This topic seems to come up a lot, so I thought it would be worth a good post.  This is more-or-less the procedure I’ve settled into.   I feel that it helps immensely with the learning — and most importantly, the retention — of new tunes.  So here

This article assumes that you already know what modes are, so today I’d like to discuss two important concepts for learning and studying modes; Derivative Modes and Parallel Modes.  Derivative would include all the modes that come from a single Parent scale (C major is the

A couple years back, I spoke with Emon for his blog Guitarkadia.  I gave what I felt was a rather long (and possibly rambling) interview, but he did a fantastic job of editing and distilling it down to the essentials.  The first one deals with my beginnings and development a

I just watched this video this morning and wanted to share it with you.  I’ve been a fan of Pat Martino’s music for many years and more recently have several times had the amazing good fortune to go to his house to play with him and discuss his theories on music and t

Greetings Faithful Readers! Every once in a while, I stumble upon some great tools on the web, so it would be selfish of me not to share them with you here.  Today we’ll take a look at some great tools, mostly free, that when used regularly, will greatly enhance your ability to

This question came up on the rec.music.makers.guitar.jazz newsgroup and I realized as I was answering it, that it would be a valuable post for many guitar students.   Here’s how I’ve taught this for years and it works! 1) Start off with REALLY simple material.  The good ol

Here’s a nice intervallic lick that I think you’ll enjoy.  I transcribed it from an album by Joe Dioro called “Bonita.”  It’s from the song “Talla Sunshine – Naima Rainbow, Dance for Their Father” and is played over an open E minor type

I receive a lot of questions from students about how to make their solos sound more like “jazz” and usually it emerges that they either haven’t listened to enough music, or aren’t able to integrate what they’ve heard into their own playing. With all the c

Here’s a lick I learned from my friend, pianist Burt Eckoff.  I heard him play phrases like this often when we worked together in the 1990s. I’m pretty sure that he picked it up from listening to McCoy Tyner. It works well over G7 or Dm and also over related chords like Bm

Here’s a great lick that I heard Dizzy Gillespie play over “A Night in Tunisia” years ago.  It’s based on a whole-tone scale in descending thirds with chromatics filling in between each pair of notes. It’s the kind of lick Jimmy Heath refers to as a ̶