Talking Jazz Guitar

Course
54 Lessons

An intermediate level course on many aspects of jazz guitar, by Hal Leonard author, Matt Otten. Four different kinds of tunes are used to extensively discuss and demonstrate jazz chords, scales and improvisation, playing techniques etc. Multiple backing tracks are provided for practice.

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Playing Jazz Guitar

Playing jazz guitar requires knowing scales and chords, among other things, and know them quite well, but above all it means understanding what you play and why, and what you hear. Some theory is definitely going to help, but playing and understanding tunes is the best way to really 'get it'. Playing tunes makes otherwise abstract examples real and practical!

Talking Jazz Guitar

is a course with video lessons, covering many aspects of jazz guitar playing, at an intermediate level.
Lessons are based on tunes that were written for this course, and the topics covered are, chords, scales, improvisation, vaious playing techniques, soloing and accompanying.
This course was originally released on DVD, but is now available online. The course material contains over two hours of instruction video, with animated fretboard included in the video, and many backing tracks for practice. A chord system primer has also been added to the original DVD content.

When I made Talking Jazz Guitar, I was not thinking about a strict curriculum, but rather a collection of educational videos, that cover a range of topics, that I often talk about with guitar students. In this collection, a few special tunes form the basis for instruction and are vehicles for application and demonstration of the principles I am explaining. So, in the context of these tunes that were written for this course, I talk about scales and chords, structure, playing techniques, general tips and advice, different styles etc. There is no strict order, you can start with any one of the main lesson sections, but the A Minor Blues is good place to start.

Enjoy, Matt

Level: Intermediate

Talking Jazz Guitar is an intermediate level course. It aims at guitarists who have played for some time, but are not very familiar with jazz yet, or are trying to play jazz and want to improve their understanding of jazz and how to play it.
It is not a beginner course, so you should know the basics of guitar chords and scales, but other than that all necessary details are explained here.

Money back guarantee

After reading and seeing all of the above, you may still have doubts.
If up to two weeks after purchase you decide it is not what you expected, no problem. Send me a message, any way you want, and let me know. You will get your money back!

Guide to Talking Jazz Guitar

A Minor Jazz Blues Video Lessons

We explore an A minor jazz-blues theme, chords, scales, and improvisation.
The fretboard visualizer shows you exactly what's being played.
Several backing tracks are available for practice.

A Minor Jazz Blues, Part 1: Melodic Theme

A Minor Jazz Blues, Part 2: Theme with Backing

A Minor Jazz Blues, Part 3: Chords Explained

Preview

A Minor Jazz Blues, Part 4: Comping Explained

A Minor Jazz Blues, Part 5: Comping Example

A Minor Jazz Blues, Part 6: Scales for Soloing

A Minor Jazz Blues, Part 7: Soloing Example

A Minor Jazz Blues, Part 8: Soloing and Comping

A Minor Jazz Blues, Part 9: The Full Tune

A Minor Jazz Blues Backing Tracks

A Minor Jazz Blues Backing Track, 100 bpm

A Minor Jazz Blues Backing Track, no keyboard, 100 bpm

A Minor Jazz Blues Backing Track, 120 bpm

Preview

A Minor Jazz Blues Backing Track, no keyboard, 120 bpm

A Minor Jazz Blues Backing Track, 140 bpm

A Minor Jazz Blues Backing Track, no keyboard, 140 bpm

C Minor Swing Theme Video Lessons

A C minor Swing tune, played with full jazz trio accompaniment, or played with two guitars. So you can learn the theme and learn how to solo over the changes, but also the accompaniment. With the audio tracks you can play the lead, you can solo, but you can also play the accompaniment. Learning to solo and to accompany makes you an all-round jazz player.

C Minor Swing Theme, Part 1: Introducing the Tune

Preview

C Minor Swing Theme, Part 2: Chords Explained

C Minor Swing Theme, Part 3: Scales, Chords, and Melody

C Minor Swing Theme, Part 4: Full Tune with Solo

C Minor Swing Backing Tracks

With trio accompaniment as well as just guitar accompaniment, or the guitar lead so you can play the accompaniment.

C Minor Swing Backing, 100 bpm

C Minor Swing Backing, 120 bpm

C Minor Swing Backing, 150 bpm

C Minor Swing Tune as a Guitar Duet

C Minor Swing Tune as a Guitar Duet, Backing

C Minor Swing Tune as a Guitar Duet, Lead Part

A Smooth Jazz Tune in Eb Video Lessons

A contemporary, 'smooth' jazz tune.

A Smooth Jazz Tune in Eb, Part 1: Introduction and Chords

A Smooth Jazz Tune in Eb, Part 2: Melody, Chords and Scales

A Smooth Jazz Tune in Eb, Part 3: Soloing Examples

A Smooth Jazz Tune in Eb, Part 4: The Bridge

A Smooth Jazz Tune in Eb, Part 5: More Soloing Explained

A Smooth Jazz Tune in Eb, Part 6: Scale Transition Exercises

Never Too Late

Lesson tune played by live musicians

A Smooth Jazz Tune in Eb Backing Tracks

Backing tracks for practice

A Smooth Jazz Tune in Eb Backing Track 60 bpm

A Smooth Jazz Tune in Eb Backing Track 85 bpm

D Minor Contemporary Jazz Video Lessons

Contemporary Jazz Tune. The reason this tune was included is because there was an earlier video on YouTube, that became very popular, over half a million views, thousands of likes, and many players wanted to learn to play it. So this is it, and you can learn every aspect of this tune. The original video is at the bottom of the lesson list.

D Minor Contemporary Jazz Video Lessons, Part 1: Introducing the Tune - Chords

D Minor Contemporary Jazz Video Lessons, Part 2: Scales and Soloing

D Minor Contemporary Jazz Video Lessons, Part 3: Melody and Ad Libs

D Minor Contemporary Jazz Video Lessons, Part 4: Full Tune with Solo

D Minor tune on YouTube: over 500.000 views

D Minor Contemporary Jazz Backing Tracks

Full backing tracks as well as guitar-only accompaniment, and guitar lead, so you can play accompaniment as well.
The original YouTube video was in a two-guitar format, so you can play it like that, or with the full backing track. The full backing track contains guitar chords as well; there is also a version without guitar chords, so you can play them.

D Minor Contemporary Jazz Backing Track 100 bpm

D Minor Contemporary Jazz Backing Track - no guitar - 75 bpm

D Minor Contemporary Jazz Backing Track - no guitar - 100 bpm

D Minor Contemporary Jazz Backing Track - no guitar - 115 bpm

D Minor Contemporary Example Jazz Track - guitar duo

D Minor Contemporary Jazz Backing Track - guitar only

D Minor Contemporary Jazz Lead Track - guitar lead/solo

Octave Playing Video Lesson

A special lesson about the technique of playing in octaves

Octave Playing Video Lesson

An Overview of Common Jazz Chords - Various Lessons

The main and most common jazz chord forms, and the naming conventions.
There are video lessons, a reference document, and a quizz.

Introduction to Common Jazz Chords

Chords in Context

The Jazz Chord System (download)

Chord knowledge quizz

YouTube Examples

Course tunes played in various settings in YouTube

Playlist

There is a short YouTube playlist that contains some of the tunes that are in this course, as performed by Matt.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpX9pLcp0qxCzGkwMpY2cM2XBHj6UFQhB