5 Concepts Jazz Guitar Beginners Must Understand To Learn Faster 

Most great musicians are lifelong learners. Many years ago I used to see Mike Stern at his 55 club and was amazed to learn he took weekly piano lessons, I bet he still does and probably practices scales regularly too. It’s a lifelong journey and triangulation from different perspectives helps to see the path more clearly. As always, thanks for the perspectives Jens.

Jens Larsen is single-handedly saving jazz. Thank you sir

"3 Notes Through Changes" = HUGE. Thanks, Jens!

Thank you for another fantastic video Jens - you are a wealth of knowledge. I love your sense of humor too 🙂

I studied jazz guitar for a long time and eventually gave it up. I was too caught up in all the theory and couldn't make it sound like anything and just lost interest. Your videos (and Jimmy Bruno's, too) have explained things in such a way that I'm starting to understand the music and phrasing etc much better. Still a long way to go, of course, but I actually want to play more jazz tunes now. Thanks!

Makes perfect sense Jens, thank you

Jens, your advice applies to every instrument, to everyone that wants to get better at improvising. Having played professionally for almost fifty years(sax, flute, clarinet if provoked with money)-and still learning more every day-I have to say that had I been able to have your tutelage when I was young would have saved me a lot of time. I've been a "closet" guitarist for years, and you have helped that immensely. Marvelous stuff. You are a great teacher-and funny to boot!

i am always looking for things to learn and its nice that i always ended up watching your videos. The way you see music and explain it, i love it. Thank you for your wise advices

This is all really great advice! It’s funny, today I was cleaning out my classroom and I found a folder I made over 8 years ago with an intense regiment planned out to learn every scale, key, mode, and chord inversion. 😂 I thought I’d be Jeff Beck in 6 months…

Jens, I'm really a bass player, but love your stuff. At any rate, some of the best advice my teacher gave me is to know not just the chords, but also the melody, as well as the words (of all of the verses) if there are words. As a bassist, sing the song (or melody) as you are working on the lines. To start soloing, play the melody, work around it, step off it, and come back. Was super helpful for my bass playing (as well as guitar and piano.) Stupid jazz milestones like being able to play Stella in 12 keys are for the birds - play Stella really fucking well in Bb.

I just can’t get over the fact that this wealth of knowledge is free. You are a treasure.

Thank you. Very practical advice.

Knowledge is power,but selfknowlege is more important. Because you are the one who is learning,Thank you Jens Larsens i love you,for your help.

Holy cow…. I think this is the way Im actually going to progress! I, like many, struggle to learn jazz or guitar in general because there needs to be a balance of the intuitive process and the technical aspects of things. I spent to much time noodling but, at the same time I can now hear a song and find it on the guitar in a hr or two. These tips are huge because, it’s helping me see that middle ground to actually improve. Thanks! *Instantly subscribes*

Share your advice for beginners, what helped you or what went completely wrong? 🙂 7 Hard Guitar Skills That Pay Off Forever ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-TSXJe7YkI_k.html

Having become familiar with the fret board, the caged system, major scales, minor scales, of course pentatonic scales, and blue scales, modes… I find myself gravitating towards jazz because my ears want more resolve. Jens is outstanding at helping to bridge an understanding on how to build Jazz fluency!

So many good suggestions so quickly. Solid, makes a ton of sense

❤ that makes a lot sense.

I dropped bass in high school because I got tired of playing scales; I could ace examinations but until I realized there's not really much point learning anything unless you use it in something I didn't realize and therefore did not get the value out of practice for the hours spent forcing myself to do unfun stuff. Lots of hard earned wisdom...I realized that decades later, while jamming and having fun but also wondering why I could never play what I really wanted, the sounds in my mind. It unlocked a lot of enjoyment as well as really helped me understand that visualization is far more important than actually playing in terms of self-actualization. Software engineering is a good example, too; everyone learns the language but you find out everyone can code too. There are different paths to elegance as well as the expression of self in the creation of an algorithm or chart; there are several different methods to solve the same problem, in everything - it's how you travel the path that makes the difference.

You are such AN INSPIRATION DUDE… you are a gift to humanity. Never stop.

Great tips, Jens. Thank you. ⭐🌹⭐

I would say this might be your best video. Great advice and very important to know early on

Thank you. Very encouraging.

