø Arpeggios Ø Common scales Ø Essential vocabulary Because this is the fastest of these Beginner transcriptions, you might find this a bit challenging compared to the other solos so far. Because of the speed and vocabulary, it’s meant as a transition solo between the beginning and intermediate level solos. Take your time with this solo, even if you transcribe one chorus, you’ll learn a lot about Bebop guitar Grant’s soloing approach and concepts.

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Slow Down or Not Slow Down One of the most common transcription questions is: “Should I use slow-down software to make transcribing easier?” My response to this is always, no, for a number of good reasons. When transcribing, you’re training your ears to hear in real time. Listening in real time allows you to take these skills to gigs. As well, slowing down solos takes a transcription out of the eartraining side of your routine and into the vocabulary side. In my experience, my students and peers who transcribed in real time made huge leaps in their ability to hear jazz and play jazz. Those that slowed down solos didn’t. So, I’d suggest struggling in real time rather than slowing down solos in your studies.



Intermediate Jazz Guitar Transcriptions

Finding a solo to transcribe that’s challenging enough, but not be too challenging, is the biggest issue for intermediate players. For that reason, here are a number of classic jazz guitar solos, from different players and eras in the history of the genre. These solos are challenging enough for intermediate players, and you’ll enjoy learning from these solos in your transcription studies. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Yesterdays – Wes Montgomery “Yesterdays” offers a player the chance to explore Wes’ single-note and octave approach to soloing over this standard jazz tune. While other solos on this list will challenge your fretting hand, this solo offers a challenge to your picking hand. This is especially true when it comes to the octave section of the solo. Playing this solo in time with the original recording will get your picking hand tight with regards to rhythmic accuracy. As well, there are more classic lines in this solo than in most full albums. You can’t go wrong with working on any Wes solo in your studies. But, if you’re an intermediate player and are looking to explore a Wes solo, then this is the one for you. You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To – Jim Hall When looking to work on a Jim Hall transcription, it’s hard to pin down one solo to choose from his extensive recorded legacy. Though there are others that you could easily choose to transcribe, “You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To” is one of the all-time best. In his typical laid-back style, there’s nothing really advanced about this solo in terms of harmony or melodic content. But, it’s what Jim does with that small amount of material that showcases the genius behind his soloing concept. Writing out this solo will pose a bit of a rhythmic challenge. There are some highly syncopated lines that you’ll have to work on when tackling this solo, especially at the start of the second chorus. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Beyond that, the rest of the solo is clearly played, easy to hear, and fairly straightforward as far as learning the notes that Jim uses in his lines. Studying Jim’s sense of phrasing, rhythms, and melody, will provide untold benefit in your playing when exploring this solo in your studies. Bright Size Life – Pat Metheny When people begin to explore the recorded output of Pat Metheny, they are often drawn to his first major solo record, Bright Size Life. Featuring an all-star trio, this record is one of his best for good reason. Though you could choose any track from this album to transcribe, the title track is one of Pat’s most memorable solos on record. The solo is full of melodic playing, as well as faster runs that’ll challenge you when working on learning this solo in real time. Once you begin to hear those longer scale runs in time, learning other Metheny solos will be much easier to tackle. The solo is also full of engagement between Metheny and his band mates, especially Jaco Pastorius. You won’t get this from learning the notes, but with repeated listening, that interactive approach to will begin to sink into your playing. If you only transcribe one Metheny solo, then this is it. A Go Go – John Scofield Another more modern transcription, “A Go Go” is Sco at his best. With killer funk lines, chromatic runs, lots of space between phrases, and that classic Sco tone, this solo has something for everyone. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Though this solo isn’t as difficult as other transcriptions on this list, it offers lessons on maturity when it comes to constructing a jazz solo. Sco is a master at spacing his solos in just the right way as to lead the listener along his creative pathway. Not playing too much to be predictable, and not playing to little to lose the listener, he’s right in the middle. This will be a big lesson for many players at this stage in the game. This solo is worth spending time on in order to take your sense of melodic playing and phrasing to the next level in your studies.

