Jazz Chords: The 5 Mistakes Beginners Make Learning Chords

[@JensLarsen]

What is your best advice for learning Jazz Chords and Comping? Here is the most important ingredient: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y2WYYZucf9Vjf5Y&pp=gAQBiAQB

[@tomcripps7229]

For me it's been big band chords and major chord scales as the fundamentals. Everything else will be less complicated after that.

[@JensLarsen]

@@tomcripps7229 are "big band chords" shell voicings?

[@tomcripps7229]

@@JensLarsen yes. The Freddy Green stuff. I was recently told that's what Bill Evans mostly relied on.

[@alexsixstring]

Try to imitate Peter bernstein 😅

[@NotLegato]

easily the highest quality jazz guitar content on youtube.

[@JensLarsen]

Thank you 🙏🙂

[@TheCSteve]

Not only for jazz .. I use some of those things to unlock better solo in rock songs 🙂

[@uptempotransport28]

Yea Jens is great

[@Buffalo5]

I started with a teacher a few weeks ago. In every lesson, he tells me that I need to stop practising so many exercises and start playing music. In the last lesson, he told me to practice Autumn leaves playing two inversions per bar, but I found that very hard, so today, a few days later, I find myself just practising exercises to learn inversions up and down the neck, without playing any music... This video is very helpful and a good reminder that I'm doing it wrong... but I still don't know why I keep falling back to just exercises. I can see that exercises appear to be difficult, trying to learn all those inversions, so I have a sense of "working hard", while at the same time, there's no accountability: no chord progression, tempo and musicality that I need to satisfy, so exercises are a lot easier and more forgiving.

[@jongoforth1405]

Jens, you delineate material in an extraordinary way. Always easy to understand, you don't "dumb it down". As a professional sax/flute/clarinet-if-provoked player since 1976, I've had the opportunity to work with a lot of great musicians, some of whom were excellent educators. I think that you are among the very best. If one wants to learn jazz-not just guitar, but certainly guitar, too-time spent with your videos, taking your advice, along with serious study will surely result in a great foundation in improvised music. I can only imagine how the material you provide-FREE OF CHARGE-would have simplified my journey! Thanks so much.

[@JensLarsen]

Thank you very much, Jon!

[@davidpatrick1813]

Spectacular… probably easy for many who watch. I need to learn songs big time, and turn around from the dead end street…. Thx again. pat

[@JensLarsen]

Thanks 🙂

[@VirtualGuitarAndBass]

Tienes razón,no sirve para nada practicar las inversiones de los acordes sin un contexto, aprender canciones y usarlos en ellas es la mejor forma. Muchas gracias por tu video❤

[@JensLarsen]

Glad you like it!

[@triangel5530]

It probably took also took you decades to get to such an amazing summary of what Jazz (not guitar) is about! The best contribution I can remember! Thank you Lars, this is amazing!

[@eric_james_music]

Personally I feel guitarists should focus on root inversion and 3rd in the bass. Especially if you're just trying to learn songs and comp yourself. I sing and play at the same time so having the root without a bassist is essential. But it does pay to be versatile. I've only been learning jazz for 3 years but I come from a metal guitar background so I knew a bit about scales and rhythm before. Even if someone doesn't think of themselves as a singer, we should encourage guitarists to sing and play the chords of jazz tunes. It helps the melody be strong in your head for soloing, rhythm, and well just, seeing the song as a whole piece and not a bunch of 2 5 1s

[@SkarphedinnWalz]

Strong advice from start to finish....and the focus is the best advice of all...play music! Great video

[@JensLarsen]

Absolutely!

[@mitchgilbert1090]

Thanks Jens for a great overview of your approach to chords in Jazz. So clear and inspiring. I’ve been playing guitar many years, but keep the beginner mindset. You are a great complement to my local teacher. As a recently retired guy I can finally devote my time to guitar and music. Life is good. Mitch

[@JensLarsen]

Glad it was helpful!

[@bebop425]

These are all good points. You make them often and hopefully the resonate with those learning. I wish I had youtube as a resource or a teacher like you 35 years ago.

[@JensLarsen]

Glad it was helpful!

[@ErikLW]

Jens, I've been following these tutorials for a while now. You have done an amazing job of varying the approach to teaching, AND you have a spectacularly recursive pedagogical style. I would hate to give you too much credit, but this video was pretty spot-on for what I needed to hear; clairvoyant even. I've been taking a brief break in my learning to practice more what I've learned from you through these videos, and this one was just the ticket. Thanks, as always.

[@JensLarsen]

Thank you! Glad you like the videos!

[@jamescopeland5358]

Great lesson Jens

[@JensLarsen]

Thanks James!

