[Rick StoneKeymaster]

John,
Thanks. I’ll get on that right away. Today I was in video shooting mode, so I’m actually putting up a couple new ones on using the bebop rules to play over IIm7 V7 I progressions. I was just sitting down to do the notation for those, so I’ll transcribe the connecting dominant 7th lesson as well.
Musically Yours,
~ Rick

[Rick StoneKeymaster]

Robert,

I’m glad you’re enjoying the lessons here. I’ve been trying to add new material every week, but was out of town a bit this summer, playing gigs, etc. Now back and working on new stuff. Some of it will appear on the blog (like the videos that go with the scale book) but most of it is in the lessons (which are for members only). I post announcements about new material to the Site News page every month and also in the Newsletter (working on this month’s right now).

When you go to the Lessons page, you’ll notice that there are two ways to navigate; You can use the index on the left hand side of the page to view by categories and lesson pages (which are then further broken down into separate tabs on each lesson page), or by the thumbnail images that appear on the right-hand side of the page. The thumbnails are shown with the newest first, so if you’re looking for the latest lesson, it’s pretty easy to find that way (for instance, I just added the lesson on Chord Melody Voicings on Thursday, so right now it’s the first one you’ll see there).

Thanks for writing and if you have any other questions about any of the material here, don’t hesitate to ask.

Musically Yours,
~ Rick Stone

[Rick StoneKeymaster]

Candido,

Thanks. Good suggestion. I first learned about economy picking from a clinic with Tommy Tedesco at Wurlitzer Music in Boston around 1979 or 80. He just talked about this concept of playing three notes on a string “down-up-down, down-up-down, down-up-down” or “up-down-up, up-down-up, up-down-up” etc. You could play scales very fast this way, but that was pretty limiting. But I started applying it to different licks and phrases and working things out. And then in talking to Mark Elf, Augustino DiGorgio (who wrote those books with Chuck Wayne) and some other guitarists I was playing with in the early 90s, I started learning more about this approach. What most of them told me they were doing was alternating as long as they stayed on the same string, but whenever they had to change strings, they would pick in the direction of the new string.

Easier said than done I know, but once you get the hang of it, it feels very natural and you stop thinking about it. It’s pretty much my default way of picking most of the time now. I wrote a blog post with a few examples a little while ago which you can read here: https://www.jazzguitarlessons.com/sweep-picking-versus-economy-picking/

But yes, this would be a good subject for a video. I’m preparing to play my 60th Birthday gig in NYC at the Bar Next Door in less than a week and then going out to Ohio to play at Nighttown, but let me see what I can do before I go.

Musically Yours,
~ Rick Stone

[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

[Rick StoneKeymaster]

No problem. I miss all kinds of things that are right in front of my eyes . . .

[Rick StoneKeymaster]

Yes, you are correct. It’s a pretty new site. We launched in January, but there were some issues so I didn’t really push with the marketing. We got feedback from our users and worked the bugs out. Now we’re beginning to get more interest and I’m here in the studio this summer working on material. As things get rolling, I expect to be publishing new lessons weekly. Each lesson will be consisting of a series of videos with associated pdfs and play-alongs as well as embedded Soundslice notation. Take a look at the ATTYA lesson and that should give you a good idea of our ideal lesson structure (we’re transcribing the solo choruses right now, so they should be up soon). Thanks.

[Rick StoneKeymaster]

Oops, I should have included the URL. Here it is https://www.jazzguitarlessons.com/attya/

[Rick StoneKeymaster]

That’s a question that I hear a lot and the answer is a bit more complicated than “what scale do I use to make my blues playing sound like jazz.”

It really boils down to this; Jazz is a “language” and in order to sound authentic, you need to start absorbing and using the vocabulary of that language. Of course the blues scale is part of that language, but only part. A good place to begin is to start becoming aware of the changes and learning the chord tones. Have you gone through the blues lessons? https://www.jazzguitarlessons.com/the-blues/ and https://www.jazzguitarlessons.com/c-jam-blues/ Learning to incorporate the guide tones in your solos and will give you a good start. That and learning some IIm7 V7 I phrases to play in measures 9-12 of the blues form will go a long way towards making your playing sound more like “jazz.” In my improvisation on C Jam Blues, I intentionally limited myself to using the blues scale with guide tones for the first 8 bars of the 12-bar blues form, and then played a IIm7 V7 I phrase over the last 4 bars.