Picking the Right Transcription Though these transcriptions are excellent examples of how to solo in a Jazz guitar context, they might not be suited for your tastes. Feel free to explore other solos to find one that’s right for you. Take your time and find the right transcription for you at this point, one that’ll challenge you and that you enjoy listening to as well.



Advanced Jazz Guitar Transcriptions

These final solos are at the advanced level, and should be attempted after you’ve completed three or more intermediate transcriptions. When working advanced transcriptions, you’ll encounter: Ø Chord Solos Ø Faster Lines Ø Complex Rhythms Ø Up-tempo tunes mattwarnockguitar.com

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Because of the challenge they pose, don’t be in a rush to burn through these solos in your practice routine. Make sure to spend time after you’ve learned the solo to run through the exercises in this chapter. Working on an advanced transcription doesn’t just mean learning a tough solo. It means taking the time to break down the concepts and vocabulary in that solo and then applying those ideas to your own playing. West Coast Blues – Wes Montgomery You can’t go wrong with “West Coast Blues,” one of Wes’ best-known tracks and commonly studied improvised solos. Featuring Wes’ three-tiered approach to soloing, single notes, octaves, chords, this solo will challenge you to expand your right and left hands. Because it’s spread out across three techniques, you can learn it in three sections as you break down the solo into more digestible parts. This solo is not for the faint of heart, but if you do tackle it in your studies, it’ll provide months, or even years, of benefit in the woodshed. Billie’s Bounce – George Benson An essential transcription for any Benson fan, “Billie’s Bounce” is full of melodic lines, complex chord runs, hard-swinging rhythms. Even if you’re only interested in the single-note section of the solo, there’s enough material to keep you busy for a long time. For those looking to challenge themselves a further, you can learn the chord-soloing section of the solo. mattwarnockguitar.com

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These chords feature fast-moving grips and melodic chord runs that’ll be tough to hear, hard to play, but highly beneficial in your studies. On Green Dolphin Street – Lenny Breau Lenny is on top form in this duo recording. Alongside Toronto bass legend Dave Young, Lenny sounds more like a piano than a guitar with his multi-layered approach to the instrument. The single notes won’t be too much of a challenge for an advanced player, but getting all the chords down will. If you’ve never heard Lenny’s playing, or haven’t transcribed any of his solos yet, you might want to start by listening to Lenny for a bit. This’ll help to get Lenny’s unique sound into your ears, which can sound daunting to transcribe for first-time listeners. Joy Spring – Joe Pass The final solo on this list is one of the toughest to transcribe for players of all levels. It contains lightening fast runs and the complex, yet smooth sounding, lines that Joe Pass has become known for on the instrument. Don’t slow this solo down if at all possible. Spend the extra time to learn to hear those faster, slowing them down in your inner ear rather and then learning to play them from there. Once you’ve worked out the notes, slowly work them with a backing track as you build up the tempo to performance speed.

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Varied Transcriptions Learning a variety of solos from a number of players will ensure that you learn different approaches to soloing in your studies Try a varied approach when it comes to transcribing solos. This could mean working a blues on one solo and then a Latin tune. These approaches will ensure you get a wide understanding of the soloing options in your transcription study time at home.

Chapter 6 Checklist Before moving on to the next chapter in this book, review the following items in your practice routine. Picking a Transcription Ø Pick a transcription to study. Ø Make sure the transcription is at your playing level. Ø Listen to the transcription often before learning to play the solo. Ø Sing along with the solo on the recording. Ø Learn to play the transcription on guitar. Ø Write or tab out the solo in order to maintain it for future study. Transcription Exercises Ø Memorize the solo. Ø Analyze the solo for the concepts used in its construction. Ø Practice the solo along with the original recording. Ø Practice the solo along with a backing track. Ø Practice the solo along with a metronome. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Ø Ø Ø Ø

Sing the solo with the record, a backing track, and a metronome. Alternate playing the transcription and improvising over a tune. Solo with the transcribed rhythms but with different notes. Write out a similar solo using concepts from the transcribed solo.

Transcribed Vocabulary Exercises Ø Sing any line from the solo over a backing track. Ø Play any line from the solo in 12 keys. Ø Learn that line in different positions on the neck. Ø Add a small bit of vocabulary from the solo to your own playing. Ø Write out three to five lines that use similar concepts. Ø Compare this solo with others you’ve transcribed. Ø Begin to keep a list of concepts used by this player in their solos. Ø Compare this player to others over the same tune.

