Overthinking is a big problem with jazz guitar students. And it’s totally understandable. Jazz is a complicated style, and there’s lots to learn, right? Maybe. Maybe not. Sure, there are things you need to learn. There are terms, chord shapes, scale patterns, and all kinds of theoretical stuff. But most of the time what you … Read more
Being in a jazz band as a guitar player is a unique challenge. It’s a completely different animal from playing by yourself, or even in other kinds of groups. And if you’re used to playing rock or other pop music styles, there can be a steep learning curve. Just about everything seems new, even though … Read more
Jazz guitar chord shapes can be overwhelming to learn – especially after you get past the easy stuff. There’s so many options out there. There are tons of resources for learning jazz guitar chords. And it can be hard to know what to focus on for your next steps. Should you be focusing on shell … Read more
The Circle of 5ths is an important tool for understanding music theory. So at some point, you’re going to want to know how it works. You see it everywhere – In the beginning of guitar books, music posters, and on chord progression charts you might pick up from Amazon or your local music store. In … Read more
Lots of students feel like they need to learn more music theory if they want to play better jazz guitar. In fact, it’s one of the most common things new students ask me. Especially if they’ve been playing for a while and they feel stuck. But most of the time, they don’t really need to … Read more
The harmonic minor scale is a great tool for improvising and playing melodies in minor keys. It’s a similar finger pattern to the natural minor scale you probably already know. But it’s just a little bit more colorful. One of the great things about the harmonic minor is that it’s the easiest way to play … Read more
5 Reasons You Should Be Learning More Jazz Guitar Chords Chords are an important part of playing jazz guitar – and if you only learn a handful of jazz guitar chords, you’re selling yourself short. When you only know a few chord shapes, it can help you get through tunes or even rehearsals and gigs. … Read more
Do You Really Need a Jazz Guitar? One of the fun parts of learning something new is exploring the gear that comes along with it. So it’s only natural that when you start learning jazz, you start looking into jazz guitars. But what is a jazz guitar really? And do you even need a special … Read more
Mastering Intervals for Jazz Guitar At some point as your guitar skills improve, you get interested in music theory. And one of the most basic pieces of information you can find is intervals on the guitar. It’s natural to want to dive into the nuts and bolts of how our musical tools are put together… … Read more
My Top 5 Jazz Guitar Practice Tips We all know we’re supposed to practice if we want to get better at playing jazz guitar. That part is obvious. On the surface it’s pretty simple: If you want to get good at jazz guitar, you need to spend time… practicing jazz guitar. But sometimes we run … Read more