Solar - Jazz Guitar Lesson - Melodic Minor, Altered Scale and Tritone subs

Рет қаралды 50,329

7 жыл бұрын

Using Melodic minor and it's modes is an important part of the modern jazz guitar sound. In this video I am going to analyse a solo on the jazz standards Solar that I improvised and transcribed. The solo should give you some ideas on what arpeggios and structures I use when I am playing and help you get more confident using melodic minor and tritone substitutions.
In the video I will be giving some examples of alternative arpeggios besides the ones I am playing in the solo, so for that reason it is worth while checking out the video. So that you can extend you advanced arpeggio vocabulary in your jazz improvisation.
Support me on Patreon: / jenslarsen
DOWNLOAD A FREE E-BOOK with 15 II Valt I licks!
Sign up for my newsletter:
jenslarsen.nl/sign-up-for-my-n...
Check out more videos on Triplet rhythms and groupings:
• Triplet rhythms - Par...
The Backing Track I am using in the solo:
• Solar - Backing Track ...
You can download a PDF and read the article on my blog via this link: jenslarsen.nl/melodic-minor-a...
If you like the video then please subscribe to stay up to date with new lessons. I publish a new lesson every Thursday!
Facebook: / jenslarsenytlessons
Twitter: / jensljazz
Snapchat: jenslarsenjazz
Instagram: / jenslarsenjazz
Google+: plus.google.com/u/0/+JensLars...
Tumblr: / jenslarsenjazz
My Gear:
Sono Core Vintage 13-53 Strings: www.sono-tone.com/products.html
QSC K10 Powered Monitor: amzn.to/2iPKMza
FocusRite Audio Interface: amzn.to/2iPKGrd
Sennheiser HD215 Headphones: amzn.to/2iPKqbQ
Lumix G6 Camera: amzn.to/2hXxBfJ
GuitarPro 6: amzn.to/2iLCZQk
Webhosting - Siteground: www.siteground.com/index.htm?...
John Daw Custom picks: dawmanpicks.com/

Пікірлер: 103

@JensLarsen 7 жыл бұрын

Hope you guys like the video! Is there one of the topics I should talk about more in another video?

@only4crap 7 жыл бұрын

as a beginner, it's very interesting to know why you chose to play what you played, it kind of opens my eyes to things I didn't realize/know I could do, videos like this are always helpful! thanks a lot! maybe the same kinda but more focused on comping? for example with chord substitutions, different voicings or something like what works best when playing together with a piano player, or if it's just you and a bass player... =)

@PH-ht9ml 6 жыл бұрын

Absolutely! I personally think I take the most out of your lessons which cover a full form. It's really great to hear the full solo first to get the big picture and then see how you break it into all those chunks that represent a valuable statements I can apply in different context. I found this approach as the best one to learn new vocabulary. It would be great to see more lessons like this - let's say one chorus of your solo over a standard and afterwards a deep dive into what happened.

@petrux 2 жыл бұрын

I stumbled upon this video *today* and BAM! I started filling sheets of paper (ruled with music staff, of course) with transcriptions, notes, target notes, harmonic substitutions, tritones, and so on. Amazing video! BTW in 5 years your "presentation skills" have been growing endlessly... congrats! I wish I could grow my jazz skill this way! 😁

@JensLarsen 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you 🙂

@9monava 2 жыл бұрын

I really enjoyed this and having the audio and visual together really helps a lot. This is enough to keep me busy for quite awhile !!!!!!!!!! Thanks for sharing !!!!

@JensLarsen 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you! Glad that it is useful 🙂

@jimdolinski8655 2 жыл бұрын

Wonderful solo with a ton of relevant info. Thanks Jen!

@JensLarsen 2 жыл бұрын

Glad it was helpful!

@danieldemaris2975 2 жыл бұрын

This is awesome! and such a fun tune one of my favorites to practice improvising on the melodic minor!