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Chapter 7 - Beginner Practice Guide One of the most important items for any Beginning jazz guitarist to maintain is a focused and balanced practice routine. In this Chapter, you’ll learn what’s essential at this stage in your development, as well as common exercises that fit within these sections. You’ll also learn how to get the most out of your practice routine, no matter how much time you have to spend in the woodshed. The most important thing is that you maintain consistency in the practice room at this, or any, stage in your development. 15 to 20 minutes a day, 6 days a week, is better than 2 hours on a Saturday and Sunday and no practice during the week. Make sure to spread your studies out. Spend a little time every day if you can practicing and don’t get caught up on one or two items at the expense of a balanced routine. If you can do this, you’ll begin to see meaningful achievements in the woodshed in no time.

Beginner Practice Guide – 60-Minute Sessions

The following is a breakdown of a typical Beginner practice routine, laid out in an hour session that you can use as a template for study. If you have more than an hour to practice, you can double or triple the amount of time spent practicing each section. If you only have 30 minutes, you can work five minutes per section.

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Or, if you prefer, you can work 10 minutes on three sections today and 10 minutes on the three other sections tomorrow. The key is to maintain consistency in the woodshed. Work a little bit each day on these items, and look to make progress over time, not instantly, in your studies. There are examples of exercises provided in each section that you could use in your studies. But, feel free to pick your own exercises, as long as they are at the Beginner level and address the weak points in your playing Technique – 10 Minutes In this section of your routine, you’ll zoom in on a weaker section of your technique and work to improve that area of your playing. This could mean working on: Ø Dexterity Ø Coordination Ø Stretching Ø Right-hand or left-hand technique Any technical issue that is posing a problem in your playing can be addressed in this section of your routine. Make sure not to overdo this section of your studies, which is a common pitfall guitarist’s fall into. Spending too much time on technique at the expanse of a well-balanced routine can cause an imbalance in your practicing, and performing. Keep your timer on if you need to so that you stop after 10 minutes in each hour of practice. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Slow and steady wins the race with technique, and any practice item. Don’t worry about mastering your whole technique today. It’s the small victories each day, compiled over time, that’ll take you where you want to go as a player. Repertoire – 10 Minutes Here’s the time that you will spend learning tunes in your studies. This means learning the melody, how to comp, and how to solo over any tune you’re studying in your practice routine. At the beginning level, it could take you two to three months, or more, to properly learn a tune in your studies. So take your time with one tune and dig deep on it before moving on to the next tune in your studies. As well, you don’t have to learn every possible way to play the melody, every possible chord, and every possible scale over each tune you study. Make sure you can play the melody in one position, comp with one set of chords confidently, and solo over the tune confidently first. Then, as you learn new tunes, you’ll cover new material in your daily practice routine. Keep in mind that you need to be a functional guitarist over tunes. This means playing the melody from memory, comping the chords confidently, and soloing over the changes. Have that as your practice goal when working on repertoire at this stage in your development. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Fundamentals – 10 Minutes In this section, you will focus on solidifying your jazz guitar fundamentals. This means working such times as: Ø Chords Ø Scales Ø Arpeggios Ø Melodies/Patterns Ø Guide Tones It would be good to focus on one item for a week at a time in this section. For example, Drop 3 chords on the 6432 string set in all keys. This gives yourself enough time to get those items under your fingers and into your ears. If you need more than a week, that’s totally fine, but give it at least a week to sink in at this point. Lastly, make sure to alternate devices so that you cover chords, guide tones, arpeggios, and scales over time in your studies. Don’t fall into the trap of just working on the items you like the most, such as working on scales only in this section of your practice routine. Vocabulary – 10 Minutes You can use this 10 minutes of each hour to expand your knowledge and ability to play vocabulary in your soloing and comping. This could mean: mattwarnockguitar.com

