I’ve been a professional jazz guitarist for 35+ years, have taught tons of guitarists, teach at a university, etc - and I want you to know that I have shared some of your videos with my students with the words “here is a very clear example of what I showed you”… thank you, you are a terrific resource, and you are appreciated.
He’s a hack. I feel sorry for your students. If you knew what you were doing, you wouldn’t be “showing”, a dead giveaway that you are simply lording your advance playing technique over your students, not explaining the underlying principles as you should. You wouldn’t need to show them these videos to explain what you are “showing” them. My college theory instructors VERY rarely set their hands on an instrument. What you are subconsciously doing is trying to intimidate the next generation of players out of challenging your technique.
@@5400bowen first off - you know nothing about how I teach, or obviously what I mean by “showing”, which includes lessons that include teaching principles, techniques, bigger concepts, and yes, sometimes playing for and with them. I have no idea how good a performer Jens Larson, I don’t even care, but sometimes he puts things in a particular way, or arranges certain materials in bite size chunks, that has helped some of my students. I feel sorry for you that your teachers never played for you, you must be a poor sad soul as a result of them not feeling you worth sharing their gifts with you. Sorry.
LOVE this!! Use the Bass Player - he or she is there for a reason!! I have to say, having started to think like this - as a BAND member, not a guitarist - a few years ago has simplified and improved my playing noticeably! I used to think like a solo pianist - I have to play EVERYTHING in EVERY song. Then I learned to hear my band, to listen to what they were doing, to realise that the audience hears an ENSEMBLE piece, nit individual instruments, so started to focus on what I NEEDED to do to add to my spectrum of sound, if you will, and using the bass player was the absolute core to this. It totally freed up my playing and I stopped all worries about barre chords and even my bass string notes, and learned simple chord inversions like this video, to minimise me jumping all over the neck, and to add the right colour to the song in the right place! It's not perfect by any means, and does tax my amateur brain 😂 but I LOVE the results so far! GREAT video Jens 😎
Been trying to learn some jazz cords for rockabilly and psychobilly. Due to the damage on my left hand I was having a hard time holding and moving to the next cord, until now, thank you so much. This way is a lot easier and cleaner.
I like your way of simplify Jazz into essentials that makes Jazz to living music that returns joy for musicians and auditors, unlike than theoretically music stuff that musical institutes are often using that overloads the brain and take out any joy…
an amazing lesson! i've been playing for almost 60 yrs. these principles are so basic and simplify everything. certainly will take my playing to the next level. thank you!!
i love this video, it’s very informative. i find it especially useful for someone like me who’s only learned those specific shapes for different extensions, this could make writing a lot easier i believe and maybe lead into other concepts like voice leading ¿? the only part i didn’t understand - @4:07. he calls them all C7 because he’s playing the 3rd and flat 7 that would make a C7, but those other notes he plays - are those just other chord tones of the C major scale? he said to use the other notes and see which ones go with the C7 and i didn’t quite understand that part
If I knew chords and theory like you man,I would be greatest song writer in the Europe ,at least.Just to be capable to transmit my ideas from my head into my fingers for short time.
could you talk about comping strategies with fast changes? I never feel like I have to opportunity to be melodic because i’m just trying to get chord tones out.
If I had the light bulb moment I think I had, this is the jazz version of rock "power chords"= two note chords played on the 5th and 6th strings. Instead, you play the jazz two-note cord on the 3rd and 4th strings, and add your "color" with the 1st and 2nd strings. Amazing!! Love this.
Interesting video! I agree with this concept. But here's my 2 cents about this: Any musicians should be able to understand that a C13 or C7b9 or C7#11 and so on is basically a C7. Any extension added in a chord chart is just a guide for anyone not familiar with the tune to avoid playing notes that would clash with the melody. Or sometimes the melody would require a specific extension in a chord. There are so many ways of harmonizing a melody. For example, when I see a C9, it doesn't mean that I have to play the 9th in that chord. That just tell me that I might want to avoid playing a flat 9th. When you see a chart with extensions on the chords, it just quickly helps to figure out the harmonic structure of a song (what scales the melody is based on, etc...). As I said, chord charts are just a guide. In the end, it's always the ear that decides what to play. When a chord chart is complete and accurate, it gives a better overview of the song's harmonic content. From this, it's up to the musicians to decide what to do with it
Pure gold. I hope they’re paying you well cause you are an excellent teacher. My comments on here always sounds like flattery but I’m really being sincere. Ty so much Jens. You’ve really enriched the musical lives of me and my kids.
