How to start soloing over a II V I with arpeggios

[JensL]

Hi Gearpagiators!

Here's my lesson on how to work on a very basic skill in jazz, possibly one of the best places to start learning to improvise over changes.


The lesson has a link to a free backing track from QuistJam (If you sign up for their newsletter)

Hope you like it!

Jens

 

[straightblues]

Thanks for the lesson.

 

[handtrix]

Jens,

"...connect them in time over the progression. ...try to switch to the note that's close by..."

Good job on introducing this approach. This information is greater than the video as a whole or by itself. Once you have an understanding of the 135's of each arpeggio, this^ is what to do in order not to sound stiff or sterile. Letting your leads flow & lending to originality...

 

[JensL]

Thanks for the lesson.

Jens,

Good job on introducing this approach. This information is greater than the video as a whole or by itself. Once you have an understanding of the 135's of each arpeggio, this^ is what to do in order not to sound stiff or sterile. Letting your leads flow & lending to originality...

Thanks guys!

I actually think you can still sound sterile or stiff if you do it "right" according to the lesson, but I just find that you are training an often overlooked skill that you also need to improvise which is looking or hearing ahead.

Jens

 

[derekd]

Great lesson for a tremendous step toward playing the changes that doesn't get addressed enough, imo.

The sterile or stiffness can easily be address with rhythmic displacement and greater use of chromatics. It took me a while to get past sounding so white bread.

 

[JensL]

Great lesson for a tremendous step toward playing the changes that doesn't get addressed enough, imo.

The sterile or stiffness can easily be address with rhythmic displacement and greater use of chromatics. It took me a while to get past sounding so white bread.

Thanks! and very true: There are lot's of ways to work on sound tied down by the arpeggio concept.

Jens

 

[adauria]

Fantastic - thank you!! You've given me a good start to practice with! This is really practical stuff.

-Andrew

 

[JensL]

Fantastic - thank you!! You've given me a good start to practice with! This is really practical stuff.

-Andrew

Thanks Andrew! Great to hear you can use it!

Jens

 

[Webfoot]

Probably the best basic jazz starter lessons I have seen.
- in the key of c
- one location on the fretboard
- learn arpeggio notes for 3 chords
- pick the target start note for each chord (3rd in this example)
- now practice making it flow

Nicely done... no clutter... simple... tasteful... and to the point. Great job.

 

[JensL]

Probably the best basic jazz starter lessons I have seen.
- in the key of c
- one location on the fretboard
- learn arpeggio notes for 3 chords
- pick the target start note for each chord (3rd in this example)
- now practice making it flow

Nicely done... no clutter... simple... tasteful... and to the point. Great job.

Thanks! that's quite a compliment! I am very happy you like it.

Sorry I didn't answer earlier, I was on a small tour with my band.

Jens

 

[Yngtchie Blacksteen]

My apologies for bumping this rather old thread, but I figured it might prove useful for people who hadn't seen this lesson.

I've been trying to solo using arpeggios myself, over the ii-V-I, using the shapes I learned back when I took a few lessons from Martin Miller. Highly useful for learning all the different arpeggios, but I stopped my lessons before we'd managed to get into how to use those arpeggios musically (let's just say that Joe Pass never does arpeggios in fours up and down the neck for a reason). Since then, I hadn't really figured out how to get myself out of that little rut, and actually start using these chord tones in a way that sounds like music and not just exercises, but this little video gave me a lot of great tips.

There's a looper function on my Helix LT that I haven't used yet, due to a lack of chordal knowledge. That's starting to change, thanks to vids like yours, so many thanks for showing there's some light at the end of the tunnel, even for those of us who need a lot of extra time to understand these concepts.

 

[Bluesful]

My apologies for bumping this rather old thread, but I figured it might prove useful for people who hadn't seen this lesson.

I've been trying to solo using arpeggios myself, over the ii-V-I, using the shapes I learned back when I took a few lessons from Martin Miller. Highly useful for learning all the different arpeggios, but I stopped my lessons before we'd managed to get into how to use those arpeggios musically (let's just say that Joe Pass never does arpeggios in fours up and down the neck for a reason). Since then, I hadn't really figured out how to get myself out of that little rut, and actually start using these chord tones in a way that sounds like music and not just exercises, but this little video gave me a lot of great tips.

There's a looper function on my Helix LT that I haven't used yet, due to a lack of chordal knowledge. That's starting to change, thanks to vids like yours, so many thanks for showing there's some light at the end of the tunnel, even for those of us who need a lot of extra time to understand these concepts.

Jens has heaps of great lessons.

I ripped a heap of these lines from Jens:

https://jenslarsen.nl/10-altered-dominant-lines/

 

[mdog114]

Great lesson