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Ø Working a line in 12 keys. Ø Applying that line to a tune you’re studying over a backing track. Ø Working out multiple fingerings to a transcribed line on the neck. It could also mean working on smaller vocabulary, such as: Ø Enclosures Ø Passing notes Ø Approach notes Spending time learning vocabulary is an important first step when moving from playing the correct notes to sounding like jazz. Therefore, it’s an essential part of any Beginning jazz guitarist’s practice routine, and something you should work on daily. Transcribing – 10 Minutes Transcribing may seem like a more advanced item to work on at this stage in your development. But, even Beginning jazz guitarists can explore learning material by ear in their studies. You can use this time each hour to work on a solo, learning a small chunk each day until you’ve learned a full chorus or entire solo. Or, if your interest is in vocabulary, or a longer solo seems too difficult at this stage, you can work on transcribing one line at a time. Make sure to use this time to explore transcription exercises, as listed in that chapter of this eBook, as well as learning the solo or line itself. Going beyond memorizing lines is the key component of studying transcriptions.

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So, use this time to do both transcribing and expanding on that transcription in your studies. Free Time – 10 Minutes In this section of the routine you can do anything you wish for 10 minutes in each hour of practice. This could mean: Ø Spending more time on one of the other five elements Ø Exploring a new subject Ø Jamming on a tune Ø Following your motivation for that day You can use this as the last 10 minutes of your hour session, or divide it in half to give yourself a 5-minute break at the end of each half hour. Either approach is fine; just make sure to not give up on the free time, as it will give your mind a break during a longer practice routine.

Sticking to a Routine One of the biggest tools you have a student of jazz guitar is time. If you work on a practice routine for a week, you’ll see results. But, if you stick to a routine for a month, or three months, you’ll see bigger results with that same material. Sticking to a routine for a good amount of time will allow your ears to digest the material, as well as your fingers. You’ll also give yourself a chance to not only learn the material, but to master it in the woodshed.

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Chapter 8 - Intermediate Practice Guide At this stage in your development, you’re beginning to gain confidence, can jam over tunes, and are connecting your ears and hands. Because of this advancement, this is the most important stage to maintain focus for any developing player. What tends to happen is that you can rest on our accomplishments up until this point and stagnate your growth in the process. Keeping a well-balanced routine is very important for intermediate players if you’re to avoid this type of stagnation in your playing. The following will provide you with a guide of how to accomplish your goals, and move you through the Intermediate stage in your studies.

Intermediate Practice Guide – 60-Minute Sessions

The following is an example of how you can divide your time during each hour of an Intermediate level practice routine. You’ll notice that there are fewer sections to study, but more time is being spent on these items in your practicing. Feel free to use the exercises from any chapter in this book during each of these four practice sections, or use some of the suggestions below. The important thing is to maintain a balanced routine moving into the intermediate level of your studies. If you want to dig deeper into these items each day, you can practice half an hour each over a two-hour routine. Or you could do half-hour on each section, with one hour today and one hour tomorrow, alternating over the course of your week. mattwarnockguitar.com

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You’ll notice that free time is not included in this routine. This doesn’t mean that you don’t have free time. But, at this stage maintaining focus is key. So leave free time for days when you have more time, and use it to explore past concepts, new ideas, or other items in your studies. Lastly, tunes are now central to your studies, so for each section you might want to focus all of your exercises over the same tune. This would mean working on: Ø Learning the tune in Repertoire. Ø Chords, scales, and arpeggios over that tune in Fundamentals, Ø Transcribing a solo over that tune in Transcribing. Ø Working lines over that tune in Vocabulary. As an intermediate player, you’ll most likely be finding opportunities to jam with other people. So working tunes is an essential part of your daily practice routine. Repertoire – 15 Minutes Tunes should be learned by ear at this point, both chords and melody. For those looking for an extra challenge, you can transpose melodies, chords, and soloing over these tunes to multiple keys, all 12 if possible. This would also be a good chance to explore your first Bebop tune if you can, such as: Ø Au Privave Ø Billie’s Bounce Ø Donna Lee Ø Confirmation mattwarnockguitar.com

