Jens Larsen's lessons are the best I have found on the interwebs. He's not only a wonderful jazz player and teacher, his lessons have perfect (for me) pace, clear explanations and useful visuals. Jens also has an ineffably positive energy that says, "you can do this!"
I listen to your videos at least on average three hours a day. I've gotten to the point that when I listen to lines like these, that I can hear the chord changes and other lines also. Although I haven't been able to use all of your material in my compositions, it is very exciting when I can alter functional harmony and melodic phrasing to join various music genres together to form different kinds of music. New and exciting musical ideas. Although I have become more knowledgeable in so called technical terminology in music, the vast majority of the time I still rely on my ears. I get in pretty deep and find that stopping to try to explain what my ears are telling me just slows me down. This particular video does seem to go a long way towards a simplified approach to using my ears. I can't possibly imagine how anyone could write the lyrics to popular music without studying Jazz. Jazz is pretty much everywhere you could possibly look over the last sixty or seventy years in popular music.
A little bit of jazz theory helps with any genre. I like to dedicate about 10 mins to direct listening, so playing a scale or arpeggio, chord etc and allowing my inner ear to be fully focussed on the sound/vibration. It seems a little boring and tedious but it definitely creates usable connections in the brain which come out during playing. 😎🌌
@daynemin It isn't just Jazz, but also Blues, Classical, Country, and World Music etc. The flow and ornamentation of the melody, particularly in Jazz, does seem to be well played upon in modern pop music vocals. It's not that I don't put the work into going over the material; it's that I find myself doing other things around the house and am inclined to listen to my RU-vid list. When I don't have the time to practice my guitar and mimic the notes with my voice, I plug an 1/8" cable into my tablet and play through auxiliary on my boom box.
Dear Jens ! Thank you so much for this very rich Yt channel ! About this video, just on question about the BEST arpeggio exercise (3:12) : what if the tonality is in minor, should we adapt the same arpeggio exercise like this : A-7, B-7b5, CM7... etc ? Thank you !
It always puzzles me that somebody says that bebop scales are a waste of time, but at the same time uses Barry Harris as a reference. For example. Take the Barry Harris sixth diminished scale, something that is often given to beginners before his chromatic scale. Now guess what this scale is ... the bebop major scale! If you know that Barry Harris and David Baker are closely related and the main forces behind a similar bebop theory , that shouldn't surprise you. David Baker relied heavily on Barry's idea's. After reading a lot about David Baker it was clear to me that this would be not my cup of tea. Although Barry gave a lot of nice melodic idea's, once it goes deeper/more advanced I have the same 'no' feeling.
so, we all know we don't really wanna play like systemetically arpeggios and scales belonging to the chords, right. and do chromatic stuff and whatnot. But it kinda gets messy this way for me to organize.
Great lesson Jens! You've taught these concepts before separately, but seeing the together, here and how you can connect them is very instructive. Thanks!
and you would need to come up with just random stuff you like the sound of and hardwire that into your brain, and try not to become repetitive somehow. But that's like yeah.
It's better to start with arpeggios in the sense that it's easier to make pleasant sound and lines for a beginner. Resulting in a satisfying studying hours. At least that's my experience.
I also recommend everyone to check Jens' book on modern jazz guitar concepts, it gives a lot of material in very clear and concise way. Works great together with this channel :)
Thin guy is the very best! If you're a jazz beginner like me he is so great to listen to! Some stuff is way over my head but I ALWAYS get something out of his videos I can learn and then go back later for more!!! Fantastic playing and puts it at a level that even I can understand! I may not be able to play it yet, but I understand exactly what he is trying to teach! GREAT STUFF!!!
This is a marvelously topical supplement to Jens' "Jazz Guitar Roadmap." It's easy to be consumed by RU-vid "Learn Jazz" rabbit holes. I strongly recommend saving time and money by getting Jens' "Jazz Guitar Roadmap." Do that first and his "RU-vid" videos will really resonate. Cheers!
Very strong lesson Jens. An absolute pile of work and applications here. I know from experience its critical to get slow in learning this stuff, try to really hold your enthusiasm and take it slowly. There is so much music and potential in each of the segments. As always many, many thanks.
More than good lessons. I find Jens Larsen's videos inspire me to try harder, and learn more. I always find something in the video that I haven't tried, and that prompts me to work harder on my playing. Thanis, Jens, for giving me this knowledge and inspiration!
@@slicksalmon6948 There are 1000s of melodies based on arpeggios, to insist that arpeggios are not melodic is silly. I don't think you know what you are talking about, but feel free to explain why Moonlighe Sonata and Eine Kleine Nacht Music are not melodies, because they are both arpeggios.
@@JensLarsen I said arpeggios are melodic, but they are rarely by themselves melody. Play the arpeggio progression for Autumn Leaves, for example, and the melody doesn’t come falling out. BTW, I’ve been playing for 61 years, so lighten up on the name calling.
@@slicksalmon6948 Just because you don't sound like a melodic masterpiece the first time you play a few arpeggios doesn't mean that all "arpeggios solos" are boring and difficult. Most likely some of your favorite solos are "arpeggio solos" you just don't realize. That is like saying bricks are not great building materials because if you throw 500 bricks in the air then they don't come down as a perfect house every time.
