How To Solo Over Chord Changes The Right Way
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 14. 06. 2024
- When you start soloing over chord changes in Jazz then the first concern is often what to play over each chord. Of course, that is important, but maybe the most difficult part is how to play it, so that is what I want to focus on in this video:
How to play from one chord to the next in any chord progression can be worked on regardless of the chords or key. This approach will give you a way of building the skill set needed to improvise over this.
Check out the PDF: jenslarsen.nl/how-to-solo-ove...
0:00 Intro - What to play or What to Play Towards
0:38 A Logical and easier way to Play Chord Changes.
1:04 The Basic Progression Dm7-G7-Cmaj7
1:30 The Key and the Scale
1:49 The Arpeggios
2:06 What Happens in the chord and how to get that into your solo lines
2:37 A Very Important Skill for music and especially Jazz
3:05 Example - How It Sounds
3:34 How to solo like that
4:02 Examples of lines moving through the progression
4:30 How To Practice to play like this
5:05 Rubato Solo Practice
5:50 From Rubato to slower tempos
6:04 Choosing Target Notes
6:52 You Want to Practice hearing the change
7:05 Examples from Take The A-Train
8:05 Like The Video? Check out my Patreon Page
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My name is Jens Larsen, Danish Jazz Guitarist, and Educator. The videos on this channel will help you explore and enjoy Jazz. Some of it is how to play jazz guitar, but other videos are more on Music Theory like Jazz Chords or advice on how to practice and learn Jazz, on guitar or any other instrument.
The videos are mostly jazz guitar lessons, but also music theory, analysis of songs and videos on jazz guitars.
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I've always just soloed by scales and "feel" and it worked for me for a while, but learning this stuff has really helped me out as I was getting bored with my own playing! And it certainly doesn't make you lose any feel by having more knowledge of theory, just gives you more options on how to express that feel.
Exactly đ
I often use my loop pedal. I practice over one chord for a while, until everything becomes pretty clear, then the next chord, then I loop both chords and try to connect what I have learned. It's very "caveman", but I find that it works for me.
That is a good way to really internalize two chords, but maybe difficult to get to work on an entire Jazz Standard?
@@JensLarsen It's not the best way, I think I'll try your method too and see where it brings me.
Lars Erik Vestergaard nice info
Hey Caveman...play on.
David Kolman Muñequitos muñequitos
THIS is the hardest part of learning to improvise.
Everytime I think I understand I suck at a backing track
Absolutely agree. Internalising the pulse and harmony of soloing over chord changes is a bigger beast than most people realise.
The hardest part is memorizing all the fucking theory.
@@wss33 I feel your pain, believe me. But I would say that a lot of people struggle with internalising the rhythm and constant flow of time. Once the band/track gets going, itâs hard to be thinking about theory. Internalising the timing and flow is so important.
@@wss33 that's relatively easy, you can learn all the theory you want and not be able to play a single line that sounds good.
These smaller more specific lessons are really great additions to other, more âbroadâ or âbasicâ videos
Glad you like it! :)
Jens, you're AMAZING! You've managed to condense YEARS of studies and head scratching into concrete, bite-sized tips that can put me back on track. I highly appreciate how practical this info is. Many thanks! :D
You are very welcome!
I'm a normal person, I see Jens' videos, I watch them right away.
Haha! Thanks Samuele!
Terrific lesson. And presented clear, not over explained, moves along good at a good pace, excellent. Thanks.
Glad you like it, Peter!
Sometimes on you-tube we are lucky enough, while stumbling through the endless well meant mass of vids, to stumble upon just what you need at that moment. For me, this video filled that moment this evening and for that.... I thank you. Please keep up the good work..
Thank you very much Graeme! That's great to hear!
Agreed! I play mandolin and guitar (amongst some other instruments) and THIS is just exactly what I need to up my game. Thanks, Jens!
This video really helped me understand improvising. Iâve watched countless videos on what to do. And I have a good understanding of it all but this cleared it all up very nicely!
I really like how you put this important idea in a simple comprehensible way. Prethink the target note (3) and build a line that arrived to it! Great, thank you!
Glad it was helpful! I think that is a very important thing to learn as an improviser :)
This is perhaps the best "soloing over chord changes" video and approach I have ever seen. After spending 10 minutes after watching it I was starting to create lines that surprised myself. Thank you Jens!
That is really great to hear, Joel! Go for it!
This guy is brill, fantastically good explanations
Mr. Larsen, of all your many videos this is the biggest key making connected, logical melodies in solos. Thank you so much!