@JensLarsen 2 жыл бұрын

Glad you like it 🙂

@wobamusic 7 жыл бұрын

Hey Jens, thanx for your solo and explanation. Some days ago I found your vid about how to practice scales, arpeggios, etc. I'm practicing this way for some days and I must say that really pushed me forward. It is always good to get into topics from different point of views. I was practicing scales etc. for a long time but the progress for me was not that extreme and fast since I do it "your way". Now it seems it's getting all together. I can highly recommend it.Thanks for that. All the best from Germany

@JensLarsen 7 жыл бұрын

Thank you very much Wolfgang! That's really great to hear! 😀

@christianneuner2595 5 жыл бұрын

Great job as always, Jens! Thanks!

@JensLarsen 5 жыл бұрын

Glad you like it, Christian :)

@riju1991 8 ай бұрын

What a brilliant video this is, I got to learn so much like thinking of the maj7#5 when the tonic melodic minor chord is played, also using m6 instead of minMaj7, that E7 tritone over B7 sounded so good, I knew the concept but the application really made me hear the sound, thanks for explaining the headspace so clearly, although it takes me a lot of time to figure it out now and I keep pausing the video in between to learn them but this is a really awesome video. Thanks a lot.

@316word 5 жыл бұрын

thanks for the great info on this song,I have recently been trying to loop this in my solo looping gig ,where I simply loop those chords and hit the melody and then improvise, your info blows me away though,really inspiring

@JensLarsen 5 жыл бұрын

Thank you, Gary! I am glad you like the video! Keep at it 👍

@williamdillard7475 7 жыл бұрын

A nice tone you have. That alone makes me want to listen !

@JensLarsen 7 жыл бұрын

Thank you very much William! I hope you can use some of the other stuff as well! 😀

@franckcebret4021 7 жыл бұрын

Merci beaucoup pour cette leçon Jens. You're once again the best teacher ! Very nice sounding

@JensLarsen 7 жыл бұрын

You're very welcome Franck! I am very happy to hear that you like it!

@hectorrascon9884 7 жыл бұрын

Nice tone, nice job,thanks for the explanation and for sharing!

@JensLarsen 7 жыл бұрын

Thank you very much Hector! I am glad you like it!

@user-hf7cc7ln6x 4 жыл бұрын

Very grateful to you as usual!Thank you!

@anthonydemitre9392 7 жыл бұрын

You've given me things to work on to last me a couple of years damn you professor Larson, lol I can only go so far on Solar before sounding stale so Thanks for this lesson Jens.

@JensLarsen 7 жыл бұрын

Hahaha! Thank you Anthony :) I never get tired of coming up with re-harmonizations and ideas for Solar :) Maybe I should make a video on that?

@sueromanick8631 6 жыл бұрын

Wow. Really great and you are SO easy to listen to! Thx!

@JensLarsen 6 жыл бұрын

Thank you Sue! Really glad you like it! 🙂

@bradking1067 5 жыл бұрын

JENS!!!!!! You da man!! thanks again for sharing your beautiful self man.i always love improvising on this progression BUT playing trying to come up with hip stuff is an interesting challenge.singing your ideas on this one really is fun w/ the chords as I'm sure you know Shalom my brother God loves you deeply Rock on😎

@JensLarsen 5 жыл бұрын

Thank you Brad! 🙂 Glad you like it!

@nicolasbisetti2072 Жыл бұрын

Excellent amount of information thank you very much

@JensLarsen Жыл бұрын

Glad it was helpful!

@glennmartin974 4 жыл бұрын

Nice solo and analysis. I use the same approach, especially on short ii-V's and melodic minor.

@theshredguitarist25 7 жыл бұрын

Great lesson!!!!!

@JensLarsen 7 жыл бұрын

Thank you Brian!

@bradleystroup1457 7 жыл бұрын

really useful lesson for me. I kind of struggle to use melodic minor and have only recently figured out how to use some of it from Justin Derrico who uses it over a tonic chord in a blues context. but this was super useful for other aspects like altered and tritone in a blues context. I'm comfortable with major scale, harmonic minor and their modes and haven't been able to fit the melodic minor piece of the puzzle so much appreciated with a context I can work with

@JensLarsen 7 жыл бұрын

Glad you like it Bradley! A lot of melodic minor can be fitted in on the places where you use harmonic minor so maybe that is the place where you should attack it?

@335gerard 7 жыл бұрын

Merci Jens.

@JensLarsen 7 жыл бұрын

De rien Gérard!

