Beg, borrow and STEAL your way to jazz fluency… 

Another very strong lesson here thank you. I especially like the way the bebop "characteristics" are drawn from the chords "automatically" - no need to "look" to theoretical material - ears and sound are a stronger guide. I found this a very natural way in to link melody and chord which you (well "I") can't easily pick up from peering at writing and trying to imagine.

One of your best!!! This is just what I needed to hear!

Excellent ! 🤘

Fantastic. Thanks!

Amazing, thanks

Great lesson. My thoughts: While chord/scale theory and playing lines/vocabulary are both valid approaches, the problem with chord scale relationships as an intro to jazz is that it frustrates the beginner and doesn’t quickly lead to making music. There is more immediate satisfaction and results in learning lines/licks and varying/implementing them in your playing. The theory will ultimately come when you explore why the lines work. Robert Conti has made a teaching career off of this approach.

The deeper I get into my bebop studies, the more I realize how important the rhythm is... Precision with harmony is definitely an aspect, but the rhythm and pulse of the line is what separates the wheat from the chaff. For me--I REALLY gotta work on owning that downbeat, no matter what I play. Afterall, you don't want to BEEP where ya shoulda BOPPED--that's a criminal offense. The punishment is life in prison listening to "Jazz Cafe" or whateva the fuck algorithm created jazz they play at coffee shop speakers instead of the REAL thing ;)

I started teaching myself jazz 3 years ago. I didn't even bother learning lead guitar at all, since my main drive was incorporating "jazzy" chords into my songwriting. Learning chord changes made it so much easier to understand the form of jazz in general; so many repeating patterns. And then realizing that most chord progressions are just super complicated 251s disguised by substitution and modal mixture. The 2 biggest things that sped up my learning were 1) learning the entire album "chet baker sings," by listening to it on youtube at .25 speed and trying to figure out the piano chords on guitar by ear. Russ Freeman is a genius 2) Using jazz chord tropes in my own music For the record though, I had been playing guitar for 15 years before this, so I already had a knowledge of 7th chords and scales.

I heard Barry Harris say that Horace Silver woule write his solos out