Absolutely great, condensed, rock solid advice. I teach more rock/pop guitar but this is basically the same approach I take students through who are often terrified of the idea of making their own music. It works!

Very comprehensive set of tips here, cheers!

Great advice as usual. Thanks.

Great advice Jens, as always!

Gracias Jens por los comentarios consejos hay veces que si resulta frustrante no poder hacerlo como los grandes guitarristas pero solo con trabajo y tus consejos se puede lograr y nunca rendirse siempre hay algo que mejorar dia a dia saludos desde México capital eres un gran Máster

guess im not alone in thanking jens for the referral..1...2....3....thank you jen!

My biggest set back has always been playing alone. We live in such an atomized world, and we want to be good before meeting with other people. But if jazz is a language, you're best off diving in with the people speaking the language. When you step out of that and treat the language as an academic pursuit, you might get good but you won't speak the slang, the idioms, the inside jokes, etc. You won't get a feel for how people here or there are using vocabulary in specific ways. They say fish and chips in the UK but in the US we'd say fish and French fries. Same thing, spoken differently with different accents. Thing is it's really hard for musicians to get together and play. Imagine getting together with people who are new to your language and trying to engage in a productive discussion. The people who speak the language would rather engage with those who speak it already because the conversations are more developed, and the more developed you are the more you want to discuss with other developed minds. The reason why I never got good at jazz over the course of the past 16 years, and instead have chosen to compose my own digital music, is because there was and is a massive shortage of people at my level willing to engage in the jazz conversation. I never wanted to play with jazz experts because I know for a fact that I'd be wasting their time as they turn into a teacher instead of a participant. So I never got together and played music with anyone, and was forced into composition rather than improvisation. I'm extremely inspired by jazz, but in the end I use the theory to inform my composition rather than my improvisation, because improvising alone in my room isn't necessarily fulfilling. I do continue to practice my guitar and hope one day I'll be good enough to not slow down the people that I play with, and transition from a composer to improviser. For me, it's taken decades, and I feel like my biggest set back was simply being alone. Socializing is hard these days, and jazz improvisation is like a highly sophisticated form of socializing. I wish as a community of jazz lovers, we could find a solution to this problem. I've been watching RU-vid videos on being a jazz beginner for nearly 17 years. Being alone is one of the worst things you could do.

Great tips for any style of lead playing!

Great lesson!! Every sentence is an idea worth studying. There’s enough here for an entire life of study

Always inspiring

Great advice🎸👍

Such good teaching !

Ex horn player & current guitar novice here. What I love the most about your videos is, your tips & suggestions apply to every instrument, not just guitar & they appeal to the music nerd in me. Your tip about recording yourself is a good one but I used to go one step further & video myself. It's surprising what you can pick up when you can watch yourself play, especially if you can get a good shot of what your fingers are doing. Videos can also stop you from pulling stupid faces while soloing, expose looks of boredom when you're not playing (not good when you're on stage) & all sorts of little things that would usually go unnoticed. I highly advise it. Thanks for all your efforts! I may never achieve the high level of playing you display (in fact, I'm almost certain I won't) but knowing where the top of the mountain is important to know if you ever hope to get there.

Great lesson!

We all need to start somewhere when it comes to Jazz. As I have said, it's a high commitment, but it's such a worthwhile reward in the end! Cheers man

Well done again Jens! You're ability to put the right information together in the most efficient order makes your teaching extremely effective. As someone who's been teaching guitar for 35 years myself, not jazz though, I recognize your ability to be extremely effective. I hope your students appreciate that they've found a great teacher.

That borgia stick solo is so iconic!

I bought your course, but this video right here really hit the rights notes for me, thx

Thanks as usual for a great lesson, Jens. Had to call out the cameo by Manuel from Fawlty Towers - great reference.

We’ll explained thank you

Great Advice Jens. If all a Musician practices is Exercises, then when they play a Gig, Recording Session or Jam Session, unfortunately, its going to sound like an Exercise. Your also right about Composing Phrases and Recording them and Listening to them. But, I have to add a very important point. Its very important to be constantly Listening to Great Jazz so that when you Compose a Phrase you'll be Composing Phrases with Good Jazz Language, and when you Record and Listen, you'll know what to listen for. I'm always surprised when a student of mine says they are serious about Jazz, but they rarely Listen to Jazz. Your also right about Articulation and Dynamics. They are Critical parts of Phrasing. Thanks.

