Sometimes it’s hard to know how to get into jazz guitar. Especially if you’re already pretty good at a different style, like rock or blues.
I’ve heard from some of my older students that they always wanted to get into jazz – but it just seemed too intimidating. That there’s too much to learn.
They feel like they’d have to start over.
I even remember what a guitar teacher told me when I asked him for help with chords form my middle school jazz band:
“Jazz guitar players use those fancy chord symbols so they can act like they’re smarter than everybody else.”
(Don’t worry – I got a new teacher shortly after this particular lesson)
The reality is that while it looks complicated from the outside, jazz guitar is not that hard to learn. Or at least it doesn’t have to be.
In fact, you can use a lot of what you already have under your fingers to get you started. You’ll just have to make a few tweaks along the way to get it sounding the way you want it to.
Let me walk you through it. You’ll find out how to get into jazz guitar without getting overwhelmed. And you’ll get to use all the skills you already have to make it easier.
What do you really want out of jazz guitar?
Take a second here and think about what you really want out of learning jazz guitar. Do you want to switch gears and become a jazz guitarist?
Do you just want to be able to add some jazz ideas into the playing and writing you’re already doing?
Or do you want to learn jazz simply as a way of expanding your knowledge of music in general?
All of these answers are ok. When I was learning how to get into jazz guitar, it was just because I found out I could play guitar in school if I joined the jazz band.
Knowing what you want to get out of learning jazz guitar will help keep you on track. I know that in the past, I’ve gotten way too excited when a student showed a slight interest in jazz guitar – and took them way farther than they wanted to go before we switched gears.
And I think a lot of other private teachers do the same thing. But if you know what you want ahead of time, you can keep yourself on track – either learning on your own or with a private jazz guitar teacher.
Use what you already know
Just because you’re playing some jazz doesn’t mean you have to reinvent the wheel. After all, the guitar still has 6 strings, and 12+ usable frets.
Something I like to remind my students of – any scale patterns you know from your blues and rock playing will absolutely carry over into jazz guitar.
So use what you already know to start – and then use some of our free resources to build out your scale patterns. Check out the ultimate guide to jazz guitar scales as a way to get going.
Your movable chord shapes or power chords will also give you something to work with right off the bat. Just be careful.
Your normal major and minor chords don’t really apply to jazz guitar (and power chords aren’t usually the right sound). But the ideas behind using these movable chord shapes absolutely translate.
And that will help save you a lot of time when you’re figuring out how to get into jazz guitar chords.
Check out the free Ultimate Guide to Jazz Guitar Chords for more chord shapes you can use right now.
Listen to jazz guitar players
When people are trying to figure out how to get into jazz guitar, they tend to get really focused on music theory. They want to learn scales, chords, and licks. To learn something magical that will make them sound like jazz guitar players.
But in my experience, listening to jazz guitarists is one of the most important things you can do to start adding jazz elements to your playing.
Because you are what you eat – or in this case, what you listen to.
Too many students get frustrated when their playing “doesn’t sound like jazz.” I’ve usually found this happens when someone is working really hard on the theory and technique – but not actually listening to the music.
Jazz is something that has to get into your ears before it can come out of your instrument. And if you’re hearing good jazz sounds a lot, it’s probably going to come out of your guitar.
So listen to jazz guitar players.
It really doesn’t matter who you listen to, as long as you’re listening. The last thing I want you to do is spend a bunch of time listening to players who don’t interest you because they’re the players someone says you “should” be listening to.
Find someone you like to listen to – and who you’d kind of like to sound like.
Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, and Grant Green are good places to start for more old school playing.
Mike Stern might be a better entry if you’re more on the rock side of things right now. And Kenny Burrell is a popular choice for people coming from a blues background.
The point is – find someone you like, and listen to them a lot.
Simple fixes for your solos
There are a couple of things that players coming from rock and blues do a lot that really kills the “jazz guitar vibe” in their solos.
Even if you’re sticking with the minor pentatonic scale shapes you already know, you can still sound like a jazz guitar player. Make an effort to eliminate these 2 quirks from your playing:
- Bending notes
- Using vibrato
Historically, jazz guitars had really heavy strings – so bending notes wasn’t really a thing.
I know Mike Stern bends notes. I know Django Reinhardt did it. But 90% of jazz guitar players in history didn’t really bend notes that much.
So if you want your solos to sound more like jazz, please stop bending notes.
And as for vibrato, just don’t do it. Most of the time it’s not the right choice for jazz guitar.
Instead, use 1 fret slides, hammer ons, and pull offs to create different effects in how you play your notes. I’ve had students start sounding better almost overnight just by getting rid of their note bending and vibrato habits.