[@augmented2nd666]

A thought on some of this. I find memorizing stuff really really difficult, so the whole drop 2, inversions, thing seems impossible to memorize for me. For chord melodies I sometimes will just tune out of whether its a b13 or whatever and focus on each overall root and visualize the scale attached to it and just add notes from the scale as I see fit melodically. So that might mean sometimes i'm adding in a 13 or 9 or 11, somtimes its an added 2 or 4 or 6 or whatever. I usually pin my first finger to the root note though and use the other fingers to do the moving around, I'm wondering if I should also use this approach shifted down where I'm "pinning" the pinky to the root and playing the scale position lower, I notice a ton of jazz chords use the "C" type shapes similar to the "Hendrix" chord the add6 add9 type thing, and derivatives of that. I'm not much of a full multi positional player despite knowing how to play through each scale position, I always find the positions with the root starting either as first finger note of either the E or A string. I dont want to make too much excuses but I do suffer from a traumatic brain injury and have alot of memory problems, so for quick improvising I tend to just defer to those scale positions for both major, and the relative minor scales, so technically I regularly use 4 scale positions. I'm not very into traditional jazz at all, but I love Allan Holdsworth and Shawn Lane. I've learned a fair amount of shred techniques and whatnot over the years but never found jazz really truly clicked for me at all, I mostly grew up learning neoclassical Yngwie Malmsteen stuff and how to improvise in that style while also finding my own voice within it. Hope to find out that there are better ways to get these sorts of chords to click better, as from what I've watched from Allan Holdsworth's tutorial video and others analyzing him, it seems he saw chords as just notes from a scale and would just jumble them however he felt to make melodies, which often resulted in some pretty enormous and beautiful chords.

[@ricklaino6385]

Always helpful advice........ Thanks Jens......!!!

[@JensLarsen]

Glad you think so!

[@StepanVasylyshyn]

Thank you so much, Jens. I love your videos!

[@JensLarsen]

Glad you like them!

[@JESL_Only_1]

To my mind, I practice triads, chords, modes, etc., to be smooth, even when staccato. I don't know everything & am not trying to think too much when I'm playing, because I'm trying to play with others. The chord melody - that's rehearsal & deliberation. Improvising requires your ear and feel - it's spontaneous. And you can't do that until you understand basic theory & apply this to the instrument. Then your ear and sense of rhythm step in. It's all context.

[@IOSALive]

Jens Larsen, I love your channel so much, I just had to subscribe!

[@JensLarsen]

Thank you! Hope you find more stuff you can use 🙂

[@JESL_Only_1]

This is understandable & happens quite often.

[@josdurkstraful]

Jens, your video's are always an inspiration 🤗

[@JensLarsen]

Thank you, Jos

[@aminahmed2220]

Absolutely fantastic have a wonderful day also a fantastic weekend ❤❤❤❤❤❤😊😊😊😊😊😊😊

[@tooselfish]

Moin Jens Larsen, Thanks a lot for your advices and this video, very helpfull, greetings harry

[@JensLarsen]

Glad it was helpful!

[@TheCSteve]

Time to watch .. Have a nice weekend and greetz from NL 🙂 Thanks for you help man .. I recorded a song .. Only vocals left but i must wait on the plop cap

[@Guitarlessonshub]

This is super good

[@JensLarsen]

Thank you!

[@timbradley135]

Hi, Jens, Another pluperfect episode. Also, I’ve recently “discovered” melodic minor; your videos have been a big help on that. You make jazz seem within reach. A request? Apologies if you’ve done this topic before. Would you do something on how to reharmonize or “jazzify” melodies? Specifically, there’s a country ballad instrumental by the pianist Floyd Cramer. Utterly simple and diatonic, yet lovely. He has a technique called something like “dragging thirds” that is very guitaristic. It’s be great to get some ideas for the transitions from I to IV and V to I and for the bridge. Likewise, the same for a couple of classical themes (listen to “Full Moon and Empty Arms,” based on Rachmaninov, by Jerry Hahn for inspiration). Thanks.

[@cbolt4492]

Superb advice as always...

[@JensLarsen]

Glad it was helpful!

[@gregchristoffel6563]

Thanks!

[@JensLarsen]

Thank you for the support, Greg!

[@harryhellerman474]

That first one was / is a tough pill to swallow!😀

[@JensLarsen]

Haha! Yes probably a harsh truth to many 😁

[@noahgraber9339]

What is your opinion of 1st inversion, at least the sound? I’ve been using them a lot especially in II-V’s because the fingering flows well and I like that. I was recommended to use them more actually by a professor who is a classical guitarist. I think I like the sound of the 1st inversions bc they sound unique and pretty but I’m not sure I hear or see them very often in a jazz context. Was wonder what your take on this was!

