Scale Studies for Jazz Guitar (Part 1)
44 Daily Warm-Ups to Build Killer Chops
Most all musicians agree that scale practice is essential to building good technique on your instrument, but the trouble is that while it’s great for building up your hands and learning the finger patterns, it can be incredibly boring. Plus, just running scales up and down doesn’t do much to improve your ears or musicality! Time and time again I hear students complain that they’ve learned their scales but just can’t seem to make them sound like music. And they were right! Playing scales is kind of like reciting the alphabet (and just imagine having to do that for hours on end!) We need a way to practice our scales so that they are actually aligned with the music and chords that we’ll be using them with. Unfortunately, the scale studies found in many popular guitar books don’t always live up to those requirements.
That’s why I’m so excited to share these studies with you, because they’re a result of many years of experience, practice, and learning what “works.” I wrote them to fill a need for a better way to practice scales. One that was more musical than what was and could actually be fun to play. Though fairly simple, they’re built on solid theoretical concepts, such as using “target notes” and “Forward Motion” as taught to me many years ago by master jazz pianist Hal Galper (see Hal’s wonderful articles on this subject at: http://www.halgalper.com/articles/understandingforwardmotion/).
I suggest that you first watch this video all the way through once and (if you haven’t already done so) download my free ebook Scale Studies for Jazz Guitar: 44 Daily arm-Ups to Build Killer Chops so that you can read along as you watch this video a second time. Then practice the studies slowly at first and break them into smaller 5-note units, practicing beats “1 & 2 & 3” and “3 & 4 & 1.” Then join them together to build them into complete phrases.
Soundslice Notation
Many of our lessons now include Soundslice notation (with more on the way). Click on the gear at the bottom of the window and check out the features (don’t forget to use the slider on the right as most of them don’t fit in a small window). You can slow down the actual audio along with notation, display in full screen mode, display a guitar fingerboard, adjust the size of the notation on screen and lots of other neat stuff!) Very cool!
Soundslice is program written by the wonderful Gypsy Jazz guitarist and brilliant computer programmer Adrian Holovaty!
Rick, Nice job on the video explaining your scale studies. Picking continues to be my biggest challenge and I’ve explored a handful of approaches. I get the concept of economy (consecutive) picking but you didn’t mention how you generate your picking motion, i.e., thumb, wrist, fore arm. It appears wrist and thumb for you. Taking just a tremolo on one note, do you have a clear way of breaking down those mechanics? I’ve studied extensively with Rodney Jones, Jack Wilkins, and Linc Chamberland, some of the best of the best pickers. I’m still searching. Thanks, Jim
Jim,
Thanks for writing. I’m glad you enjoyed the studies. I certainly know what you mean about the challenges of picking and really don’t consider myself to be a particularly “fast” picker. But through a combination of techniques, I manage to get the job done. I did post a little bit about “economy picking” on the blog last month https://www.jazzguitarlessons.com/sweep-picking-versus-economy-picking/
To be honest, I don’t really over-think what’s going on with my right-hand. I’m aware that I seem to use a combination of arm, wrist and thumb/finger motion. I think when I practiced, I always concentrated much more on getting the SOUND I wanted and the speed was secondary. As I’d speed things up, sometimes I’d make certain adjustments. Finding the best left-hand fingering for the specific lick or phrase you’re trying to play is essential. You can’t fight it or try to go against the grain.
I think that’s why Kenny Werner’s Learning Diamond approach works so well (I was already practicing that way before I ever heard of Kenny or read his book, but he does such a great job of describing the process). Practicing slowly is good and you can learn how the whole thing lays, but playing fast is NOT the same as playing slow only faster, and you can’t really figure certain things out until you try to play the fast. Of course, if you try to play the whole thing fast before you’re ready, that can be counterproductive as well. So playing very short segments up to tempo is a great way to find out if what you’re trying to do is going to work when you get it up to performance tempo. And then occasionally just blazing through the whole thing (mistakes and all) can help you to get a feel for how everything’s supposed to fit at performance tempo. By cycling through these three practice approaches, you can have a good balance and eventually be able to connect all the dots.
