Autumn Leaves jazz guitar improvisation (3) with scale explanations

[glitterNdoom]

wow mate! really great work! a lot of people improvise on youtube, but writing the scales you play is what makes your videos the best. you earned your self another subscriber :)

[effsixteenblock50]

instead of A Dorian over the F#m7b5, try A melodic minor........

[misterbuckethead]

@effsixteenblock50 i'd be interested to hear how that would sound, although some notes in that scale wouldn't sound right over the later chords

[ooulongtea]

Pretty awesome you put the scales and explanations up. Really gives a guideline for what jazz guitar takes in theory and skill. helpful stuff!

[psouza1974]

Really nice!

[gabeadams1]

Can you tell me where you found the backing track?

[c0l3r05zk09]

Amazing



[odingr]

really nice! Can i ask a question ? Is this considered a professional solo or its an easier one for educational purposes? Thanks a lot in advance, you are awesome!

[Alpha7xxx]

ohhh this music is like..like making love to a beautiful woman , a beautiful European woman - and not having to pay for it.

[junka22]

very very classy playing and beautiful tone

[RedCurlyHead]

Should I know music theory to play like this and How can I ;earn the arpeggios or its a matter of imagination and breaking the usual chords?!?!

by the way you are damn god on this guitar!!!

[noisyneil]

brilliant! really helpful to hear it and see the explanation at the same time!

[martincshiel]

yeh nice try, but you need to push it mate. might i suggest, check some phrasing like Stochelo Rosenburg & Frank Gambale. best wishes

[MrTryinghard7]

Awesome Brother!!!

[LoganW23]

hey guys, this is a great video. I'm a 14 year old jazz guitarist and I recently posted a video... It's called logan white jazz jamin MOV 13, its just a jazz track that i wrote and recorded with two keyboards and two guitars. I just improvised to it in the video. Thanks, I hope you enjoy the video.

[zennygreen]

thanks for the chords mate ,helped me suss this gem of a tune,

[stratakat]

Great Version bro!!! Hope you like my take,

[Tuesdaydotdotdot]

wow 0:00-122 

[gfmgma]

@deadzior best part by the way

[PhiloverinMalaysia]

Thanx

[jordyplaysguitar]

great stuff and thanks for the explanations

[MarcBeckK]

What does double time phrases mean? And this is in Gminor right? I understand how the root is "dynamic" but it's basically in G minor right?

[TcSomers]

@jluvsmetal knowing theory is kinda vital to playing at all. your username implies that you like metal music, well a lot of metal leads are just running through spanish based scales. really fast.

[Flugulate]

I don't think it matters how you get there. Theory is certainly one way. jluvsmetal, would you please post a link to where Santana said he hasn't used theory?

[Bugera369]

At 1:12, I saw 'A Dorian Phrase' and I thought..okay, but which one? Haha but anyway, sweet video man, very helpful.

[bigtitties1234]

I am so stoned right now and this music is making sweet love to my ears.

[jafaicandotcom]

Fantastic tone, excellent playing, got my sub.

[soniclens]

thanks for this video. for all you veiwers who have all the answers on second guessing this guys scale approach, please remember for every chord there are several ways to interpret scale options,ie. g ionian can be thought of as d mixolydian, a dorian, b phrygian etc. for those of you who bad mouth theory, unless you were born with Joe Pass natural from God, shut up and stick to the blues.

[Ateamcaptain]

At 1:43 you are actually playing sequences from the whole half diminished scale starting on F#. :)

[Luisrox123]

@Ateamcaptain im pretty sure he knows what he's playing..

[Ateamcaptain]

@Luisrox123 Nope, he is indeed playing diminished not Locrian. He plays D#s in the second and third repeating phrase at 1:43 which are not in F# Locrian (F#GABCDE) mode but they are in F# whole half diminished (F#G#ABCDD#E#). Also, the giveaway when I heard the phrase is the movement of minor 3rds. Diminished scales are symmetrical and so all he was doing was playing diminished based off of the symmetrical minor 3rd arpeggio notes of that scale. It's a cool trick I use sometimes.

