Category: Jazz

A Gentle Introduction to Jazz with Erin McKeown

With its complex harmonies and swing feel, jazz is one of the most difficult languages to master on the acoustic guitar. The lessons here cover everything from the very basics of jazz to chord-melody style arranging to note-for-note Eddie Lang and Django Reinhardt transcriptions.

Freddie Green and his Stromberg Master 300 with Helen Humes, circa 1940, Photo courtesy of the Freddie Green Collection

The Captivating Harlem Swing Rhythms of Freddie Green, John Trueheart, Bernard Addison, Morris White, and Al Casey

Freddie Green is synonymous with swing guitar. Born in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1911, Green enjoyed a 50-year career holding down the rhythm chair of Count Basie’s famed big band.

Nick Rossi
March 17, 2023

Greg Ruby teaches How to Visualize and Play Chords Up the Neck

Video Lesson: How to Visualize and Play Chords Up the Neck

In this guitar lesson we will focus on how to play chords “up the neck” in order to learn to play a chord-melody.

Greg Ruby
February 10, 2023

Swing Lesson: Learn to Play Rhythm Guitar Like Freddie Green

In this guitar lesson, learn to play swing rhythm guitar like Freddie Green, the guitarist in the Count Basie band for 50 years.

Nick Rossi
January 22, 2023

Video Lesson: Turn Any Song into a Chord-Melody Solo

Try this approach to make a chord-melody version of Django Reinhardt’s iconic interpretation of “I’ll See You in My Dreams.”

Greg Ruby
December 1, 2022

Quintette du Hot Club de France in 1939: (L-R) Stéphane Grappelli, Eugene Vees, Roger Grasset, Django Reinhardt, Joseph Reinhardt

Major Swing: Django Reinhardt, His Disciples, and Their Hot Brand of Acoustic Jazz Guitar

Created by Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli, Jazz Manouche (aka Gypsy jazz) is a vibrant, acoustic blend of classical, Gypsy, dance music, and American jazz

Paul Mehling
October 17, 2022

Marcy Marxer with acoustic guitar, photo by Michael G. Stewart

Acoustic Jazz Guitar Lesson: An Easy Introduction to Swing Leads

Interested in playing swing guitar leads but don't know how to get started? Here I'll show how get the most mileage out of just a few notes—while getting a great workout on the fretboard.

Marcy Marxer
July 25, 2022

Jazz guitarist Eddie Lang for chord melody guitar lesson

Learn Chord-Melody Techniques from Jazz Guitarist Eddie Lang

Here are some ideas from jazz great Eddie Lang for some new chord melody techniques and textures on guitar, applied to the verse of the old standard “After You’ve Gone.”

Greg Ruby
June 17, 2022

ron jackson posing with his acoustic guitar pointed headstock first towards the camera

Weekly Workout: Add Jazzy Walking Bass Lines to Your Accompaniments

Learn how to play walking bass lines with chords—a cool approach to have up your sleeve, no matter what style you play.

Ron Jackson
June 10, 2022

The Blues in Jazz: Using the Classic 12-Bar Form to Learn Bebop Improv

Explore comping and soloing strategies over a standard 12-bar jazz blues progression, as well as chord substitutions and variations.

Sean McGowan
June 3, 2022

Learn Eddie Lang’s Jazz Guitar Interpretation of a Rachmaninoff Prelude

Eddie Lang's jazz guitar interpretation of Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C-Sharp Minor keeps the dark and brooding atmosphere of the original piano piece.

Adam Perlmutter
May 13, 2022

Whit Smith with guitar teaching a lesson on western swing rhythm technique

Guitar Lesson: Western Swing Rhythm Essentials

Learn the rhythm guitar techniques used in Western Swing music in this video lesson.

Whit Smith
March 22, 2022

guitarist Greg Ruby playing a National resonator guitar

How to Hold Down the Harmony on Guitar in Tricky Chord-Melody Arrangements

When playing chord-melody style guitar, sometimes you're not sure which chord to use when the melody isn’t a chord tone or moves too quickly. Here's the solution.