I love the literal hieroglyphs on the sheet music

I'm a heavily frustrated guitarist from France. I've been playing for 15 years (I'm23), and feel like I've hit the wall for the past 5 6 years, when I started to really get into jazz and felt there was nothing I could do to sound remotely interesting in comparison to all the awesome players there's already out there, even though I know I have the technical ability to play pretty much anything, learn any song or solo. I just seem to get lost in the midst of all the possible routes you could take in an instrumentalist learning curve. It gets pretty bad to be stuck in that position since I decided guitar and music was my true passion and my life would be built around it. I've come across a few of your videos, I believe this is the one that could actually do the trick for me, extremely inspirational pieces of advice to shift gear and focus on what really matters to improve. Thank you so much

I love your videos so much. Super helpful. Does anyone know of any similar channels but focused on piano instead of guitar?

The topic seems kinda like asking a painter how he approaches his craft and development. Always great stuff Jens!

Clearly, you need to do a video about your complaints with Dutch bread! 😆😜 Seriously though, such excellent learning advice (for any instrument), grounded in real world experience!

Thanks for pointing out the things that tripped you up when you started. Students don't realize how much goes into being able to play; the many layers of knowledge and experience that work with one another. Putting listening and phrasing right at the top is such great advice. Thanks for sharing your experiences and explaining them so articulately. We can relate to what you relate.

Fantastic advice and some hilarious looks to camera.

Suggestions: 1. Buy Richard Hyman's books, "All The Right Changes" (Vol.1 and Vol. 2). The are gold mines of learning and blow away most fake books. 2. Do not waste time learning TAB. TAB is for amateurs and does not aid well with learning theory. Learn how to read STAFF music. Buy blank staff books or make some staff on your PC, Producer and leaders will not supply you with TAB on a session. They usually provide a lead sheet using the the treble staff (for guitar) or a chart. Learn how to read both. 3. You MUST know the note of each string at each fret for the ENTIRE fretboard. WITHOUT THINKING ABOUT IT!! -E.g., If If someone points to a spot on the fretboard you must be able to KNOW that note without thinking about it. Yes, there are many useful patterns, but until you learn the notes, circle of 13 notes, 5ths, 7ths, etc. and how to read staff, sheet music, you will be stumbling in the dark. Yes Jimi Hendrix could not read nor did he formally know what a 4th or 3d was. YOU are NOT Jimi Hendrix! 4. Learn the PIANO!! You need NOT become another Art Tatum or Nat Cole. Just learn how to read double staff piano music. Piano will help your theory, writing and EVERYTHING. Piano is the best instrument to be able to play professionally. It's far easier to write a horn chart from a piano than a guitar. 5. Find a university-trained teacher. A teacher who can read, play and knows theory. Make sure the teacher has plenty of live and studio experience. Make sure you like the same players and music. It helps to have a teacher that views teaching as a DUTY to give something back. Expect to pay the going rate by the hour ($60 -$70 / hour?). I studied with the late great Richard Lieberson for over 4 years, but I was in my mid 30s (too late). Somehow, Richard tolerated me and was able to teach an ADD/Dyslexic player! He was a task master, but that was what I needed. 1 hour sessions became 4 hour sessions. Richard was a mensch, and perhaps the finest player I would ever know well. Note: Richard's first instruction was to buy Richard Hymans books! Back then, The Colony on 48th street was a great store. There are MANY great player around who might take you on. Hit the clubs and look around for someone you admire, and with whom you get along. If a player does not want to take you on as a student, do not be upset. He may simply be too busy. Also, not every great player has the patience to teach. No worries, you will find someone. I started on piano when I was 5. I did not touch a guitar until I was 12. It took my almost 30 years to become better on guitar than I was on piano. But, piano helped me be a better musician. -A MUCH better musician. Learning theory, helped me with harmonies, singing and writing. How did I truly learn how to sing? I was lucky. I was born with a fair natural instrument. PLUS, the beach boys were big when I was young. The Beach Boys teach you close (crush) harmonies like no other combo. Also, the Four Lads, The Pied Pipers, The Four Freshman, etc. Regardless of what sort of combo you are playing in, being able to sing bass harmonies and play bass (both fender and regular bass) will help you stay working all the time. Good luck. When you can instantly fall in with EVERY player from, amatuer folk to serious Jazz players you will have arrived.