[jluvsmetal]

Carlos Santana didn't use theory... He just went with what sounded right and his music is beautiful... I love this style of playing but i can never get the hang of theory with scales and such like. :S

[Wiltonibanez]

@jluvsmetal but surely you'd need a little theory? before i knew some theory i couldnt play much..

[jluvsmetal]

@Wiltonibanez aparently not. If you've got a good ear and play your instrument long enough i guess you just get used to what sounds good.

[JollyRoger462]

AMAZING !!!

Let's see now some puck ass players saying "We don't need theory".

Cause you have no brains...

[Valerio2381]

i don't understand much about jazz, but it's really difficult.

I have to pass form the Metal to Jazz

[FLT1970]

Audio chocolate.

[Dgray1392]

where did u get lessons from?

[duda90100]

its a very easy song, i know the melody. the melody chords are Am7 D7 Gmaj7 Cmaj7 F#m7b5 B7 Em B7 Em F#m7b5 B7b9 Em :)



[rodsteven214]

you'r really Great..i wish i could play that way

[halibutty]

Whoa, there is a lot of knowledge there. Sweet playing and the best improv using sound theory I've ever seen. 5 stars

[wawan721]

its cool,,



[ryanintopeka]

As good of a player as I feel like i am can't follow this on my guitar worth a crap. I guess I'm stuck playing rock and blues :-(

[gabymarshy]

@ryanintopeka I feel ya, its horrible :(

[AllenK17]

@ryanintopeka

no worries, it just takes practice, learn your modes and you got this

[eltysh]

Это супер. Вкусно

[todandres]

not bad :) agree with blizz :( but great anyway

[micheledc]

you rock!! or, better, you JAZZ!!!

[mirelurk1]

fake

[RideLXbindings]

@mirelurk1 jealous much?

[rikiste92]

mre

[rikiste92]

lol siamo so funny

[ongkybeta]

hi! great video. i learnt a lot from it. just one question: what did u play at 3:05? how do i go about soloing over the descending chords Em-Eb7-Dm7-Db7?

[redwashre]

This blows expert village away.

[moncmon]

man.. how can i think of all those stuff while playing..

[androidguitar]

@moncmon habit. Be patient. 

[RedCurlyHead]

awesome song I realy feel it

[bendugard]

brilliant playing, wish i could do this...

[2talented4yu]

man dat was so smmooottthh....hands down

[jeffsReed]

stemajor7: Playing chord changes is not the way to think. I've learned from both perspectives and playing tonal center offers the improvisor more to play than thinking chordally. Both can be used but nobody can build chords in their heads fast enough to solo on in a true improvising moment. Chordal thinking almost means 'pocket improvising' on the sound at the moment. How does one's ideas ever flow? Nope. Been there done that.

[kayakernz]

great. please do desafinado if you can.i wish more people would do this way of teaching.thankyou so much

[edthewave]

Well done, sir. I appreciate that you actually annotate your video, explaining what you are playing. Far too many videos feature guitarists "shredding" but they don't explain to listeners what they are actually doing.

[VodooGuitarist]

G maj before the key change then you can use e jazz minor

[VodooGuitarist]

G maj or E jazz minor you can also use.

[blizzdizzl2323]

the worst part was when it ended : (

[jeffsReed]

Pretty good attempt at teaching what's going on. There are various ways to look at improvising but understanding what the chords are telling you is the first order (what key am I in?). You can play in the key of G throughout this tune and you'll never sound bad. If all else fails, play the melody...it is the framework for your solos!!

[stemajor7]

@jeffsReed I wouldnt say that youll never sound bad...it could sound bad even if your playing in key. Ive played in key and sounded rubbish for years because i didnt learn the chord changes. Yours is a shortcut that doesnt really help an improvisor, its just an observation that the improvisor discovers *after* learning the chord changes.

[psouza1974]

Nice explanation and good taste for improvisation. Congratullations.

[deadzior]

rock pentatonic? lol

[spadesofchaos]

@deadzior combination f modes and some harmonic minor

[spadesofchaos]

@spadesofchaos Of*

[5982619]

@deadzior What do you mean by that?

[deadzior]

@5982619 have u watched the vid?

[5982619]

@deadzior Yeah I did. What I meant was I don't get your joke. (no offense)

[deadzior]

@5982619 then check 2:01

[5982619]

@deadzior Its funny because thats like the only scale I know.

