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.
Jazz Guitar Mindset: Why Playing the Same Tunes Deeper Beats Learning More Tunes
There's a question I encounter regularly, from students and from people watching live streams: "Don't you play the same tunes every time?" Sometimes, yes.
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.
Hearing Harmonic Rhythm: How Dominant Function Drives the II–V–I
If you’ve been playing jazz guitar for a few years, you already know what a II–V–I progression looks like. You can name the chords, you can find them on the fretboard, you can probably improvise a passable line over them in a familiar key.
Guide Tones as Fretboard Stepping Stones in Jazz Guitar
Guide tones — the third and seventh of each chord — serve as stable landing points in jazz guitar improvisation, and mapping the diatonic notes that surround each guide tone is a productive way to expand vocabulary without losing harmonic clarity. This post explains what the Functional Diagonal Approach (FDA) requires before that mapping is reliable: the function of the chord must be identified first, because a minor chord functioning as the 2nd, 3rd, or 6th degree of the key will present a different set of surrounding diatonic notes even when the chord shape is identical.
Three-Finger Jazz Guitar Technique and Where Swing Feel Comes From
In jazz guitar, swing feel is generated by the physical movement of the left hand between notes — not by alternating pick direction on the right hand. This post explains the three-finger approach taught in the Functional Diagonal Approach (FDA), why the ring finger and pinky are treated as a single unit, what Wes Montgomery's right-hand technique actually shows, and why the common alternate-picking approach to swing produces a sound that does not swing.
How to Build Rhythmic Vocabulary for Jazz Guitar
Rhythmic vocabulary for jazz guitar is built by listening and singing long before it is built by playing — and it requires a personal musical identity to exist first, before transcription from other players can truly benefit you. This post explains the sequence Junewon Choi teaches in the Functional Diagonal Approach (FDA), including the practice method taught by his teacher Richard Hart, and why big band listening is one of the most direct paths to genuine swing feel.
Why Jazz Guitar Uses the 6th Degree on the One Chord
In bebop and swing jazz, the tonic I chord is almost always treated as a sixth chord, not a major seventh chord — a practice rooted directly in how Charlie Parker and the swing-era players heard and played the one. This post explains the historical and harmonic logic behind this choice, why George Benson's signature I-chord phrase is built around the 6th degree, and what it means for jazz guitar improvisation and the Functional Diagonal Approach (FDA).
How to Play Jazz Guitar Over Church and Pop Music
When a jazz guitarist plays over church or pop music — songs built on triads rather than seventh-chord harmony — the fastest and most reliable adaptation is the pentatonic block anchored to the melody. This post explains the approach Junewon Choi teaches in the Functional Diagonal Approach (FDA), including why melody must stay in your inner ear throughout the solo and how to listen like the masters who played it before you.
Jazz Guitar Mindset: Why Playing for Family Is Scarier Than the Stage
Stage fright doesn't disappear when you play for family — it intensifies. A jazz guitarist reflects on performing at his grandmother's hundredth birthday, the psychology of playing for people who know your history, and what it means to go all-in on music.
How Wes Montgomery Actually Read the Fretboard
Most players trying to learn from Wes Montgomery start with the octaves. That's the imitation. This is what was actually happening underneath.
Upper Structure Triads: Stacking Eb and Gm Over Cm in Blue Bossa
There’s a moment in every advanced jazz guitarist’s development when a single chord stops looking like a single chord. A Cm7 is no longer just C–Eb–G–Bb on a page.
Jazz Guitar Upper Structures: Where Advanced Harmony Really Comes From
Upper structures, melodic minor modes, Bird Blues — advanced harmony isn't a separate world. It traces back to specific musicians and recordings. This guide explains where these concepts came from and how to study them the right way.
The Soccer Coach Parable: Why Songs, Not Drills, Build Real Jazz Players
Here’s a thought experiment. Imagine you sign up for soccer lessons.
Jazz Guitar Improvisation Tips: How Transcription Connects Everything You've Learned
Shell voicings, drop 2, II–V–I — you've learned the concepts separately. Transcription is what connects them. This guide explains why analyzing real solos (like Benson on Billie's Bounce) reveals how jazz harmonic vocabulary actually works in practice.
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.
What a Structured Jazz Guitar Course Actually Looks Like
If you search for "structured jazz guitar course for beginners," you will find a lot of courses that look organized. There are units, modules, week-by-week schedules, neat little checklists.
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 Find Jazz Guitar Guide Tones on the Second and Third String
Finding jazz guitar guide tones on the second and third string is a matter of octave displacement: take the guide tone pair you know on the fourth and third string, and move the lower voice up an octave so both notes land on the upper string positions.