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There’s no rush to learn tunes at this point, and memorization is key. Spending time to dig deep into any tune you study will help you more than skimming the surface with many different tunes. So, take your time and go as deep as you can with these intermediate level tunes in your woodshedding. Fundamentals – 15 Minutes Fundamentals are still an important aspect of your studies. Therefore, making time to shore up and learn new concepts in this section is essential to moving forward as a player. Fundamentals could include running more advanced scales over a tune, such as Melodic Minor, Symmetrical Scales, or Altered Pentatonic Scales. It’ll also mean not only working on root arpeggios over tunes, but 3 to 9 arpeggios as well. Exploring playing over chord changes without having the root as a reference point in your lines. Lastly, 3 to 9 rootless chords should also be explored at this stage, along with voice leading over tunes. This is where you play the chords for a tune within a 4-fret span on the guitar, and don’t move your hand outside of that space. Sometimes you’ll feel like you don’t have to work on these aspects of your playing anymore, you’ve moved past them. But, fundamentals should always be a part of your routine. You move on to more advanced concepts, but the intention is the same, shoring up your understanding of the guitar in your studies. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Transcribing – 15 Minutes As an Intermediate level player, you’ll want to: Ø Transcribe full solos. Ø Play them along with the original recordings. Ø Play them with backing tracks. Ø Play them with a metronome. Ø All from memory. Focus will not only be on the notes that you’re transcribing, but in emulating the feel, phrasing, articulation, slurs, etc. of the solo. You’ve seen examples of intermediate transcriptions previously. Beyond those solos, you can also explore transcribing other instruments at this stage to expand your vocabulary beyond guitar. As always, make sure that you spend a month or more working exercises through the transcribed solo. This’ll ensure that you digest the material in a meaningful fashion. Vocabulary – 15 Minutes Intermediate vocabulary will involve more advanced concepts. At this stage, you’ll want to transcribe all the vocabulary that you study. This means not learning it out of books or from websites, as challenging your ears is an essential step for any Intermediate player. As well, the concepts that you would want to study at this stage include: Ø Melodic Minor Ø Symmetrical Scale application Ø Chord substitution for soloing and comping Ø Faster lines, including double-time lines. mattwarnockguitar.com

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If you’re unsure as to what players to study when exploring these types of intermediate vocabulary concepts, you can check out: Ø Joe Pass Ø Pat Metheny Ø Wayne Shorter Ø Herbie Hancock. Lastly, singing your vocabulary is something that should be done at the intermediate stage in order to challenge yourself in your routine.

Maintaining Focus One of the roadblocks you’ll face is you sound better over tunes, but then jamming on tunes becomes the only focus in the woodshed. Maintaining focus on each section in this practice breakdown will help you maintain focus on the important aspects of playing jazz. It’ll also ensure that you progress to the advanced level of playing and not get stuck at this stage in your development.

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Chapter 9 - Advanced Practice Guide Even Advanced players need to keep an organized practice routine. Often, this can be the most important aspect in the development of players at this stage in the game. By this point, you’re probably out gigging on a regular basis, possibly recording, and maybe even teaching on a weekly or daily basis. Because of these time commitments, you’ll often push practice aside to focus on other items in your daily life, such as gigs and teaching. While this will be helpful for your performance level, it won’t push you entirely to new heights in your playing. Which is where daily practice comes into play. As well, if you are gigging or teaching a lot, you run the risk of becoming predictable in your playing. This happens when you aren’t learning any new material and are constantly applying old material to your playing. This chapter is designed to prevent you from falling into that rut, keep you motivated, and continue to move your playing forward.

Advanced Practice Guide – 60-Minute Sessions

At this point in your development, more time will be needed on each item, though there will be fewer items to focus on in your daily studies. Because of this, the following exercises have been divided into two, onehour practice sessions.

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You can work on these sessoins one day if you have time, or spread out across two days if you can only set aside an hour a day in the woodshed. As well, you’ll notice that reading is now a subject that you’ll spend time on in your studies. Now, don’t run away just yet, reading in this instance means practical sight-reading exercises, not just note reading. The further you advance as a player, the more you’ll be out gigging and jamming with other people. With these experiences, reading will become a central item in your life as a guitarist. For the advanced jazz guitarist, reading will involve: Ø Sight-reading melodies. Ø Reading chord changes. Ø Sight improvising. So you’ll need to practice working on emulating jam sessions and gig situations in your studies. This is where reading practice comes into play. The other sections of this routine are similar to those you’ve seen before, just with a longer focus each day on these four items. Lastly, I’ve included example exercises for each section routine. But, feel free to take any advanced level exercises from this book and use them during those sections of your practice routine.