You are very welcome đ
Thank you so much. This was a great lesson. I don't even play guitar but your advice has been invaluable for me when improvising on saxophone. I now understand how to properly join up shorter phrases into something more coherent.
That is really great to hear đ Thanks Gary
I don't know why it's taken me this long to find your channel but I'm so glad I did. I really appreciate your thorough lessons and masterful tips and explanations. Ive not seen more complete content elsewhere on CZcams thus far. Thanks, and blessings from the rolling hills of Tennessee.
Thank you! Glad you find the videos useful :)
Hitting those target notes really is the key to start sounding like you know what you're doing, another great lesson!
Yes! Thank you!
I love your lessons, and some times it's a good thing repeat the basic to grow up in advance stuff! Thanks a lot for your amazing work.
You are very welcome! I am really glad to hear that you find the videos useful đ
man that was so great, im really grateful for the day you started thinking of doing youtube video lessons to share your knowledge:) the most important gift among thousands you give to the world, is that you make us think! and thats invaluable sir!. thank you thank you thank you:)
Thank you Lucas! That's a very nice thing to say!
Jens! I really appreciate you taking the time to teach this type of lessons, Iâve just seen it today and you explained so well that i made it this very day !
This makes me wonder, perhaps some of the times when i tried to improvise just thinking of playing over one scale and came up with cool stuff , I nailed it in one of the chord notes xdd
Keep it uuup
Don't forget about the gpu acceleration to really nail those target notes 4:37
yes focusing on that really improved my years of avarage soloing
We have a video editor in da house đđœđ€Łđ€Łđ€Ł
And to think people ask me what am I going to do when I retire next month! Mastering this will take me the next 30 years
Haha! It's not that bad! One thing at a time and you will get there quite fast!
@@JensLarsen should it not be 1 b3 5 b7 which is DFAC, but his image of the Dm7 arpeggio would have you play the f sharp instead of F, am I missing something here???????????? aslo I see another mistake he has a D in the CMAJ7 arpeggio, which to my klnowledge is 1 3 5 7 or C E G B ????????? Can someone fill me in here, i am by no means an expert, so I would love to hear sone feed back?????
so.. here we are a year later. How's it progressing?
@@AlexSosaBolivia I think another 29 years and I'll have mastered it :)
An amazing quick lesson Jens. Great as always, thank you!
Glad you like it! :)
Hey Jens, thanks for taking this concept (target notes) and making it so approachable for a beginner like myself. You bridged the gap between concept and application and made it simple enough for me to do it right away. Of course, now I need to practice it a lot so I can do it when I want to! But Iâm already starting to play something more like jazz and less like music theory.
Glad you find it useful, Jim
Hi jens.great tutorials.we were classmates at musicians institute london 98.was fun.peace n love
Thank you! I did not go to school there, so that is a bit unlikely đ
Such a great lesson the masters move through chord changes at will
Excellent. Well presented. Clear, concise and not too fast. Thanks.
Glad you like it đ
This kind of smooth jazz is so soothing that it is ridiculous.
Thank you, I almost want to Kowtow to you for your precious help, thanks a million times.
More mind expansion from you, Jens! I have encountered and sort of "studied" (with the help of good YT teachers) the analog of target notes in pop/rock, e.g., going to the 3rd of the next chord. This I recall with some Mark Knopfler (who seems to be a genius at this) and a Marc Ribot solo in a Tom Waits tune. But it blows my mind that a good jazz musician can work this out in real time and even improvise lines with deep understanding of what the chords are doing. Insights like this make it clear that jazz is such a high art form. And it feeds back to some pop/rock (at least some of the great composers - Knopfler, Steely Dan, etc.) and helps me understand why they sound so great. Thank you!
Such a great video explaining sometimes itâs hard to understand but this is pretty clear
Rubato! Oh your classical heritage coming through here⊠great vids always
Glad you enjoy it!
This is good stuff. I need to get mentality faster at knowing target notes instantly fit chord charges. I'll just have to keep plucking and getting my brain faster through practice. Thank you!
I manage to do two major things during the quarantine days. Work from home, and learn things from master Jens Larsen.
Again, simple yet very easy to understand đ đđ
Glad you think so!
i haven't seen anyone playing as perfect as this tuber. Flawless , I don think in this birth i can play like him
Thank you đ
Jens. you are a prefect teacher
Thank you đ
Jena,I love your tone and the musical aesthetic your lines convey;and in the context of a lesson this refreshingly rare-I always say being in tune matters,as does your tone and expression even while running a scale fragment or anything.Steve Morse mentioned this back in the 80's-don't subject yourself to hearing ugly sounds while working!