And of course, because this is a language, one of the best ways to learn is through imitation. You should also be transcribing solos by your favorite artists. It doesn’t have to be whole solos at first, and in fact it’s often more useful to just transcribe phrases that solve specific musical problems you’re having.

Here are some articles I’ve written that you might find helpful:
https://www.jazzguitarlessons.com/some-tips-on-transcibing/
https://www.jazzguitarlessons.com/learning-from-the-masters/
https://www.jazzguitarlessons.com/finding-your-own-voice/
https://www.jazzguitarlessons.com/some-thoughts-on-learning-jazz-guitar-and-practicing/

Who are you listening to? As a guitarist interested in playing the blues, guys like Grant Green, Kenny Burrell, Wes Montgomery and George Benson should be high on the list. And then of course, don’t just limit your listening to guitarists. I’ve found that tenor saxophonists in particular offer a treasure trove of ideas that usually translate very well to guitar. Check out Sonny Stitt, Dexter Gordon, Hank Mobley and Sonny Rollins (I love John Coltrane, but often his lines are too “notey” and don’t really lay on the guitar as well).

Hope this helps.

[Rick StoneKeymaster]

Thanks for the heads up. I actually fixed this awhile ago, but forgot to post a response here.

[Rick StoneKeymaster]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed the tune. The pdf link is now fixed.

[Rick StoneKeymaster]

Miguel,

Sorry for the slow response, I didn’t see your message till just now. I’ll be posting some more videos on “Autumn Leaves” soon, but meanwhile, here are some things you can try.

I’d recommend starting out by playing melodies based on the Boss-Notes. Use them as a skeleton for generating new ideas over the changes. You can try starting melodic lines on them (or playing lines that lead into and end on them). Or just incorporate them into your lines by surrounding them with other notes.

You can also look at some of the things I did with the ATTYA studies as a model. Try the first-3-notes of the scale from the root of each chord, then 5-notes, then triads, seventh-chords, etc.

I should note that it’s very important to sing these things as you’re learning them, so that you’re developing a very close relationship between what you play and what you hear.

I also encourage you to listen to a version (or versions) of the tune that you like and copy some ideas. Again, see if you can hum or sing them first, then play them on the guitar. Start out with baby steps, little four-bar phrases, then eight-bars, etc.

Ultimately, jazz improvisor play what they hear, so take your time. It may seem like a slow process, but as your ear gets stronger, playing becomes easier and more natural.

Thanks!
~ Rick

• This reply was modified 9 years, 9 months ago by  Rick Stone.

[Rick StoneKeymaster]

Miguel,

Yes, “Autumn Leaves” is great tune to study the Boss Notes concept on (it’s one of the examples I always give in private lessons and I do have plans to make a video on that one). Boss Notes are pretty similar to Guide Tones in that they are often (but not always) 3rds and/or 7ths of the chords. Notice in Autumn Leaves that each phrase is series of pickup notes leading into a long note falling on beat “one”? THAT’s the Boss-Note. So in the key of G minor, the Boss-Notes form a descending line; “Eb, D, C, Bb” for the first 8 bars, and then “Eb, D, C, G” for the second 8. Then at bar 17 the line ascends “A, Bb, C, D” and the last 8-bars goes back to the descending line “Eb, D, C, G” (notice that although it’s a different melody, the last 8-bars use the same Boss-Notes as the 2nd 8-bars). So although “Autumn Leaves” harmonic structure is AABC, the Boss-Notes are actually following an AABA structure).

[Rick StoneKeymaster]

Miguel,

It looks like the pdfs are all there and working now. Go to the page https://www.jazzguitarlessons.com/solfege/ and click on the last TAB. You should see a whole list of files. Are you having a problem accessing them?

Let me know. Thanks.
~ Rick

[Rick StoneKeymaster]

Just following up and letting you know that the PDFs are all there now. Please let me know if you find anything else amiss. Thanks!

[Rick StoneKeymaster]

Willie,
Sorry for the slow response. For some reason the forum didn’t forward to my email and I only just saw this. Which lesson do you mean (I’m guessing it’s this one? https://www.jazzguitarlessons.com/diatonic-arpeggios/ ) We’ll get on it right away.
Thanks.
~ Rick

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