Advanced Routine Hour 1 Here’s the first hour that you can practice either on the same day as the second hour, or on the first day of a rotating practice routine. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Repertoire – 30 Minutes At this stage, you’re working on developing your repertoire list, as well as learning new tunes in the practice room. If you have gigs coming up, this time will be used to practice tunes for those gigs. You’ll also be reviewing older tunes that might be called on those gigs. Chord melodies are essential at this stage, as well as comping with rootless chords, 357 triads, and 3rds and 7ths with added color tones. As far as soloing over these tunes, you’ll explore more advanced concepts such as: Ø Triad Pairs. Ø Chord Substitutions. Ø Advanced Modes. Ø Extended Arpeggios. Ø Altered Pentatonic Scales. As part of your weekly practice, you might spend one day learning new tunes or working on a new tune in this section of your routine. Then, spend the next practice day reviewing older tunes in order to not lose track of those tunes in your memory banks. Transcription – 30 Minutes Advanced players will work on full transcriptions, including melodies, improvised solos, and comping from the tune you’re transcribing. You can also write out the bass lines and piano comping behind the melody or soloing that you are transcribing. Because of this deeper level of transcription, one tune per year or at most every six months will be sufficient. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Then you can dig into the analysis of each transcription, spending a long time applying what you’ve learned from that analysis to your playing.

Advanced Routine Hour 2 Here’s the second hour that you can practice either on the same day as the first hour items, or on the second day of a rotating practice routine. Fundamentals – 30 Minutes In this section, you’ll be working on shoring up: Ø Chord Substitutions. Ø Symmetrical Scales. Ø Altered Pentatonic Scales. Ø Rootless and Quartal Chords. Ø 13th and Rootless Arpeggios. As well, you can use this time to review past fundamentals that you may need to brush up in your playing. Maintaining a focus on fundamental concepts will ensure that you stay at this level in your playing, and don’t slide backwards in your studies. Reading – 30 Minutes In this section you’ll work on practical, real-world reading exercises that are designed to help prepare yourself for gigging situations. Reading in the real world mostly means reading lead sheets, or Big Band charts if you get the opportunity to play in that situation. Because of this, becoming adept at the following skills is essential: mattwarnockguitar.com

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Ø Reading lead sheet melody lines. Ø Comping over lead sheet changes. Ø Soloing over lead sheets at sight. Working on these aspects of your playing in your daily studies will ensure that you are never caught off guard in a gig situation.

Importance of Reviewing Even though you’re at an advanced level, you can always spend time reviewing exercises from earlier in your development. Make sure to keep recording and self-assessing at this stage. Then, if you notice trouble spots or weak points in your playing, take a step back and shore up those items before moving forward. Reviewing and maintaining the basics is the sign of a mature player, and the fastest way forward in your playing.



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Chapter 10 - Practice Journal One of the most important tools you can have at your disposal for developing a strong practice routine is a practice journal. Practice journals help you organize your thoughts, see progress over time, and quantify your short and long-term practice goals. There are no right or wrong ways to write a practice journal, so feel free to experiment and come up with a system that works for you. As well, you can adjust the way your journal depending on what you’re focusing on at different stages in your development. Besides writing down your thoughts and achievements each day, you can also record your practice sessions. Then you can listen back over time to compare sessions and hear your progress as a jazz guitarist. This can be very helpful, especially for hearing progress over tunes and in soloing situations. When you practice every day, it’s hard to hear the small bits of progress being made in each session, which add up to solid progress over time. If you feel as if you’re spinning your wheels and not making any progress on your instrument, try recording yourself each day. Then, listen back to hear the growth you’ve made as a player over time. Lastly, start each new practice session by reading yesterday’s journal entry as a review. This’ll help you see the progress you’ve made and remind you of what you accomplished and what you didn’t in yesterday’s session.