Try to play like them
A lot of people tell you to learn solos by ear (or transcribe solos) when you’re figuring out how to get into jazz guitar soloing.
I’m not going to tell you it’s a bad idea, because it’s not.
But it is very time consuming – especially at first. And depending on how deep into jazz guitar you want to go, it might not be the best use of your time.
Instead, this is what my first great jazz guitar teacher had me do:
- Find a lick or phrase your favorite guitar player used, and try to play something kind of like it
You’re not copying the lick. You’re not learning the exact notes they played. Instead, you’re trying to play something that is in the spirit of what they played.
Think of a little kid learning how to talk. They don’t sit down and study grammer or write down everything you say in order to learn how to talk.
They babble. And say things that make no sense. You have to work kind of hard to figure out what they’re saying.
But they get closer and closer to saying the real words. That’s what we’re going for here.
Jazz is a language, and you’re going to have to babble a little bit to figure it out.
You don’t need tricky chord shapes
These easy 3-note chords are all you really need (at least to get you started). They sound good, they’re easy to learn, and they move around the neck like your barre chords and power chords.
A system I built around these shapes took me all the way through college, and well into my professional playing and teaching career. You can check out the course where I show you the whole easy jazz guitar chord system here.
The best part is you don’t have to spend more than a few minutes learning how to play these shapes.
They’ll give you that “jazz guitar sound” you’re looking for in your chord progressions, and you’ll sound good too.
Learn Jazz Standards
Playing through songs is really the best way to learn more about playing jazz guitar. Whenever I’m showing new students how to get into playing jazz guitar, there’s really one goal:
Learn just enough to start playing songs.
From there, we can work on all kinds of ideas to make things more interesting. But getting through enough basic skills to start playing real music is the top priority.
So learn melodies and try to play them like your favorite jazz guitar players do. It will do a lot for your phrasing – without ever thinking too hard about it.
Turn chord progressions into exercises where you can work on new ideas or alterations. Is there a tricky spot where you just can’t quite get the chords right? Turn it into a chord exercise.
Learn about key centers and how to find them in the songs you’re playing. When you start to understand how keys move in jazz songs, it’s easier to find the right scales to use.
Every song you learn how to play unlocks new abilities for you. You’ll learn tricks for getting through chord progressions, and recognize key changes faster.
Plus – every song you learn makes the next song a little easier to play.
A great resource for this is the website Learn Jazz Standards.
Find A Community
A lot of your work figuring out how to get into jazz guitar can be done on your own. In fact – it needs to be.
You need time to work on the things you learn from lessons, books, videos, or recordings. You need time to build up your skills and improve your playing.
And there are also good reasons to find other people to play with. Or at least talk about jazz guitar with.
Playing with other people is fun – and it’s a great way to learn things you wouldn’t learn in lessons or other resources.
If you play with people who are better than you, you’re going to pick up a lot of little things – just by observing them while you play together.
And if you play with people who aren’t as experienced as you, you’ll discover ways to help them out that will ultimately improve your own playing.
It’s a win-win. So find some people to play with if you can.
The internet is full of places you can talk to other jazz guitar friends online. You can learn a lot, or at least find new guitar players to listen to by visiting forums like this one.
In-Person is Also Great
There are also probably jazz jams somewhere near you. Whether you want to get on stage and play, or just go listen and meet some people.
Many cities also have jazz guitar societies where people get together to play and talk jazz guitar. Do some looking, and you will find some people you can play jazz guitar with.
I learned a lot when I was involved with the Jazz Guitar Society of Spokane (they don’t exist anymore, sadly).
There were regular jam session hangouts, gear swaps, and they would frequently bring in great jazz guitar players to give clinics, performances, and lessons.
Find something you’re comfortable with, and talk to people about jazz guitar. You’ll learn a lot this way.
How to Get Into Jazz Guitar
Figuring out how to get into jazz guitar can be intimidating – even if you’re already an experienced player in other styles.
But with the right approach, it can be a pretty easy transition for you. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel here – most of the skills you already have are going to help you play better jazz guitar.
It’s also important to decide what you want up front:
- Do you want to learn a little bit of jazz to apply to your own style?
- Do you want to dive in and work on being a jazz guitar player?
- Or maybe you want something in between
Knowing this ahead of time will help you keep from going down rabbit holes if your goal isn’t really to be a great jazz guitar player.
Or keep you focused if you do want to become a jazz guitarist.
Remember – keep it simple. The skills you already have are going to take you a long ways.
You just have to tweak them a little bit, and make some minor adjustments to how you play what you play.
Keep playing, and if you have any questions – email me at kyle@jazzguitarguide.com. I read every email, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.