Thank you Jens, great video and lesson as always.
The amount of work you put into creating these videos is not lost on me.
Iâm such a noob when it comes to Jazz but you are opening my eyes.
Sheesh Iâm still working on my basic Jazz chord shapes đ€Šââïž .
This cowboys rhythm players tryin to go straight from country chords to learning Jazz. đ€
Glad you like it! Just keep at it đđđ
Hey Shawnee There are twenty inversions of the C7 C E G Bb on five different string sets on the guitar (4 per string set) which you can alter for different chords and are moveable Holler back at me I can walk you thru them
Veronica Colucci walk me through boss
Noah LaVigne Music Itâs easier to explain writing out the chord shapes which I canât quite do here The easiest way to illustrate it is Take a four part C7 CEGBb 1234 string set Form that chord at the first fifth eighth and tenth frets There you have four inversions of the C7 It goes on to other string sets too Move a note in those chords to form other chords etc
easy easy lesson but very definitive and very clear - nice- thanks
Hello Jens, your vidéo reminds me something: i was playing bass in a kind of workshop djembes and at a moment, i asked the "director" which had more than 40 years of expérience in percussions and classical dance: " How do you think the rythms you play ? Do you fragment them in your mind"...He stayed silent for a moment, watched the roof of the room in a dreamy way then just said naturally : " No, i do not think through fragmentation, for me each rythm is a song in itself and one song relatés to another through stories ".
This precise day, i started to really try to understand what hé said...now i try to think that way...this is ,Jens, what you show in this vidéo...chords are linked together and they create a story we translate in our own way when listening to their "musical words" suggesting for us improvising...
Thanks Jens
Just found this channel and holy shit is this stuff so so valuable. The internet is fuckin cool man
Thank you! :)
Such an easy way to explain. Jazz should be approachable to every enthusiat, not a select club to only a few.
thnx Jens.
Great teacher (and player).
Another wonderful lesson Jens, thanks!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Excellent vid. Just what I needed.
Glad you like it!
Excellent approach to learning to solo along with thw changes. You sir, know how to teach!
Glad you think so!
Exactly what I needed! Thank you!
Glad you like it! :)
I can listen to Jens videos for the music as much as the instruction.
Thank you David! Maybe you can help me with some questions on lenses sometime?
@@JensLarsen more than happy to do that đž
@@DavidThorpeMFT Great! I have been checking out some of your videos on your channel. I like the humour
Havenât even watched the video and i know itâs gonna be good đ
Thanks for the confidence James :)
I think voice leading will be a great lesson to make ur movement more smoother , need to practice those
Thnk you for wonderful lesson
Excellent lesson with simple, yet powerful concepts & easily digestible. Thank you!
Glad you like it! đđ
YES Jens you are a great teacher!
Thank you đ
Thank you Jens, now i know where i need to work on more often! I think it will be a good idea to start playing standards with only arpeggioâs starting on the root with the arpeggio and once i get used to that then move on and starting on other chord tones. Sometimes i do that but not on any chord.
Go for it! :)
God bless you Jens
Finally, instead of constantly understanding this patter and rewinding back, we can calmly read PDF what this lesson is about. Thanks a lot.
Sounds like you should just read the blog posts on my website and not use CZcams at all :)
Jens Larsen Not at all. I use CZcams channels without any problems except your channel. But the modulations and speed of your speech are absolutely unacceptable for me. Probably due to personal characteristics - yours and mine (Iâm a teacher of literature and language) and if I conducted my lessons the same style, I would not have been able to attract the attention of my students. So I donât want to miss important things youâre talking about. Thatâs why the best way for me read PDF if thereâs the possibility.
@@1loStu Interesting, My videos, and the channel have never been as successful as they are now. This video especially being an example of high-performing content for me.
But, of course, I am aware that no content will fit everybody.
Awesome. Great lesson. Thanks!
You are very welcome đ
At 4:45, everyone should do this; write out each note in each chord and look at what lines appear.
In 456 (chord progression), you can do a descending bass line that follows the ascending chords.
Or in something like CGDD (chords), you could do GGF#F# (notes) over them and it sounds weird, but fits. (Clearly I'm no jazz player, just some amateur).
Write those chord notes out, and play around with them.
A blackboard/whiteboard helps, but paper will do.
The Most Important Scale Exercise In Jazz
czcams.com/video/2Ze22BNftAA/video.html
A jazz solo will usually follow the chord progression that it is played over, the most important way that you do that is by using arpeggios over the chords.
