Jazz Guitar 101

In jazz, rhythms are a lot of times more free and improvised than in other styles. You will need to develop a vocabulary of jazz swing rhythms to comp with. Comp is short for accompany, and in jazz refers to improvising an accompaniment in the style of the song. If the song is a funk tune, you will comp differently that if you where going to comp in a jazz swing tune. When you see a Cmaj7 chord in a tune being played for 2 measures, this means that you can play any voicing of Cmaj7 chord (or any chord that you can substitute for a Cmaj7), and any compatible rhythm.

Guitar Bob asks: But cyberfret dude, how do I know what rhythms or chords voicings to play?

Cyberfret dude answers: Fear not Guitar Bob, to start with you will only use the chord voicings on the previous page, and the rhythms pattern below. You will then just keep adding to these basics.

Your First Swing Rhythm

If you do not know how to read rhythms check out understanding rhythms.

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Page 3, Minor 7b5 and Diminished 7 Chords

Page 5, Jazz Chord Progressions