This Solo Exercise Changed Everything!

[@JensLarsen]

😎 3 Reasons Wes Montgomery Is Amazing And Worth Checking Out kzbin.info/www/bejne/m4WyhYJqeKylsNU Wes Montgomery is the father of modern Jazz guitar, but it was not because he played with his thumb or used octaves. This video explores what is truly amazing about his playing.

[@funanimal4]

Thanks. There’s a year’s worth of work! 🎶👍❤️

[@jeremyversusjazz]

great stuff jens! thnks. kenny burrells ballad playing is also amazing for phrasing

[@kendevries3212]

This is the 2nd chord tone or triad minimalist approach I have watched and am taking it seriously. Very inspiring. The minimalist approach will get the concepts under your fingers much faster.

[@JensLarsen]

Go for it 🙂

[@twli]

I really appreciate when you teach us strategies for learning fundamental stuff. Always an inspiration. Thank you!

[@JensLarsen]

Thank you, TW! That is great to hear 🙂

[@eroc4686]

This has to be one of my favorite videos you've done. Super helpful for me to see this! Shorter phrases by using chord tone and arpeggio focus. Brilliant.

[@JensLarsen]

Glad to hear that 🙂

[@Morganstudios]

I find just adding some slides up to notes (or grace notes) adds a lot of flavor as well.

[@JensLarsen]

Certainly 🙂 👍

[@abnuridd24]

My epiphone firebird just arrived, this will be the first lesson I use it with. Can't wait!

[@JensLarsen]

Nice! Congrats!

[@hycus4292]

Jens, I really like your special humor as "CD collection THIS WAY...", please more...

[@randyr.6856]

Thanks, Jens. This helped me tremendously for soloing on bass.

[@Mikkokosmos]

For me it was always Bill Frisell when it comes to "less is more" inspiration 😎👍

[@JensLarsen]

Certainly! Though last time I heard him live he was really showing some chops as well, truly amazing concert

[@laonza7036]

Jens - I've been in a sort of rut myself lately...looking for some new way to approach solos even focusing on learning all arpeggios at a single position just as you suggest but still not making progress. Then, this lesson teased apart each little aspect of my objective into a small nugget that I could visualize and work on specifically or tactically in an effort to achieve my overall strategic goal. This is a well crafted lesson that could only come from a master of the discipline with the heart of a true teacher.

[@luisrepetto3345]

You are literally a Master Class... so much to think about I learn so much with EVERY single video. Thanks again for what you do...

[@JensLarsen]

Glad you find them useful 🙂

[@breakfastplan4518]

3:45 WOW JENS!!! THAT GUITAR-DRAW was the FASTEST I've ever seen! This is a great video as usual!! :D

[@JensLarsen]

Haha! Thanks 🙂

[@ferlez2370]

Those little details are so importan to develop your musical personality! As always, thank you Jens!

[@jasonkeaton5140]

I feel like this video was made for me! thank you

[@JensLarsen]

Thank you! That is a huge compliment! 🙂

[@WoodyGamesUK]

Quarter notes are great as they create contrast with the faster notes like 8th notes or triplets. As a listener, it creates a pause, you breathe, while waiting for next syncopation. I love this video, I do the same on the piano, it's amazing how you can sound better with just a few tools but being musical and embracing the vocabulary, rather than trying to do many things at once and having your music becoming too random and not purposeful. The difference can be striking, it's really something to experience in order to grasp how much it makes a difference.

[@frankvaleron]

Great insights in this one Jens. I hadn't really thought about it like that, but it's true that 8 notes are less engaging at slower tempos. Hal Galper says to hear the music in your head as the chords are changing, and play as little of what you hear as possible!

[@JensLarsen]

Thank you! That is a good skill to work on 🙂

[@kerrym9254]

This helped me a lot.

[@JensLarsen]

Glad to hear it!

[@DaveLeoni]

Great advice

[@JensLarsen]

Glad you like it 🙂

[@picksalot1]

Great advice. Many melodies exist within one octave. Many exercises span two or three octaves. They may improve your technique, but at a cost to your melodic playing.

