Improve Your Jazz Solos 1: Stop Thinking In Scales 

Not only jazz guitarists, but also jazz saxophonists, and all other instrumentalists do the same thing when they solo! Does it sound good when they do it? If you're right, I guess Joe Pass, Wes Montgomery and Pat Martino, to name a few of the jazz guitar greats who do this, don't make any melodic sense. Or could it be that deep down inside, you simply don't like or even understand jazz?

@@RichieZellon "Does it sound good when they do it?" not really, it depends on the musician, Tal Farlow for example sounds terrible because he seems to give more value to the "tricks" of the notes around or in between the melody of the solo than the melody itself. There is a difference between the musician who plays for himself and the musician who plays for the band for the sake of music. I don't listen to much jazz guitar so I don't know many of them but I feel differences, I like great jazz bands that play good jazz music more than musicians who like to show up. "Not only jazz guitarists, but also jazz saxophonists". No Sir, saxophonists play one note at a time and this chords "vertical" thing is to dificult to them, so they have to keep it more "horizontal". Improvising is not just merit of jazz musicians, I like John McLaughlin I think he was one of the best and it is not jazz, jazz musicians are full of themselves, most of them. Well, maybe they are too "round" for me, I like things more "square"

@@magicguitarpedal You absolutely didn't understand my explanation of "vertical"! Go back and watch and listen carefully. It has nothing to do with playing chords. ALL jazz saxophone players play "vertically" outlining the important single notes of the chord in their arpeggios. And contrary to what you say, it is very easy for them! And again I'm talking about single notes...not chords! This approach is the essence of bebop improvisation. So, did Charlie Parker or Coltrane sound terrible? But then again if your ear identifies Tal Farlow as sounding "terrible", as well as all the great jazz guitarists who like him, are beloved by generations... I don't think you understand or appreciate this music. After all, Tal often played very similar lines as those Charlie Parker played on sax. Now, don't get me wrong!! You're entitled to your opinion but saying that "most" jazz musicians are full of themselves? Ha,ha... sounds to me more like a case of "jazz musician discrimination". Anyone else care to comment?

@@RichieZellon . . ."Go back and watch and listen carefully.". . how can it have nothing to do with chords if they are arpeggios that you talk about in your video? Here is what i hear in your video: You play a melody and ask if someone are able to identify the progression, I identified it ease at your first play, no ambiguity, you called it I-VI-II-V, as a classical musician I don't see it in this way (anyway it doesn't matter). Then you say: "We need to imply the chord changes in our solo", (I don't think so), you play a second solo using a larger interval between short phrases (pre-made phrases) and claim that it is what you call "vertical". I never heard this vertical or horizontal as a musical terms (in fact you trick the listeners a little because when you play the second solo the listeners already heard the progression from the first solo). For me everything is scale major, minor, penta, doric, ligia, mixolidia, etc and the trick is the using of intervals and chromatic scale. "jazz musician discrimination" they discriminate themselves, I use to say to my guitar friends: If you going to play with a jazz musician never use natural chords, always add at least a seven note to the chord, they are unable to play a natural chord, always shut off completely the treble tone control of your amplifier, they have a short range of harmonic frequency, treble doesn't sound good to them. Otherwise you will be out of their clique.

@@magicguitarpedal Your response shows how little you understand about the jazz improvisation mindset and how much you're against jazz musicians. The reason you have never heard these terms or understand these concepts is because you are a classical musician and have never even studied the music in depth with a qualified jazz musician . I'd love to hear you attempt to improvise over a set of changes. I would bet it doesn't sound anywhere like jazz, because you simply don't understand the approach. I have spent my life studying this music with the greats, performing with them and teaching at several great schools. These are not my original teachings or "tricks" as you claim, and I could direct you to hundreds of qualified sources as proof. You are entitled to YOUR opinion as I said in my previous response, but instead, you are intent on attacking me and my peers. If you claim that I am a fraud and what I am teaching here is wrong, then all the great jazz musicians that I have studied with and great jazz schools are also frauds! Instead of attacking the great practitioners of this music and their lifetime of experience and dedication to it, why don't you simply say, "I don't like it because of the reasons you stated". In my case, I am a lifelong jazz musician and educator who is posting these lessons because that's what I do for a living...I teach jazz, and I have the qualifications and experience to back it up. That's the only reason I would spend this time debating you...although this is as far as I'm going to take it because you don't have the qualifications to back up your claims. So, what on earth are you trying to accomplish with your rhetoric? Why not show some respect and simply leave it at "I don't like it, or I don't agree with this jazz theory"? What are you trying to accomplish with your attack???

Glad to hear that...enjoy!

Thanks Randy...much appreciated!

Great video.Great Teaching Richie

Thanks Charlie...much appreciated...lots more to come!

Thanks Jume!