You have been posting some amazing stuff recently as always, but recently there has a been consistent quality uploads with loads of jazz guitar wisdom and I would confidently say your the most reliable and seemingly caring jazz guitar teacher on all of the internet. It’s easy to tell that really want to help people learn without any ego.
Despite earning a degree in jazz guitar and music education, I’ve struggled with chord solos because I used to see them as thousands of individual ideas rather than groupings. That screenshot of the fretboard with 2 bass strings, 2 chord strings, and 2 melody strings is one of the most profoundly simple and effective approaches I’ve ever seen. I love everything about your recent videos after discovering your channel from the Paul Davids collaboration. Well done!
partial chord if it's jazz. power chord if it's rock. double stop if it's bluegrass. or an interval if it's classical. But they are all dyads(2 note chords). Is this correct?
@@JensLarsen I don't think so. I kinda focused in on the 1:30 mark. I don't understand music theory very well.(self taught)☹️ but the idea of finding the simplest version of a chord and learning how to color it in to make it fit the context of the piece as a whole is the route I went. I started with rock and roll power chords and then figured out how to build triads off the root and fifth. Then I realized If I drop the fifth to a fourth and add a sixth it makes it more somber. Then I discovered that I can invert the triads to create interesting bass lines. And on down the path I went. I'm just trying to make sense of what I am doing. Thank you for your time.
I am a grunge player by heart, soft acoustic player when i go acoustic... However, i always try and experiment with chords, sometimes i figured out jazz chords just by experimenting... I just cannot do a bar, with a string pushed 2 frets up, completely impossible for me. However. Bossa Nova has simple and nice chords! I love jazz, i just cannot play it sadly :/
Boy, did I ever need this lesson. I spend all my time fretting ( excuse the pun) about my fingers being too short. These more compact chords will help.
The clarity in your teaching has gotten so good! Stuff that can be directly used and also transposable with minimum brain and maximum fun is hard to come by and harder to articulate sometimes. Thank you for this excellent video and I'm looking forward to all your upcoming videos!
Been playing bass in church for about the last 25 or so years, and put guitar (my 1st love way on the back burner). But this makes me want to pick up my strat and start learning diad and triad riffs! Moocho thanks.
Jens, thank you for this video! I'm not a jazz guitarist (I really like Joe Pass, but I'm more folk/rock, classic rock), but my quest for harmonic enrichment and phrasing brings me very regularly to watch your videos. And this one, I think it unlocked something huge in my play, and only in 8 minutes! Thanks again Jens!
It is important, when accompanying a singer, to be very careful about passing tones. As a singer, I've had keyboard players who were fond of their ability with passing tones drop them while my ear is trying to hear another tone. That's a bit like hitting a giant pothole in the road at high speed. It's also true that often the chord extension is really just the melody note added to a simpler chord. So you don't necessarily have to play that extension as long as the chord you play doesn't interfere with the singer. And one last thing; if you are accompanying yourself on guitar, as a solo performer, you do need that bass note in the chord (most of the time).
You shouldn’t be distracted by passing tones. It mistakes by other players, which are much more distracting. You are focusing on controlling the other players. Pay attention to your own parts, then you won’t be distracted by incidentals.
I remember sitting down with a Joe Pass LP in 1975 and trying to figure out this cool sounding move he used on the IV chord in a Bb blues. Took me FOREVER, at least in my memory. The melody was just C, B, Bb with a chord on each note. After exhausting my recently acquired knowledge of "jazz chords" I stumbled on the actual line: the top 4 strings of an Eb13, 5th fret, moved the chord up a fret, released the 4th finger for an E9 and moving that back a fret to an Eb9. It was an excellent way to internalize the keep it simple principle. Thanks for the reminder and your extremely clear explanations.
