How can you play like grat jazz players with only scales and arpeggios

[CandidoParticipant]

I have been playing guitar for a long time (over 45 years). I know some basic music theory. I can play some major scales and arpeggios, although I don’t know them as well as I should. I know the circle of 4ths and 5ths. I can play some root drop 2 maj7 min7 dom7 min7b5 chords. People say that you have to learn scales and arpeggios to play jazz. But how can you sound like the great jazz players playing scales and arpeggios. So if you could lead me in the right direction that would be great.

Thank you,
Candido

[Rick StoneKeymaster]

Candido,

Well, scales and arpeggios are certainly important, but by themselves they’re kind of the equivalent to learning the alphabet and learning to spell words without ever learning to speak in sentences. Just knowing them on their own doesn’t really help you to use them.

I just put up a new lesson yesterday on the tune “Autumn Leaves” that you should probably check out. There’s also another good one on “All The Things You Are.” Both of these demonstrate a lot of ways that you can learn and absorb the basic materials in standard jazz tunes.
https://www.jazzguitarlessons.com/autumnal-eves/
https://www.jazzguitarlessons.com/attya/
There seems to be a lot of interest in these “tune based” lessons, and I really believe that this is the best way to understand jazz concepts, so there will be many more on the way and I’ll be adding to the content of those that are already started.

I’d also recommend that you go through the lessons on Bebop scales in the Improvisation section as I demonstrate a lot of common practice usage of chromatic notes in scales. I realize there’s some overlap of information between these videos because I made them at different times, but I think you’ll find a lot of good information here:
https://www.jazzguitarlessons.com/bebop-scales-basics/
https://www.jazzguitarlessons.com/bebop-scale-rules/
https://www.jazzguitarlessons.com/bebop-scales-old/
Please note that when I discuss the “rules,” I’m really just talking about a systematized way of playing scales so that the chord tones will land on the beat, which is very fundamental to the whole idea of “playing changes.” It’s not just about playing scales, but using them in a way that emphasizes the sound of the chord change. If you study the lines of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, etc., you see that this is almost always what they’re doing.

Just as important as any of this is listening. When you’re learning any song, you should spend a lot of time listening to different versions, learning the melody and they lyrics (yes, know the lyrics will actually help you a lot even as an instrumentalist). I think that it’s really important to “hear” everything that you play. Check out what Hal Galper has to say about this: https://www.jazzguitarlessons.com/hal-galper-on-the-illusion-of-an-instrument/

Transcribing is also a very effective way of absorbing the jazz vocabulary (in other words, learning how various devices might be “used in a sentence”). I’ve written several blog posts about this, so here’s some recommended reading:
https://www.jazzguitarlessons.com/some-tips-on-transcibing
https://www.jazzguitarlessons.com/some-thoughts-on-learning-jazz-guitar-and-practicing/
https://www.jazzguitarlessons.com/learning-from-the-masters/

I often like to say that we don’t “play” scales and arpeggios, but rather we “use” scales and arpeggios. A subtle (or maybe not so subtle?) distinction.

A question: When you say that you know some scales and arpeggios, do you practice them in the context of tunes? Sing them? Look for ways to connect from one idea to the next as the chords change? These are important issues and in a way it’s much more important to practice them this way than just in isolation (although that’s the way most of us initially learn them).

Hope that you find these useful!

Musically Yours,
~ Rick

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