[@JensLarsen]

If you are playing in a band then it doesn't sound like a 1st inversion anymore, so it is a matter of context. Two other things that are important for the sound is the progression and the voicing, so I can't tell you anything about all 1st inversions.

[@andellryan824]

As a beginner/intermediate player who's is self taught(I recently learnt about maj/min7, add13 chord shapes) anyways I always liked smooth jazz but I'm not sure what exactly to learn. Can someone point me in the direction of my first jazz lesson? (I learnt fly me to the moon and autumn leaves chord melody but I need to build up speed and dexterity to play it at the required bpm)

[@JensLarsen]

I don't teach smooth Jazz, but I do teach Jazz. It is difficult to give too specific advice because everybody is different and at different levels, but maybe check out this post: jenslarsen.nl/how-to-learn-jazz-guitar-suggestions-to-begin-studying/

[@uptempotransport28]

Can you do a video on 2-5-1 with chromatic bass notes? Thats what I struggle with. Thx

[@JensLarsen]

I am not sure what you mean. If is a II V I then it doesn't really have chromatic bass notes, the II V and the I describes the bass notes

[@uptempotransport28]

@JensLarsen I mean would: A (5th), Ab(b9), G(5th). Work for bass notes? Would require chord inversion of course

[@JensLarsen]

@@uptempotransport28 In most cases that won't really work. Maybe you should ask yourself why you need that? You can do so many things with harmony before changing the bass melody of the song.

[@uptempotransport28]

@@JensLarsen thanks. I was just curious if that is a hip thing to do

[@JensLarsen]

@@uptempotransport28 No worries! In general, it is easier if you start with something that you come across in the music and not some theoretical thing that doesn't really happen in music 🙂

[@ericstrauch3215]

On the subject of diagrams, would it be practical to play the chord as an arpeggio to learn the notes of the chord, fretboard knowledge would help with this.

[@JensLarsen]

Yes, a part of figuring out what notes are in the chord is to play them one by one, but keep in mind that chords on a guitar are almost never stacks of 3rds like we think of basic chords in theory.

[@ericstrauch3215]

@@JensLarsen Thanks Jens! Great advice! Great lesson!

[@jackbombeeck4958]

Aside from the melody (mostly only on top), what would you recommend in terms of voice leading?

[@JensLarsen]

Don't get too lost in thinking about voice leading, it tends to destroy more than it helps when playing. Start by playing examples that you like the sound of and then see how the voice leading is in those. It's usually not that complicated. This exercise is also good: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gqizpX6Ai81snrs

[@jackbombeeck4958]

Thx! I remember seeing that video, but just didn't think of it :-)

[@davidnayir]

I guess what you are implying is to look at chords in the context of the scale. For example: 1. Am chord in the context of C major scale has C-D-E-F-G-A-B notes 2. But if it is in the G Major scale C-D-E-F#-G-A-B so instead of playing the F we play F# Did I understand it correctly?

[@JensLarsen]

More in the context of the song and the key, that is what decideds the scale afterall

[@davidnayir]

@@JensLarsen I am 70+ years old amateur guitarist. I guess this was a great information that I came to understand very late in life. Thanks. Your videos are wonderful.

[@tomcripps7229]

Thanks!

[@JensLarsen]

Thank you Tom!

[@BugsyBologna]

Am I correct to say a 13 chord is the - 1,3,5,7 on the lower register and the 2,4,6 aka 9,11,13 an octave higher. Is a 13 chord all 7 notes in the scale?

[@kevindonnelly761]

The short answer is - sometimes the 13th can have a 9th and 11th below it and sometimes it doesn't. It depends on the Chord's Notation, eg: V7(9,11,13), V7(9,13), V7(11,13) or V7(add13). There are many other ways that extended chords may be notated or altered too. Depending on the context, the importance of some extensions may vary. Extensions are decorations on the Christmas tree. The most important part is the underlying chord. If you don't know how to play a C7(9,#11,13) Chord, just play C7. Another trick I use, is to add 7 to 2, 4, and 6 to get the extension numbers. Good luck ! 😁

[@JensLarsen]

In theory yes, in reality never 🙂

[@reginaldparker3248]

Mr Jens Larsen send me the link to comping patterns.

[@JensLarsen]

You mean this one? kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y2WYYZucf9Vjf5Y

[@reginaldparker3248]

Thank you.

[@timbradley135]

Oops…the Floyd Cramer song is called “Last Date.” There are many, many versions. I like his original best.

[@cbolt4492]

6:37 Step by step

[@thijs199]

Waaaaaaa

[@marktaylor2502]