Jens, every time I see your videos I learn so much! I usually want to say, "Wow, this was the most insightful video..." And then, I watch your next video, and it's somehow even more inspiring!! This video is SO GOOD --- I probably SHOULD toss out my several dozen books on jazz guitar; but I won't because I love books! ( I know I'll donate them to my local library, though, because you've given us so much to work on). And I've never specifically mentioned this but you're also an awesome filmmaker/editor! Your videos come off as simple and breezy, but I know you've put a lot of work into them. Thank you so much, Jens, you're such a great teacher!
This is great Jens! I’ve been playing with a piano player lately and I didn’t like the sound I was adding by playing a lot of extensions. I started playing just the 3rd and 7th and it sounded so much better. Now to work on adding some melodic material. Thanks for the affirmation and heading me (us) in the right direction!
Thanks for this video Jens ! A lot of great stuff here. There's some homework for me - in playing chord voicings without playing the Root. It makes Musical sense and keeps the Bass player happy. I especially liked the 'Chords with melodies on top' and 'Chromatic Chords.' I always have a number of Music projects on the go - and 'Chord Melody types of things' get placed on the back burner. This video will help chip away at my 'Chord Melody Phobia.' Cheers Jens. 😁
I play keyboards but I tried this technique and it's terrific. Just played a simple one note walk-up and walk-down in my left hand with the 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th in my right and I love it. (The high 13th is a stretch for me). Thanks for a simple yet great sounding tip!
Brilliant explanation Jens and in keeping with the KISS principle. Many players seem to forget that 2 notes make a chord and pianists can play enough notes for an orchestra and it's best to not get in the way.
Top 4 strings = ukulele. I've been suffering from guitarists' tennis elbow, and the uke is a great recovery tool. Now I can stop strumming silly luau songs and get back to jazz using this brilliant approach. I also don't have to spend my life savings to pay an orthopedic surgeon to fix things (it's U.S. healthcare y'know).
OK, so as a bass player who (very) occasionally dabbles on guitar, my _extremely_ boiled-down interpretation of this is that if I want to comp on guitar without melting my brain, I should focus first and foremost on playing the 3rd and the 7th of the chord, on the two middle strings… is that a useful way to think about it?
I play baritone ukulele so I don't have the E and A strings anyway. i think if I can wrap my head around your concepts, I could become a better player. It's going to take me a lot of repeat views to "get" what you are saying. I'll have to slow the video down. There is so much information in one short video! Question: are you using a pick with your right hand? It doesn't sound like it. I am terrible at using a pick.
It can be difficulty to understand the purpose of jazz chords, especially with how many there are around the fretboard. It's truly important to never overthink, and with practice it becomes natural. Cheers
I've hit the like button too early... There were several times during watching that video where I wanted to hit the like button! Thank you for the detailed explanation!
i'm surprised at how much i enjoyed this video, sorry Jens but i usually hate your videos and find them very discouraging because i have really small hands and can't play "normal" jazz chords that require long fingers or an enormous finger stretch, but these two note chords are something i like. even on a short scale guitar i have to play everything as chord fragments because my hands are so small, this is the first time out of all your videos that i've seen something that i want to use. i especially liked the part about drop the bass note and the highest note of the chord and play the two in the middle, even i might be able to play jazz one day if i can do this.
Hello, Jens or someone reading this comment, can someone name the Wes Montgomery song at 1:02? Which song/ performance was it a part of? Where can I find that song?
at 3:50.... how do you know what patterns go over the chords. maj7 gets a major scale of the root note... then would m7 get the minor scale and the 7 the mixo.??
can someone hook a brother up with what those “melody notes” were coming up from the 7th?? i don’t know what chord tones i should use & what chord tones i should omit!
You need to understand where the chord is coming from and what scale goes with it. Chords don't exist in a vacuum, they are in a song which is mostly in a key.
