How To Solo Over Chord Changes - The 5 Level Challenge

Soloing over chord changes is a part of Jazz. It is a skill we need and in this video, I am going to go over 5 levels of exercises where you actually solo over chord changes and that will also test your knowledge of the chords, the fretboard and your ability to play strong melodies.

I am curious how far you can go, there are not that many who can do all 5 levels, but leave a comment with how far you can get. You can always pause the video and give it a try!

To keep it a bit short I am going to cover this just using a turnaround, but you could do this with any song or chord progression.

I am going to use a turnaround in C (play chords) and I am not really going to explain the scales etc. because if you are checking this out then you should have an idea about what those are already.

A lot of what this is going is about training very basic skills but getting them to a high level. Something that is very important in music. The last level is quite demanding and a goal I think we should all work towards.

Content:
0:00 Intro - Soloing over Chord Changes
0:20 The 5 levels of exercises - How Far Can You Go?
1:02 The Turnaround and some altered dominants
1:22 Getting the basic skills up to a high level
1:47 Level 1 - Keeping it slow
2:48 Level 2 - Focus on the chords
3:32 The Benefits of this exercise
3:50 Turn it into music
4:21 Level 3 - Move around and know your scales
5:26 Level 4 - Limit yourself on the neck
6:28 Level 5 - Force yourself to move
7:59 Bonus Level: Scale exercise for an overview of progressions
8:57 Like the video? Check out my Patreon Page

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Edited by Luciano Poli

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[pierorocchetti]

The best jazz teacher on YouTube. Your lessons are gold. Thank you!

[manny]

Great ideas for all levels of players. Too many beginners think they have to be Charlie Christian the first time through. I’m like you a bit. I began in the classical world (on contrabass). My first teacher made me do level 1 the first time I had to play a cadenza for a concerto. Then he added broader scalar runs, arpeggios, etc. It builds confidence to start with half notes (or even whole notes just to find the notes). It’ll give something pleasing to listen to.
Great ideas here again for all levels of players.

[warrenwilson]

Personally, I think this advice is right on the mark.

If I can’t hear the chord changes implied in the improvised line, I am just lost listening — the solo becomes entirely shapeless and unappealing. Notions like tension and release or call and response coupled with target and approach tones are what engage my ear — random racing up and down modes and scales is just boring, as bad as endless arpeggios.

You are giving such good advice and passing on your knowledge in such a fine way — thank you for all you do to upgrade our muscial practice.

[ericschwartz]

Sitting here with your book "Modern Jazz Guitar Concepts" practicing, practicing and more practicing. Great material. Thank you for putting it out there.

[nicohauptmentalist]

great video and lesson. and it shows, how massively important it is to have an agenda, a clear idea what is important, what is missing in the own playing and how to detect the "construction sites", that have to be finished and solved. videos like this help here a lot!

[jakemf]

Not a limiting exercise but I can't stress how important singing what you play is, I wish I had done this so much more. You will be shocked how melodic you sing and also how diatonic till you get those chromatic sounds really in your mind. Great video

[tomcripps]

Great timing Jens. I recently watched a Josh Smith video about sounding jazzy. He said the difference between rock, blues guys vs. jazz guys is RB guys play over the chord changes while the jazz guys play through the changes. Because the jazz guys are always trying to connect chords.

[JensLarsen]

Let me know which ones you can do and if you have suggestions for other good exercises :)
Content:

0:00 Intro - Soloing over Chord Changes
0:20 The 5 levels of exercises - How Far Can You Go?
1:02 The Turnaround and some altered dominants
1:22 Getting the basic skills up to a high level
1:47 Level 1 - Keeping it slow
2:48 Level 2 - Focus on the chords
3:32 The Benefits of this exercise
3:50 Turn it into music
4:21 Level 3 - Move around and know your scales
5:26 Level 4 - Limit yourself on the neck
6:28 Level 5 - Force yourself to move
7:59 Bonus Level: Scale exercise for an overview of progressions
8:57 Like the video? Check out my Patreon Page

[JazzgutsVGvanKampen]

An excellent lesson Jens, ofcourse here it's about the innitial idea's ( concepts), I mean the direction you take your ideas, how you practice !!! How a person does this is very individual, these 5 levels are gold, time for some woodshedding testing myself, thanks a lot, Vic.

[garytaylor]

Humbling exercises. 1 is ok most of the time, 2 seems like a significant step up from 1. I've been working hard on arpeggios since the beginning of the year and I'm still maybe 50% accurate. Autumn leaves seem to be around me all year!
3-5 are a long way off although I can make 3 work easier than 2 just by trial and error. I have a hard time drawing any conclusions/making connections with any aspect of music but I've been learning for so long I would never give up.
Despite this being difficult I find your lessons help me a lot Jens, thank you.

