The Most Important Scale Exercise In Jazz

You probably already practice arpeggios, but chances are you can do it as a better Scale exercise than what you are doing now, and that is what I want to talk about in this video. Jazz Scale Exercises should be about giving you the material you can use in your solos and help you know and play the different arpeggios and melodies found in the scale.

When you improvise in Jazz then the lines or melodies that you play are related to the chords you are playing over and the solo follows the chord progression it is played over. One easy way to do this is to use the arpeggios of each chord.

You can use the arpeggio of the chord you are playing over, but in fact, there are more options than this and the exercise in this lesson will help you tie all of that together in one exercise.

Content:
0:00 Intro
0:13 Arpeggios!
0:52 Improve How you Practice - Tie It All Together
1:38 How to Use This and Improve your solos
1:54 The Scale
2:01 The Diatonic Arpeggios in the Scale
2:20 A few thoughts about Scale Fingerings Systems
2:42 Know what you are playing.
3:39 #1 Making Music with the material from this exercise
3:55 #2 Add some chromatic notes
4:21 Examples #1 and #2 Slow
4:30 Adding a bit of Bebop Rhythm
5:12 #3 Bebop Arpeggio Lick
5:33 #4 Bebop Arpeggio Lick
5:54 Examples #3 and #4 Slow
6:03 Do you work like this with connecting Scales and Arpeggios
6:11 Finding more Arpeggios that work on a chord.
6:30 Why an Arpeggio works Over a Chord
7:04 Constructing another arpeggio and adding a 9th
7:47 Taking this concept through a few chords
8:11 #5 Using The Em7 arpeggio
8:35 #6 Using The Em7 arpeggio
8:57 Examples #5 and #6 Slow
9:06 Finding more options for a II V I.
9:46 Basic Bebop II V I with this idea
9:55 Like the video? Check out my Patreon Page!

✅DOWNLOAD A FREE E-BOOK with 15 II Valt I licks!
Sign up for my newsletter:

My name is Jens Larsen, Danish Jazz Guitarist, and Educator. The videos on this channel will help you explore and enjoy Jazz. Some of it is how to play jazz guitar, but other videos are more on Music Theory like Jazz Chords or advice on how to practice and learn Jazz, on guitar or any other instrument.

The videos are mostly jazz guitar lessons, but also music theory, analysis of songs and videos on jazz guitars.

My Gear:

[JensLarsen]

What do you consider the most important way to practice scales? 🙂
I think this can be a very useful discussion with a lot of great information!
Content:

0:00 Intro

0:13 Arpeggios!

0:52 Improve How you Practice - Tie It All Together

1:38 How to Use This and Improve your solos

1:54 The Scale

2:01 The Diatonic Arpeggios in the Scale

2:20 A few thoughts about Scale Fingerings Systems

2:42 Know what you are playing.

3:39 #1 Making Music with the material from this exercise

3:55 #2 Add some chromatic notes

4:21 Examples #1 and #2 Slow

4:30 Adding a bit of Bebop Rhythm

5:12 #3 Bebop Arpeggio Lick

5:33 #4  Bebop Arpeggio Lick

5:54 Examples #3 and #4 Slow

6:03 Do you work like this with connecting Scales and Arpeggios

6:11 Finding more Arpeggios that work on a chord.

6:30 Why an Arpeggio works Over a Chord

7:04 Constructing another arpeggio and adding a 9th

7:47 Taking this concept through a few chords

8:11 #5 Using The Em7 arpeggio

8:35 #6 Using The Em7 arpeggio

8:57 Examples #5 and #6 Slow

9:06 Finding more options for a II V I.

9:46 Basic Bebop II V I with this idea

9:55 Like the video? Check out my Patreon Page!

[TautologyTechSystems]

Jens, I've been playing bass for almost 20 years now. After working on the exercise in this video for over a month in all 12 keys, I can honestly say this has advanced my soloing more than anything I've ever worked on. I was always so focused on a modal approach to soloing, but after working on this, something has clicked and all of a sudden I am able to drawn on tons of melodic ideas almost effortlessly and playing the changes just makes more sense now. Your videos have changed my playing forever. Can't thank you enough.

[gwbvegas]

18 years of the theory puzzle scattered all over the floor finally put together in 10 minutes - Brilliant!

[EarthSkyPVideos]

What your giving away free, some have paid thousands to go to Berklee for and still didn't learn nearly as much as you have to offer! Thanks so much! Your a God send ! ! !