Interesting video with good points.

Whatever instrument we play this can be applied to. 🙏🏼🎧🎹🎸

Daniel Barenboim always told his students not to waste valuable time on scales but to play music.

I get what you’re saying; It's very wise and sage advice. It rings so true. In Miles’s autobiography, he often talks about how even when he was considered one of the best, he still was learning. For instance, he says often he would learn things about chords from Monk and many new things to add to his playing. So one can learn the basics of jazz and play a little bit and still continue learning and perfecting one's craft. So one doesn't have to know everything to play good jazz.

This guy gets me back on track with every video… and I get off track a lot 🙄

Christmas Day, 1993: I learned "Jingle Bell Rock" on the high E string, likely to please my parents after dropping $200 on an electric guitar. Just trying to show them that it wouldn't be another thing that got thrown in the corner and forgotten about. Some time in 1994: Got my first issue of Guitar World from the newsstand, and learned how to read tab. I didn't look at the symbol legend though- I looked at the tab for STP's "Plush" and experimented with the lines and numbers until EUREKA! what I'm playing sounds like the song. Some time in the early 2000's: I really started wanting to understand music theory but some stuff still didn't make sense, like WTH is a IV-V-I? Do I play 4th fret, 5th fret, 1st fret? These weird notes... they're not in the scale but they sound cOoOoOolll... maybe I can learn it from an internet tab! 🤮☠ Some time during 2020 lockdown: Huh. This Jens guy seems to know a lot of things I don't know, and I can understand his explanations! I'm still not even close to where I want to be but that's due to me not practicing enough. My job has made my fingers stiffen up a bit too. My excuse-making skills have definitely improved though!

Jazz is an improvisational rhythm, feel, and bounce along a set key and bpm that utilizes all aspects of music as pieces to a temporal puzzle in which to create phrases at the musician’s discretion. 😊

Jens, you're so right! Dutch bread is horrific.

You left out one very useful technique which is Forward Motion i.e learning to hear the next target note and approach it. Its such an effective way to practice cause you'll always be playing lines that make sense. It also makes you aware of time as you have to constantly plan out routes to approach the down beats

Yo Jens! You have a full course? Link pls?

Always great info! I want to comment on a personal feeling about terms, or you could say, the words that are used to describe musical situations. I think that the words diatonic subdominant, dominant should be retired. I found in college, for example, studying philosophy most of the content was easy to understand in plain language, and very difficult to understand in the words that were used - as when Kierkegaard wrote the 'teleological suspension of the ethical' That to me is like saying the diatonic and the subdominant of the submediant and so forth I think we should modernize to the root, the fifth, the fourth etc. The 1 chord, the six chord in the key one half step lower and so forth . Thanks for all of your hard work and excellent content!

❤

Another excellent one Jens! But you should really try to get rid of this obsession about Dutch bread ;)

Hi Jens! I really want to play jazz but I don't know how to start and the path I need to walk. I am a classical guitar player but I want to have more freedom when I play.

i was a student for i think one month before i ran out of money xD now im teaching guitar in my hometown to several middleschoolers and elderly folk that dont necessarily play jazz all the time. Would the very basics like notation, dynamics, and rhythmic accuracy be explained outside of jazz? also, would knowing this things about music ALWAYS improve their playing or not?

Hello Jens@! One rather unusual question, I guess. How do you actually manage to have your guitar quite high and keep 45 degrees angle in the videos without using a strap? Sadly, I am coping with chronic pain which prevents me from playing comfortably while standing/sitting with a strap. That's why I am trying to figure out how to arrange my sitting so that the guitar isn't too low and 90 degrees angle. Thanks for any tips

Jens, I felt like that many, many times putting my guitar in the trash....lol

I would like to take lessons with you. Where do you live and how do I get in touch with you?

Hi Jens

I noticed that your guitar didn't fit in your trash can. I have the same problem with my ES-175. Have you found a work-around? (Seriously, thank you for this very helpful video.)

C major

I thought I was doing good with reading music then I found come rain or shine and I couldn’t even play the first 2 bar that are only quarter notes and 8th notes do to syncopation. I really have to do some work.