Greg Ruby
January 12, 2022

Stéphane Wrembel playing guitar on a couch

Learn a Gypsy Jazz Masterpiece: Django Reinhardt’s Arrangement of “Tea for Two”

One should focus on Reinhardt’s total control of harmony, the sophisticated ways in which he moves the chords’ inner and outer voices

Stéphane Wrembel
June 15, 2021

Portrait of jazz guitarist Greg Ruby with resonator guitar.

Video Lesson: Learn to Fill the Gaps in Any Chord-Melody Guitar Arrangement

Learn to use tremolo picking on long notes and passing chords over multiple measures of rest to fill space in any chord-melody guitar arrangement.

Greg Ruby
March 29, 2021

Jazz guitarist Greg Ruby with an Epiphone archtop

Video Lesson: Chord-Melody Made Easy(ish) on Acoustic Guitar

Knowing inversions is essential to understanding chord-melody, as it assures that you will have an appropriate voicing to place below the melody.

Greg Ruby
November 23, 2020

Gypsy-Jazz Guitar Lesson: Learn the La Pompe Manouche Style in 6 Easy Steps

The importance of a solid rhythmic foundation is at the heart of Gypsy-jazz guitar. Here's a systematic guide to learning the ins and outs of la pompe manouch.

Paul Mehling
August 23, 2020

How to Use Guide Tone Voicings in Fingerstyle Jazz

How to Use Guide Tone Voicings in Fingerstyle Jazz guitar lesson music notation

Sean McGowan
May 3, 2020

Guide Tone Voicings

Guide tones are simply the third and seventh notes of a chord (sometimes the third and sixth if the chord is a simple triad or sixth chord). Guide-tone voicings have long been popular with jazz musicians, including guitarists Grant Green, Jim Hall, and pianist Red Garland. Thelonious Monk often used guide tone voicings…

Sean McGowan
November 16, 2019

Portrait of Oscar Aleman with acoustic guitar

Woodshed: Learn Oscar Alemán’s ‘You Made Me Love You’

Oscar Alemán had an impeccable sense of swing and played with exciting rhythmic punctuations, a horn-like attack, and sharp attention to detail.

Greg Ruby
November 12, 2019

Video Lesson: A Jazzy Arrangement of ‘America the Beautiful’

As with learning anything new, when tackling this jazzy arrangement of 'America the Beautiful,' take it slowly and work on getting a beautiful tone in both hands.

Mimi Fox
July 5, 2019

Video Lesson: 8 Picking Tips to Improve Your Tone By Gypsy Jazz Whiz Paul Mehling

THE PROBLEM You’re dissatisfied with the tone and volume of your playing and want to get closer to what you hear from other players. THE SOLUTION The development of tone begins with your pick hand and how the pick strikes the strings. Additionally, the pick-hand techniques offered here will yield…

Paul Mehling
June 9, 2019

Video Lesson: Five Jazz Masters on Rhythm Changes

When George and Ira Gershwin first wrote “I Got Rhythm” for the 1930 musical Girl Crazy, they couldn’t possibly have imagined the effect that this catchy song would have on American popular music. It soon became not just one of the most celebrated tunes in the Great American Songbook, the…

Adam Perlmutter
March 31, 2019

sean mcgowan wearing chambray shirt with gray studio backdrop, demonstrating lesson material on his acoustic guitar

7-Minute Jazz Guitar Lesson: Horizontal Approaches

A great way to break out of old scale and arpeggio patterns is by tackling one string at a time

Sean McGowan
February 22, 2019

Video Lesson: All About the Essential ii–V Chord Progression

Given the guitar’s well-established role as an accompaniment instrument, it behooves acoustic players to learn a lot about chords. Backing up your own singing or someone else’s means you’ve probably recognized familiar chord progressions that occur throughout popular music. As you add songs to your repertoire, you’ll likely notice that…

Jane Miller
October 18, 2018

Charlie Christian playing guitar in black and white

‘Rose Room’ — Learn a Swing-Jazz Evergreen and a Charlie Christian Solo

In 1917, the pianist and drummer Art Hickman penned the song “Rose Room,” named after the ballroom in the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, where at the time he was leading a band. Jazz aficionados know the 32-bar song through Duke Ellington’s seminal 1932 recording, and also as the…

Adam Perlmutter
August 17, 2018