[WilRockQ]

His editing of his videos is fantastic, which allows him to get to the point and not waste viewers' time. Most every teacher on Youtube doesn't understand this, and they bore people with long, self-serving introductions and sales pitches.

[louistech]

Dude you just gave me years of lessons in like 12 mins lol

[TheDCGuitar]

There’s no greater feeling as a young musician than when you see a video lesson and actually have a lightbulb Moment.

[martystudioone]

In my opinion this isn't just the most important scale but THE MOST IMPORTANT CHANNEL for every jazz guitar musician. Thank you Jens for your hard work for us :-)

[plopzoppers]

wow you broke down the wall between arpeggios and scales in just a few minutes. 🤘🏽 mind blown

[danqodusk]

I'm an unschooled hack who learned basic music theory from a handful of well written books. I don't play jazz, or really any genre worth a darn, but I quickly learned practicing diatonic arpeggios opened up a whole new world of sounds and fretboard patterns for me. I don't think any musician can go wrong continuing to practice the basic elements of music. There's always some sweet nuggets hiding them waiting to be discovered! You do a great job of teaching and inspiring, Jens. There's no better jazz guitar instructor on YouTube!

[xBUMSKIx]

The unspoken star of this show is your tone. Very good.

[gordoncole]

I started studying jazz guitar when I was 12 years old. I have always played guitar and bass but have paused and resumed jazz studies many times over the past 15 years. 6 minutes in to my first video on this channel and I believe that subscribing to this channel along with many hours of practice will get me to where I’ve always wanted to be. It is obvious that Jens is a supremely talented musician, teacher, and content creator.

[spivvo]

I am 54 years old, I listened to Joe Pass “Virtuoso” in 1978 and was mystified so focused on rock and blues. Now I want to play something with more meaning and after years of being bemused by jazz this man has opened the door for me.... I finally get it.... learn the scales and then learn the arpeggios to know which notes to emphasise. 40 years after picking up a buitar it is finally making sense. Thank you Jens.

[Pyryx]

I just started playing jazz and i have to say my mind is blown by these videos. This is all i could ever ask for. I can say how thankful i am that you are putting this much thought and information in to these videos for free. someone could become a professional musician just on these videos alone.

[erickpurnama]

Man, I wish your channel existed when I was young. I don't even really play guitar that much anymore, finally having figured out that I prefer wind instruments (I still play a bit to hear the chord changes in a song), but I'm learning SO MUCH.

When I was a kid I was always frustrated that every jazz lesson seemed to always say the same thing: practise scales and arpeggios over and over without providing clear context of how they're used. Now I'm actually looking forward to practising those on my ocarina so I can start sounding jazzy.

You're such a good teacher. One of the best I've ever had, in any subject. It's almost criminal that these lessons are free on YouTube.

[judithmurphy]

My son admires you very greatly he says you're the best guitar player online the best jazz teacher more importantly. His name is Frankie he says that you have graciously taught him about various things regarding a guy named Pat Martino. Anyway I just want to say thank you by my son's become better at his craft.

[word]

I'm no Jazz player ( yet). But I've played Blues and other roots American music for 50 years. Always listened to Jazz and have loved Be Bop forever. Many years ago I was trying to grasp modal playing and on my own and figured that it would be a good idea to play 8 note scales based on C D E F G A B. I've been doing that exorcise for decades, but never really internalized it musically. My fingers know it, but I'm still a long way from calling myself a Jazz player ( I can swing though--lol) Nice to know I was on to something. So lately I've been scaling this back to arpegios I've been learning here. My fingers are picking it up with ease. I've taken a very convoluted route spanning decades, but if I keep at it I may eventually pull it all together. You have been a tremendous help.

[waylonnicholson]

Dude. You just made twenty five years of trying to improvise through CAGE and the seven modes all make so much more sense. Your teaching style is excellent, and you make things really easy to grasp. Bless your heart. I'm buying your book to support you. I might even learn something from it!

[stuartarnold]

Watched this for the third time, Jen's, and today I suddenly got the meaning of the diatonic and arpeggio chords and notes.
Just by reading the music instead of the tabs. Thanks.

[Rob]

Just started looking at this as I'm only just moving into jazz guitar after 42 years of playing. I'm really glad I found you on YouTube and very ompressed. Your lessons are well explained, which makes them easy to understand and put into practice. Thank you so much for your time Jens, it's well appreciated.