[@JensLarsen]

Thank you! Yes you can actually do a lot with very little

[@bushje]

Thanks for sharing Jens. Love your videos, you are a truly great teacher.

[@JensLarsen]

Thank you 🙂

[@markrollinger5366]

Thanks Jens, focusing on small fragments & laying down a grove.....so much to say. I think I was ready to "hear " this , and had bit of a breakthrough. Like hearing my solos start to breath!

[@JensLarsen]

Great, Mark! Glad it is useful 🙂

[@rockstarjazzcat]

Older here, but not by much. Solid advice! 😎🤙🏼

[@JensLarsen]

Thank you 🙂

[@chrisrowemusic4614]

Thanks, I love this. It’s a great way to make a real connection to the basic underlying harmony of a song. 👍👓

[@JensLarsen]

Go for it! 🙂

[@lowkeyguitarlessons7662]

Another great video, thank you so much. I loved the emphasis on listening in order to learn with the references to all those jazz guitar greats, and I also love the emphasis on using chord tones in solos. Thank you.

[@JensLarsen]

Glad it was helpful!

[@alfredtuley481]

Thank you so much for this revelation! I have been stuck trying to learn my arpeggios and nailing the chord tones, but as you said, they sound dull at medium pace. I'm going to study the folks you mention at 1:44 more intently. I have the ability to play fast lines, if transcribed, but I don't have the improvisational tools developed yet. I will work on this! Thanks again! 🙏

[@JensLarsen]

Glad it was helpful! Go for it Alfred! :)

[@djmileski]

Great video

[@JensLarsen]

Glad you like it!

[@jasonz9902]

I took some Jazz courses as an elective at university but I've learned move here then anywhere else.

[@JensLarsen]

Thanks Jason 🙂

[@joerimland]

Excellent video lesson Jens!

[@JensLarsen]

Glad you like it 🙂

[@HugoPortilloMusic]

awesome, Jens did it again!!!

[@JensLarsen]

Thank you 🙂

[@pecielo]

You're awesome, I was having that feeling and this help me a lot

[@JensLarsen]

Glad it was helpful 🙂

[@kevindonnelly761]

Thank you so much Jens ! Another excellent video.

[@JensLarsen]

Glad you enjoyed it, Kevin!

[@theoooms7277]

just discovered your channel and I find it very inspiring, despite the fact that I’m not a guitarist😎

[@JensLarsen]

Glad to hear that! What do you play? 🙂

[@theoooms7277]

@@JensLarsen I play the piano

[@JensLarsen]

@@theoooms7277 cool! It is really great when videos are not too guitar specific 🙂

[@bohnulus]

Hi jens..... any chance you could share a pdf of your great arpeggios ..... what you use fro ∆7, V7, viic, etc... I'm aligning many aspects of my bass soloing approach from this and many of you videos.... only the essence of the chord needs to be expressed ( is what Ive found from your many videos )... with an emphasis on Groove ( wes montgomery feel... ) this is why I follow you..... keep posting I get so much from your channel....

[@JensLarsen]

You can download lots of arpeggio diagrams on my website, but the important part is probably to use the ones you already know 🙂

[@bohnulus]

@@JensLarsen doing it

[@bohnulus]

@@JensLarsen thank you ❤️

[@TheRmoroni]

nicely done video thanks!

[@JensLarsen]

Thank you 🙂

[@sorenballegaardmusic]

This is so important - USE SPACE - Miles to Coltrane - Pull that horn out of your mouth! Thank you Jens!

[@davidsonmick]

Good thinking! What about George Barnes? He’s unbelievable!

[@JensLarsen]

Ok! Not that familiar with him 🙂

[@normalizedaudio2481]

We have this is systems analysis too. "Focus on the problem."

[@JensLarsen]

Yes, I think that is all over the place 🙂

[@solomann940]

Thanks for the lesson 👍🙏🙏

[@JensLarsen]

Glad you like it 🙂

[@peterrubinelli3340]

Jens, can you advise how to mix a backing track and my guitar playing? Is there a particular program you use in your videos for that? I notice your overdubbing sounds really good with your playing and the recording being perfectly mixed and the same volume. 😀

[@JensLarsen]

I use Reaper, it is a fairly cheap DAW 🙂

[@peterrubinelli3340]

@@JensLarsen Thanks. Which guitar interface do you use with Reaper?