Have to have desire and imitate the greats, even if when you steal from them you make them worse initially.

👏👍🙏🤝

So much complaining about Dutch bread...but where is the praise for Dutch infrastructure? :) Great video, Jens. I believe Jon Herington also said that you should "compose what you wish you could improvise." I should get started on that...

It seems like a lot of good musicians like you will say to not waste time on certain things and wished they learned differently. Wasn't that part of your journey to become a good musician? I'm wondering if that wasted time had a part to play in your (and everyone's) learning.

I should probably pass and not give any comment, leave the internet in piece. Nevertheless i'd leave it here as I follow Jens over last few years. So as he says, don't repeat his mistakes, i should say: dont repeat my mistakes trying to follow his advices. - Here is my point. He is right saying that to play jazz, you need to learn the language (transcribe, copy, play with recordings), and he is right saying that learning the alphabet doesn't make you a language speaker, but, i didn't hear in his videos (not that i recall) the following advice, that is absolutely crutial to develop the improvisational skill over a chord progression - you need, no YOU MUST improve you ears. That implies the follwing: You need to be able to sing the chord progressions: - bass line (roots of all the chords) - connect (by singing) chord roots using the scale notes and chromatic notes (yes you are right you need to know and be able to sing a few scales major (and all its modes) melodic minor may be diminished scale, but if you can do it with major scale it's already great!) - SING the the shortest path throgh the chords following the lines of guidetones (3 7) - SING, what is called continuous lines over chords. (see the book i cited below for the definition but it is very advanced stage) -then many other things should also come with that (to mention the least: being able to hear bassline and recognize basic chord types (minor/major/dominant). but i mentionned essential part. Bottom line: YOU MUST HEAR WHAT YOU PLAY. The rest is just technique working on an instrument (a lot of my musician frends can play several instruments and improvise on them just because they hear what they are plaing) doing all that together with transcribing and copying will inevitebly bring you in the right spot. Unfortunately youtube university didn't provide me with this information, but the jazz teacher i'm taking harmony classes with since 1 year. I mus say, it is very very long journey. You may keep following Jens, he is a nice guy producing quality content, but it, in my opinion it is secondary to the ear develompent. I would suggest (i'm not affiliated with Sher music in anyway) to have a look at the following book to The “Real Easy” Ear Training Book by Roberta Radley (she is from Berkely college of music) to give you more details about the approach. as my teacher says: good luck, the road is long, but the scenery is nice. Valentin.

7:45 sad toast :(

Use a looper to practice!

Do I need fingernails to play fingerstyle jazz? Thank you. :)

Que??

I do not believe that the display of clichés which has become a reflex contributes to the development of a mysical language. Furthermore, how will a student learn tonal alterations without learning scales and chords? It seems to me that it is a whole that we call culture.

You are forgetting who you were before playing jazz. Jazz is a language but... Slowly... You can't compose before playing

5:40 I'd like to collect the trash in your neighborhood!

Also, get past the basic beginner stuff. Move on to advanced melodics/harmonics, Cheers...

There is a very important thing about music you should know,your intellect analyse the concept of music you are playing while your heart process the information.Information is not sensation,you can read all jazz books and not capable of playing jazz;open the Center of the heart To feel inspiration, sensation that is what mean having soul.This is a holly science,please know the constitution of yourself before learning something.

You think life is easy... It not that easy as you say

I can't concentrate on your videos because of that missing truss rod cover. 🙃

Every video you make is all talk and no play. Play some exact changes (without a back-track, no noodling) to 2-3 full lines of music (or just one)...

Manuel, you are a waste of space!

How can you complain about Dutch bread?! Unsubscribed!!!

Awesome lesson Jens , toward the end I was thinking ,, I should listen to some Joe Pass today, he used all this great stuff. Thanks mate 👍🇦🇺

Hello Mr larsen, I have been writing jazz lines In my DAW and then transcribing them to my guitar, do you think it is a good method, as in do you think I will get dependent on my DAW for lines rather than my own Intuition Thanks

Jens, try to make a class in spanish for us, we are here in Latin America.

Knowledge is power,but selfknowlege is more important. Because you are the one who is learning,Thank you Jens Larsens i love you,for your help.