How Do You Make a V Chord Actually Pull? Put the Target a Half Step Above It
A dominant chord only pulls when every voice has somewhere to go. Take the voicing you would play on the tonic, place it a half step above the V chord, and let all of it resolve chromatically.
Why Don’t Jazz Guitar Licks Make You Sound Like a Jazz Player? Because Tunes Have Melodies
A lick is a chord progression with no melody attached, and that is exactly why it never sounds like jazz. Learn tunes melody-first instead, and the notes you choose start having a reason.
Stop Being Popular? It Didn’t Die — It Stopped Being PopWhy Did Jazz
Jazz was America's pop music and its Cold War export. Then studio technology, Miles Davis, and the teenage record market moved pop elsewhere. Jazz didn't die — it moved to the same track as classical.
re Does a Jazz Blues Actually Need Dominant Function? Three Spots, Not Twelve BarsWhe
Every chord in a jazz blues is a dominant 7th, but dominant function lives in only three places — bars 4, 8 and 12. Play the upper structure there and rest inside the tonic elsewhere.
There No ‘George Benson Line’ or ‘Grant Green Line’? Because Wes and Django Are the BaseWhy Is
George Benson and Grant Green don't need their own 'line' — both are built on the Wes Line and Django Line. Learn the one fingering difference and the right-hand habit that separate them.
Is Swing Just a Shuffle? No — Here’s How to Feel Two Against Three
Swing is not the dotted-triplet shuffle written in most method books. Swing is two and three felt at the same time. Learn the clap exercise that builds it and the records to listen to.
What Makes Jacob Collier a Genius? His Ear — and That's the Lesson
Jacob Collier's genius isn't the 200-track loops — it's an ear that hears between the twelve notes and a voice that can sing what it hears. The lesson for jazz guitarists: the ear leads, the hands follow.
Why Do Wes Montgomery Transcriptions Sound Wrong When You Play Them?
Most jazz guitar transcriptions get the noteheads right and the guitar wrong — wrong positions, wrong voicings, wrong concept. The reliable sources are the recording and the line's underlying logic.
How Do You Comp a Jazz Ballad Without Sliding Into Double-Time?
Ballad comping stays grounded when it is built from the harmonized melody. Keep the tune audible on top, leave the roots to the bassist, and let the soloist set the rhythmic agenda.
Do You Start a Jazz Phrase on Beat One? No — You Land There
Beat one is where a jazz phrase lands, not where it starts. Aim at the 3rd of the coming chord, arrive on it, then travel toward the 7th and set up the next 3rd.
Why Did Wes Montgomery Say No to John Coltrane?
John Coltrane really did invite Wes Montgomery to join his band, and Wes really did decline — saying, with typical humility, that he had nothing to contribute. The full story touches McCoy Tyner's account, the guitar's strange position in jazz, and why the sounds Coltrane's band chased were already living inside Wes's lines.
Jazz Blues From the Voicings? Find the Dominant Function FirstHow Do You Solo Over a
Every chord in a 12-bar blues is a dominant 7th, but only a few carry dominant function — bar 4 heading into the IV, the V chord, and the turnaround. Hear those moments, then solo from the voicings themselves: minor upper structures on the I and IV, a half-step slide into each target, and the Wes Montgomery line through the 2-5.
How Do You Fill the Space Between Chord Tones? Connect the 3rds First
To fill the space between chord tones, build the skeleton first: connect the 3rd of each chord, cross through the 7th on the way, and fill the remaining gaps with scale notes — saving the target note for last. The melody of Fly Me to the Moon is built on exactly this mechanism, which means the fill notes were never random.
What Is a Jazz Standard? The Two Kinds of Tunes Every Jazz Guitarist Plays
A jazz standard is a tune the whole jazz community agrees to know. Standards split into two families: show tunes borrowed from movies and Broadway that carry lyrics, and jazz standards written as instrumentals by jazz musicians themselves. Knowing the difference tells you where the repertoire came from — and what to learn first.
Is Jazz Theory Only for Jazz? I Transcribed a Pop Ballad and Found All of It
Every composer already uses voice leading — they just don't call it that. Transcribing a pop ballad revealed the same 3rd-targeting melody and passing 7ths that jazz musicians spend years learning. The theory isn't a jazz dialect; it's the grammar underneath.
Play Upper Structures Over a Minor ii-V-I? Move One NoteHow Do You
Take the root off a Gm7b5 and you are holding a B♭ minor triad. Drop one note a half step and that triad becomes B♭ diminished — which is C7. A whole minor ii-V-I, played as two triads and one moving voice.
What Does Voice Leading Actually Mean? There’s a Precise Definition
Voice leading has a precise definition: when one chord moves to the next, no individual voice travels more than a minor 3rd. Triad cycles are how you train it on guitar — and cycle 4 is the circle of fifths you already practice.
Jazz Chords Have Four Notes When the Chords You Already Know Have Three?Why Do Ja
Jazz chords have four notes because jazz inherited the seventh chord from classical music and then built on it. The three-note chords you already play are triads, and the barre shapes you already know are drop 2 voicings — you are closer to jazz harmony than you think.
Should You Learn Licks or Transcribe Solos? What You’re Really Copying Is Time Feel
Licks give you fragments. Transcribing a whole solo gives you the player's time feel — and time feel is what makes American music sound like itself. Here's why 'play what you hear' is useless advice unless someone teaches you what to listen for.
Why Don’t Jazz Guitarists Play the Root of the Chord?
Jazz guitarists leave the root out because the bass player already has it. The 3rd and the 7th are what actually make a chord sound like itself — learn those two notes first, and every richer voicing you want later grows out of them.