[@piotrzakrzewski1612]

Hi Jens, have quick your guitar, it sounds so jazzy and beautiful, is it 64 model Es335 ?

[@JensLarsen]

I don't know exactly, but I think my ES335 is from '69.

[@pipetrucciable]

Awesome

[@JensLarsen]

Glad you like it!

[@fractal618]

I did the same thing for some of my students as well and faced a similar conundrum regarding my own slo-ing. Thanks for the reinforcement of my own conclusions. FYI - regarding the video you did about looking at chord changes as musical words as seeing a ii V I as a single idea to solo over. I had a similar epiphany. I used to play chord by chord when slo-ing until I was diving into Gödel Escher and Bach by Douglas Hofstadter. In Chapter X of this tome, Levels of Description and Computer Systems, the author discussed how master chess players were able to beat AI systems at chess. In short the "chunked" the data instead of looking at several iterations of moves ahead. That's where I got the idea to chunk the data of chord progressions into one single "chunk" of data. It was a great way to illustrate how you can play a mixolydian based melody over a ii chord. They're both in the same key but starting on a different note. 🙂

[@daveberkheimer2166]

Learning new skills can be a dangerous thing; they can infiltrate your playing in ways that you may not have anticipated. This is not a bad thing, but just something to be conscious of. When I first started gigging as a guitarist I played a lot of Southern Rock and Country gigs and became a huge fan of Albert Lee, and as a result a lot of those stylistic phrases became a part of my vocabulary.... too much so. I had to deprogram myself a bit. I think the secret is to constantly return to your roots and to listen to music that is more groove oriented..... and you can still do that within the Jazz genre. For me that means listening more to guys like Kenny Burrell, Robben Ford and John Scofield. What I admire about players like Burrell. Ford, and Scofield; they have never abandoned their roots as a player.

[@JensLarsen]

Yes, you do indeed need to be conscious of where you want to use something 🙂

[@micktully7228]

Wow, thanks Jens. An epiphany for me. I’m too dumb to learn all the modes and theory, but this I can understand and practice. :-)

[@JensLarsen]

Go for it 🙂

[@PlayBetterJazz]

Jens, quick question: Even if you're playing chord tones, isn't that the same as thinking from chord to chord instead of over a series of chords? What is the difference there? Either way, chord tones instead of scales, that is the light bulb moment for me! Even after all these years of playing jazz, great video and thank you from Los Angeles

[@JensLarsen]

I don't think it is one or the other, but if you think in a key then you also think about how the chords move and where the notes go in the next chord 🙂

[@liontone]

Jim Hall at 00:34 nearly made me spit out my coffee… hahaha. This is a great lesson. Also as a side benefit, it establishes some “headroom” in one’s solo, and gives the soloist an avenue of building the drama of the story, and increased activity over time, especially useful for multiple passes. Great lesson for all forms of music, actually. I remember doing a series of shows where I had to “shred” for what seemed like an eternity, actually probably only 1-2 minutes. The show’s director, (who was an alien in Star Trek: Voyager) was like, “You either have to shred more towards the end, or shred less in the beginning… in any case, don’t start off at the top….” Bingo.

[@JensLarsen]

Good shredding story 🙂

[@Remi-B-Goode]

thanks

[@JensLarsen]

Glad you like it 🙂

[@benkatof5852]

Excellent! Lately I've been working on alternating bars or sections between bebop-y and bluesy ideas. I was inspired listening to things like Sonny Rollins album version of Oleo - it has some really nice simple lines mixed in with faster bop. Question: Practicing full position arpeggios vs. one octave arpeggios through a scale over two octaves (how I practice) - am I missing out?