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Here are three sample practice journal entries to give you an idea of how to organize your journaling each day. They’ll also provide options in order to find the right practice journal approach for you at this stage, and over time, in your studies. I tend to be more formal in my writing in my practice journals. But, feel free to use short hand, bullet points, and approach the writing in any style or format you feel comfortable with.

Practice Journal Tip It can be hard to write everything down after a session due to time restraints in your practicing and life in general. If you find you don’t have time for a written practice journal, use your phone, laptop, or tablet to record an audio journal. This’ll take less time and provide you with the same benefits of journaling at the same time.



Practice Journal – Technical

Technique – 10 minutes of the 1235 Fret exercise, used alternate picking and worked on all 12 frets from 40-100 on the metronome. Fundamentals - 10 Minutes of melodic minor mode practice. Worked ascending 3rds from 40-70 on the metronome with alternate picking. Harmony – 10 minutes running 3rds and 7ths with a 9th color tone over each chord in “Stella by Starlight.” Practiced in 2 inversions on 2 string sets (54 and 43) with a backing track at a ballad tempo.

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Repertoire – 10 minutes of learning the melody to “Stella by Starlight” in the upper octave. Worked with a backing track from 40-60 bpm. Ear Training – 10 minutes of working on transcribing Wes Montgomery’s “Says You” solo. Wrote out 2 bars of music and learned to play them with the recording. Free Time – 10 minutes of soloing over a Jazz Blues in F progression, focusing on using only arpeggios to build my lines.

Practice Journal – Personal Reflection

Today was a mixed day in the practice room, as I left with a sense of frustration and accomplishment from my time on the guitar. While I’m a bit frustrated in some of my work today, the sense of accomplishment I feel from other sections in my routine has given me a boost to work hard tomorrow. I began by working on developing coordination in both hands by working on a hammer-on exercise with a metronome. This part of my routine was fine. It’s a slow process for me to get the hammer-ons perfect, so I know it’ll take time, focus, and slow practice to get where I want to be with this technique. But I know I can get there. Moving on to the melodic section of my routine, I hit a bit of a wall here technically and it caused me to feel like I was wasting time rather than benefiting from this exercise. I was supposed to work 3rds ascending through a Phrygian Scale fingering with the metronome, but I kept forgetting the fingering. So I ended up spending all my time reviewing the fingering and not getting to the 3rds.

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This was frustrating, but on a positive note, I now have confidence with the fingering and can dig into the 3rds right away tomorrow. I then spent a good 10 minutes running Drop 3 chords over a ii V I-VI progression in all 12 keys. I felt good about this section of my practice routine, as I was able to run the chords over the changes with confidence, and from memory, while adding in some new rhythms to the exercise that I hadn’t done before. My repertoire section was mixed. I’m still having trouble with memorizing the B section of the melody, but the A sections for A Train are fine and I’m able to play them without making any mistakes. I’m going to have to remedy this situation tomorrow by spending all my time on just the B section to get it caught up to the rest of the tune. Ear Training is slow for me, and another source of both frustration and achievement. I struggled to get any new notes today, it almost felt like my ears weren’t working, but in the end I got one bar of Wes’ solo written out and can play it with the recording. So frustrating, but I did get something accomplished today. The final section of my routine was some free jamming over Softly as in a Morning Sunrise. I was trying out some Melodic Minor scales over this tune, and though it was new and I was experimenting. I was able to get a few nice lines during the solo that I wasn’t expecting out of my fingers. I recorded the jam and will listen back to it in a week to check my progress. Overall today was tough in some sections of my routine, but I did come away with a sense of accomplishing some of my goals, which is good for my motivation right now. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Though some items didn’t get done, I now know what to do tomorrow in order to fix up those issues and hopefully move past them by the end of the week in my routine.