You are probably already practice arpeggios, but chances you can do it in a better way than what you are doing now, and that is what I want to talk about in this video.
Content:
0:00 Intro - What to play or What to Play Towards
0:38 A Logical and easier way to Play Chord Changes.
1:04 The Basic Progression Dm7-G7-Cmaj7
1:30 The Key and the Scale
1:49 The Arpeggios
2:06 What Happens in the chord and how to get that into your solo lines
2:37 A Very Important Skill for music and especially Jazz
3:05 Example - How It Sounds
3:34 How to solo like that
4:02 Examples of lines moving through the progression
4:30 How To Practice to play like this
5:05 Rubato Solo Practice
5:50 From Rubato to slower tempos
6:04 Choosing Target Notes
6:52 You Want to Practice hearing the change
7:05 Examples from Take The A-Train
8:05 Like The Video? Check out my Patreon Page
Well, it is now ;) Thanks! for the heads up. I am a little distracted today I guess.
@Matthias Perraud Better one too many than one too little :)
You should pin this comment. So that everyone would seeđ
Great jobâŠthanks!
Glad it was useful :)
4:38 you just summed up how to make the changes in one sentence lol that's nice.
Great! I can post this on Instagram too đ
This is my favorite youtube channel
Thank you! That makes my day!
Great teacher!
Thank you!
When I found chords are not in a certain key, I usually play a long ringing note which works with all those chords, I know this may ruin the whole piece, but It works when tempo is around 120-140. And when it comes to a series of chords which have more than two notes in common, I start to play more than two notes (usually starting on pentatonics and after that, a whole scale). I'm not a jazz musician at all, but first, I watch all of your videos, because I got more familiar with jazz since I subscribed to your channel and second, It's fun to play jazz. On both piano and guitar.
Thanks for your great video!
Finding notes that works for the song is never a bad solution, but also not where you want to end it though :)
Glad to hear you get something out of the videos!
Such a great Chanel!!!
Thank you! đ
I get it now. đźThank you.
Great! Go for it đ
From Venezuela: J., Thank you.
Glad you like it đ
This makes a lot of sense - thank you! It seems like I got tripped up, because I was always focused only on where I was at the moment. Now I see the whole point of going from, say, G7 alt to C. An Eb as a #5 can function to go to your 3rd of C.
Exactly! That makes the whole thing flow 10x better!
@@JensLarsen Thank you! And Gd bless you.
Awesome work here as always man! Soloing over Jazz is not as easy or straightforward as soloing in other genres
Thank you :) It is indeed a bit tricky to get use to playing like this :)
@@JensLarsen You welcome my man. I definitely agree with ye there.
Fuuuas connecting chords is the most difficult for me, I have to practice a lot This . FantĂĄstic vĂdeo
Go for it :)
what a teacher.
Thank you :)
Just watched vid about the limitations of modes. Seems like this lesson is exactly what modes are not. Love your focus on target notes across chords and overal sense of a piece. Thank you! This is what I've been looking for.
Looking ahead only works if you already know what you are looking for. The struggle is instant chord -scale- note memorization paired with dexterity.
That is why you practice and don't only sightread music. How often do you have to sightread pieces that you don't know and can't analyze on the spot?
Muy bueno...graciasÂĄÂĄÂĄ
Glad you like it đ
Iâm not a jazz guitarist but this was a very helpful video for me
Wow fantastic tutorial
Thank you
@@JensLarsen welcome
Awesome. Hey Jens, can you do a lesson on incorporating the half/whole diminished scale on solos? Thank you
Thank you! I have a really old one on using it on dom7th chords đ
this is basic and one of most important things to improvise in every genre of music.
know your chord, know where you are and sometimes less is more.
Great class .. thanks. Jens. I just bought ur "Modern Jazz Guitar Concepts...". Now i am gonna have to read it :-)
Thank you Arv! Hope you find something you can use đ
Hi Jens I've been following you on Instagram and I just subscribe here. I started playing guitar with folk songs and ended up playing rock when I joined the band. Watching you on Instagram had made my ears loving jazz notes and decided to start playing jazz music, hope I can get the right progressions .. thanks
Thanks Herbert, go to my channel and find the how to begin jazz guitar playlist đ
Thanks @@JensLarsen I Will :D
@@JensLarsen Kudos for making those, very neatly organized. It shows your amazing attitude to the channel and your audience!
@@chethelesser Thank you :) Nice of you to say so!
Jens for Jazz President.
Thank you, I will definitely get instruction from, you make it very clear the concept. đđŒđđŒđđŒđŒ
You are very welcome!