@ralphwalton6736 2 жыл бұрын

thanx this helped me a lot

@JensLarsen 2 жыл бұрын

Glad to hear that!

@dariodellavalle755 2 жыл бұрын

Raining day: perfect song to study...

@JensLarsen 2 жыл бұрын

Go for it!

@RickDanner 5 жыл бұрын

great job

@JensLarsen 5 жыл бұрын

Thank you Rick 🙂

@riccardobortolotto4875 3 жыл бұрын

Great, video, even though I play bass, it's really useful for my upcoming bass exam (I'll probably have to perform on Solar). Thanks so much.

@JensLarsen 3 жыл бұрын

Great! Good luck with the exam 👍🙂

@captainkoo 2 жыл бұрын

I find this type of lesson to be the most useful; incorporating jazz theory with actual improvisational work to make music on a standard ! Excellent lesson!

@captainkoo 2 жыл бұрын

As I work my way through this lesson, I noticed you said that one arp you could use on the Cm6 is a non- diatonic, flat 5. Is this correct ? That would be a Gb?

@dkwvt13 5 жыл бұрын

Interesting ideas, I continue to be (shouldn't be) surprised at the versatility of pentatonics. Thank You...!

@JensLarsen 5 жыл бұрын

Don't worry, I get surprised as well quite often :)

@robertosozio3425 5 жыл бұрын

Congratulations on your videos you're very professional a good teacher,

@JensLarsen 5 жыл бұрын

Thank you very much Roberto! Glad you like them!

@robertosozio3425 5 жыл бұрын

+Jens Larsen please to not say where you are from Jens

@JensLarsen 5 жыл бұрын

Sorry? :)

@robertosozio3425 5 жыл бұрын

+Jens Larsen Please good music to you

@JensLarsen 5 жыл бұрын

Thanks!

@pepe10296 5 жыл бұрын

Awesome as usual. Thanks! You don't have idea about this but you're my main guitar teacher for the last couple of months. Do you have any videos on your sweeping technique. For me it is extremely difficult to use the pick like you.

@JensLarsen 5 жыл бұрын

Thanks! I have these: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/bZyporlnzb2zqH0.html and kzfaq.info/get/bejne/qdF_gqWr0Lqvhpc.html Hope you can use something in there :)

@FrazerGoodman 7 жыл бұрын

Great

@JensLarsen 7 жыл бұрын

Thanks!

@nibndj9497 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for this video and your explanations, I am a bass player but I admire the way you explain harmony and jazz phrasing.

@JensLarsen 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you 🙂

@flukecentral5641 5 жыл бұрын

Hi Jens, you checked out Nitzan Bar covering Solar. Pretty incredible, especially for his age.

@JensLarsen 5 жыл бұрын

I just listened a bit. Very impressive! He transcribed the Pat Metheny solo, there are a lot of phrases from that :)

@stein0niets 2 жыл бұрын

Concerning the G7alt its a "alt" because a "halfwhole-diminished" would resolve better to major instead of minor (so without context of the higher part of scale most people would consider it as an alt-scale too)

@stein0niets 2 жыл бұрын

at least i also hear it in this fashion. great stuff!

@JensLarsen 2 жыл бұрын

The altered scale is not the diminished scale, and I don't think that most people think they are the same thing, because they sound quite different.

@stein0niets 2 жыл бұрын

@@JensLarsen Agreed I meant even with just these 4 notes the alt scale seems to be implied/heard, exactly because of this difference in function(and sound)

@pierredecourt 6 жыл бұрын

Hi Jens, Your comping is very beautiful is it written somewhere ? in one of your lesson ?

@JensLarsen 6 жыл бұрын

Thanks Pierre! I have some lessons where I have written out examples, like this one: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/np-khK9jktSlgps.html&list=PLWYuNvZPqqcF5S1dyREhN6BRUot19Oj7U And of course you can also check some of the lessons in my webstore with transcriptions of my comping: jenslarsen.nl/prodcut-category/comping/ Thanks for the interest!

@ristics4690 5 жыл бұрын

Hey Jens, do you have any more videos about the diatonic 6th chords and their relationship to diatonic 7th chords?

