Hello again, welcome back to Jazz Guitar Toolbox, a series that offers all the essential tools a jazz guitarist needs! In this lesson, we’ll discuss one of (if not THE most) important aspects of not only jazz but music in general. That is: RHYTHM Most of the examples will refer back to chords and progressions found in previous videos of this “Toolbox” series, so I recommend you check those out first if you haven’t done so:   Twelve Essential Chords| Jazz Guitar Toolbox 2.1 - Twelve Essential Chords Essential Jazz Progressions| Jazz Guitar Toolbox 2. 2 - Essential Jazz Progressions ..read more

Guest Lesson by Matt Warnock I want to start by saying thanks to Marc-Andre Seguin for inviting me to publish a guest post about jazz guitar improvisation on his very cool and informative jazz guitar website. One of the most often asked questions I get from my students, readers, and guitarists around the world, and of all stages of development is, "How do I develop motives in my solos so that I play more melodic and less scalular?" Learning to build jazz guitar improvisation off of a motive is a great skill to have as a player. If you can learn to focus on one idea for a long period of time w ..read more

A lot of players transcribe jazz guitar solos during their practice time. If you are not doing it, maybe it is because you do not see the benefits (yet). We are convinced that you know a handful of jazz solos you really enjoy listening to and in this blog post, we will give you 5 reasons explaining why you should transcribe these great jazz solos by ear.  The 5 reasons  to transcribe jazz guitar solos: It is an Incredible Ear Training Exercise It Puts the Theory to Work It Improves Your Technique You Absorb the Language It Takes You Close ..read more

On Transcribing for Jazz Guitarists This is a "how-to" article about transcriptions for jazz musicians. Please click here to view a collection of note-for-note transcriptions on this website ..read more

I often get asked by students: "...I know scales and stuff, but how can I add more chromaticism to my lines? How can I connect everything with half-steps?" My answer is: well, practice the chromatic scale first and all this stuff will soon become available to "glue" your melodic lines together. (Also check out Podcast #4 here...) What is the Chromatic Scale? Chroma means color in Greek. This scale encompasses every color (thus every one of the 12 notes available on our Western musical instruments.) The twelve notes, starting on C: (ascending) C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B ..read more

Hello everyone and welcome back to Jazz Guitar Toolbox! In case you are not familiar with Jazz Guitar Toolbox, this is an entry-level series - the goal here is to cover the essential skills every jazz guitarist should have ..read more

Reading Exercise #28 A Guest Post by Michael Berard ..read more

The Quick Guide to Scales and Modes for all Jazz Guitarists The major scale is the single most important thing to know about guitar scale theory.  You’ll learn this “quasi-magic” formula to build the major scale in any key. This is a gentle introduction to guitar scale theory so if you don’t read music, (“notes” on the staff) don't worry about it because even if you’ve never encountered any music theory in the past, this is a great place to start. So, take your time and don’t be afraid to ask questions! Over the course of this guitar scale theory article about scale ..read more

You know the drill: as jazz players, we're always looking for ways to add nice chromatic notes and altered dominants into our solos. So this lesson is yet another way to solve one of the most typical issues for beginning and intermediate jazz players, which is ..read more

A guest post by Matthew Rusk of MGRMusic.com Teaching jazz guitar and learning to play it, can often feel like an isolated experience. Especially, if you're practising individually without the support of other guitarists. Yet, put a few guitarists together in a room and they will quickly start talking about the resources that they have use to help develop themselves, alongside - of course - the gear they use and music they enjoy listening to. This concept of sharing resources, exercises and tips when learning to play the guitar is incredibly valuable. As a community grows, the collective reso ..read more