I understand it is your guitar but I just can not get over the lack of truss rod cover it is distracting haha. So beautiful your guitar, and thank you for the lessons sometimes it is how you think that holds you back not your lack of skills. Progress well do not learn it wrong the first time and have to learn again later.
Although I have been playing guitar self-thought for over 20 years, I was always intimidated by Jazz guitar, however, your last series of videos have really deconstructed what is important about chord progressions and appropriate soloing to match. Many Thanks.
4:45 “But you probably already know that.” Oh…Sir….you give me too much credit! Just when I think I’m a pretty good guitarist, I come here and you thoroughly dissuade me of that notion!
I must remember to slow down and take some deep breaths! Your last couple of videos have been pure gold - concise, simple explanations of things that have ‘worried’ me for a long time; it’ll probably take months to get comfortable with them… but that’s better than the alternative. Please keep them coming - I now have something to look forward to each week!
I have got an old VHS Video by Jimmy Bruno called "No Nonsense Jazz Guitar". At the very beginning he says something like: "There is no 7/#9/#5 Chord to me. There are only 3 kinds of chords to me: Major, Minor seventh and a Dominant chord." It is really worth thinking about that. Thank you for this video.
Jens, the clarity and the visuals of your videos are top notch. This approach is pure simplicity (although it takes practice and musicality), but it is very very musical. So long complex chord diagrams! Thank you for sharing. Cheers from Argentina my friend.
I’ve been taking more a dive into music theory, and have been working through a book called “Guitar Chords in Context”. This video nails some of the concepts I’ve been working on in under 10 minutes! I love music in that it can seem so complex until you look at it in a different way and BLAM, it just makes perfect sense. Superb video, thank you so much!
@@JensLarsen I have mastered my own style but its very limited. I get put off by complicated names of chords as I know they can be explained in better ways with an understanding of sounds, scales and keys. But seeing this little few tips helps as it lessens the load of getting to the next stage. I always wondered why my jazzy chords were too rich, and how jazz musicians are so subtle. There is the answer, thanks again and all the best. Nice video
@@JensLarsen You really do a great Job here in RU-vid, I've been following you for a few years now, and your content is really honest and to the point 🙏🏼 that have a lot of value , and you can tell you want the best for your viewers. It wasn't my intention to disagree with you, I actually agree, that about the pepper related to my life and I found funny to comment about it. 😅
This one is really helpful, thanks. So when I was a teen about 50 years ago I played guitar for my high school jazz band and was really in angst about charts that had lots of chromatic passing chords. I learned then that really, you let the bass and piano handle those and then you just keep up the Freddie Green quarters (we had a lot of Basie-type charts) with shell chords. Now I see from this presentation how I can move this into higher level comping, if I live long enough.
By Far, the best harmony lesson out here. As a seasoned, Saxophonist who is switching over to guitar, this is exactly the information I need to make the transition. Many thanks and congratulations 🙌🏿🙏🏿💯🎶🎸
My jazz teacher would agree. Top 2 strings for base notes (or bottom depending on how you look at the strings). Middle 2 strings for the guide tones and the last two strings for extensions
Jens, you are a great pedagogue and musician. Bless you man 🙏🏼🇦🇺🖖🏼 This is a perfect crystallisation of my recent forays into chord-melody solo playing and accompaniment, either as as duo or with a larger ensemble; trying to sit back and play less and more paradoxically - targeting colour tones and voice leading with harmonic sophistication. Yes, keep out of the way, use some internal motion to complement the bass and breadth of the pianist; compliment - never saturate. This was for me, one of your most elegant lessons.
"get to the main sound of the chord, envision the chord without the bass strings"...a lot of good information here for all players even if they're not playing Jazz
Hey, I'm so glad I found your channel. I play on 10 dif instruments since my childhood had students myself and never really went for learning jazz, cause everytime I tried to do it on guitar, I had an anxiety thinking about chord shapes and concept, but your video just opened up my mind and told me to trust my ears and take it easy and slow. Thank you for your lessons and wisdom, everytime I see your video, I actually learn something new and this helps a lot ❤