[Stinnie89]

@deadzior No? It was his base, but not his whole solo/tone difference...

[deadzior]

@Stinnie89 what?

[TintedRedFilms]

@deadzior There's no such thing as a Rock Pentatonic. :P. It's just commonly used in Rock soloing.

[SUPERMEINNAME]

Thank god i take guitar lessons since i am 10 years old.....now i am 15 and can play Jazz like that

[MrPongo44]

Thanks for that. Listening to the back track its got a good feel to it, nice chord inversions ect.

I meant jazz standard backtracks in general not just this one.

I would like to get a few together but don'y know were to get quality ones from.

Don't mind paying for good ones if i knew were to get them from.

[Livsie]

@MrPongo44

Hi! There is a site called learnjazzstandards

You'll find a few good backtracks there.

There is also a major publisher of quality jazz backtracks called Hal Leonard.

Look whether you can download or buy them.

Cheers)

[MrPongo44]

Like the chords listed on the video and scale explanation underneath.

Does anyone know where to get the jazz standard back tracks used here so i can have a go ???

Would appreciate some feedback on that.

[Timmy4pawz]

@MrPongo44 Look to the video's on the right, there's one there called Autumn Leaves Jazz Backing Track (G Minor)

[AraGuitar]

jazz is so damn difficult :( 

[mmontesbr]

Fantastic.

[guitarmessiah95]

I still don't fully understand how you improvise over the chord changes and what the scales are for?

[Gobob789]

@guitarmessiah95 Just start with one chord, playing a scale that corresponds to that chord. Then, start switching the order of the notes in the scales and making up different rhythms. Then start slowing changing chords and scales. Eventually you will hopefully hear melodies in your ear without having to think about scales. You can also quote the melody with variations like he does at the beginning.

[strachtacular]

that's was pretty cool :)

[luishem]

this is the jazz i love (L) :)

[Jojomojo221]

ha i know this stuff! and the scary part is im only 13. well i know the modes and chord theory, im still working on how to make a solo that actualy makes sense. only thing i do is play what sounds good

[costagero]

Stock Pickups maybe?

[AcousticBruce]

Now this is a GREAT lesson. I like how its gets right to it and explains it well.

[bowman1256]

NOOB! i know the first three notes of smoke on the water

[martintokes]

@bowman1256 ned tab fur smhmoke on teh watr plz

[TheJazzHarmony]

thats been so explanatory video with chords and scales. thnx. u have told about every detail until sound compression :)

[cyrilledebeer]

music theory is one of the greatest parts in the world of playing music!

[OURMASS]

The rest is up to you.........

LOL! typical encouragement , I'm just hoping my rest is not a mess.

[TampoFTW]

DOES YOUR HEAVY METAL ARTISTS KNOW THIS MUCH THEORY?

DIDN'T THINK SO

[goldfish881]

@TampoFTW Some of them do. Steve Vai, for one example.

[blackalbino360]

@goldfish881 He said heavy metal :/ I think the ignoramus meant music such as Dethklok, ATR, August burns red, etc. Hes just a troll :P

[keyblader118]

@blackalbino360 even if he does, i can bet august burns red's guitarist actually does know alot of theory. he's had an immense amount of practice and skill.

[blackalbino360]

@keyblader118 Oh dont get me wrong, I'm sure he has. I love metal aswell :D Its my fav genre.

[dantheguitarman88]

@goldfish881 Steve Vai is not a heavy metal guitarist. He went to berkeley and studied jazz performance, and studied under joe satriani for his youth. He is rock/fusion/blues. definitely not metal.

[Jimihendrix6699]

@TampoFTW do not does.

i think you're quick to stereotype metal. its not all bring me the horizon and other metalcore crap. lots more to metal than that. besides, 90% of metal is rhythm. 75% of jazz is improv. jazz artists are practically forced to know this much theory. and yes, some do.

[chronik147]

@TampoFTW ohhh the ignorance

[xcaluhbration]

@TampoFTW Lol now now lets not pigeon hole metal artist. Its just that they are playing music in a way that they and or the public enjoy. Not everyone enjoys complexity and because complexity is there does that make it palatable? Something to think about for a YouTube Minute.