Highly recommend Jen's book 'Advanced Jazz Guitar Concepts'. Lots of great and concise ideas in an easy to follow format!!!
Thank you very much Rowan! Really glad you like it! If you have a minute then consider leaving a short review on Amazon, that is a huge help for me :)
@@JensLarsen Of course!
@@rowanhopkins7526 Thank you very much Rowan! :)
A little bit of planning before attempting the improv goes a long way. My students ask me if I can do this kind of thing without any planning or knowing the chord progression.
The answer from me is "yes, I can improvise in KEY. Also no, because I will be disrespecting the chord progression and the real potential in the song without any planning/study"
4:50 this is the main takeaway for me in this video!
As always, really precise and useful lesson Jens! Target notes amd thinking ahead, really does require GPU acceleration :D my brain still hurts when I try to do these things, and come up with decent melodies...
Really glad you like it, Omar. I donât think it requires that much effort if you practice it from the ground up đ
The Dm7 Arpeggio at 1:59 displayed is the same as the G7 I think. Is that an error @Jens Larsen? This was a great video. I enjoyed it very much. Was just thrown off a little only at that part.
Yeah, I have editing mistakes like that here and there. Being largely a one-man-operation that is how that is :)
A lesson only thinking about two chords is so much easier to grasp
Glad you like it!
Jens, I have been studying the modes and came to basically the same comclusion..and that is learning the modes is not the holy grail of music. One tends to bieve a song is in a mode..some are but most are using multiple modes..and there are mord than just the church modes that come into.play. So in the end learning what you outline or similar approaches is a better investment in time. Modes are still good to know of course..but there is a lot of misconceptions about them. Great job..thanks
It is useful to practice the modes as you said so that they are at your fingertips if you have a certain sound in mind at that moment in your solo. What I canât agree with are the players who say that use of modes will make you a better improviser. If my solos on ATTYA are clumsy and uninspired in Aeolian, they will be the same in Dorian. Modes are not a magic bullet. They are simply a tool in your arsenal like the use of double stops, dynamics, legato, etc.
I'm a drummer, learning guitar and jazz and your channel has put all the theory I have sporadically learned into context, thank you so much, you are an empowering entity
Epic.
Thank you
4:38 "This effect requires GPU acceleration" - yes, I have to accelerate my thinking to get up to speed on learning Jazz with Jens!
Haha, My pc is getting really old :)
and my (dysfunctional) GPU is from 2011....
Love the examples. For me, it's taken time and practice to get from the general concept of target notes to understand that it takes
much practice to get it under your fingers. That said, I'm not one for memorizing licks, so I hope that by practicing lots of these "routes"
to target notes, it will make it more likely I can do this automatically on relatively simple 5 1's or 2 5 1's.
I think you should have a good chance of becoming quite free with this approach đ
Like Beato says âknow your half stepsâ :)
Oh no! Now not only do I have to put my fingers in the right place, I have to THINK!!! You're a demon in disguise, Jens!
:)
Oh, and "This effect requires GPU acceleration." That explains my mistakes.
Haha! :) My playing is in need of GPU acceleration as well...
Hi, I just wanted to know how do you choose which scale to play over a chord progression and whether you change the scale over different chords and how?
That depends on the type of progression you want to improvise over and what style of music you play.
In jazz you will most likely follow the harmony in your solo and that may mean changing scale, but not always. You decide which scale to use by analyzing the progression.
It is a complicated topic, so I can't give you an easy rule (if that is what you were looking for) but I hope this helps.
Thank you for the video. Is the same approach used when chords are not in the same key? Are there any examples where a non-sequence 2 5 1 is played? Or when we cannot determine the scale. Thank you
Yes, it is the same for non functional harmony đ
Are you thinking notes when you solo like (now It's a Cmaj7 so I will focus for example on an E note or B) or do you think in shapes / arpeggios and from experience you know what sounds good?
No, I don't really think that much when I solo, I do that when I practice.
Some technical questions around the 4:20 mark:
Why us the D# note over the G7 chord?
-Also, why choose the target note for CMaj7 the note E?-
(After watching more of your video I guess you answered my 2nd question: E is the 3rd of CMaj so that's why you chose that as a target note)
Indeed đ
The D# was a way to move chromatically up to E
It's like he's showing how to build a picture frame, and I suddenly realized the same methods will also paint the picture within the frame
Thank you đ Glad it's helpful
Hi, love your lessons, any chance you do private online lessons? Thanks!
Thank you very much! I don't have time to teach via Skype but if you send me an email I can recommend someone đ