Thanks Jay...it's always encouraging to know that people watch and enjoy the stuff!😀

You're very welcome David, thanks for watching!

Thanks, glad it was helpful!

😊🙏

Thanks, glad it was helpful!

Thanks!

My pleasure!

Thanks...much appreciated!

Thanks...much appreciated!

So glad!

I don't know if my fingers make any sense😀

Thx for watching!

Many thanks!

Glad to hear that!

Thanks, you're most welcome!

Thanks Jack!

Thank you kindly Vic...it's always encouraging to know someone is enjoying these videos...and yes, like you say...jazz is an endless journey!

True, but we're talking about bebop here which usually has lots of changes.

Glad to hear that!

Muito obrigado Francisco...

Thanks Sergey, glad to be of help!

Thx...getting there, slowly but surely!

Glad it was helpful!

Thanks! I've learned so much from saxophonists!

@@RichieZellon can i have links to your books?

@@christianespiritumusic www.amazon.com/dp/B09P2NF9TS?binding=paperback&qid=1661912786&sr=8-1&ref=dbs_dp_rwt_sb_pc_tpbk

Absolutely!

Whoever told you that is probably not a true jazz musician. You simply can't play jazz without any knowledge of theory and harmony on your instrument. How do you improvise through the changes? I've never heard a jazz musician who hasn't spent many, many years studying music before he could actually play jazz. Maybe you have a different definition of jazz...but you can't be referring to jazz as in Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Miles, Wes Montgomery, etc...Maybe you're talking about 1 or 2 chord "smooth jazz"?

I don't always agree with Richie, but right here--he's 100% right. He never said forget scales, he said get rid of thinking scalar. All the greats that I've studied with, and I've studied with quite a few--all stress the importance of arpeggios. Beyond the seventh chords, you can practice HEARING the colors and alterations. The b13ths or the #11ths or the 9ths. But the basic 4 note arpeggio (or even the triad) is the meat. I say that it's about time that we finally use Chord Scale Theory for what it was meant for--post bebop Wayne Shorter tunes and Joe Henderson tunes. Here's the thing, Wayne Shorter was a master at bebop and hardbop before he went "non-functional". That's why his playing on tunes like "Footprints" or "Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum" sound incredible. Joe Henderson too, but a lot of people sleep on Wayne's bebop playing early on in his career. They both knew the in's and outs of playing chords, and then they simplified and added spice. It's amazing how Wayne and McCoy Tyner use pentatonics in similar and different ways. They both know how to use pentatonics in a compositional way because they both knew how to outline the changes before the more modern stuff. Listen to McCoy on ballads, you hear how lyrical he gets with pentatonics and outlining the changes. RIP. Here's where CST fails us. You really have to know the sounds of chords and sounds within a tonal center (here I go again). It's not plug and play like Berklee and many other institutions teach. You have to practice hearing the chords, and hearing melodies that either target or create tension around those chords. Saying stuff like "play a locrian natural 2" over that minor7b5 chord--that encourages noodling because it's too vague. It gets too theoretical--too heady--and you run the risk of separating the ear from the mind. Here's where I get in trouble. Setup a minor tonality, a simple minor triad to setup the key. Now, sing 2 4 b6 1. That's your minor7b5. So, yes, you are aware of scale--but not in a chord by chord "Chord Scale" function. You are aware of how chords operate, sonic-ally, in a key center. Most music operates on tonal centers (you just have to redefine what tonal center means. Modern music goes beyond major and minor). And... now I remember why I need to take a break from social media. Eek, long winded--much?

@@pickinstone well said, learn to use notes as colours in a spectrum of tension and paint with them knowing the feeling you create with each colour. Scales and arpeggios give you sets of colours to work with and a structure that gives them some independence from the root chord being played over.

Actually, I'm playing over Rhythm Changes and using an altered dom over the F7. I guess that would make the b13 a 9 if you think of it as the tritone sub (B7)

Welcome Kilian, enjoy!

@@RichieZellon Thank-you, thats lovely to see how proactive you are. This is my first explore of jazz guitar, where do you recommend I start on your channel? What should I know/have comfortable on the guitar before I start browsing you channel?

bebopguitar.richiezellon.com

Yes, both regular and tab for the most part.

Thanks Alex, glad to be of help!

Jazz is not for everyone!

Why would you say that?

Why is it all you can do? You have a choice...we all started out thinking in scales!

@@RichieZellon Hi Richie, I just have a hard time breaking out of that thinking, even though I am familiar with chord tones, it's just easier to use scales. Especially since I try to emulate Pat Martino's style, and he uses long lines that feel a little like scales. I've been reading studies and your video sounded summarized what I read, they can be detrimental. You're thinking in terms of a new scale every measure, not a chord progression (I also don't completely understand functional harmony)

Absolutely!

Really? So enlighten me...what is a good jazz solo?

Do you have a problem with that?