This series of lessons online will help you to improve your jazz playing. Here you'll find tips with musical examples covering the fundamentals of jazz. The contents are updated regularly and new tips are available periodically so drop by often!

If you have any questions concerning any of the lessons on this site, feel free to contact the author, Shane Simpson by email at shane@shanesimpson.com

Introduction
Learning to play jazz on any instrument is an enormous undertaking. Mastering scales, modes, chords, arpeggios, not to mention the vast repertoire of standard tunes can at times leave us feeling hopelessly overwhelmed.The way jazz is often taught can also lead to frustration. We usually hear that such and such a scale works over such and such a chord, as if with that alone you're equipped to play great solos. At recent Workshops I conducted, I noticed that a lot of the students had great technical facility, and a thorough knowledge of important concepts such as altered scales, chord substitution, etc. However, when it came down to playing through some standard tunes, most were unable to apply these concepts musically. Simple things like improvising off the melody are shrugged off in favor of trying to be too hip too soon.Learn a lot of songs, nothing is more important. All the scales in the world won't help you if you don't know the tunes. Practice your scales in the context of songs. Take a song like All The Things You Are  and learn each "chord scale". Also learn each arpeggio. Watch the melody cut through the changes. Try to notice things about the melody, like the way it uses the third of the chord of the moment an awful lot. These things are critical. Plus, if you know the melody well enough you won't get lost while improvising because it's constantly running through your head.

Contents