Practice Journal – Mixed

Technique – 10 minutes of playing the Rolle exercise with a metronome from 60-80 bpm. I was happy with this section of my routine today. The barre movement is becoming smoother, and I’m noticing less space between the notes, both of which are goals for me with this exercise. Will try for faster tempos tomorrow and see if I can maintain this progress above 80 bpm. Fundamentals – 10 minutes of running a Phrygian Dominant fingering around all 12 keys. As this scale is new to me, I was focusing on just memorizing the shape and playing it over the whole fretboard today. There were more missed notes, and memory slips, than I wanted or am comfortable with. So tomorrow I am going to repeat this exercise, as I don’t want to rush ahead to scale patterns before I’m 100% comfortable. Harmony – 10 minutes working on Barry Galbraith’s chord study over Gone With the Wind. Memory is killing me on this study right now. I can get my fingers around the chords fine, but then I struggle to play the shapes when I’m not looking at the music. Because of this frustration, repetition is going to be my tactic to get each chord, or bar at most, under my fingers before moving on to the next chord or bar in the study. Rhythm and Repertoire – Static rhythm, two 8th notes following by a triplet and quarter note, with a quartet note rest on beat 4, and improvised with that rhythm for 10 minutes over Summertime. I had to really focus to keep this rhythm steady and not deviate from the original rhythmic motive in my soloing, and so I’ll keep working this mattwarnockguitar.com

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same rhythm tomorrow, maybe on a different tune, and every day after that until I feel I can maintain the motive 100% of the time in my solos. Ear Training – 10 minutes of singing major scales in 12 keys. I was able to sing all 12 keys in 10 minutes today, accurately, for oneoctave major scales. This is the first time I was able to do this in 10 minutes, and so I will repeat this exercise tomorrow in order to reinforce this progress and build upon it going forward. Free Time – I took this time to learn a new Mike Stern lick I’ve wanted to learn for a long time. The lick is played over a minor ii V I, and so I spent 5 minutes learning the lick, then 5 minutes playing the lick along with a backing track at different tempos, in one key, C minor. Tomorrow I’ll try and solo over a tune and bring this lick into my solos in order to prevent myself from forgetting the lick moving forward.

Chapter 10 Checklist

Here’s a checklist of exercises that you can do with regards to journaling in the practice room. Picking a Practice Journal Outline Ø Write a technical, personal reflection, and mixed journal entry. Ø Compare each approach to determine the right one for you. Ø Be willing to adjust your journal approach over time if needed. mattwarnockguitar.com

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Daily Journaling Ø Journal your practicing every day this week. Ø When you can’t practice, journal about listening you did, or ways you practiced away from the guitar. Self-Reflection and Analysis Ø Compare your journal results over the course of the week. Ø Mark the progress you’ve in the woodshed. Ø Set specific goals for yourself next week based on your findings. Ø Write both positive and critical elements in your journaling.

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About the Author Like many guitarists, I grew up listening to classic Rock and Blues, and I still love those styles of music. But it’s the improvisation I really love, and that’s what drew me to Jazz. My love of Jazz has taken me from small town Canada around the globe. I was able to study at three of the top Jazz programs in the world. Starting with McGill University, then Western Michigan, and finishing with a Doctorate in Jazz from the University of Illinois (UIUC). It’s also allowed me to teach over 5000 private Jazz guitar lessons. My students have ranged from complete beginners, all the way to Professors of Jazz at NYU, and everything in between. I’ve also taught Jazz guitar, popular music, and music business at: Ø Western Illinois University Ø Western Michigan University Ø University of Illinois Ø Carleton University (Canada) Ø Concordia University (Canada) Ø The Kathmandu Jazz Conservatory Ø University of Ouro Preto (Brazil) Ø University of Sao Joao Del Rei (Brazil) Ø University of Juiz de Fora (Brazil) Ø Leeds College of Music (UK) Ø University of Chester (UK) My love of Jazz has also enabled me to play over 2000 gigs in 8 countries. These gigs run from mostly empty coffee shops, to sold out concerts. mattwarnockguitar.com

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I’ve even shared the stage with Jazz legends such as Randy Brecker, Stefon Harris, and Slide Hampton. Some of my favorite gigs include shows at: Ø Lincoln Center Ø International Association for Jazz Education Conference Ø NuJazz Festival (Brazil) Ø Savassi Jazz Festival (Brazil) Ø International Jazz Day Festival (Nepal) Jazz has been in my life for 20 years, and every day I’m glad I found this great music. Because of this, I want to share this love of Jazz and guitar with you. You never know where it’ll lead you.



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