Also, don’t underestimate the role of the left-hand in clean right-hand style. I often find that I’m pretty aggressively hammering-on, pulling-off, sliding, etc., in a way that the note will sound even if my pick didn’t touch it, and I think that tends to make a phrase “pop.”
My advice? Think about your SOUND and what FEELS best. Try not to get too hung out about “how” it’s going to happen. There’s a great video by Hal Galper that I posted about awhile ago https://www.jazzguitarlessons.com/hal-galper-on-the-illusion-of-an-instrument/ I studied with Hal years ago and one the things I learned from him was that it really boils down to hearing and if the signal from the ear to to brain is strong enough, you hands will respond and do almost anything it has to in order to get to the notes.
Hope this helps.
Rick
I’m 50. Have a BA in Jazz Performance- guitar. Have studied with 5 Sandole disciples here in the Philly area- some of which excellent teachers.
This is what Ive concluded. Jazz is tough to teach and I don’t work hard enough to to develop.
Your video is so well done. Sure- its scales, but it is musical, and folds in the fundamental idea that you call forward motion. VERY WELL DONE!
My last teacher that presented material with this much attention and thoughtfulness was Tony Ventura – Charlie Ventura’s son. He taught how to write a jazz blues etude which focused on the forward motion concept as well.
Wish you were in Philly!!
Thanks Rob,
Yeah, the “Forward Motion” concept is something that’s been in music for hundreds of years (you can hear it in Bach) but the name was coined by Hal Galper. I had the great pleasure of having Hal play on my first album (a vinyl LP called Blues for Nobody) some 30 years ago! Hal was playing in Phil Woods’ group back then, and the saxophonist on my album Marc Bernstein was a HUGE Phil Woods fan. He took some lessons with Hal and that’s when I started hearing the term. A few years later, after I finished my Masters Degree, I went to take some lessons with Hal as well. A true master!
I don’t know Tony, but if he was showing you how to write Blues etudes using forward motion, then he’s alright by me!
Musically Yours,
~ Rick
P.S. I play Bill Comins guitars and get to Philly now and then. Hope to do a performance/clinic at the shop he has with Anthony Lattanze.
Rick your scale studies are awesome!!!!!! Perhaps a small point but I sometimes do a short sweep picking during certain tunes…….For specific studies of your scales excercises…please advise?
Alternate or a mix of alternate and sweep.
Thanks much
tai
Tai,
Thanks for writing. So glad you’e enjoying the scale studies. As of picking, I use a combination of things, but find myself mostly using “economy picking” (of which “sweep picking” is really just a subset) so it sounds like that might be what you’re already doing. The idea is that as long as you’re staying on the same string, you alternate, but whenever you move to a different string, you pick in the direction of the new string. So if you’re going from the 4th string to the 5th string, your first note on the 5th string would be played with an upstroke (and this is also true when you’re skipping across strings). But if you’re going from the 5th string to the 4th, the first note you play on the 4th string would be played with a downstroke. You do this regardless of the direction you were picking on the string you’re leaving. You don’t always get a “sweep” but ultimately, you minimize the right hand motion by reducing the number of times the hand has to change direction.
I wrote an article about it on the blog last month. You might want to check this out.
https://www.jazzguitarlessons.com/sweep-picking-versus-economy-picking/
Musically Yours,
~ Rick Stone
This is just a test post.
Hi Rickj,
Just a quick thank you for all your enthusiasm and hard work and in particular this new scales studies package. I fought shy of the CAGED system ( and also economy picking ) first time around but can now see the relevance of both although I still think it may take time to master the latter. Thanks once again for this kick start.
David
SW FRance
David,
I’m not sure why anybody doesn’t just “see” the CAGED system on the guitar. The first time I heard the term CAGED was at a master class with Joe Pass in 1980. There were about 6 of us in attendance in the basement of Dick Laurie’s music store in Cleveland. I had just finished my degree at Berklee and of course was already using those 5 shapes through having studied the Leavitt books. But Joe’s way of looking at the guitar was just so simple, and not only that, it encompassed everything else I’d learned. Everything clicked in one afternoon! Elegant simplicity!