[japhney]

Jens - just wanted to share a coincidental experience related to this lesson. I started taking private (face to face) guitar lessons again to help jump-start a long slump (about a year long slump). One of the first lessons was playing 2 notes per measure, just as you described. There are a few thoughts to this. 1) These simple approaches are fundamental to learning the instrument. A few additional approaches to add some depth to the concept - I had to chart out the chord tones and possible/reasonable extensions. THEN we moved to key note selection to create a possible bass line or a melodic line (with intervals or smooth lines up and back). Then I had to play it, then improvise on it. It's a brilliant exercise. 2) It really plays to the importance of fundamentals. We live in a world of "new and shiny" things. And I'm certainly guilty of a large library of guitar plans and books and lessons that I never get past the first 5-10 pages. are critical and working on them in both depth and detail can make a big difference. One other exercise we added (there are many) was taking both long and short ii V I lines and playing them in all keys. I've been playing in jazz groups for about 6 years - never did it. It was a bit easier than my years of resistance but it is taking some time to be able to put them into a playing position. It's paying dividends to my reading skills also. 3) My possible last point is related to having a library of information, books, tapes, etc. The exercise of two notes per measure would be a two page explanation/exercise in a 150 page book (as an example). Certainly what I've done throughout the years is gloss over the exercise and consider it done. Again - it's the depth and detail. Applying it to tunes as well as recording and listening (even analyzing licks and transcribing your own playing). All these are both daunting but well worth the effort. So thanks for that last lesson - hearing it from two sources always helps reinforce the importance/value of the concept.

[JeannieSargent]

These are really great exercises, thanks for putting this together!

[damonshanabarger]

Hi Jens: I really appreciate this video. I started working on the PDF on Instagram. Meticulously thoughtful notes not played, this will take some time. Incorporating ergonomically structured fingerings. Working on a little alternative exercises for future reference. Thanks for the help.

[davidtardio]

Geez, this is terrific. I limit myself even further, starting with the first two bars of a tune and playing them over (and over, and over) with half notes, quarter notes, single string, and maybe two adjacent strings. Then add another two bars. Takes a long time but I think it helps with the flow.

[robinmarwick]

Great video, Jens...thanks. Something that I've found useful at my level is to use a bar length rhythmic idea perhaps 4 quarter notes, a quarter note rest followed by 3 quarter notes leading to another group in the next bar, of perhaps 2 quarter notes and rests for the remainder of that bar. It helps me keep my place in the progression and lets me think about the notes without the worry of getting lost.

[bradleystroup]

I'ld say where I really saw improvement in my own personal playing was trying to limit what I was using, be it scales or arpeggios and keeping it in one position and then connecting those positions, like you said here. It really takes you from that, playing exercises to knowing what you're doing because you start to hear what you are doing and you start to make choices based on that. What's fun about what you were saying, needing to find what works in this position because you might not be able to find the same options as another position l, is really highlighting that when you're moving/connecting different positions. Or something you can go into if you're moving a simple shape through octaves or horizontally. It makes it interesting or like adding the spice

[stumpshot]

Hi Jens,

So one of the exercises I continually do is along the lines of the half note/arpeggio exercise...except I do quarter note arpeggios...so I'll take a set of changes and literally go low to high or high to low on one position (then change positions)...only chord tones in strict quarter note time....start low and keep going up then as soon as you reach next position only go down...eg Cm7 to Am7 (unrelated chords) you could start on low G Bb C Eb E G A C (going constantly up...no reverse motion)....etc etc etc....this really gets forward motion going and also makes it so you're not hearing the chord always starting on the root...and makes a great map of your fretboard. Cheers!

[roncastro]

Sweet... very helpful. Thank you Jens.

[MrMewsique]

I own the Jerry Bergonzi book Melodic Structures. It's the first of a seven volume series of books he published. Its really hard. In the beginning he limits you to playing 1 2 3 5 on major chords and 1 3 4 5 on minor chords. You have to be able to play those patterns starting on each degree. 2135 or 3125 for example. Once you've mastered that the next set is 5679 for major chords and 5719 for minor chords. I find this latter set of patterns is helping me hear a more modern sound. It's heavy lifting to do this in all 12 keys up and down the fretboard.

[huwer]

Not really a jazz specific exercise, but something I have done in terms of a limiting exercise is not being allowed to play the next scale tone up or down to break out of 2/3 note per String patterns. Basically forcing myself to do string skipping that way.

Another one just for the hands really is coming up with any way of playing through a scale, like an octave down fifth up etc sort of patterns, which again focuses on string skipping and sometimes odd ways to finger depending on the intervals you choose.