[RETLAW18]

@TampoFTW

Actually I am currently in my second year of advanced music theory at my high school and will be studying jazz guitar and theory in college. Heavy Metal is also one of my favorite genres along with classical and jazz fusion. Though I agree alot of metal artists dont delve too deep into theory, people shouldn't be quick to make such sterotypes.

[alalange]

@TampoFTW

go ahead and tell me that Michale Keene doesn't know much about theory. He would shit all over your useless knowledge. youtube.com/watch?v=HIxQ2DP6Fm­k

[BtArocks3133]

@TampoFTW Not only that, they have better grammar than you.

Paul fucking Waggoner. The man reeks of jazz.

[BloodReverence]

@BtArocks3133 Paul Waggoner, John Petrucci, Emil Werstler, Michael Romeo, etc. many great metal guitarists who know jazz

[BtArocks3133]

@BloodReverence I completely agree.

[templar03]

@TampoFTW Alex Skolnick does :)

[BananaCo12321]

@TampoFTW You're obviously very ignorant to how talented some metal guitarists are

[kassar117]

@TampoFTW thats a very very misguided judgement

[billylikenoodles]

@TampoFTW ur obviously not listening to the right metal bands then!

[Im4Dinosaur]

@TampoFTW ignorance is bliss my friend, haha

[Im4Dinosaur]

@TampoFTW too bad its also your curse

[youngun550]

well done

[kaseyWtrumpet]

Great modal touches!

[MjXllcommando]

Im very new to jazz guitar and i must say this helped me a lot, i was able to fight my way through the chords on the lead sheet as well as the basic melody but your video gave me some improvisation ideas.  Great tone and Nice guitar! if youtube still had the star system id give you 5 stars

[driverton19]

good tutorial

[sandysuntan]

WAS THAT SIMPLY GREAT. MAN YOU ROCK OR SHALL I SAY YOU SIMPLY JAZZ.THOUROUGHLY ENJOYED YOUR WORK. KEEP ON JAZZING !!!!!

[kebmo86]

thank you for that :)

[christopauls]

A friend of mine say's all the great jazz men are dead. All therest a mathematicians. I don't agree but I see where he's comming from.

[JazzyZenBrotha]

@christopauls - There are still some Jazz greats who are still alive: Ron Carter, Sonny Rollins, George Benson, Pat Martino, Stanley Clarke.

There's a few, but these guys are in their 60's and 70's and still performing.

[PurplePlayer99]

@christopauls Hey try Pat metheny if ya don't know about him, he's pretty much my archetype for Jazz guitar

[dmnxCGi]

@christopauls I completely disagree with your friend. he must have been living in his own bubble. I know where he's getting at, but man, there's Sylvain Luc, Bireli Lagrene, Alan Holdsworth and Gambale in fusion the list goes on. to say that they're mathematicians is a blasphemy and your friend deserves a knock on his head pls

[guitarskrlj]

check mine! I kinda tried. :D

[guitarskrlj]

check mine! I kinda trided. :D

[Autumwithoutu]

Beautiful,period!

[jackr3r3r3r3]

un genio, un virtuoso en el jazz, tiene unos conocimientos de armonia ufff que dan miedo, dios mio, jejeje, espero pronto tenga esos conocimientos, se requiere mucha paciencia y mucho estudio, no es dificil, es increible el jazz, es magnifico.

[jamesfgilmore]

Beginners should note that when he plays e.g. the 'dorian phrase' at about 1:10 there are lots passing tones, that is, chromatics around the notes in the scale; that is what sort of fills out the lick and makes it sound jazzy. Ditto for the 'f# locrian' lick at 1:43...the notes in the first figure are all in the g major scale (g ionian/ f# locrian) but the next figure has D# which is not in that scale. Not a criticism, but this kind of stuff was a little confusing to me when I was starting out

[MarcBeckK]

@jamesfgilmore yea I dont really get that, I don't know how to play out of a scale and make it "fit in"

[RMLTinSC]

@MarcBeckK you play when a chord that is played has a note thats outta scale, like a full diminshed, you change to a diminished scale

[MarcBeckK]

@RMLTinSC oh, well that makes sense thanks. I'm actually taking a music theory class now so that'll probably help a lot too.