It doesn’t matter what you call it (Jimmy Bruno just calls it the “Five Shapes”), it’s just the way our instrument is designed. There are only 5 ways to play octaves in position on the instrument, so any time you play an in position scale (regardless of what kind of scale it is) you’re using one of those shapes. And if you play longer forms, you’re just connecting up the neck using various parts of the different shapes. It’s really just got to do with the tuning our our instrument and the size of our hands.
My thinking of “CAGED” has evolved WAY beyond just thinking of 5 specific scale shapes. I see it more as twelve “Tonal Constellations” that lay out over the entire neck of the guitar. Every interval of the chromatic scale revolves around those 5 shapes, so ALL fingerings of ALL scales, arpeggios, or anything else you want to play is ALWAYS in relation to one (or more) of those shapes.
As I’m writing this response, I’m realizing that this is going to require an entire blog post of its own. It’s whole system of understanding the guitar.
Musically Yours,
~ Rick
Hi Rick,
Excellent material and very well presented. Quite independently, I realised years ago that you could take the CAGED shapes, rearrange them as EADGC (not so catchy) and align them with the five most common keys in jazz – G, C, F, Bb and Eb – to navigate comprehensively through any zone on the fretboard.
Out of interest, I know you’ve discussed “mini-scales” in your lessons but do you also teach seven positions (i.e. not 3 n.p.s) as a default fingering in addition to CAGED? The seven-position model contains greater finger stretches and it has less appeal on a visual level but it does have the advantage of presenting a continuous grid and a more logical connection between major, melodic minor and harmonic major/minor forms. I’d be interested to hear your opinion.
Cheers,
Paul
Paul,
Thanks. Yeah, at some point I realized that it was just “Hey Joe” backwards! Been practicing everything that way for about 33 years, 5 forms moving up the neck chromatically.
When you’re discussing the “seven-position” model are you referring to the seven one-octave shapes? Or are you referring to starting on each note of the diatonic scales with the first finger? Either way, all of that is encompassed in the way I think about CAGED. I’m not really advocating one fingering over another, but just looking at the constellations formed by the tonic notes as you move up the fretboard. The specific fingerings, and whether you would choose to stretch, squeeze, slide a finger, or move to another position, is dictated solely by WHAT you’re trying to play and which fingering works best at that moment.
If you really want to dive deep into it, go through the 3rd Leavitt book and then just realize that it’s simply a jumping off point and that NOBODY really plays “in-position” all the time (at least I sure don’t, nor do any of the guitarists I’ve observed and learned from).
I’m seeing from that last few comments that I should really right a post that clarifies what CAGED means to me (may be a lot less rigid than what some folks think of when they hear that).
Musically Yours,
~ Rick
Rick,
I am interested in signing up. I am an intermediate level guitar player. I have a fair amount of tunes under my belt and practice a couple hours per day. I want to learn more about chord/scale relationships, specifically using melodic minor over static dominants and ii-V-1 progressions. Also, since I have a full time job, my transcribing time is limited. So, I’m looking for cool lines or learning some keys to constructing my own lines. Do you feel that your lessons will help?
Thank you
Bob Blagg
Richmond, VA
Bob,
From what you’re telling me, I’d say that transcribing would be one of the most productive things you could do, but yes there’s a lot of material on the site that I think you’d find very useful. Lot’s of lessons discuss chord scale relationships, especially in the context of tunes (which is really where it’s most productive). To give an example, the new lesson I put up on Autumn Leaves goes over a contrafact melody and solo, then shell voicings, playing the melody in all positions, guide tones and “boss notes” (and how melodies and lines are constructed around them), basic chord scales, substitutions (lydian dominant, altered dominant, dominant diminished and whole-tone), the use of chromaticism in IIm V7 I lines (bebop scales and enclosures).
So while I’m a huge advocate of transcribing and getting your ears together, I’m also a huge advocate of learning how the materials work so that ultimately you can play your own lines and ideas within the tradition. I also try to be very accessible and stay on top of questions as they come up on the forum, and create new lesson materials based on the questions my students are asking.
Thanks!
~ Rick