@JensLarsen 5 жыл бұрын

Not really. The 6th chord will only work if the 7th is not essential to the function of the chord, so mostly that is going to be tonic and in some cases subdominant chords :)

@Livsie 4 жыл бұрын

Hi! Thanks for the great lesson! I have just started going over it. The first melodic minor idea and 7/#5 arpeggio from the 3d is fantastic) I'm a little confused: in 3:13 you say you like to use b5 arpeggio, but I see that you play the line with m6 instead (1-2-3-5-6) in 2 octaves. Am I missing something?

@JensLarsen 4 жыл бұрын

I am playing the line in the solo based on the maj7#5 but I also talk about using the maj7(b5), and I also play that arpeggio, even though it is not in the solo.

@williamdillard7475 7 жыл бұрын

I like using G7-9 instead of a straight G7 chord before returning to Cminor7. I t would be nice to hear your own backing track that I assume you are using for this with your personal extensions and comping style ?

@JensLarsen 7 жыл бұрын

Yes, G7b9 is much more natural sounding when the chord resolves to Cm. You can check out my playing on this Solar backing track: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/idaHlqybsJbWXWg.html

@MarcoCataldi 5 жыл бұрын

Hi Jens, nice channel and nice video, at 4:50 the line you play is a little bit different from the transcription.

@JensLarsen 5 жыл бұрын

Thank you Marco! Glad you like the videos! Yes, I often manage to have a few typos in the sheet music 🙂

@williamdillard7475 7 жыл бұрын

I'm working on this now. Not really a jazz player in may take me a minute to feel comfortable moving around this simple chord progression.

@JensLarsen 7 жыл бұрын

If you are not used to jazz then this is a quite tricky progression actually! But you never know 🙂

@theshredguitarist25 7 жыл бұрын

Sometimes i see you playing a Minor9th chord instead of a Minor7th chord any reason for that or am i wrong?

@JensLarsen 7 жыл бұрын

In jazz the one playing the chords is free to interpret the chord symbol and add the extensions and alterations that fits how he or she is playing. For that reason I usually try to stick with the chord type and not specify the extensions like 9 or b9.

@theshredguitarist25 7 жыл бұрын

Ah okay! Thanks, that makes a lot of sense.

@brandonlewisguitar 3 жыл бұрын

What make and model is this guitar? Sounds beautiful.

@JensLarsen 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you! It is an Ibanez AS2630 🙂

@brandonlewisguitar 3 жыл бұрын

@@JensLarsen what year was it made?

@JensLarsen 3 жыл бұрын

@@brandonlewisguitar 77 or 78, I don't remember right now 🙂

@brandonlewisguitar 3 жыл бұрын

@@JensLarsen what pickups are they? Super58’s?

@breakfastplan4518 2 жыл бұрын

why does everyone say "Soo-Laaar" when its simply 'Solar' as in : The rays from the sun? That always bothered me.

@JensLarsen 2 жыл бұрын

You have to take that up with Miles, that was his choice 😁

@breakfastplan4518 2 жыл бұрын

@@JensLarsen True. Im guessing its because dude is a black American. He had an accent and spoke ebonics. Thats simply how it sounded coming out of his mouth perhaps. Its just hilarious that this exception is made for this one word which is rooted in science. Now I'm inspired to write a tune called 'SOUL ARE" :) Thanks for talking with me, you're the best, Jens!

@joshuadownes1088 4 жыл бұрын

Are you playing C-6 in place of the major 7?

@JensLarsen 4 жыл бұрын

Yes, Cm6 and CmMaj are often interchangeable 🙂

@joshuadownes1088 4 жыл бұрын

@@JensLarsen interesting, at first I had thought the harmonic minor scale was supposed to be used here; is it personal preference to raise the 6 and make it melodic? or how did you decide

@JensLarsen 4 жыл бұрын

@@joshuadownes1088 Most tonic minor in Jazz is melodic minor. I think you will hear that if you start transcribing solos :) You can of course choose to use harmonic minor, but it is not as common because the maj6th sounds so much better against the chord.

@joshuadownes1088 4 жыл бұрын

@@JensLarsen thank you for the help, one last question: when you say "tonic minor" what does the tonic mean in this context?

@JensLarsen 4 жыл бұрын

@@joshuadownes1088 Minor of the root of the key. Solar is in C minor, it is a reharmonized blues.