[@JensLarsen]

Thank you! It depends on what you want to do with the arpeggios. It is not one or the other, it is both 🙂 (It pretty much always is 😁)

[@benkatof5852]

@@JensLarsen I expected you'd say that, but thought I'd ask anyway

[@pierrot8358]

That is for sure :)SomethingToTry:)

[@JensLarsen]

See you tomorrow then 🙂

[@jamescopeland5358]

Makes sense to me

[@JensLarsen]

Glad to hear that 🙂

[@DaddySantaClaus]

for half diminished i really like to use the b2

[@rillloudmother]

2:06 that's THE Wes licc...

[@JensLarsen]

Indeed 😁

[@bassmonk2920]

Truth be told.....

[@bradford_shaun_murray]

7:35 sounds simple but really good points on quarter notes (straight time) against the tension of the off beats. And I heard a similar timing effect in this video (by Tim Pierce) kzbin.info/www/bejne/eKW6Z3uqgpaMa5o (at the 4min 13 sec mark), where he talks of leaving the plane of time and then returning to the straight time and gives a good example from Red House.

[@JensLarsen]

Yes, that is a similar effect 👍🙂

[@bradford_shaun_murray]

@@JensLarsen thanks Jens :)

[@copescale9599]

Do you like Casiopea Jens Larsen?

[@JensLarsen]

Not sure what it is? 🙂

[@copescale9599]

@@JensLarsen They are a band from Japan ^_^

[@JensLarsen]

@@copescale9599 ok

[@Alan-zi2rs]

Melody don't always fit the chord tones I've noticed that .. development through your own choices 🎶🎶🎸👌😎

[@JensLarsen]

I don't think you can say that the melody doesn't fit the chord tones, that is more a question of you not understanding the melody or the harmony (or using sheet music with wrong chords)

[@Alan-zi2rs]

Good point Jens appreciate all your lessons and influence #JenstheJazzGuru 👌🎶🎸

[@jantonisito]

I had no idea you studied mathematics. That explains your rational, methodical approach.

[@JensLarsen]

I think that has more to do with the pedagogy course at the conservatory. I didn't learn anything about teaching at the university, I only saw examples of how not to do it 😁

[@jantonisito]

@@JensLarsen Some people have that "I suffered to learn it - now is your turn" approach ;-) Question - you have a lot videos available - do you have some index anywhere. Something to pick a logical line to work on them in order. Letsay I have following problem (which is actually something I am facing now) - create lines connecting chord tones 1625 progression - I do not want to memorize anything - I just want to build ability to make such lines. So an index would point me to prereqs, actual lesson or lessons and possible topics to expand on.

[@JensLarsen]

@@jantonisito For the lessons to work on KZbin then they need to be independent, so they don't really make a great learning path where you can build up skills step-by-step. Maybe try this kzbin.info/www/bejne/qJCri4aLm7R-ra8 The best step-by-step approach I have is my course, where I don't have to make it also work on YT:

[@jantonisito]

@@JensLarsen Sure they can and should be independent - but that does not mean they cannot be organized in a logical chain that clusters around some general idea.

[@JensLarsen]

@@jantonisito You said yourself that my teaching was methodical, trying to order lessons that are only connected by being on the same topic is actually the opposite of being methodical. I don't see how they form a method if you put them in a certain order, they are mostly different takes on the same material or how to apply it in different situations. There is no logical order to do that which makes them a method, simply because they don't build on what you have already learned in another video. That's why, as a teacher, the course has been such a great experience for me. But if you come up with a way to make a playlist that takes a topic and orders the videos then let me know I will have a look.

[@Bigchurchmusic]

Kenny Werner asked Bill Evans what he practiced, "the minimum" was Bill's reply.

[@JensLarsen]

Exactly 🙂

[@johndoe-ep7qk]

yeah, this seems to be the trap that too many jazz players get caught up in: too many notes and not enough phrasing and feel, not leaving SPACE, etc; unfortunately, too many jazz players want to show off their technical and/or book learning....yawn. sorta like missing for forest for the trees. say more with less. good video

[@hycus4292]

Too much words, too little music

[@kevindonnelly761]

It's a lesson not a recital.

[@georgechristiansen6785]

Too much comment. Too little useful input.