[musicalrt]

@MarcBeckK

The simplest way to explain it is that you use notes outside of the "diatonic" (scale) harmony and then resolve it to notes "inside" the harmony. The overall goal in any sort of music is to create tension and release, and this is most prominent within jazz.

A good way to create tension, and then release, is to use chromatic leading notes. So, play a note "outside" and then a note right next to it that's "in".

[damnedcarrot]

Great theory, wish i had better theoretical knowledge so i could improve my improvisation. I still prefer my less jazzy take on this song when i play, even tho it probably is technically worse.

[goldenchopsticks]

You, sir, are one of the smoothest and coolest musicians ever.

[ConstantinRupf]

Was ist die Verbindung zwischen F#m7b5 - B7b9 und der Blues Skala in E?

Würde mich über eine Erklärung sehr freuen!

Constantin

[ConstantinRupf]

@ConstantinRupf Sorry hab grad irgendwie nich an II-V gedacht, alles klar.

Danke für deine tollen Videos.

[gdxsiempre]

cool jazz :)

[Cocoletzi23]

the long and hard way....

to be sensitive is the fast way

[AraGuitar]

why was the compression necessary?

[GibsonSpecialist]

please translate your site to english.. im begging to learn your theory; its kinda hard to do in freaky-deaky dutch

[HomeMadeRice]

@MisterMusicMann6 Am/F# IS not F#m7b5, it lacks the C, which is the flat 5th

[PogoStickFrenzy]

@HomeMadeRice

But, C is the minor 3 of Am , why couldn't it be arguably the same chord (as long as F# is in the bass?

A C E F# - Am6, right? , with F# in bass, it would just be an inversion, so F# A C E. even if Am doesn't have an F# usually...

F# A C E - F#m7b5 //// F# half diminished

now I don't remember the progression, so you would want it to be called either/or , depending on the context and junk. ii-Vs and all that junk.

[MisterMusicMann6]

this is supposed to be a video for people learning stuff. shouldnt he have just notated that that F#m7b5 was really just an Am/F# chord

[HandyBendyGandhi]

Great tone and great improv. Are these flatwound or roundwound strings you're using?

[bucektralee]

HALLO VERY GOOD PLAYING GUITAR IS THIS D Boss GT-10 Multieffekt

[darbeel1]

ive never understood, how to put different scales/modes to chords. Any ideas, cos this vid doewsn't explain them well...

[manojpjain]

M bit lazy to put comments on video. But I must say I really liked the playing and moreover cool subtitle's explanation. :-)

[fastjazzguitar]

good sound!!!!!!!

[SkuyaHamilton]

what guitar is that? it sound wonderful

[emjee]

@SkuyaHamilton gibson ES-335

[theblankone]

@emjee actually a gibson ES-345 (he mentions in the video) they were available from 1959 - 1982

[emilianop2007]

beautiful

[unit12band]

wow that was amazing

[DuendecS]

Amazing improvisation.

[bonifaciodachuva]

thank you

[helsingforce007]

Thank you very much! as a guitar teacher, I may say this is a very helpful instructional video, one of the best I've ever seen.

[PhilCLG4]

Beautiful//Phil

[seamonkeyguitars]

Thank you for not just playing in Dorian the whole damn time.

[ruskibog935]

Awesome.  So relaxing. Just, awesome.

[music5931]

that improvisation make me feel relax a better is awesome

[fend14]

decent, but i had the feeling i could kill you for CONSTANTLY playing your end note twice at the end of your phrase, sooooo annoying.

[sunburststratocaster]

I wish I was like some people and can just hear what note to play next in my mind.

[Guitarist9196]

Very smooth and relaxing, I love it and your playing style is great!

[holynooblike]

erm,,, i think Em aeolian would b eiter E aeolian or E minor,, E minor Aeolian is another meaning which not mean G major,, im x so sure coz i almos 4got all d theory tat i learnt, correct me if im wrong...keep it on,,bro

[horizont20001]

*5^^awesome^^5*i love it

[mikese93]

seems complicated. is this spontaneous scale/mode switching in this song, or just numerous key swithces.