Do You Have to Count Every Beat in Jazz? No — Target the ‘Head of the Beat’
You don't count every beat when you play jazz guitar. You aim at targets — the places where melody and harmony line up, especially beat one of each bar, the 'head of the beat.' Everything in between is free.
How Do You Build a Jazz Guitar Repertoire? Own One Tune From Intro to Ending
The fastest way to build a jazz guitar repertoire is to fully own one tune — intro, melody, solo, comping, and ending — before adding another. Here is the complete checklist and the playlist method for learning it.
How to Learn a Jazz Standard on Guitar: Start With the Melody, Not Scales
To learn a jazz standard on guitar, start with the melody — not scales or licks. Play the tune until it lives in your ear, add the bass note, then a shell voicing, then build a simple solo from what you already hear.
How to Learn Jazz Guitar as a Beginner: A 3-Step Method That Actually Works
If you're a beginner wondering how to actually start learning jazz guitar, three steps cut through the noise: research your hero's heroes, listen deeply to pre-1960 jazz, and transcribe one player in depth.
What Does ‘Swing’ Actually Mean in Jazz Guitar?
Swing isn't a shuffle. It's the feeling of two and three happening at the same time — a triplet pulse with the middle note pulling the beat. Here's how to hear it and practice it with a metronome.
Swing Rhythm Guitar: How to Practice With a Metronome on Beats 2 and 4
To practice swing on jazz guitar, set your metronome to click on beats 2 and 4 instead of all four beats. The click becomes the drummer's hi-hat, and your job is to make it disappear by locking your time to it.
Why the Major 7th Clashes With the Melody — Use the 6 Chord Instead
Most jazz standards end on the root in the melody, and a major 7th chord underneath clashes with that note. Swap the maj7 for a 6 chord and the voicing supports the melody instead of fighting it.
How to Learn a Jazz Guitar Tune: Start With the Melody, Not the Beat Count
The fastest way to learn a jazz guitar tune is to master its melody first — across positions and octaves — instead of counting bars. Here is the beginner method behind it.
How to Learn Jazz Guitar Tunes: Practice the Melody in Three Fretboard Positions
If you can only play a tune's melody in one place on the neck, your soloing will get stuck there too. Here is the simplest fix beginners can use today.
How to Learn Jazz Guitar Tunes: Start by Singing the Melody
Most beginners try to learn a jazz standard by chasing chord symbols. The faster route is the one almost no one starts with: sing the melody first. Here's why, and how to begin today.
Jazz Guitar Chords for Beginners: Why You Should Drop the 5th First
Most beginners try to play full seventh-chord shapes and get tangled in fingerings. The traditional jazz answer is to drop the 5th and keep only the root, 3rd, and 7th. Here is why that one decision is the cleanest first step into real jazz guitar.
Wes Montgomery Guitar Technique: The Left-Hand Secret Behind His Swing Feel
There's a particular frustration that advanced jazz guitarists know well: the Wes Montgomery transcription problem. You work out the rhythm notation.
Why Memorizing Scale Boxes Won't Make You a Jazz Guitarist
If you’ve searched for “jazz guitar basics” and landed on a guide that tells you to memorize five scale boxes across twelve keys before you do anything else, take a deep breath.
Why Jazz Guitar Isn’t a Scale Problem
Most jazz guitar methods open the same way: a stack of scale diagrams, a list of modes, and the implicit promise that if you can run them all in twelve keys, jazz will start to come out of your fingers.
Jazz Guitar Basics: Your Introduction to Rhythm Changes
Rhythm Changes is the second great harmonic form in jazz — built on the changes of George Gershwin's 'I Got Rhythm.' This beginner's guide explains what it is, why fast-tempo jazz often treats the A sections as one key center, and how to start approaching it with the blues scale.
Chord Melody and Soloing Are the Same Thing
Most jazz guitar players are taught to treat chord melody and soloing as two separate skills. Chord melody is the "arranging" skill — you take a tune, harmonize the melody, and play it as a self-contained statement.
How to Play Like Wes Montgomery — A Beginner's Guide to Thumb Picking
Wes Montgomery didn't choose the thumb — circumstances did. This post breaks down the rest stroke and down stroke fundamentals at the heart of his iconic tone, and explains why beginners should start here before anything else.
Jazz Guitar for Beginners: Stop Sounding Random with 'Form Playing'
Have you ever felt like your jazz guitar solos, despite hitting all the right chord tones, sound disconnected or awkward? You might be practicing scales and arpeggios diligently, yet your playing feels like it’s floating aimlessly on top of the music rather than being part of it.